What is happening around here

Hello all,

I realized that the last post (which has been on top for a while now) is on CANDY MAKING.  Yikes.  Christmas is over.  Back to the real world.  (well, I might make up a batch of caramel sometime soon).  What we are doing around here right now is:

1.  Getting ready to watch (again) an amazing movie.  We plan to watch it at church with a bunch of avid gardeners, hobby farmers, novice growers and everything in between.  A potluck and an afternoon centered around growing stuff successfully.  What could be better than that?  We have watched it free on line, but finally broke down and ordered the video.  

Back to Eden

2.  In addition, I have been reading some books on permaculture and we are trying to plan out how to make our entire property a lot more efficient and work better.  The book I am currently reading is "Permaculture by Sepp Holzer.

Sepp Holzer's Permaculture

3.  Also, on the subject of health, I have two books going right now.  Deep Nutrition and Devil in the Milk.  Both are awesome and full of information.  Deep Nutrition is a great book if you are just beginning the process of trying to learn a different way of eating and why you should do that.  Devil in the Milk is about A-1 and A-2 cows and the types of milk they produce.  By accident (?)  we appear to have cows which produce A-2 milk. 

Meet the authors of Deep Nutrition

Book Review of "Devil in the Milk"

And finally, I am starting seeds.  Yep, it is that time of year.   I have a ton of seeds from my favorite seed bank ever and am trying to restrain my hand from too many tomato plants.  Again.

Baker Creek Seeds

Be blessed!

Cindy

Life on the farm

Slideshow of recent changes around here.

We have had a lot of changes around here since I last posted.  Our daughter and son in law moved back to the Bay Area.  It is bittersweet.  The sweet - he got a wonderful job.  The bitter, they moved away.  It involved a lot of change for all of us since our daughter had become the teacher for our youngest and they both helped so much around here.  Also, they had the nerve to take one of my grandbabies out of the county.  I thought there was a rule against that! 

The next big change came when our raw milk source dried up...... well, they sold out and we no longer had access.  This was so, so sad.  However, as a small community, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and purchase our own milk cow.  We would turn our own grass and clover into milk!  We purchased Bonnie the cow and Bessie her calf.  We got a good deal because she was difficult to milk and the calf was still on her at three months.  She is a beautiful 3/4 mini jersey and 1/4 dexter and they were not kidding about being difficult to milk :)

We pressed on.  At the beginning it took three adults, a kick bar and a lot of patience to get her milked.  Then down to two adults and someone on poop patrol (we have someone catch her poop in a snow shovel if she lifts her tail).  Now one person can milk her.  We still have the poop patrol, but she often does not poop while being milked.  We started out using Bag Balm on her teats, then read the label.  Petroleum based.  Bad bad bad bad.   We are trying out the Burt's Bees Farmer's Friend Hand Salve.  It appears to be working really well.  We are happy and blessed.

My sweet hubby and brother in law converted the Taj Mahal chicken coop into a milking barn.  It has a concrete floor, a washout, lights..... then my sister spotted an old sink at my aunt's house and talked her out of it.   Her hubby went and fetched it and installed it.  Then we traded a neighbor for some of their excess hay.  The three younger kids (from both families) picked up some extra daily chores.  Our oldest son came and cut down some unproductive fruit trees to begin the process of making a better pasture and we are good to go!   Everyone has worked together in their own strengths.  We are now being rewarded by about 3 quarts of milk at each milking.  It is only a little disheartening that the milking barn is cleaner than my kitchen.  This is thanks to Farmer Joe who sweeps, washes out with vinegar water and squeegees after each milking.

We have been hit by another brutal snowstorm and are out of power again.  We are wondering if we will break our previous record of 10 days.  I worked hard on baking sourdough bread on the stovetop.  It turned out great!  Also during that time we lost our water and the boys had to snowshoe up to fix it.  All in all, a very grand adventure.  (Note, the power is back on - we were only out 7 days - we're getting ready to be hit by another storm later this week).  I have to say the Ipad, Iphone, Itouch and Laptop were helpful.  The Kindle program loaded up with books was awesome.  You can sit in the dark and read for several hours.  When we turn the generator on, we recharge everything.  It worked really well.

Shortly after they got our water fixed a ditch that runs above a part of our road got pulled out by a big cedar tree.  A massive amount of water came down and wiped out a part of our road.  The guys  drove the backhoe out and helped the local water company do some repairs. Being a part of a community is good.

I have to say, I love simple farm life.  There have been big adjustments, but they are good.  While we were out of power it was even better.  It is wonderful to always have fresh milk. A simpler way of life makes power outages a little easier to handle.

I have a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks in this slideshow.  I hope you enjoy it.


Cindy

A good helper

The lifestyle we are choosing to live requires community effort.  It is difficult to manage everything yourself.  Everyone from the youngest to the oldest gets into the act. 

One of the things that we have been making is yogurt.  I didn't get pictures, but the process we have been using is:

1. Heat your milk (gently) to 180 (I know - it is not raw anymore)
2. Cool the milk to 120
3. Add your starter
4. Put it into some device to keep it about 110 for about 8 hours.  I have been using my dehydrator.  I have a box one and my glass pyrex baking pans slide right in.  I can do about 2 gallons at a time.
5. We like a custard type of yogurt, so I pour the whey out using a big colander and a dishtowel with a catch pan underneath.  I drain for about 10 minutes, then move the yogurt to a bowl and whisk it with a wire whisk.
6. Add fruit (I cook mine and sweeten with honey), a bit of salt, some vanilla and YUM!  It will set up a bit more as it chills.
7. Bottle it up for lunchboxes.  We found 4 oz. glass jars that work great.

