Vacation: Days 2 and 3

After the tractor pull on Friday night we followed my cousin and her husband in to Indiana. We had enjoyed the pull with them and had made plans to visit some friends together for the weekend. Our friends in Indiana moved there a couple years ago to join their family business, McCoy Dairy Farm. Brian and my cousin's husband had fun talking to the guys, touring the farm, and helping out where they could. Since my cousin is due to deliver her first baby in October and our friend recently had her 4th child us girls had plenty to talk about too. It was really refreshing to see a dedicated Mom in action who manages to balance work on the farm with parenting. She's my new role model! :)

I was really interested in the farm too. That barn in the picture is new - can you believe how wide it is!? Here's the very best part...those of you who have read about my desire for a milk cow will understand. They. have. a. miniature. jersey. cow. Her name is Elaine and I'm in love. First I got to pet her - and then I got to milk her!!! I wish I had taken pictures but I didn't want manure and iodine all over my camera. I spent awhile (maybe an hour?) in the milking parlor helping out. I've always been interested in milking cows so it was fun to try it. It seems like the type of job a person could get very efficient at with practice which is what I like. I told Brian I know where we're going to move if we ever have to rely on my income over his. I'd love to work for a vet down there!

That is all hay behind Brian. The picture doesn't do it justice - it was like a wall of hay in all directions.





I think Brian could have stayed all week and I was really enjoying visiting and, I admit, holding the baby. As the weekend progressed Brian and I found more and more things we had in common with our friends there so it was great to talk with them. However, the whole goal of taking a vacation was to spend time together just the two of us with no farming to get in the way. We headed out late Monday afternoon...

More to come soon!

We've Got Milk!

And no, Brian did not buy me a cow. The lovely folks at Hampshire Farms gave us a call awhile back and announced that they had A)finally started a very small cow share program and B)had a drop off location just down the road from us! I've looked in to other cow share programs and even beg Brian regularly for a little Jersey of our own. You can read about all of that in my Real Milk? post.
This cow share is truly the best setup possible for us at this time. We got a first gallon 2 weeks ago. I poured the cream off and made butter. Has anyone else tried the trick of making butter out of heavy cream by shaking it in a jar? You know how it takes forever? Well... real, fresh cream doesn't take forever. In fact, I barely had time to pull up a blog while shaking and I heard a thump. Holy cow, my butter was already done!
I'm just going to drink this gallon since we won't have much time to make anything with it before vacation. In the future I'd like to try yogurt and even cheese.
If you're local and you'd like to join the program I can put you in touch with Hampshire Farms.
Do you have any good recipes or creative ways to use raw milk?

My "Fast Food" Dinner

Brian picked himself up some fast food for dinner. I was working late. When I talked to him he told me he already ate so maybe I should get myself something in town too. I drove that way home but nothing sounded good and I didn't stop anywhere.

I got home and tried to make some butter in the food processor with the raw milk. It didn't really work but I probably wasn't patient enough. The milk did get really foamy like when you start to whip real cream. I didn't want to pour it back in the jug so instead... I added one envelope of chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast to it. I had the stuff in the cupboard and have pretty much quit drinking it so this was a good way to use it up. Oh my goodness - it was great! Like a cross between a milkshake and chocolate mousse. I drank that and ate a half dozen raw pieces of asparagus that I picked on my nightly walk through the garden. Maybe someday I'll have fresh home grown berries to have with whipped milk.

Mine was maybe not the most complete meal, but I did get a lot of vitamins out of it. I'm pretty full now. This was all way better, and more satisfying, than any meal from McDonald's or Wendy's!

What's your favorite healthy, local snack? Any good substitutes for fast food?

Real Milk?

Remember all the times I've mentioned that we mostly just buy dairy products from the store now? Well that might change. I looked in to a cow share program a while back. I gave it some thought and then put it out of my mind. Then out of the blue the program coordinator e-mailed me again just to make sure that she had indeed responded to my first e-mail (she did). That same week a new intern started at my workplace. We got to talking and it came up that she is part of the same cow share program. Her family loves the milk and doesn't plan on switching back.

I am still a little leery about the whole thing, to be honest. The milk comes straight out of the bulk tank on the farm. It is from Certified Organic cows. It is not pasteurized. I know there is a huge debate over whether or not pasteurizing is important. I think it is safe to say that if the cows are healthy there is no life-threatening risk involved. Still, there are recommendations that pregnant women not drink unpasteurized milk. God willing, that will apply to me one day (far away). So I have to think there is some risk, however slight. I'm the type to forgo recommendations about raw eggs to indulge in cookie dough. More than once I've had horse poop on my hands and eaten at a drive thru without washing them. Asparagus and peas taste best when you're still standing in the garden. But raw milk? I don't know.

Anyway, thanks to our intern, I'm drinking a glass of the stuff right now. I just wanted to try it. Really, it doesn't taste much different. The best way I can describe it is like this: it tastes a little more like warm milk, even when it's cold. Do you know what I mean? Like it has more flavor or something. I haven't seen any obvious separation in the carton, just some tiny specks sticking to the edges. I've been told that the butterfat content isn't very high but they're trying to improve that. I'm going to try making butter to see how it goes.


BTW, I'm thinking home pasteurization would be a perfect compromise, especially if we do get our own cow. I'm not sure that is very practical though. Plus, I think the home pasteurizers I saw were very expensive.

Does anyone have any experience with a cow share program? What are you thoughts on the whole thing? And please, don't jump my ass with any anti or pro raw milk campaigns. I'm not interested in the debate so much as how this type of thing has worked out for other people and their families. I have a strong desire for dairy products that are healthy and local.