Baby Buttercup
Remember the cute story about how our new dairy cow was named Daisy without the Whites, Isaiah, or Stevenson knowing that many years ago we had named one of our former milking cows Daisy? … Well Daisy had her calf! This little girl is named Buttercup and she is so cute! Jersey Cows have the biggest, softest eyes and are just beautiful 😍
Everyone has been having a ton of fun with the calf (cuz who doesn’t love babies) and enjoying the fresh milk immensely!
Raw Milk is a bit of a taboo subject for some odd reason but is slowly gaining popularity again here in the states. While some people are afraid of the bacteria in raw milk (which is killed - pasteurized - in store bought milk), some are convinced that people aren’t naturally supposed to drink it (even though we drink breastmilk exclusively for the first 6 months of our lives, at least), yet some folks enjoy it with every meal.
So what’s the deal? There’s a lot of contradictory material out there, but I can say from personal experience that raw milk didn’t kill any of us growing up. Actually, my dairy problems started when I moved off the ranch and was no longer consuming raw dairy, but the pasteurized stuff in the stores.
And not only do people who are lactose intolerant find that they can drink raw milk and eat raw milk products without problem, but there are also scientific studies that show raw milk can help with: Asthma, Ulcers, Inflammation, Eczema, Allergies, and more!
This is a neat video by Dr. Eric Berg (chiropractor and health educator) explaining the fascinating benefits of raw milk…
I would still caution not to get your raw milk from just anywhere though because we need cleanliness in any environment when dealing with food, but it is no longer something to fear. Sure, pasteurized milk kills all the bad bacteria, but it kills the good bacteria too, and then you’re just drinking a bunch of dead bacteria! This isn’t to say that pasteurized milk doesn’t have any benefits… We’re just saying that raw milk has more 😉
One of the advantages of homesteading is having access to real, Whole Foods like raw milk. Dirt under our fingernails, sunshine on our faces, and unprocessed foods are the way God designed us to be happy and healthy. I think a lot of the chronic depression, anxiety, and unhappiness of our world could be cured if people received more of these three healthy ingredients (dirt, sunshine and unprocessed food) even if just once a week!
And experiencing homemade butter melting over a slice of homemade bread that has just come out of the oven can definitely heal some sadness 😁
Following is a fun explanation with photos on how to make fresh-made Raw Milk Butter…
After milking the cow (which can happen once or twice a day), we immediately strain the milk into sterilized jars and chill them as fast as possible. We chill the jars by placing them into an ice bath or by storing them in a refrigerator that we keep colder than normal. After they sit overnight, the milk and cream have fully separated. We then scoop the cream off the top and are left with “skimmed milk”! And with the cream we make butter 🙂
How to Make Butter
STEP #1
After separating the cream from the milk, place the cream into a food processor or blender and let it rip! This is Téa White making butter for her family 😃
STEP #2
It takes 5-10 minutes for the butter to separate from the buttermilk. Blend it just enough for you to get curds, you’ll lose the separation if you over whip the cream.
STEP #3
Strain out the buttermilk and save it for Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes! I shared this recipe in the entry introducing Daisy.
STEP #4
Place the butter curds into a bowl of ice water and knead out the rest of the buttermilk. The water helps to keep the butter from sticking to your hands. Change the water out and repeat until the water is clear of buttermilk.
STEP #5
Enjoy!
Until next time, God Bless!
Tyler Straight
Oldest Zeiter Kid
OLR Design & Outreach Manager