Tonight my helper worked with me sampling, bottling up, lidding up, washing and finding room in the fridge for all the yogurt.  We made fresh peach/honey and some white chocolate/raspberry/honey.  Tomorrow it will be divided up and delivered to the four households that we garden with.

Everyone plays a part.  It is a good way to live. 

Be blessed
Cindy

Low Temperature Yogurt Success!

So.... yesterday was my fourth attempt at low temperature yogurt from raw milk.  The previous attempts (here)  were not bad, just runny.  This batch had pectin added to it.  SUCCESS!  I am going to try gelatin next time, but am happy with this batch.  It was not exactly the same texture as cooked yogurt, but has a nice texture and you can eat it with a spoon... kind of.  I drained some of it to further thicken it.

Here were the steps:

Assemble the ingredients:  Raw milk, pectin, a little boiling water, low temperature yogurt starter, crock pot half full of water at 110 degrees, thermometer, bath towel, jars and lids, scrubbed clean, that fit into the crock pot, a blender and a nice cup of hot tea (for me)
   
Per the directions on the pectin package, make up the calcium water.  Then, for four cups of raw milk, I used 4 tsp. of pectin.  This went into the blender, then add boiling water and blend (I tried to cheat this step and ended up with nasty clumps) until it is smooth.  Then add the four cups of raw milk and the starter while the blender is running.  Add a couple of tsp. of calcium water and pour this mixture into the jars and lid them tightly.
 
 Get the water temperature  to 110 degrees.

Calcium Water.  You make it up and leave the rest in the fridge for next time.

The mess from trying to cheat the pectin... I tried to hand mix it.

After everything is lidded up, add it to the water bath and cover it with a heavy bath towel.  Make sure the crock pot is off, unless you are trying to bring the temperature up a little bit.  I did turn it on when I first put it in... the cold milk mixture dropped my temperature by about 10 degrees.

Check the temperature every couple of hours.  I had to turn mine on warm for 20 minutes about every 2-1/2 hours.  The temperature held at 104 for most of the time.  When it got down to 100 I turned the crock pot on warm.

After chilling, it was half way between runny and thick.  I mixed some up with lemon curd and a pinch each of salt and cinnamon for my hubby's lunch today.  He does have some soaked granola  to mix in it if it is too thin.

I am currently making one batch a little thicker by draining it.  My friend made me a bag for draining and it is working really well.  She sells them on her Etsy store.

 Here is her list of how long to drain.  I plan to drain my half runny yogurt for 2 hours for regular yogurt.

• Drain plain yogurt and in 1-2 hours you have Greek Yogurt
• Drain plain yogurt and in 18 hours you have Cream Cheese
• Drain plain yogurt for 1-18 hours for whey to use in other recipes
• Cottage Cheese and Ricotta Cheese both need to be drained

The final yogurt turned out beautiful, tangy and with a lovely texture.  The lemon curd gave it a nice flavor and my son and I shared this very small bowl with some soaked granola for breakfast.  It was plenty.  Always remember to use smaller servings with nutrient dense foods.... you don't need as much!

Be blessed and well today
Cindy

Raw Milk Cottage Cheese

Please note:  I have not tried this myself, but plan to this week.  If anyone beats me to it, please let me know how it goes.  Like most of these ideas, it is easier than it sounds.  Don't get overwhelmed with it.... just give it a try...cindy

Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is made from skimmed milk.... or the whole raw milk that has been left to separate... skim the cream off for butter and cream, then use the "skimmed" milk for cottage cheese.  At the end you do mix a little fresh cream back into the curds, so either save a little, or acquire more cream near the end of this process.  The picture here shows part of the separating process.  The cute bag is from Evelyn Woods.

The process of making raw cottage cheese begins with  Clabbered Milk (the cultured cream or milk that has solidified).  I am quite sure you need to use raw milk that has not been pasteurized or homogenized to be successful with this. Raw milk contains all the necessary bacteria needed to make the milk clabber.  (OK, I cheated and put creme fraiche starter in mine).

So.... put some raw milk into a crock with some of your clabbered milk (clabbered milk is the equivalent of a sourdough starter).  Once the whey separates from the curd (2-3 days) you can make cottage cheese out of it.   The whey is the watery part of the milk. The curd is the solid part.

The way to determine if your clabber is ready is determined by the condition of the curd. If the curd breaks cleanly away from the sides of the crock when depressed slightly with a spoon, the cut time has been reached.  The curd should then be cut (not broken) into cubes approximately half an inch square. Do this by cutting horizontally with a spatula or knife, then rolling the strands gently over so that they may be cut crosswise. At this time the whey will be released from the curd.  Apparently you will end up with dry cheese if the curds are cut too small.  You can also use your hands to "break" apart the curds after you have cut them.

Gently pour the curds and whey into a kettle.**   Then slowly heat it up over a very low heat until the curds have firmed up a little.  Don't get it too hot or it isn't raw any more.  I am going to try mine in a double boiler over only warm water.  Next, pour the mixture into a cheesecloth sack and hang it over a large bowl to drain. (like you are making whey from yogurt).

