Tag Archives: cows

Where am I and What Happened to Monday?

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I’m suffering from holiday confusion.  What was a Tuesday felt like a Monday.  Tuesday morning actually felt worse than a Monday.  It felt like one of those Sunday mornings from my 20s.  I’d grade that day a “D”.   From Drunk to Deflated, Drained and Dragging.  It was really deserving of an “F”, but I’d better not start up with that.

I think I had a conversation with someone and they gave me an idea for a post.  It was brilliant, really.  I do wish I could remember.  As Pucket said (with her sweet-as-sugar accent) “that girl… she’s just not right”.

I even forgot the Tuesday trip to the farm.  Those cows make all that nice fresh milk and I forgot all about them.  Fortunately,  Mrs Kathy had her wits about her.  She bottles the stuff and refrigerates it right away.  By the time I got through with all the Wednesday things, my girls were around and they came to say Hey to the cows.   That’s the cows saying “Hey” back.

When the girls come to visit the cows come running.  Literally.  The girls bring bovine junk food: white bread.  They just love that stuff.

I know it’s not great for these cows, who eat only healthy grass and some nutritional supplements (the grass here is a little light in selenium). 

But once it a while…in moderation…I guess it’s pathetic to try to justify this.

I’m a soft touch when it comes to them.  Just look at those eyes.  How do you not bring them treats?

It’s funny, but my “day off” started at 5am.   It’s been nonstop ever since.  I’m forever trying to fit 10 lbs of shxt into a 5 lb bag.  Going to the farm for milk takes another hour out of my day.  It’s so worth it, though.  Not only do the kids have fresh milk, but somehow going out there to visit the cow-girls takes all the stress out of the day.   I may just make it through the rest of the week after all.  Thank you sweet cow face!

Buttermilk Calamity..or An Accidental Cheese

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In the last post (Living on the edge…) I mentioned that I buy fresh (raw) milk at a small farm for my family.  I take off most of the cream to make butter.  This leaves buttermilk. And buttermilk is not where cheese comes from, right?

Have you ever actually poured buttermilk in a glass and sipped it?  Me either.  I can’t bring myself to try it.  It just sounds bad.  My father drank buttermilk.  He swore it was good.  He also said that about headcheese.  Lots of people seem to like headcheese, but it kind of canceled his vote with me, you know?

But back to buttermilk.  It doesn’t look good.  It doesn’t smell good.   After extracting the butter (and this is the current crop- luscious!) I end up with a big batch of buttermilk.  I can use it for fried chicken ( I’ll explain that another day with photos).  We don’t use up much this way since we don’t have fried chicken every week.  Hypothetically I use it for salad dressing too, but in reality we use very little salad dressing.  My kids like things “nekked”.  So all this buttermilk sits in the freezer.

The Buttermilk Calamity:  Tonight I took out just a bit to thaw.  It helps to put a little in with the cream before you start shaking the butter out.  I put that little bit into the microwave (cause I didn’t have my thinking cap on) and set it to thaw for about 3 minutes (see what I mean).  So when I noticed that it was boiling I took it out.  Then I realized that it had separated.  What was buttermilk, now looked like “curds and whey”. It kind of looked bad.  Like really bad.

It didn’t smell bad.  It smelled somehow familiar, and really, really good!  I grabbed a fork and tasted a little of the curd (yeah- I’m like that).  It was cheese! An accidental cheese.  And It was great! I also had the hubby taste it (he tried not to- the wuss!).  After I lovingly encouraged him (to stop being a baby) he tasted it.  He agreed- it’s like some sort of mild, buttery fresh mozzarella flavor.  I then googled “heat buttermilk make cheese” and discovered that there are many recipes for “farmer’s cheese”.  They all seem to be mainly milk, buttermilk and salt (occasionally vinegar).   Here is a link to a video of Matt and Ted Lee making  Buttermilk Fresh Cheese on the Martha Stewart show.   Don’t worry, Martha and I have an understanding.  Like: when there are links all over the video allowing you to share it, I understand that it’s probably okay to share.  So here it is.  Courtesy of  Matt and Ted, via Martha.  BTW, Matt and Ted have a truly brilliant cookbook: The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern.

So, if you have a Buttermilk calamity of your own (well, it could happen!) remember that it’s not a total waste.  Grab some crackers, put your feet up and enjoy a cheese break! .

Living on the edge…with fresh milk

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Tomorrow is Tuesday.  Milk day.  Raw milk.  Contraband.  I have to drive 25 minutes north of my house to buy this stuff.  It’s not legal here.  Makes me feel like one of those bootleggers from the last century. Like someone from the Beverly Hillbillies.  I loved that show.  That theme song still gets to me.

