Milk - Should I or Shouldn't I

There isn't a day, or an hour, that goes by that food isn't on my mind thanks to the likes of Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, and Dean Ornish. What's good and what's not? Who is the authority here? What is best? What am I growing myself this year? How big of a garden can I handle? Sometimes I have to just clear my head and tell myself I'm not thinking about food until tomorrow. Milk is the hot topic of late. Fat-free or Reduced-fat-- Says Ornish. Whole milk or better yet, unprocessed milk - Says Pollan and Kingsolver. This website says don't drink milk at all and take pills to get your calcium. Huh? More processed stuff? Then there's yogurt and cheese. Did you ever read the ingredients and processing of yogurt? There's certainly more than five and I'm sure Mr. Pollan isn't sucking down Smoothies. And the processing of milk and milk products - from cow to the plastic bottles in the grocery store - no wonder Mr. Pollan says its not eco-friendly. When I was a kid, there was a sign on the milkhouse that said "DeLaval Cream Separators". It was a cool, porcelain antique sign and I sold it for $45.00. I never knew what it was until I read this article and saw the exact piece of equipment as on the sign. Modern fat separators spin the fat off the milk. Fascinating -- and non-eco-friendly. Then there's the vegan thang... an easy way to avoid the dairy confusion. But then I ponder, what's the best green foods for calcium? Its pretty darn easy to drink a glass of milk and get a good percentage of calcium. Collards just don't quite make the favorite foods list. But I DO like a couple spoonfuls of Blackstrap molasses every now and then too. Is that too processed? Ornish would think its too much like sugar. ARGH! What would Grandma Wiest do? She'd go in the barnyard, milk the cow and pour a glass for you and me. Now THAT seems like the right thing to do.