You can purchase some cool reusable sacks from Evelyn Woods.  If she doesn't have any yet... she will soon.  She has some great material to make this out of so it is reusable.  Also, she just found a raw milk source so.... I am expecting a sack that hangs off of the knob on my cupboard to drip into a bowl :)  And here it is!

**(note, there is a process to cutting the curd.  I'll post pics as soon as my curd is ready, but basically you carefully do about 3/8" squares, cutting one way then the other, then you want to go in sideways and try to make them shorter.  You have to be gentle with this process).

When all the liquid (whey) has drained from the curd transfer the curds into a bowl and chill it well in the refrigerator. Once it is chilled mix a little salt and fresh cream into it. This cottage cheese will keep in the refrigerator for about 5-days.

Enjoy
Cindy

Buttermilk

Buttermilk:

• Take your raw milk out of the fridge and skim some of the cream off of the top.
• Add 2-3  large spoonfuls of Clabbered Milk. Stir well. 
• Leave it on your counter LOOSELY covered.  A cloth is better than a lid. 
• Check periodically to see if it has thickened. You may have to leave it overnight.
• Use this thick cream to make butter. 
• Save the liquid that separates out from your butter making endeavor to bake or culture with.
• If you don't make butter with this, you have a sour cream (I think!)

Clabbered Milk

Clabber

Clabbered milk is the next thing to take up residence on my very overcrowded counter.  I have read that you should just keep a jar sitting out all the time. Whenever you use any, just add some milk back into it.  My philosophy of adding one thing at a time into our routine brings me to this next.  I am headed to some other raw milk stuff, but need to get this step figured out.  So.... my clabber jar will be living right next to my sourdough starter crock.  I hope it does not smell terrible.

One important note, the clabbering process only works with raw or unpasteurized milk. Pasteurized milk, if left out, only produces the nasty sour milk that we all know and don't love today.

What is clabber?  Clabber is naturally soured raw milk.  It is also the beginning of all raw cheese. Take a 1/2 quart of fresh milk and leave it out (cover with a towel or cheese cloth, it must be able to breathe). Wait for it to thicken. Depending on the temperature in your house this could take one to three days. It should be the consistency of pudding. Bacteria in the milk begin their process of converting lactose (a sugar, and therefore sweet) into lactic acid (which being an acid, is tart or sour.)  This gives the milk a sour, acidic taste that is more tangy than buttermilk or yogurt.

It will smell very sour at this phase.... probably too sour to use. Dump half the jar out and replace with fresh milk and mix. Let that sit a day till it "clabbers" again. It won't be so sour now.  Again, a similar process to growing a sourdough starter.   If necessary, you could again dump half of this and make a third generation, but with the price of raw milk, I don't think so.  I confess that some creme fraiche will be going into the first batch to get it started and none of it is going to be thrown out!  I will use it in something.

The clabbered milk you have produced can then either be left out (if it is not too warm in your house or you use it often) or refrigerated. When you need some in a milk product, scrape the stuff off the top and toss it (it sounds like a "bloom" on other cultured stuff), then spoon out what you need and refill the  jar with fresh milk. Just keep your little clabber garden going.

Now, on to the bigger question....What do you use it for?

• It is the beginning of all cheese (which I want to learn how to make)
• Starter for cottage cheese
• Starter for sour cream
• Starter for cultured butter
• Add texture to baked goods such as pancakes, bread, muffins. 

I don't know how this will all turn out, but plan to give it the old college try.  This is just the next step in our raw milk adventure.  I did find out where the word came from...  The word ‘clabber’ comes from the Irish word for thickened or the Scots word for mud, whichever you like, and the Irish word for milk is banne (thank you MacBain’s Dictionary). Together they make up the word ‘bonnyclabber’, which is what we know as buttermilk..

Best of Health to you

Cindy

The House Around the Corner - Key Lime Pie

Goat's Milk is something I have been trying to develop a taste of for a long time.  I have come a long way, but am not quite there yet.  One of my favorite all time things is a latte made with half fresh goat's milk and half cow's milk, so there is hope for me.

Even without developing a taste for goat's milk, I had a couple of pieces of this key lime pie.  It was so GOOD!  I have not tried making it yet, but plan to one of these days.  Bright, tart, refreshing and healthy.

Here is another wonderful recipe from Katherine's Kitchen!

Cindy

Key Lime Pie

Crust:

2 cups ground almonds
(I use ones I have previously soaked and dried)

1 cup dates

½ tsp salt

Soak dates in ½ cup boiling water. When they are soft, run them through a food processor till smooth

Then add almonds,( I also added a tbsp of ground flax seed). Spread into a greased pie pan.

Filling:

2 cups homemade cream cheese 

(yogurt you’ve strained overnight through cheese cloth)

1/3 cup agave or honey

1/3 -1/2 cup lime juice

Grated peels of 1-2 limes

Combine these set aside.

Combine

3 beaten eggs

1 packet of gelatin

(check out MaryJane Butters online for gelatin alternative called chillOver powder)
MaryJane's Farm - ChillOver Powder 

½ cup milk

Wisk over low heat until thickened, combine with cream cheese mixture.

Pour into pie shell and chill.

You can substitute  1-2 cups fresh or frozen berries in place of lime for a berry pie.

My daughter said this pie was better than any key lime she’d ever tasted! I think it’s so important to be creative with desserts and be able to offer your friends and family delicious treats. Enjoy these in small quantities, they’re rich. I encourage my kids to take small bites and savor them.

