Cows for Kindness

Day 175

I feel like I'm cheating just a little, by counting today's act of kindness as my effort to “buy local.”

I stopped by a dairy farm on my way home from work and got our milk and eggs for the week. The store is right next to the cow barn. It doesn't get any fresher than that. Besides selling milk, the farm has the most amazing bakery on the entire east coast, in my opinion. Just before entering, all you can smell is, well, stinky cow farm. And then once you step through the door the luscious bakery smell takes over and it becomes almost impossible to leave without a treat to go with the fresh milk. A sign on the wall says “No fossil fuels were used in transporting this milk.” This prompted me to think I might be able to consider this my act of kindness for the day, since supporting a local farm is good for the economy and good for the environment.

Why do I feel like I'm cheating? Because we almost always buy our milk there. The truth is, once you drink milk fresh from the farm, there's no going back. It's not always convenient but we do make the effort go there every week.

As I was lugging my four gallons (we drink a lot of milk in our house) out to the car, a man offered to help carry them for me. Wow! Just as I was pondering the legitimacy of my daily act of kindness, a stranger offered one to ME! I took it as sign. It is kind to buy local and it's also a sure way to meet people who are kind.