Braden came in this morning to wake me up and ask if he could go ahead and get all the cereal stuff ready.  I said he could and then rolled back over and snoozed for a bit.  After a while, the kids were running through the house and I thought that maybe I should go ahead and get up and pour milk in their bowls so they could eat.  I dragged myself out of my room and came upon Ailey dunking some shredded mini wheats into a little bowl of milk.  Then, I immediately looked beyond that to see that the milk that Braden had used was the buttermilk.  Oops!  Not one of them said that it tasted weird or different or yuck or anything.  I'm thinkin' Braden is hired! ;p

And we have BUTTER!!! and some canned stuff

We've made butter twice now. Braden did the majority of the shaking for the first batch. Did you know real butter is white, not yellow? I've been using "real" butter for a while now instead of margerine and while that is quite a difference in and of itself, making your own REAL butter is even a bigger difference! I just put the skimmed cream that has sat in the fridge the longest into a larger jar and let it get to room temperature. Then, I hand it to whichever child is closest at hand and let them shake, shake, shake. Eventually, the cream clumps up together and then I stick it in a larger bowl and press out the buttermilk. Didn't know that's where that came from even though the name shoulda given it away. Then, I fill the bowl up with water and press the butter out several times until the water is pretty clear after pressing. Then, I salt it and stick it in a container in the fridge. Cool, huh? Google and me are tight, yo. I don't know what I would do without its mountainous bevy of information! I'd have to actually go to the library and that is not appealing to me. My mom is going to be on the lookout for an old skool butter mold for me. Oh, the things I get excited about! I have a pic of the end result, but not the process. This last time, Braden started out shaking, but got tired early on, so it made the rounds and Sam did the bulk of the shaking. I'll have to capture that on "film".

Why do they call it canning when its really jarring? Anyway, I did some canning. I made up a large batch of pasta sauce. I just reused the pasta jars that I used to get at the store. I also made up some mixed berry butter, spiced apple butter and blueberry topping. Did you know that you can make apple butter out of canned apple sauce? Yep. I had two cans sitting in my pantry forever. I kept intending to make an applesauce cake or something with it, but decided I needed some apple butter instead. I turned to my trusty Google and found out its super easy and basically, its the same way I make the filling for my cobblers. Its the same for the mixed berry butter, too. I just put it in the blender and pureed it and did the same with the apple butter and yummy was the outcome. This way, I don't have to use a sieve. I'm all about cutting out unnecessary steps. Oh, and butters don't need pectin or tons of sugar added to it. Two bonuses!

So, I decided I could can it while I was at it. I did sterilize all the jars and everything, but I just don't see the point of boiling them again after you fill them up. I consulted a few expert canners on this point and as far as I can tell its just to make extra sure the lids seal and you have the side point of more sterilization. My objection is that if your stuff is already piping hot and you get your lids decently tight and just turn the jars upside down, you will get the seal and the super-magma heat from inside the jar will kill whatever has decided to try and inhabit the jar. Anyway, I cheat can, apparently and am just fine with that!

Like my '70's-licious shelf paper?

Homemade raw milk ice cream! and a sour cream debacle...

Braden and I made raw milk ice cream last night. I was a little hesitant that it would turn out, but wanted to try it anyway. After looking up several recipes on-line and seeing that you were supposed to have double the amount of heavy cream for every cup of milk used, I had to cheat a wee bit and I bought some heavy cream at the store for filler. I just now have a decent way of skimming the milk, and it takes a bit to build up a good supply of cream, so yeah. Anyway, got it all mixed up and put it in the ice cream maker. I had been saving up ice for the last week so I had a few bags in the deep freeze. I really didn't need as much because the garage was already pretty cold, which helped immensely. Braden helped pour the ice and rock salt in and then sat watch for a while after he plugged it in. This was around 4:15-4:20 in the afternoon/evening. I was planning on it taking about 45 minutes. Well, at 4:45 I realized that Sam wasn't going to be home 'til later and I had a mid-wife appt. Oops! So, I got everyone packed up and away we went. The appt only lasted about 45 mins and we came home right as Sam arrived. I hurried inside to check on the ice cream and the maker had stopped, don't know for how long. Oops, again. :) So, I brought it inside to see what kind of ice cream we had. Sam did the honors of opening the lid and this is what met our eyes:

Isn't it pretty? The thickness of it is like the kind you by at the store and not typical of the more soupy consistency of our usual homemade ice cream. Oh, and we all had to taste test it and we all agreed that it is VERY gooooooood! Yummy! So, that was a success and I'm sure we will be keeping stocked up on ice cream from here on out.