Proverbs 23:3 talks about being careful not to crave the food of a ruler, his food is deceptive, or to be given to gluttony. My understanding of the deception is extravagant rich desserts and foods (prepared by servants) may charm your senses, but they will do much harm to your body without you really understanding the relation between the two. I think of the servant food we eat as being fast food, or processed food. Once you start making desserts this way other stuff just doesn’t taste so yummy.

Katherine

The House Around the Corner - Tiramisu Rustica

 Tiramisu Rustica

My friend Katherine has been successfully using fresh goat's milk for quite a long time now.  She has been so encouraging to all of us to have nutritious and beautiful meals.  Thank you for sharing some of these wonderful dessert recipes with all of us!

Cindy

Tiramisu Rustica

(Pronounced tee-dah-mee-sύ)

This is inspired by a traditional Italian dessert,

 I’ve reworked it so you’re using great ingredients and methods.

2 cups flour whole wheat, spelt, Kamut, gluten free (I used Kamut)

-1 cup yogurt

 -1 cup water

Combine these and soak overnight.

½ cup butter

½ cup agave or honey

Cream butter and sweetener together with a beater.

4 beaten eggs

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

Combine all ingredients. Pour into two round cake pans, which are greased and floured.

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes. Cool completely. The cakes will be thin.

Filling

2 cups homemade cream cheese (yogurt you’ve strained overnight through a cheese cloth)

½  whipping cream-whipped in a cold bowlJ

1/3 – ½ cup agave or honey

Add sweetener to room temperature cream cheese. Fold in ½ of whipped cream then fold in the rest.

So your filling is ready, your cakes are cooled, 2 more simple steps and you’re done!

You’ll need ½ cup of strong coffee or 2 shots of espresso - slightly sweetened

½ cup of cocoa powder

Place first cake on plate, saturate with one espresso shot, or ¼ cup coffee.

Spread ½ of the filling over your cake. Sift ¼ cup cocoa powder over the filling.

Add next layer and repeat. Enjoy!

I doubled my flour and liquid when I soaked them and used ½ for pancakes.

When I get more than one dish out of my efforts I feel so much more accomplished.

Also pictured is

Chocolate Mousse

½-1 cup raw whipped cream, whipped in a cold bowl

4 stiffly beaten egg whites (add a dash of salt or cream of tartar while beating)

6 oz semisweet chocolate

1 tbsp cream

Melt chocolate with tbsp of cream on low heat, cool. Slowly fold in to whipped cream.

Slowly fold in beaten egg whites. You can add a little coffee or espresso to bring out the chocolate flavor. Cool in refrigerator at least an hour.

Now that was easy! And yummy!

Katherine

Low Temperature Yogurts

The Raw Milk Adventure Continues....

Low Temperature Yogurt

After spending time researching raw milk I have become convinced that our family wants to switch completely away from pasteurized milk.   This includes yogurt, which we have been eating a lot of.   There are some great web sites and youtube clips showing how to make raw milk yogurt.  The basic process seems to depend on what type of culture you have.

You can purchase cultures on line.  I intend to do this, but did not get around to it yet.  Instead, when we went to buy milk yesterday my sister and I decided to get three types of yogurt and we shared them.  These were then mixed to make our culture.   What we found was a sheep milk yogurt, a coconut milk yogurt and a greek yogurt.

The milk with the yogurt culture (all three combined) was put into a glass canning jar and lidded up tightly.  My sister has a yogurt maker that she used.  She also is going to try a dehydrator (as soon as she can find it.... probably it is somewhere in the shop).  I tried several different spots around my fireplace... using my candy thermometer to test it out.... too hot.  The milk cannot go above 118 or the enzymes are destroyed.

Finally.... I put hot water into my crock pot, left it off til it got to 110, then put the jars of yogurt into the hot water, put the lid on and put a thick bath towel over the whole thing.  I did need to turn it on low every couple of hours for about 10 minutes at a time.   The candy thermometer helped me keep track of the temperature.  It has now been in there for 8 hours.  It is at 110 degrees right now, and it is just going to stay in there overnight.  In the morning the water should be cold and it should be finished.  

So, this is a work in progress.  Hopefully it turns out!  Here is a paragraph from the web site where you can get the cultures and the web site.  As soon as I pull it together I plan to switch to countertop yogurt!

Two Types of Yogurt Cultures

There are two types of yogurt cultures: Mesophilic and Thermophilic.  Mesophilic cultures are also known as room temperature or counter top yogurt varieties as they culture best at room temperature (70-78 degrees).  You do not need a yogurt maker to use a mesophilic culture.  Thermophilic cultures require heat to culture properly so using a thermophilic culture requires a way to keep the yogurt at 110 degrees for 4-8 hours (depending on the variety).  Yogurt making appliances are a popular choice when working with a thermophilic culture but other methods can work quite well including a crock pot, oven with a low temperature setting, etc.

Cultures for Health

Raw Milk vs. Homogenized and Pasteurized Milk

The learning curve for Raw Milk has been steep for me.  I came here kicking and screaming and is has never really been on my agenda until I started researching it for the fats portion of this blog.  Amazingly, we are becoming absolute raw milk advocates.  I am still finding this a little hard to believe, but here we are, actually looking into getting a milk cow (or two... or three!)

