An excellent, easy-to-follow book by Ricki Carroll.

So, since weaning Hershey, BoPeep has been giving me about one & a half gallons of milk every morning when I milk.  We use a good bit of milk for breakfast, drinking & cooking…but not THAT much.  So what do we do with all that extra milk?  Well, that’s cheesy…I mean…easy!  We make cheese…and butter…and yogurt…and sour cream…and ice cream.  All these delightful dairy products from our very own fresh, raw milk!  It’s been wonderful.  And, believe it or not, it’s not very difficult.  I found a great book by Ricki Carroll called Home Cheese Making that has been a huge help.  Here are a few things to whet your appetite.

A jar of cream with clabber added, to make sour cream. Clabber is started in the same manner.

Keeping It Clean

Before we talk about making things from raw milk, it’s important to know how to keep your equipment clean so you don’t inadvertantly spoil your dairy products.  Everything from your milking equipment to milk jugs, pots & cheese-making utensils needs to be properly washed & sanitized before coming in contact with raw milk.  After use, rinse milk equipment with cool water first, to prevent milk stone from forming.  Milk stone can be as simple as a thin film of milk residue (that you can’t even see!) left behind on items.  Next, add some vinegar to your warm, soapy wash water to help remove any remaining milk residue, and scrub items well.  Rinse, then dunk in a bleach solution to sanitize, and rinse again with fresh water.  A bleach residue left behind can ruin your cheese-making efforts as well.  Then leave items to air dry. (more…)

Chucky & Hershey have their last buckets of feed here Saturday morning.

Well, it’s been a noisy week on Hope Refuge Farm.  BoPeep did not like losing her young’un!  Not that I really enjoyed leaving mine behind either, but at least I didn’t scream my head off for 3 days after getting him settled in at college.  But all in all things went pretty smoothly with weaning, in spite of the bellowing.  Here’s how our week went.

Stephanie tries to make friends, but Hershey's not totally sold on the idea yet.

The cow herd had been moved to a newly fenced pasture paddock on the “horse side” of the farm before we left for Michigan.  So Friday (Sept. 2) evening I brought Bo, Hershey & Chuck (Eavie’s steer calf from last year) back to the cow barn.  I penned Bo in the barn corral like I normally had been for milking in the morning, and put the two boys in the front yard-turned-pasture paddock.  I knew things would go better if Hershey had a friend to keep him company, and even though Chucky is about 9 months older than Hershey they’re about the same size & get along great. (more…)

BoPeep inherited a nice udder from her Jersey momma.

There’s been a hold-up in my milking parlor & I’m sick of it! 

This is one of the difficulties that comes with share-milking (that’s when you leave the calf with momma part of the time, so you’re sharing the milk).  Momma decides that she would rather feed baby than give her milk to you, so she “holds up” when you try to milk.  Which means you get a piddlin’ little bit of thin milk and are wondering what happened, while baby guzzles down the bulk of the milk…and all the cream, which comes at the end.  If this is a frustration you’ve been dealing with, believe me….you are not alone!!  Here’s the story of my big hold-up. (more…)

Eavie (A1/A2) contentedly munching & milking.

Our A2 results are in!  For those of you who haven’t heard yet, UC Davis now has A2 testing up & running.  Yeah!!!  It’s quite easy.  You go on their website, https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/myvgl/login.html,create an account & enter info on the animals you want tested.  Then you print out your test forms, attach hair samples & mail them in.  Results are emailed to you in a very timely fashion.  Cost is quite reasonable, too.

Noel (A2/A2) finally looks like she might actually be bred.

If some of you are wondering what all the fuss is about A2 milk, you can learn more in Jeff’s article in our Dec. 2009 archive.  The other milk protein, A1, is being found to be associated with some pretty serious human health problems.  And some people with digestive issues caused by ”normal” milk are also finding that A2 milk, especially raw A2 milk, does just fine in their system.  So the news that we now have testing available in the US is very good news indeed. (more…)

Happy Independence Day from Hope Refuge Farm!  My prayer is that we will not lose the freedom we have left to raise our own and provide our family, friends & neighbors with fresh, nutritious foods from our family homesteads.  I enjoy being as independent as possible from the commercial food industry.  Last week I had a mini celebration as I walked past the shelves of milk in the grocery store, giving thanks for my little red cow.  Having our own fresh, raw milk and knowing it’s not tainted with pesticides, hormones or antibiotics has been wonderful.  If you’re hoping to soon be milking your own family cow, here are some ideas on what you’ll need to get started.

My parlor includes a sturdy stanchion with a neck chain and a movable feed trough.

Ready!

First of all, you need a clean milking area, and believe me, it’s nice to milk somewhere that you have storage space for your equipment so you don’t have to carry it all out to the cow each day. I decided I wanted a nice, well-lit, easily cleaned parlor with work & storage area right there.  It’s probably more than necessary if you just have one cow, but the last thing you want is dirt or soiled bedding getting flicked into your pail of milk. (more…)