Oh yeah, this is about milk.  Raw milk causes so much controversy.  By law, in most states, cow milk must be cooked.  They heat it to high temperatures, ensuring that ALL the bacteria is killed.  Good and bad.  It also changes the proteins, and destroys most or all of the enzymes, making it hard for many people to digest.   It’s still a good idea for commercial dairy’s.   Their cows are raised under less healthy conditions, and the milk has many opportunities to get contaminated between the cow and your cup. Human breast milk is also raw milk.  No one ever expects you to cook human breast milk.  Or sterilize the stuff.  FYI- most women don’t use any special cleaning process.  It’s “hoist and latch”. 

But this is about cow milk.  I’ve been doing the running every Tuesday for just a few weeks now.  Some in our family are fans of the taste.  It’s also richer.  Especially Jersey milk.  There’s a lot of cream that rises to the top.  You have to shake it up to mix it.  Unless you’re PJ.  Then you sort of pretend to shake it and enjoy a big fat helping of cream in your milk. One person in our family, won’t touch it.  I’m not saying who…. but she recently returned from Guatemala and was quite happy to come back to a civilized country where milk is pasteurized.  She has no intention of drinking “that stuff”.   I still buy her the regular, legal, boring stuff.

But, back to the fresh stuff.  When I get home, I try to take off most of the cream (after I let PJ get at a cup of “premium”).  Usually we use it to make butter.  It’s easier than you’d think.  I pour it into a large glass jar, and add 1 Tblsp of butter milk (the real kind that’s left after making butter) or yogurt with active cultures.  I mix that and set it out for a few hours to culture.  Then, just start shaking.  It takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes to shake the butter out.  After all the butter is shaken out, pour off the liquid (that’s the buttermilk), but save it for another use.  I use a bit for more butter, and also to make salad dressing.  I also use it to soak chicken in before frying. 

Take the rest of the butter and put it into a bowl with icy cold water.  Swish it around; press lightly against bowl, rinsing, draining and refilling with cold water when the bowl of water looks cloudy.  The cloudiness is the last bit of buttermilk.  You want to get it out as it’s kind of tangy.  The butter will be sweeter if you do.  After the water stops clouding up, you can drain the bowl and add salt to the butter if you want.  If you want fancy butter pats you can press it into butter molds; or plastic candy molds work well too.  Or, you can just scoop it into a container and enjoy.  

 

*** Photo of rinsing butter was borrowed from http://www.raisingarrows.net/2010/05/making-butter-from-raw-milk/ 

Amy’s website is filled with great information and inspirational stories.

 

Was Chickens, then Border Collies, now MiniMoos

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Perhaps it’s the stress that makes me this way.  Life gets crazy, and my mind drifts to thoughts of peaceful farms with chickens roaming under the watchful eye of a rooster or two (they think they’re in charge).  In this little vignette is a pair of Border Collies  (who really are in charge). Then I picture goats. 

I never really thought of goats in my  perfect dream world before.  Lately, though, they seem to belong.  What do you do with goats?  I know you can milk them.  People say that the milk tastes just like cows milk.  No offense, but this kind of reminds me of how people say that frog/snake/rats taste just like chicken (have you also noticed that people say “no offense” just before they say offensive things?).  Goat milk is naturally homogenized.  You don’t get the cream separating, it’s all whole milk all the time.  No cream.  No butter.  No ice cream (could you even eat goat ice cream?).  .

Anyway, this is something to consider before becoming a goat herder.  Then I thought “Maybe we should have a cow”.  I thought this.  Even though, at this time, we are renting a lovely old Victorian home in downtown Mayberry.  I do like to think ahead.  I’d love to have a Jersey cow.  We get Jersey milk now.  The milk is so rich; even after we take off the cream (we make butter with it), the remaining milk tastes like whole milk.  Or maybe 3%.  Which probably is whole. Then I found out that one cow, even by conservative measures, would yield multiple gallons of milk.  Every day.  I’d need multiple acres of pasture for her.  And what if she were lonely? Ugh!  I’d pretty much put the idea of a cow on the back burner. 

Then I got an email.  From my sister in law Theresa.  I think she’s my favorite relative.  You know what she sent?  A link (***).  To a story about miniature cows.  No kidding.  They come in all sizes.  They even have mini Jerseys.  How cute are they???  So now I’m rethinking my dream home/farm.  I think I need one of these.  They give about 1/2 gallon a day.  They need at least 1/2 an acre of good grazing land.  That’s like a backyard here in Mayberry.  Maybe I should get two.  Or a minimoo plus a goat.  I’m soooo excited!  A goat and a minimoo.  We could have milk, and cream, and butter, and ice cream .  And mozzarella. And feta.  OMG- I think I just named them!  Ella and Feta.  I think this calls for coffee!

***http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/Small-Breed-Milk-Cows.aspx