Here is a page with numerous links for raw milk.  Not to overwhelming, but good information.  It has links to both sides of the raw milk argument.  I have been reading a lot on both sides of the issue and what has bubbled to the surface is not pretty.  I am going to have to quit reading all of these great articles, although it is fascinating.  I know this is getting to be a lot  :)

Mi Milk Maidens

 
As far as the raw milk vs. pasteurized and homogenized argument goes, it appears that a healthy cow, eating grass, taken care of, and careful milking, cooling and handling of the milk provides a healthy, nutritious product.  Raw milk also appears to be the second most contraband item in the United States, right behind illegal drugs.  Go figure.

If you feed your herds garbage (or an unnaturally large amount of grains), have manure everywhere, disgusting things going into the milk (blood, pus..... you get the idea) you might need to pasteurize your milk products so as not to poison everyone drinking the milk.  

If you want to ship your milk product over long distances, have them keep "fresh" for an unnaturally long time, and are completely OK with destroying anything live in your milk product, then the entire pasteurization and homogenization process is right up your alley.

If the idea of complete fats is a puzzle to your dairy, and cream rising to the top of the milk is bothersome to your marketing department, then you definitely want to homogenize that milk!   It completely destroys the fat molecules, so they can never, never be reunited the way God intended.  But you don't have that cream issue to deal with and can sell more product.  A quote from the soda pop article below is intriguing... I am trying to find the studies, but here is the quote.

[You might find it interesting that, as demonstrated in numerous studies, calves fed pasteurized milk die within 60 days.]

We are blessed here in California to have Organic Pastures Dairy.  As I have been studying in depth on this issue, their name came up again and again and again as a model for the state, the country and the world.  They are amazing advocates for clean, wholesome, raw milk.  Their processing is outstanding and  they are passionate about providing this wonderful food to the public.  

Organic Pastures 

It is a continual fight to keep raw milk safe, legal and available in California.  It is always under assault.  I still can't figure out why that is.  When other foods are found to be unsafe, they deal with the individual supplier, not make the entire food illegal.  With milk, however, it is different.  I still don't know why.  I assume it comes down to the same thing as always.  Money and power.

I do know that, in general, when one side just has a bunch of names like "stupid"  "crazy"  "mindless" and goes on and on with the whole "don't you know what's good for you" thing..... it's bad.  The case against raw milk involves a lot of that.  They also have had very few actual, proven instances of death, disease or problems.  There are some, just like in any food based industry.  You should compare that to people with problems with non-raw milk.... oh, we don't want to give out THOSE numbers.

Finally, for those study hounds who want to know the COMPLETE history of the milk pasteurization movement, here is an in depth article containing a history of how we got here.  A quote from the article:

The story of what’s happened to quality milk is the same as the story of what’s happened to America’s farmers. Both have been mostly eliminated, marginalized by a culture that has allowed corporations to promote the big lie that the processing of natural foods has nothing to do with the epidemic of disease that cripples our society. Corporate spokespersons for the food, drug and medical industries have used billions of dollars (a drop in the bucket compared to their profits) to convince most of us that this scam has been carried out for our own good. The corporations and their media and government lackeys proclaim "food safety," while in truth allowing our food supply to be nutritionally depleted, further contaminated, and fostering unsustainability of food sourcing.

Is Soda Pop or Milk Healthier?

I don't ever want to make any decisions for anyone.  Just take a little time while we are in fats and study the raw vs. other on milk.  Check into what the laws are in your state or country.  Can you be proactive in bringing free choice?

One final quote from the Soda Pop article (it is really, really in depth and so good).

Whether one drinks milk at all is a personal choice. The point herein is not to convince anyone to drink clean, healthy raw milk, but rather, as with my related articles, that true health can only be facilitated by getting beyond the industrial agenda based manipulation that permeates our society. Only with sufficient unbiased information, and free choice, can we begin to dig ourselves out of the destructive chronic illness plaguing our quality of life.

Finally, this has been here before (on gut health), but it is still so good I wanted to put it include it again.

A Word About Diet In General

Use common sense and stick with whole, unprocessed foods, free from genetic tweaking (there's still just too much conflicting information out there on that topic), and you'll likely be ahead of the game.

Cook your foods minimally, and you'll be even better off. Learn about sprouting and fermentation. Question everything before letting it past your lips. 

Explore what worked for countless generations before ours, and put it to work for yourself today. You can achieve great health by diet alone. I've done it, and so can you!

 Raw Milk Facts . Com

Best of health to you,

Cindy

The House around the Corner - Raw Milk Stories

 The Lucky Cousins

From Sherri Ann's Keeping Room

     When I was a child we drank fresh (raw) cows milk. I remember my mother scooping the cream from the top of the milk and making delicious butter and whipping cream. My mother and father always said we were not allergic to poison oak because the cows ate the plant as they grazed in the fields and woods near our home; we would then drink their milk so our system developed an immunity. My cousins, who did not drink raw milk, were often covered with the red rash caused by coming in contact with the plant that grows abundantly in our county. When I was young, if you had enough of the poison oak rash, you were not allowed to attend school because it was considered very contagious. I remember once, my cousin was out of school for a week, I was in about 3rd grade and wanted to stay home from school and spend the day with my mother. I went to the edge of the woods behind our home and found myself some poison oak.

     You can imagine what happened next, I stripped the plant of several handfuls of leaves and rubbed it ALL OVER MYSELF...I crushed the leaves and rubbed it on my skin, I broke the branches and used the sap, I found a cut and put some in it...okay, I wasn‘t a very bright child, but I was determined. I was very proud of myself and went back to the house and waited for the itching to begin…I waited...and went to school, the next day, I waited and went to school, the next day, I went to school and decided that my cousins were lucky to have parents who didn't give them fresh cows milk.

