WOOHOO!

Buttercup is on to greener pastures!  And I am sleeping in tomorrow.

Bittercup

It isn't a typo.  It is time for Buttercup to move on to greener pastures.  This last round of trouble just won't end.  Out of five months of milking, I calculate that there have been 6-7 weeks I have not been able to drink her milk.  I still have to milk her, I just end up having to dump the milk.  The cost of grain, alfalfa, and vet bills have just made her a money pit.

I know that most of the troubles have not been caused by her, but by her owners.  And the milking machine.  I get that.  Maybe in a few years, when the other parts of life aren't all so pressing, we can try again.  It would be nice to get to do the chores with the kids, but they are simply too little now. 

For right now, I want to focus on people, gardening, and school with time left for creating and cultivating beauty. I want to put a little more time into doing things that last and that bring joy than dealing with milk.

I am trying not to see this as a failure because I have learned so much.  I have learned I do not want my life to revolve around a cow.  :)  One thing can be said about us, we're certainly willing to try new things and do things out of the ordinary!  This decision hasn't been made rashly and we are both in agreement.  Now that the decision is made, I hope she can go soon.  Sweetheart put her on Craig's List yesterday and we have already had six people respond. 

joining The Country Homemaker Hop

Love this Gift!

I was given this tile as a gift from my Stepmom's Dog.  Though kinda Christmasy, it will remain up in the kitchen year round.  I love it!  Thanks, Maggie.

Buttercup

 

Moo.

Buttercup.

Solo

 

Sweetheart and my Mom left while I was out milking Buttercup to head back to Denver.  That leaves me in charge again of three kids, one cow and 18 chickens.  Hopefully, this trip will be faster for Sweetheart for all our sakes.  We will miss my Mom though.  We have enjoyed this time with her and her help was invaluable when Sweetheart was gone and I had to hand milk.

I am still hand milking, but hope to try the machine out again tomorrow.  Timing the milkings to be done while all the kids are sleeping is fine when it only takes a half hour.  The hour and a half to two hour thing, not so easy.  Essentially, when I add in all the prep work and clean up, Buttercup is a part time job seven days a week.  Plus, there is the added time of simply making all the butter, cheeses, and yogurts.  No wonder I am struggling with my time.

Yesterday I made some more coffee creamer.  I love flavored coffee, but when I actually started reading the labels in the grocery store a few years ago (!) I had to stop buying them.  I really try to eat anything containing ingredients I cannot pronounce.  It is a simply rule really, but makes for a lot more cooking from scratch.
I was inspired by her posts on creamers a few weeks ago and pinned them.  Since I have an unlimited source of fresh milk and creamer I decided to try some.

Now, I have altered the recipes to fit what I have on hand and doubled the recipes (see unlimited source of milk note).  Essentially, I heat up one cup of milk and one cup of cream until they steam.  Then add a variety of ingredients.  The link's recipes call for maple syrup for sweetener and cacao beans.  Not having these on hand, I just used sugar or sucanat and unsweetened cocoa powder.  Not as natural, but I don't get out much and try to use what is on hand.  I did equal amounts of sugar for syrup, but it was pretty sweet the first time.  Now I just use less.

I don't seem to have almond extract on hand, but I have all sorts of other yummy extracts I had bought at my favorite spice store before we moved.  Last night's batch was one cup milk, one cup cream, 4 Tbl cocoa, 3 Tbl sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 tsp orange extract.  I have made it with coconut extract and plan to try out my caramel extract next time.  (I just on their website they have a Butterscotch Extract.  Yum!  Maybe I can get Sweetheart to drop in before he comes home!)  I poured it all into a quart-sized milk bottle and chilled it.  Shake well before pouring!  And try not to just drink it out of the bottle.  I have heard that some people do that.  :)

So now after freezing out in the barn this morning, I turned on the coffee percolator as soon as I got back inside.  I let the coffee brew while I skimmed and chilled the milk.  Then I poured my huge mug full of strong coffee and added the creamer.  A little bit of bliss goes a long way!  And there is no weird film left on your tongue.  What is that from?  Sorry.

Ok, so today we are planning on just relaxing and having some fun.  I do need to churn butter and steam juice the elderberries I picked the other day.  There will probably be some cookies or scones made as well.  I will need to check on the apples on the trees and maybe pick some more pears.

Last Sunday, I made cookies after breakfast and surprised the boys with a reading and eating cookie time just all snuggled together.  It was such a nice break after all the turmoil of the week.  And seriously, those cookies are just perfect this time of year and gingery and spicey and soft.  Go make some.  And sub in some coconut oil for the shortening, if you want.  It is an old recipe.  ;)  Also, you don't have to make them in bear shapes.  I just use my mini cookie scoop thing and bake them for 10-12 minutes.

Well, I just heard the boys wake up, so it is time to go.  Have a wonderful weekend!  What kinds of fun do you have planned?

Today was Interesting

The day started at 5:30.  I milked Buttercup and tested her for mastitis.  The test was a positive in one of her quarters.  I called the vet and picked up some medicine for her.  This means I had to stuff a syringe into her teat and infuse the meds into her udder.  Lovely.  It also means that I will be hand milking for the foreseeable future.

The good news is we can still use the other three quarters' milk.  It would stink to have to toss it all.  The up side to hand milking is that it is quiet.  The machine is so noisy.  Though it is nice to be able to hook her up and do the other chores at the same time like feeding the chickens, cleaning, and feeding the neighbor's horses.

I had to call for help last night.  One chicken died yesterday morning, and one the evening before.  Between more chickens looking like they were about to die, and the possible mastitis issue, I really needed someone who knew what they were doing.  My neighbor is wonderful with cow things, but hates chickens and is out of town anyway.

The friends that came over last night were so helpful.  They know chickens and said it was time to butcher them anyway so they would come over today and help.  I had not realized it was time simply because they have been Sweetheart's project.

So, the wife came over today and we processed all the meat birds.  That sounds so tidy, doesn't it?  It wasn't.  At all.

This was the first time I have had to kill anything larger than a bug.  And I killed all of them after the first one.  It is a hard thing to do.  I think my general feeling of being completely overwhelmed may actually be helping as I cannot dwell on much for long.

I had hoped to kill and pluck the chickens and be able to keep them whole for roasting.  I really like chicken roasted and love having all the bones for broth.  And had we been able to plan and prep for the slaughter, I would have been able to process them the way I wanted.  However, just being grateful that I didn't have to do it all alone, I will take whatever I can get.  Which ended up being quite a lot of bags of meat in parts and no feathers to pluck.

After the extensive clean up, I drove the remains up the forest road and dropped them off the side.  There are some happy bears and coyotes and wolves tonight.  We had leftover Beef & Barley Stew, but chicken in on the menu for tomorrow.  I think I may have to fry it, which I love, or do Chicken and Dumplings.  (What do you want for dinner, Mom?)

Then it was time to milk, feed horses and take care of the remaining laying chickens.

I am about ready to drop, but decided to write while waiting for the dishwasher to finish running.  It is a portable one that you have to shut the water off when the wash cycle ends, or the water will just run until you do.  It just ended so I will be signing off in a moment.

Hopefully, Sweetheart will be home in a few days.  His three day trip is on Day 9 and I am not sure when it will end.  Doing all this myself is not fun.