Sunday, July 08, 2012

One Is The Loneliest Number

But twins are twice as nice! Our poor mama goat finally had her babies yesterday and had twin does (female goats) which is a great outcome. It was super hot but the babies seemed OK and look good this morning....


In other news we are just drowning in milk. We need to make more pudding and custard! That Jersey cow is a milk machine!

7 comments:

Aussie John said...

Arthur,

At least, your family have the simple privilege of knowing where milk comes from. Your comment about the Jersey, brought back memories, and a smile.

Fourty-five years ago, my wife and I used to milk 130 Guernseys (with milking machines). Our church used to bring a busload of city children for a day on the farm.

Whilst we were milking one afternoon, a nine year old boy was looking intently at the indicator glass through which the milk flowed.

His innocent comment was,"Hmmmnn! I often wondered how you got the milk into the cows!"

Bean said...

Cute goats. That poor mama goat looked ready to burst in the picture you posted a few weeks back, bless her for making it through the past week of 100 degree weather, praise Lord it has finally cooled down a bit, now if we could just get some rain.
Have you guys tried making cheese? It is best made with raw milk, I think the ratio of milk to cheese is about 5 gallons of milk to make 1lb of cheese. Cottage cheese is a simple cheese to make and good for beginners, mozarella is supposed to a fairly good one to start with. You can get rennet at the Amish stores around here. I made a hard white cheese, it was rather dry, but didn't taste bad, I was just pleased that I ended up with a wheel of cheese that actually looked like cheese :)

Shame you are not allowed to sell any of that raw milk cause I would buy some in a heartbeat.

Bean

Bean said...

My milk to cheese ratio was incorrect, it takes a little over a gallon of milk, (about 10 pounds of milk) to make 1 lb of cheese.

Arthur Sido said...

John, that is high comedy! Of course it also speaks to a very real issue, namely that kids and adults alike don't know where their food comes from.

Arthur Sido said...

Bean

We are working on cheese, I will let you know how it goes. As far as the raw milk, I am exploring ways of donating milk and getting a donation in return :)

Bean said...

one way to do raw milk is to sell a "share" in the cow, then a monthly stipend is paid to pay for a share of the cows keep in return for milk, this way you are not technically selling the milk you are sharing it with another owner who owns a bit of the cow! There is an organic dairy farm down by Decatur and they do this, it is rather salty to purchase a share of the cow and then commit to the ongoing keep, in return share owner gets a dividend of about a gallon of milk per week.
Cheese making is like bread making, it takes a lot of trying to get it good. Just one of those things that you have to keep experimenting until you get the results you truly want. However, a glass of homemade wine, a hunk of homemade bread, and some homemade cheese would be a wonderful reward once everything aged just right!

Bean

Bean said...

And what kind of donations are you guys interested in if you did decide to donate some milk?? Inquiring minds want to know :)