     I don't know if there is in fact scientific proof about developing this immunity, but Dad and Mom said so...and that's good enough for me. If you enjoy drinking fresh cows milk, I don't suggest you research in the same manner I did so long ago.

Take Care,

Sherri Ann

The Extra Step - Phase 2 - Continuing Education Raw Milk

The raw milk journey continues:

The Weston A. Price Foundation has a lot of good information on raw milk and its products.  There is a great page showing different recipes and different information on unheated vs. heated yogurt.  I have not yet tried any of these, but plan to begin as soon as I can get the bread, kvass, ginger ale, sauerkraut, kefir, butter stuff completely under control....

OK, that is never going to happen.  :)  So... probably next week will bring several yogurt recipes to the kitchen (focus, focus).  If anyone would like to try some of these and send me pictures and how it turned out, how you used it and ways to work it into your busy lives...... We would all appreciate it. 

Here it the article.

To Heat or Not to Heat... That is the Yogurt Question

Also from the site is a good breakdown of raw milk in general and is a great overview.

Milk.... It does a body good 

I think my favorite site is the Modern Country Dairy site.  They have a lot of great stuff.  I found a good explaination for why lactose intolerant people can often drink raw milk.  This is on their page titled Top Ten Reasons for drinking raw milk.  Even if you have been there before, it is well worth going again.

A couple of quotes:

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, "Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer."

Often people who consider themselves to be "lactose intolerant" are able to enjoy raw milk because it contains "lactase." Lactase is one of the enzymes that get destroyed during pasteurization. It normally would pre-digest the milk while in the stomach, thereby enabling the body to assimilate its nutrients. Pasteurization forces the milk to enter the lower intestines undigested, resulting in cramps and gas.

The difference is night and day. Supermarket milk is highly manipulated and engineered. It's pasteurized, or heated to about 161 degrees for about 15 seconds, which destroys the bacteria that cause food borne illness, along with the flavor of milk. Pasteurization by this method gives it a fairly long shelf life. [Milk is also] homogenized which smashes all the fat globules and makes it uniform and smooth, while wiping out all the thick lovely cream that floats to the top. Then that milk travels a long way, often thousands of miles, to get to us.

Raw milk is rich with enzymes and contains all 22 of the essential amino acids which are the building blocks of life, including phosphate. Phosphate is essential for the absorption of calcium and is plentifully present in raw milk but is completely destroyed by pasteurization

 Again, I would highly recommend this site. 

Top Ten Reasons for Raw Milk 

Figure out what is best for your family.  Make your decisions one at a time, and try to find a workable way to get the process in place.  If you live somewhere that does not allow raw milk, you might try to find a "co-op" or neighbor that has cows or goats and work something out.

The nutritional value of raw milk vs. homoginized and pasturized milk just cannot be overstated.  This is such an important item in the Nourishing Traditions... the Weston A. Price Foundation.... Nutrition and Degenerative Disease.... all of these wonderful resources consider raw milk from grass fed cows to be the backbone of health.

Please pass on what you have learned.  Remember that we are a community of friends, learning from each other, sharing joys and failures, helping to destroy our dependence on Agribusiness, Big Pharma, the Medical Industry........  In a community we support each other where we can, but are primarily responsible for our own family.  Step up to this responsibility, don't overwhelm yourself, make the best choice you can and keep moving.

The picture has nothing to do with milk.... The Junior Rancher and Baby Rancher are learning their States and Capitals this morning.  I just liked the picture.  We did have to interrupt this fine lesson so Grammie could kiss every "boo boo" Baby Rancher had. 


Best of Health to You
Cindy

The Extra Step - Phase 2 - More Raw Milk Information

In our continuing education on raw milk, this very interesting study came my way.  It is a very in-depth study, but I think it is worth the time to read it (or at least skim portions of it).  Remember that grass fed cows put out a completely different milk than grain fed cows.  Be sure you know what your raw milk cows are eating.  It appears that hay in the winter is OK as well.  If you are short on time, you might want to skim through the first part to the meat of the article, in the middle and the end.

A couple of my favorite things from this study:

"3. What are the additional benefits of milk fresh from the cow?

Milk fresh from the cow is a complete, living, functional food.  Although we have looked at the numerous nutritional components of milk in the previous two questions, the full benefits of milk are only realized when all of these components function as a complex interdependent and balanced process. 

and... 

Proteins are incrementally denatured by heat. With lower heat treatment levels, complex proteins with three-dimensional configuration are altered. With higher heat treatment levels, the primary shape and bonds are altered. At very high heat levels, there are destructive chemical changes.

and...

Fats
This is complex because changes to the fat globules, specifically the membranes, are caused by both heat and homogenization. Of all the milk constituents, the milk fat globule is the most drastically altered by the combination of pasteurization and homogenization.

The emphasis above is mine.  I strongly recommend you spend a little time reading this wonderful information.

The Michigan Fresh Unprocessed Whole Milk Workgroup 

Best of Health to you

Cindy

The House Around the Corner - Arleen's House

Arleen's advice about Kefir :)

Stop whining already about the taste of the kefir (no fear - ki fear) 

morning start: 

1/4 c kefir
1/4 c juice or kvass
2 tablespoons coconut oil...

stir and drink

why?

