dairy

I'm sorry I haven't been updating for a couple weeks. Thanks for keeping an eye on our blog. Spring has been sooooo busy! But it's been good busy...you know what I mean?

Here's what's been happening. I plan to blog about all of it in the days and weeks to come.

First, I'd like to thank everyone for the great feedback on the profile in Hometown Focus as well as the mozzeralla cheese article I wrote. It's been fun hearing from you! If you missed it, you can find it here. Lots of people have tried and succeeded! I acutally havent' heard from a failure yet.

We have just finished selling about 50 half hogs. They are all (but one) safely tucked away in their owner's freezers ( and tummies!).

Calving has started! Here's a photo....blogs are boring without at least one photo.

We took a bunch of hogs to McDonald's Meats in Clear Lake MN for USDA processing. That meat can (and will) be sold at Natural Harvest in Virginia, MN, Tower and Ely Farmers Markets, and right here off the farm!

 The first batch of baby chicks is in the brooder!

A winter's worth of manure needs to be scooped up and spread on the fields.

The fields need to be disced and planted.

We picked up the USDA meat in Clear Lake, delivered to Natural Harvest, and filled our freezers here at the farm!

On a personal note, we have our oldest graduating this year and are racing to finish an addition on our house.

We have a couple Head Start groups coming to visit again. This year, I swear I'll get photos!

Shannon still has to squeeze in a little firewood making....our wood shed in running low a bit too quick.

And we are still milking twice a day and dealing with all that milk.

Keep checking in...I'll fill you in on all the stuff I mentioned.

We are really lucky to have Roo, our family's milk cow. Right now she gives about 4 gallons of milk a day. So, I make mozzerlla cheese, yogurt, ice cream, sour cream and butter.  I thought you might like seeing how easy it is.

This gallon of milk is from last night's milking. By morning, the cream has risen to the top of the jar. See the color change in the top 1/5 of the jar or so? That's cream. I use a ladle to skim off the cream and put it in a blender.

The remaining milk is what we pour into bottles for the table.

After blending the cream on high for anywhere from 3-7 minutes butter separates from the milk. After you strain the milk away, this is what I have to work with. 

I take this over to the sink and wash away the extra milk under cold water...working the milk out of butter clump by pressing and mushing it and folding it over itself. When no milky colored water squeezes out, it's ready to be salted and put in a bowl.

One gallon of our creamy Jersey milk yields 1/4 pound of butter.

Recently I was interviewd by Janna Goerdt who is a small farmer in Embarrass as well as a writer for the Hometown Focus, a small energetic newspaper in Virginia, MN. Among other things, the paper is featuring local food in anticipation of the Iron Range Earthfest that's coming up. The article about our farm will appear in a few weeks, I guess.  appeared in the April 2nd edition.

Janna asked me to write a little  how-to article to accompany the interview. She suggested it be my mozzerella cheese recipe - which really isn't mine...it's just the one I make.  I added lots of coaching notes to it though. I don't know how much of the recipe and instructions will appear in the paper.

 I was kinda long winded. People who know me will not be surprised by this!

I have added  a few pictures.

Making Mozzarella Cheese in the Microwave in 30 minutes?

Yes , you can!  Really you can! Well, okay the first time might take 45 minutes while you fumble around a little bit...but the next time it'll be zippy quick! You also don't have to use the microwave. It's just a bit quicker and easier.

It takes just a few ingredients that are easily purchased at Natural Harvest Food Coop in Virginia ( you don't have to be a member to shop there!) or online from http://www.cheesemaking.com/.  My recipe is from that website. The owner of the company is Ricki Carroll who is known as the Cheese Queen. She is mentioned in lots of magazines and books, including Animal, Vegetable , Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

I am lucky and have my own milk cow and use her milk for my cheese, but you can use raw milk or plain old grocery store whole  milk for this recipe.  It's important to note that it cannot be Ultra Pasteurized Milk which is a process some organic milk producers use to increase the distance they can ship their products.  The citric acid costs about $5 at the co-op is is enough for many batches of cheese. The Co-op is great about selling rennet and lets you buy just one tablet at a time for about 75 cents....this is enough for 4 batches of cheese.

Put one gallon of milk in a big pot on the stove,  add 1 1/2t of citric acid  and stir for just a bit to mix it in. This is going to sour your milk...don't be alarmed by the little clumpy things that form.

Place a 1/4 of a rennet tablet into a 1/4 cup of cool water and dissolve it. When you cut the tablet...it probably won't cut very neatly. Don't worry about using a 1/2 tablet instead. I do it all the time. Keep the rennet solution handy. Heat the milk slowly to 90 degrees. Remove the pot from the heat, slowly stir in the rennet solution in an up and down fashion for about 30 seconds. Cover and let it sit for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes check out your milk. It should have sort of gelled into one firm unit like a big white jello. Take a finger and press into it. In a perfect world you'll have a clean break and the cheese breaks apart without crumbling. You'll see the liquid (whey) has separated from the jello-y stuff (curd).

