hpw, I don't have any numbers, but I don't doubt that some US citizens become ill from food-borne illnesses contracted from consuming 'raw foods' every year; but, I suspect they're fairly low in number, and since the vast majority of people in this country get ALL of their food from the grocery store or restaurants and the minimal numbers of folks doing the raw thing, the small numbers of illnesses are probably sporadic and random, not triggering an epidemiologic investigation by FDA and CDC. When we have a situation like the recent Salmonella outbreak which FDA 'finally' traced back to Mexican-origin peppers(Duh! They're largely a third-world country with poor to nonexistant sewage/water treatment facilities in much of the nation, and it's likely that the farm workers aren't provided toilet facilities, so they are probably 'relieving themselves' right there in the fields), in which a large quantity of contaminated foodstuffs from a single source are widely distributed across the nation, then we get large numbers of persons affected. I would have no qualms whatsoever about consuming raw milk from my own personal cow - because she would have been tested negativefor brucellosis/TB, and *I* would be in charge of every aspect of cleanliness and sanitation from udder prep and monitoring for evidence of mastitis to refrigeration of the 'finished product'. But, I wouldn't necessarily trust anyone else purveying raw milk to take the same care that I would. There is no doubt that milk is a healthy food, but the claims that raw milk is so vastly superior to pasteurized milk are without rational scientific basis, and it's ludicrous to make claims that pasteurization completely destroys milk's nutritional content, and in fact renders it into a toxic substance.

OMG I laughed so hard over that! My uncle has a cattle ranch up in North Dakota. We've herded cattle with motor bikes, trucks and such. I'd give just about anything for a few of those little RC atvs! The laughing alone would be so well worth it. Thank you for sharing that link! :D ~Tina

Hi, Nan! I keep thinking, "It's too hot, time for me to go into summer dormancy; *no more plants*! but they keep following me home... & every year I say, "I'm not going to water these pots of plants through the summer. Anybody left in a flowerpot after May 30 gets composted." Pots of plants have homesteaded 3 plastic wading pools here.

Important Change: The date shown in the title is WRONG! We're meeting on October 22! couldn't edit the post title.