1 chug-a-lug and you are all done for the day. 
all you taste is what ever juice you used (carrot, beet, orange, lime)  
wipe your mouth, (don't lick your lips if you don't like coconut oil...  I don't like it at all, but don't taste it.  just the juice)


Enjoy (or something :)

The House around the corner - Kefir

 Kefir Recipes

I have had a great response to my plea for kefir recipes.  More are WELCOME (OK, I am begging... this is kind of a stretch).  Check back and I will add them on here as they come in.  If you would like to revisit the kefir directions, they are here.

The House around the corner - Jamie's Kefir

Kefir is a type of yogurt made with "beads"  Arleen and I both have some and will share, if you are local.  (mine are from Arleen who has been a believer in kefir for a couple of years now).

Why would anyone use kefir?  A couple of reasons... one) to preserve your expensive raw milk, and 2) for the wonderful properties it brings to your gut and 3) Arleen uses it to culture her regular organic milk (not raw) to incorporate the live enzymes back into the milk.  This notches up the nutritional value.

Kefir is full of the stuff you need to work on your healthy gut flora.  It is so important to have a large variety of lacto fermented foods in your daily diet - milks, root vegetables and vegetables.  This is another one to add to the mix, and it is a good one.  Kefir beads are unique things they are unable to make in a lab.  They have been around for a long, long time.  The Kefir story is interesting, and you should read it some time.  This one is kind of cute.

The Story of Kefir

Sadly, it is apparently an acquired taste... better to be acquired early in life.  However, that does not mean we cannot take advantage of the health benefits without sending our taste buds to the curl up place.  Here are a couple of articles which should be read... I think they are short.  Remember, you should have some knowledge of why you are doing what you are doing.  Don't overwhelm yourself, just set yourself the task of acquiring some knowledge.

Seeds of Health - What is Kefir? 

Body Ecology - How to Introduce Kefir to your gut. 

This one has a pop up add, but if you close it, it has a nice list of benefits.

Kefir Benefits

Last, but not least, while I was schlepping around the internet looking for the kefir story in a readable format, I came across this on young, green coconut kefir.  Someone else will have to try it.  I am at my limit for trying new kefir products :)

Bedrok Community - Green Coconut Kefir

Now for some recipes (not for the coconut stuff - never heard of it before today):

From Melissa:

Besides smoothies, many times after lunch, Evy & I will mix up "a little kifer drink" as we like to call it.

1/2 c. chilled kifer each
dash or vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, alspice or whatever you have.
1 tsp sweetener (Since honey is thick & does not mix well with cold things, I premix a jar of 3/4 honey to 1/4 water & shake until combined. You can then pour it & it mixes nicely.)
It's a nice dessert-ish snack after lunch.

Another way I sneak it in is:

Winter Salsa

2 c. shopped green cabbage
1/2 c. chopped cillantro
4-5 chopped canned jalapenos
1/2 c. vinigar from canned jalapenos
2 tbsp kifer
2 tbsp sour cream
salt & pepper to taste

From Jamie:

In a blender mix:

1/2 cup kefir

1 cup yogurt

cinnamon, nutmeg, a pinch of salt, some vanilla

frozen berries

a banana - frozen or not

Blend and drink.  The spices will kill some of the taste. 

Note.... Jamie has also made some kefir cheese and made a quiche out of it.  She also suggested adding it to your sourdough sponge.  I did and it was good.  I have not had time to try the cheese yet, but look forward to a recipe hitting my inbox with pictures :)

From Chara:

I put my kefir together in the evening, let it sit overnight and in the morning throw it into a smoothie with whatever I have in the house... This morning it was bananas, kefir, raw milk, a few liquid supplements and a maple yogurt. I use coconut milk, all different kinds of fruit (whatever is in the fridge), yogurts- plain, vanilla, maple, mostly I use kefir in smoothies...

From Jamie:

Breakfast Pie or Quiche if you skip the potato crust and just use a regular pie crust.

For the crust you'll need:

 

3 potatoes

2 tablespoons self-rising flour

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red and black pepper blend

 

For the filling you'll need:

 

6 strips good smoked bacon, cooked crisp and chopped

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup grated cheese

6 eggs

1/2 cup kefir

1 clove garlic minced

1/4 teaspoon red and black pepper blend

pinch of salt

 

Preheat oven to 350

 

Crust:

Grate the potatoes into a colander and rinse thoroughly with cold water, set aside to drain.  Beat one egg well with onion powder and pepper blend.  Heat a 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium high heat until pan is hot.  Use whatever oil you prefer, I used olive oil.  Toss grated potatoes with two tablespoons self-rising flour.  Mix floured potatoes with egg mixture thoroughly and place in hot skillet making sure to cover the bottom evenly and push the potato mixture to the edges of the pan and almost two inches up the side.  Lower heat to medium.  Don't turn the potatoes, you're only trying to get the bottom good and browned.  Shouldn't take but maybe 10 minutes tops depending on whether or not you use gas or electric stove.  Once potatoes have browned remove from heat.

 

Filling:

Blend six eggs with kefir then add remaining ingredients.  Pour into potato crust in  cast iron skillet and put into preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes.  If it doesn't look pretty enough for you sprinkle some grated cheese over the top and run under the broiler for a couple minutes.

 

There you go, a meal in one pan.

More to follow......

