It Better Be Butter

Now that we have switched to raw milk, a whole new world has opened up for us - led, of course, by the ever questing Dan. It was he who noticed that Yael and I (and by extension, the kids), were skimming off a lot of the cream for a less robust milk. For those of you who asked, and I was amazed at how many there were, Yes! I am still drinking only raw milk, and No, I have had no side affects whatsoever. But I can't accustom myself to all that cream. So I take a lot of it out and so does Yael.

Dan, who gets up in the wee hours to head to the dairy to get the milk as it emerges from the cow and drives 45+ minutes each way to do it, was a tad upset. Then, naturally, he settled into finding a solution that would work for all of us. He drinks a ton of the stuff, replete with cream, and is still losing weight. Go figure.

Anyway, he researched butter. Yes, that is a picture of butter that he made from our rejected cream. He gave me a the ramiken full that you see and hauled the vast majority back to the family in Auckland.

It astonishes me at how far down the road to self-sufficiency we've travelled and how far we still have to go. If, indeed, we decide to do so. The milk is great and I promise I will keep you updated on any health improvements I might have.

By the way, does anybody know of an old fashioned wood milk churn I could buy - cheap? Dan spent hours at the electric blender and I figure if we are going for self-sufficiency, we should try to eliminate electricity. Right? I'd volunteer to churn but this darned shoulder of me acts up and I'll just have to pass on this one.