I am more and more intersted in eating foods in season as a giude on what is really healthy during certain times. I wonder if our supermarkets are messing with our health by providing us with out of season foods?
So in the case if dairy
If you lived rasing goat, they have loads of milk in the summer, but almost dryup in the winter. Sheep pretty much dry up in the winter. And in the case of cows, the milk is the best in the spring and summer, spo isit natural to dry them up for the winter?
I was talking to a local farmer who raises sheep to sell mik and cheese locally. He dries the sheep up after a plentiful summer of them drazing on grass. He makes loads of cheese from all the milk he dpesn't sell. So in the winter he eats the cheese when there is no milk.
Another friend I was talking spent some time in Mongolia. He told me about their TF diets. In the summer when the animals are on grass, they eat loads of dairy from yak and horses (mainly) and make tons of yogurt and dry it in the sun. They store that up for the winter (dried cultured dairy). Aparently they wouldn't even imagine eating dairy from animals that aren't grass fed, so they just eat what they have stored in the winter.
How can we apply this to us? How can us continually eating (fresh) dairy do us harm if we are naturally meant to dry our animls up?
(sorry this is wordy, but I am just rtying to get my thoughts out on this subject)
So in the case if dairy
If you lived rasing goat, they have loads of milk in the summer, but almost dryup in the winter. Sheep pretty much dry up in the winter. And in the case of cows, the milk is the best in the spring and summer, spo isit natural to dry them up for the winter?
I was talking to a local farmer who raises sheep to sell mik and cheese locally. He dries the sheep up after a plentiful summer of them drazing on grass. He makes loads of cheese from all the milk he dpesn't sell. So in the winter he eats the cheese when there is no milk.
Another friend I was talking spent some time in Mongolia. He told me about their TF diets. In the summer when the animals are on grass, they eat loads of dairy from yak and horses (mainly) and make tons of yogurt and dry it in the sun. They store that up for the winter (dried cultured dairy). Aparently they wouldn't even imagine eating dairy from animals that aren't grass fed, so they just eat what they have stored in the winter.
How can we apply this to us? How can us continually eating (fresh) dairy do us harm if we are naturally meant to dry our animls up?
(sorry this is wordy, but I am just rtying to get my thoughts out on this subject)
. But, they give us frozen milk for those 'off' months, which means I have a freezer full of milk 
But, I think that folks have been milking year round (via breeding at strange times & feeding lots of hay/grain as needed) for a long time. So.. IDK.
I think it's so cool how these traditional medicine systems point out that what's growing around you during a season is pretty much what you need to stay healthy in that season. So tropical fruit (which is mostly cooling) in the tropics and root veggies (warming and building) in cold northern winters. And less/modified milk (cooling) in the winter, when dairy animals naturally produce less/no milk.
When discussing seasonality in this area, the first thing one has to do is clarify how the seasons are being classified! Are we talking months of the year (generic) or lunar cycles (spiritual) or "rest of the US" seasons or "our" seasons??? THAT alone is an interesting and sometimes LONG discussion, depending on who you are speaking with. Lettuce, for example, is grown here year-round, but only the most hardy types are available in the summer/hottest months. If the weather doesn't wilt it before it is harvested, then the small animals get to most of it for it's high moisture content.
And obviously I am not willing to participate in that tradition! 
All I can think of that would be available to eat in early spring here would be grain stores, the last of the winter's roots, the last of the winter's ferments and preserves, and wild birds and fish/fish eggs. But maybe "early spring" on the calendar is actually still winter here in terms of food needed? That would make sense because the bitter greens, etc. become available in May when it really starts seeming like spring.
Live in MN. Been thinking a lot about local and seasonal eating.