Reasons for drinking Raw Milk

Raw Milk

The Adventure Continues

Well, here we are.  Raw milk.  Somewhere I never really thought we would be.  If you want to see the beginning of our raw milk adventure, it is here. 

I don't want to be repetitions, but please, please.... study some of the articles I have linked, pray about what step you are going to take.  Make good decisions based on what is best for your family.  I will continue to list the reasons our family has made the switch under my rambling, but there is SO MUCH great information in these links that I would ask you to just hop around.  That way you can find what you need.  Don't let the number of articles overwhelm you.  Just look at one or two, then think about it and maybe revisit and look over a few more.

personal note:  trying again to talk my hubby 
into getting a milk cow! -

turn our grass into healthy protein!

Milk is listed here in this section for the fats.  It could be in any section, but this is where it landed.  I have already done some discussion on raw milk for general gut health.  The article for that is here.   Overall, what we have done for several years is to get a good, organic pasteurized... but not homogenized milk.  Strauss Family Farms has a great milk that is lightly pasturized but the fat structure is intact.  If you can study what happens on factory farms, when milk products are homogenized and what happens to the enzymes when milk is pasturized you will have a good foundation for making the best decision you can.  We have just recently switched to raw.

We are blessed in California to be able to buy raw milk, and Organic Pastures (home page) does an amazing job with their cows.  They are grass fed and healthy, and the milk is fresh and good.  My favorite article on raw milk is from the Nourished Kitchen.  Please take a minute to look over the reasons she has listed.

The Nourished Kitchen

 Another site that has been listed before... cheeseslave.  She lists out the top ten reasons to drink raw milk.  If you can go there, I would recommend it.

Top Ten Reasons to drink Raw Milk 

The Weston A Price Foundation has done so much work on this subject.  They have a really good page on the safety of raw milk for babies.  I would suggest you spend some time on this page.  If you are politically minded, the Campaign for raw milk is a good place to put some energy.

Is Raw Milk safe for babies?
A Campaign for Real (Raw) Milk

The Weston A Price Foundation has also done several articles rebutting the claims by the agribusiness/FDA conglomerate that has an iron grip on our food supply.  Please take a little time to read them if you are nervous about raw milk.  If the cows are grass fed, you are probably fine.  If your gut is in good shape, you can fight off any lousy stuff that comes.  If you cannot buy raw milk, get the best choice you can and perhaps culture it with kefir beads.  Directions are here.

Kefir Directions 

Another great site I found, especially if you are thinking about getting a cow or working with raw milk is the Modern Country Dairy.  They also have lots of info on raw milk.

Modern Country Dairy 

...and if you would rather read something personal with reasons listed out there is a kind of neat story called "Why would anyone drink raw milk?"  It is kind of funny.

Mean Rooster Soup

Anyway, sorry this is not a personal page.  There is just so much to this subject.  Please study and read and think and pray.

Best of Health to you

Cindy

The House Around the Corner - Kefir

Note from Cindy:  If you have a way to drink kefir, we would all appreciate your sharing of that information.  Jamie has added a cool way to drink it, but if you can make a comment with your recipe, it would be great.  Maybe Apryle will share her smoothie recipe that she used it in.  It is yummy. I don't want to say kefir is gross, just a really new flavor and texture.  Any helpful tips are appreciated.  I changed the settings so you can do an anonymous log in and post.  If anyone leaves something weird, I will just delete it.... but why would they  :)  I can then gather them into a top ten ways to add kefir to your life or something like that.

 

Jamie's Kefir Recipe

My kefir grains arrived by mail, sealed in a double plastic bag and shipped in a plastic bubble envelope. Not very impressive are they?  These grains were shipped with a little milk added to feed them during their trip and when you first open the sealed bags you'll notice a sour, yeasty odor, don't panic, that's normal.

 The first thing you want to do is clean your grains. This is really easy. First take a sieve and dump them in, if you have trouble getting them out of the bag just pour a little milk in to loosen things up. After you've gotten the little grains out of the bag you want to pour a little milk or distilled water over them while gently shaking the sieve.

This is what they look like once they're all cleaned up.

 Now you simply dump them into a clean jar, the one shown is quart size.

Another picture of the clean grains.

 Here you'll see that I've added two cups of whole milk. Ideally you would want to use raw milk, but since it's unavailable in my area I've used organic whole milk instead.

You want to cover the jar with a cloth, you can't seal it up tight, kefir needs to breathe. Notice my high-tech dishcloth and rubber band combo, it worked great!

 Kefir actually likes to be disturbed so I would give the jar a little shake everytime I walked through the kitchen. It's quite cool in my house so it took almost two whole days for my first batch to culture.

Here it is, almost two days later, ready to strain. Notice the streaking on the jar.

It will be quite thick at first, you'll think you messed up. You didn't.

You'll need your sieve, large bowl or measuring cup and a wooden spoon now. Place the sieve over the bowl, dump in the cultured kefir and you might have to stir gently with the wooden spoon but eventually all the kefir will strain through leaving only the grains, which have multiplied! Wow, busy little critters.

Here is the strained kefir, lousy picture, I know.

Here are the kefir grains that have increased in numbers by almost half!!

Here is my second batch of kefir set up and ready to culture again.

The finished product! If you haven't followed the baby steps to cultured foods I would recommend you start slow, just a couple tablespoons at first.  For a great breakfast drink blend one cup chilled kefir with blueberries and some honey, it's wonderful!