Now, for the attempt at making my own sour cream. Yeah. It didn't quite work. I think I left it out too long. I left it out for 2 days instead of just one. I need to research it a bit more. The consistency was like it should have been, but the taste was NOT. I also read a blog that said that I could let the milk and cream sour together. So I did because you are supposed to be able to use clabbered milk interchangeably with buttermilk. Yeah, not going to do that again, either. Because the cream was off, I'm not going to use the milk, either. So, what a waste! I will skim the cream and experiment with just it the next time.

I still haven't tried to make butter, yet, but I felt that the ice cream was more important. I'm sure you can understand.:)

Quick update on the milk

We went on Saturday and got our first load of raw milk. We all really enjoyed meeting their family and the kids went off to play like they've known each other forever. I love their farm! Its so very much like what we would like to do someday. I do believe she and I are kindred spirits. :)

We brought the milk home (she gave us extra, too!) and I got started on how to separate the cream. I found some conflicting info, so I tried it two ways. I think the best way for me is going to be to just put it in my big crock and put it in the fridge over night and then skim. It takes a bit of time, but I am determined! I've also found yet another reason I need a thermometer for reading things in pots. I've also decided that we need to finally take the plunge and buy a big stock pot. :) Anyway, I have some heavy cream (I think) collection started in the fridge and hopefully, I will have enough to make some icecream soon. Yummy! Next, I want to try to make butter, though I don't know if that will be viable. I use a LOT of butter and I don't think I could make enough. I'll try it though! I also made some yogurt and it turned out just fine. I think it will be even better than the usual because of the richness of the milk. :) Anyway, that's what we've done so far with the milk, other than just drink it. The kids love it and Sam says its liquid gold. I think we're sold!

Got Milk?

I was looking into a source for goat's milk around these here parts and was having NO success. I buy organic milk from the grocery store and wanted to see if I could get larger quantities of milk for a bit cheaper from a local source. My kids are inhaling the stuff and I can barely keep up! Right now, I am using a sneaky technique from the guru I will mention more about in a few lines by pouring half the gallon of milk into another clean empty milk jug and mixing it with reconstituted powdered milk. You can then freeze one or more gallons, though learn from my mistake and put it in the fridge until the froth has settled so it doesn't erupt like a volcano in the deep freeze...Yeah.

I was notified, however, that there is a source of raw cow milk and it is available to us via trade. Since all members of the previous generations of both Sam's and my families swear by it and how much better it is for you and oh-the-things-you-can-make-from-it, we are gonna give it a go. I'm even more excited by the prospect of being able to make the following from said milk: yogurt, cream cheese, butter, sour cream, heavy cream and buttermilk. You get buttermilk through the butter making process and cream cheese from draining yogurt and sour cream by letting heavy cream sit for a day or two and don't forget about the whipped cream from the heavy cream, too. Oh, and let's not forget about cheese! We go through cheese like it is going out of style! (There is a multipurpose trend in this domicile...one stop shopping, folks!)...I mean, hello!, what has taken me so long to get into all this?! Seriously, my grocery bill has the potential to drop drastically! Anyway, I'm just excited and I will try and document the occurrences as they take place.

Another thing I hope to be doing soon is dehydrating a bunch of stuff. I have had a dehydrator for a LONG time. I asked for it for Christmas once when I was a teenager. I know, I'm weird, but I wanted to make my own fruit roll-ups and dried apples and such. Anyway, it has hardly gotten any use and I intend to change that. I spoke to a lady in our homeschool group who is a grocery shopping, canning, dehyrating and bulk food storage guru. I'm still blown away by her ingenuity. I doubt I will ever reach her level, but I can incorporate so much more than what I am doing without much more fuss than I already make! Can't beat that.:) I'll keep you posted.

Glory to my God in heaven who makes it all possible!! You know God loves multipurpose, too. He did create the cow, after all!;p