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The Self-Sufficient Country Life:
Home Dairy
Late winter is when we finalize our spring planning. Seeds are ordered for the garden and Bob will get those started in our solarium soon. Starting our own plants, rather than buying from a greenhouse, allows us to choose from a wider variety of vegetables. We can decide exactly when the green beans should be ready for picking and when a tomato canning marathon will begin.
The solarium gets direct sunlight for most of the day.
Our solarium, or sunroom, is an attached four-season room facing east/south-east and has windows on 3 sides. It is sunny and warm and plants love it. We set up tables near the windows and, because we are in and out of this room several times a day, the plants are closely watched over. We have a 10’x16’ greenhouse that we use to harden off plants but we found that we forget the plants when we use it to start the seeds.
Besides getting ready to start our garden we are milking our freshened cow. The term, freshened, means she has had her calf and is ready to be milked.
Emma, nose-deep in the hay during milking.
We have 3 dairy cows; one is pregnant and in the pasture with the beef cattle, the second had a calf a few weeks ago and is currently being trained for hand or machine milking, the third is our 5-year old, reliable, sweet darling who is milked daily. Bless her heart, Emma is so gentle and precious. She came from a small dairy herd with New Zealand Jersey genetics and has a unique feature that allows her to be milked only once a day without damage to her mammary system. She won’t get an overfull udder, resulting in mastitis. Right now, we get 3 gallons more or less each morning. We trade off milking with our daughter, who lives next door to us so, every other day, I have 3 gallons of milk to process in one way or another.
A home dairy is really central to our self-sufficiency plans. Dairy products provide both fat and protein in our diet. The entire farm’s health is centered around our dairy cow. We supplement a calf’s diet and feed extra to the dogs and cats, as well as the chickens. The whey and buttermilk left over after making cheese or butter go to a pig my grandson is raising. The manure gets spread on the pasture or put into a composting pile.
The milk is ready to be strained and then quickly cooled.
After milking, the milk is strained and cooled immediately. Cleanliness is absolutely necessary when handling the milk. All equipment that comes in contact with the milk is either stainless steel or glass. I have one-gallon jars with a gasket to store the strained milk in. It keeps odors and bacteria out, as the gasket clamps down to make an airtight seal (these are available on Amazon). The milk is strained through a closely woven cotton toweling material directly from the bucket into the jars. There are disposable milk strainer discs you can buy, but we found that this works better. We secure the material to the large funnel with clip clothespins. The cloth is rinsed and then washed well by hand when we are done. I hang the cloth outside in the sunshine to dry. {OK. Full Disclosure: I lost part of the funnel that holds the disposable filter discs in place and needed to come up with an alternative. To replace the funnel and parts was $40 and I hated to spend that when, as soon as the new filter shows up, I’ll find the missing pieces. Using the cloth was just a “Maybe this will work” kind of thing. And, it turns out, I like it better.}
We cool the milk by putting the sealed jars into ice cold water with frozen 1-liter bottles of water. This cools the milk a lot faster than just putting it in the refrigerator.
As the milk sits for a day in the frig, the cream separates from the milk by rising to the top. This cream can be skimmed off – I use a ½ cup dipper – and put into a large jar. When I have about 2 quarts of cream (usually 2 gallons of milk are skimmed) I make butter.
I have an older model electric butter churn. We have done the shaking-the-mason-jar butter making, but honestly, that takes so long. We found this churn at a second-hand store and it makes 2 cups of butter in no time. Amazon sells butter churns for under $200. Lehman’s Hardware has a smaller electric churn, too.
The cream is in the churn and ready to be made into butter. We found this old Sears churn at a second hand store. It isn't pretty but it works.
Put the room-temperature cream in the jar and turn the churn on. (Make sure it is secure on the counter – you will have an awful mess if the churn falls off.) The cream will become fluffy and then collapse on itself. You will notice fat globules gathering together.
There are a few stages the fat globules go through. The first is a soft, grainy stage. If you stop here, you will have a heck of a job getting all the liquid out of your butter.
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The butter has separated from the liquid and it's ready to be 'worked'.
The second stage is when the butter begins to gather and become firm. Finally, the butter becomes almost solid in appearance as it swirls around in the churn jar.
Pour the butter and liquid out of the jar into a large bowl. I use a ceramic or stainless-steel bowl. Use a strainer or a slotted spoon to remove the fat globs and put the liquid aside. (This makes the most amazing biscuits!!!)
The butter and liquid are poured into a stainless steel bowl.
All the solids are removed from the liquid with a slotted spoon for rinsing to remove all the milk from it. The milk will sour and ruin the butter.
