Dairy is another problem. I am quite lactose tolerant and consume between 1 and 2 liters of 1% milk per day, especially when taking vitamins and supplements morning and night. We also use butter instead of any of the alternatives and I use about a half teaspoon of whipping cream in my coffee, which is sweetened with a tsp of honey and then topped up with three packets of artificial sweetners to make it taste sweet. My wife drinks about a liter of artificially sweetened cola per day.

My biggest health concern is about BPA in the containers both of my milk and of her soft drink containers. Also, sometimes there is a bitter taste to the milk which I suspect derives from process control problems in the bottling process involving too much heat that likely produces unhealthy byproducts. The commercially available milk likely also contains BST, bovine somatotrophin hormone, given to boost milk production, and possibly other hormones and contaminants present in the milk of dairy cows.

What I would like is a local dairy that bottles its products in glass. The last one of those shut down in Southern California about three years ago and there are none that I am aware of that distribute locally in Arkansas. I could likely keep chickens. I have the room -- so long as the neighbors don't complain. I live just inside the city limits and there are formal restrictions.

We had a cow for several years when I was a child and it was my job to milk her twice a day. The problem is that this results in six to eight gallons of milk per day and I would not want to go into the dairy products business. A 100kg to 200kg bovine would be about right, but I would really need a couple more acres which would cost me $8-10 thousand/acre - at present, and would require clearing of overgrown second growth forest. Fortunately, in a crisis, I am sure I could learn to do without dairy if I had to.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."