In a perfect world, the whey will be clear liquid with a bit of green tinge to it. If your curd hasn't set really nice, you can try giving it just a bit more heat and let it sit another 5 minutes.  Then -  no matter what it looks like - we move on.  If your curd ended up looking like a swirly globby mess on top of that greenish water, do not fear! The cheese will turn out great anyway. It happens to me every now and again. Don't stop now!

Take a long straight knife and cut down into the curd in a checkerboard fashion making little cubes.  Then do it again holding your knife at an angle to make those long deep cubes into smaller chunks.

We are  breaking up the curd to release more whey. No need for perfection we are just gently breaking up the curd.  If you have the swirly messy looking curd, you can skip the curd cutting.  Hang it there, swirly curd people. It really will be okay.

Put the pot back on the stove and heat it to 105 degrees stirring gently.  It's okay that the whey is  turning white...it's supposed to.

Now you need to work quickly. You want to pull your curds out of the whey. You can dump the whey down the sink, feed it to your pigs and chickens, or use it for special recipes. But your goal is to save the curds.  I tip my pot to gently pour out the whey and then use a big slotted spoon to work the whey out. You'll get the hang of it.  Dump your curds and what's left of the whey into a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for one minute on high power. 

Dump your curd into a  colander and work out some more whey in sort of a kneading fashion.  Don't worry. You can't do it wrong. It's going to look sort of smooth and shiny. As it cools you'll see it becomes harder to work. Pop the curd back into the bowl, and microwave another 35 seconds.  Work out some more whey....it's getting pretty hot now isn't it? 

 I keep cold water running in my sink and cool my hands as I work the cheese. Add some salt, start with a 1/2 tsp and see what you think. I use more.  When it comes out after the 2nd 35 seconds it might be hot enough to stretch..this is fun. Grab your curd and pull it apart, it should stretch without breaking.  Work it this way until it cools too much to work. If it won't stretch, zap in for another 35 seconds. After you've stretched it, microwave one more time to make it pliable again. Taste to check the salt level adding more if needed. Shape into a nice disc. Put it in a bowl or on a plate.

Let it cool a bit and enjoy. Or cover with plastic wrap and keep in fridge...but it's really the best when it's warm and fresh.

After you have done this a few times, you'll note that the more you work it and the more times you heat it the firmer a cheese you'll get. That is the kind my husband likes  - while my son prefers is a little softer. Don't worry. It's all good. Make it and let me know how it came out by emailing me at wycoff@frontier.com

 Monday morning when I went to the barn at 5:30 to start chores, I heard a wonderful sound inside - the soft low moo of a mama cow talking to her newborn.  There is nothing like that ever so peaceful sound.

We had been anxiously awaiting our milk cow's calf and really, really hoping for a heifer (female) calf so that one day we can milk her, too. Our plan was for our youngest daughter, Maggie, to bottle feed it and halter train it so that she could be shown at the County Fair next year. She would be tame and trained to be easily handled for milking when she grew and gave us a calf of her own. Of course, if it was a boy dairy calf it would only be destined to be meat so we couldn't make a pet of him. We really really wanted a heifer.

I came around the corner in the barn Monday morning to see Roo, our milk cow, standing quietly over a still wet calf. She was attentitvely licking off the calf, and the calf was laying down with it's head upright and alert. All was well.

I went to get some clean straw to spread out to cover the messes, and as I spread it around I checked to see what Roo had given us. It was a girl!  I went in the house to wake Maggie so she could get started with her calf. 13 year old Maggie was so thrilled so see it take it's first steps and drink it's first bottle. She named her Rosie.

We are proud to welcome Rosie to Bear Creek Acres

About two weeks ago, Shannon, our son Jack, our friend Joe, and I went on a 3 ½ hour drive into Wisconsin to buy for me a …….dairy cow!

We have been buying my milk – raw – from a local dairy farmer, but the farm is a long way away from us. So for a while, I have been toying with the idea of a family cow. You can read a lot about the concept of a family cow on this forum: http://familycow.proboards32.com/index.cgi

Shannon and Joe have both been nudging me along in this idea, and when the opportunity came up – I jumped in.

Roo comes from a certified organic dairy farm. She is a Jersey Shorthorn cross. Roo is in her second lactation and is expected to freshen (have a calf) in August. She gives us about 2 gallons of milk a day. The dairy no longer wanted her because she has one quarter ( an udder is divided into four quarters each with it’s own teat) that is bad and one that doesn’t make enough milk. For us – she’s perfect.

We don’t need all the milk she can make so our pigs get the extras. Pigs love milk! Her owner told us that after she freshens she’ll give 6 gallons a day!

 You can't see it, but there's a bowl of milk under all these noses and ears...

 Really!