Now you need to remove as much of the milk trapped in the butter as you can. (The milk will sour and ruin your butter, even if it is kept in the frig.) Work the butter over and over, rinsing it in very cold water as you work it. This will take some time, but you will see and feel the butter becoming more ‘butter-like’. Start adding a teaspoon of non-iodized salt as you work the butter. I use sea salt that I buy at Dollar General. Taste the butter to see if you need more salt. If it is too salty, just add cold water and work it to remove salt. When you think you are done, you aren’t. Rinse it through 3 or 4 more water changes. Now! You are done!
Store the butter in a glass or ceramic container with a tight-fitting lid in the frig. Add some of your favorite herbs if you want. You can also freeze the butter.
Working the butter to remove the liquid. I use a hand-crafted wooden spatula I found at the 2018 Mother Earth's Fair in Pennsylvania. Put ice cold water in the bowl with your butter solids and press the solids to 'squeeze' the water through. You will see the water becoming milky. Pour it off and repeat until the water is nearly clear after squeezing.
The butter is done and ready to use. Delicious!
If you don’t have access to fresh cream, you can make butter with heavy cream from any grocery store. Make sure you are not buying ultra-pasteurized milk or cream. This process changes the cream’s ability to separate into butter and buttermilk.
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We use our milk without pasteurization, unless we are making cheese or yogurt. Each state has rules and laws about raw milk use. Please check with your state’s government before buying or selling raw milk. People have gone to prison for selling raw milk. In Ohio, we can only use the milk for our own personal use. We don’t even give it away, though we are very careful about cleanliness and the health of our animals.
There are organizations lobbying for better rules regarding raw milk consumption. If you are interested in joining that battle, look for groups in your state or locale. Much like homeschooling, this will be a state-by-state battle.
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Building your personal apothecary:
I became interested in essential oils and herbs many years ago but, because I was working full-time, I never had the time to really delve into the subject. So, I started building my own apothecary more recently.
I like to do things myself – put a meal on the table with food from our farm, mending clothes instead of buying new ones, make soap from scratch, or adding homemade egg noodles to leftover chicken bone broth for a quick lunch. It’s really not simple living; it’s very complex, and yet fundamental.
Handmade bath soaks are kept dry and sealed in the cabinet. Moisture is the enemy of herbs and the aromatic oils.
For thousands of years, people lived – and lived well – without electricity, giant box-stores, Wonder bread, and frozen margarita mix. Their homes were gracious and well-built. The family and church were the centers of the community. Gatherings were celebrated times of entertainment, gentle gossip, and the exchange of ideas. Heavy work was shared. Children worked beside their parents and grandparents.
Now we sit in the same room with others and spend all our time looking at our phones. I do it, too! No judgement from me.
But, I also know there is a better way and I want to bring that better way to my life in as many ways as I reasonably can.
When I started my own little apothecary, or herbal pharmacy, I sensed that I was on to something important. All I need to do is open the doors to my cabinet and the fragrance rolls over me. Sweet, savory, minty, spicy, and something that just smells very ‘green’. My little jars hold dried herbs that I collected from our farm or bought during a trip to my favorite store in Amish Country. I remember the summer day when I picked the peppermint to dry and the sweet gal who measured out the golden seal for me and asked about the salve I was making.
Just opening the cabinet doors and experiencing the many aromas calms me.
I remember the day Bob found the jars at our local dollar store and brought one over to me. I was thrilled with the squat little things which hold nearly 2 cups of herbs and have an airtight seal. The next day, I got my Prismacolor pencils out and made labels for each herb. I’m not much of an artist, but I felt inspired that day.
My little jars were $1 each and I made the labels on a rainy afternoon.
My apothecary is organized and it is easy for me to find the herb I need. When Bob became sick with an upper respiratory infection this past winter, I made a steam tent for him with mullein and peppermint. He was able to relax and get some sleep without coughing.
I made a drawing salve that the whole family uses for cuts and skin infections. The golden seal and echinacea work with activated charcoal to draw and heal.
I will add to my stock this summer. This is another task for Spring – use the reference books to identify plants I need to gather, when to gather them, and what part of the plant to gather. Some, like hawthorn, are easiest to identify when flowering. I will tie a ribbon around the tree so I can find it in the fall and collect the berries. They are important for cardiovascular health.
If you are interested in herbal medicine and independent living, consider starting your own apothecary. Buy some good reference books – anything by Rosemary Gladstar is a great place to start. Use interesting glass jars or old mason jars. Talk with the folks at the bulk food or alternative health store – they are great resources. Maybe plan an herb garden. Look around your house and see what you already have ‘in your hand’.
Every day is a gift,
Polly
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