I can't believe it's BUTTER!

Just made my own butter.  WHAT THE VEGT?! I HAVE HAD A SUCCESS!

You can see the cream separated from the milk. I've already skimmed off more than half the cream.

Getting ready to whip in my Kitchen Aid

Skimming

Whipping.

Getting Thicker.

Whip Cream.

Even thicker.

I added salt at this stage.  I probably should have waited and just added it to the butter.... because what happened next surprised me. (Rookie that I am)

The Butter is separating from what I'm guessing is Buttermilk.

LOOK AT IT! I ACTUALLY DID IT!!!

draining the buttermilk from the butter

Now I have salty butter milk and salted butter.  

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!

I just made butter!

I will NOT learn how to make Dutch Pancakes

What can you make with fresh raw milk and fresh free range eggs on a Saturday morning.  If you're my husband, you'd make Dutch Pancakes.  Crepes really. With homemade Maple Syrup from my mom's neighbours in the town of Parry Sound in Northern Ontario where I grew up.  I could post the recipe, but it's always been my goal to never learn how to make them. I don't have the recipe. That little bit of advice came from my mother-in-law 11 years ago and it's advice that I've never questioned.  She told me she had her future daughter-in-laws in mind when she taught both her boys to make Dutch Pancakes.  One of us has never learned.... the other has never had them made for her again.  (ok, I don't know that for sure, 100%, but I do know she regretted learning almost immediately)

This is my dutch pancake making hero.

When I was given some more raw milk, I decided not to waste it on trying to make yogurt quite yet.  My fridge actually only has raw milk in it now and so we need the milk for drinking.  It's so cool to see the milk and cream separating.  I have one jug of milk from a jersey cow and the amount of cream in that jug is almost double the amount in the other jug... and it is slightly more yellowish in colour.  This is the cream I plan on making into butter.  

I knew the fresh eggs and fresh raw milk would be better for us with their higher nutrient content, but I didn't think they would actually make things taste differently. OH MY WORD. Those were the yummiest, tastiest, freshest pancakes I've ever consumed. They did taste different.  They were rich, creamy, perfect in texture. They were the best Dutch Pancakes EVER!!!  They tasted, well... fresh.   

I'm looking around to see what I can take a picture of... but it's too late.  Those pancakes are gone. Long gone. Next time I'll remember to get out my camera and post pictures of the process.

Imagine a Bed and Breakfast boasting of it's farm fresh breakfasts like this.  Add in a little bacon from the pig we raised and I think we'd have a booming business.  

Yesterday the sun shone.... all day!

So, a few days ago I broke down.... it's not that my life is soooo hard. No one is at my door with a gun, no member of my family has a terminal illness, I have more than, more than enough. I have a lovely life. I am busy. But, I can't keep up (with my own stupid standards).... and two days ago I broke under the pressure of a two year old screaming at? with? -who knows anymore- a four year old, and a one year old who seems to be in a perpetual state of snotty grumpy cold flu teething mess, and a six year old who is way, way, WAY smarter than me.

Or it could have been the weather.... Can we just get more than one day of semi-sunshine?  I didn't think that was too much to expect.  It is.  This constant state of cold grey is wearing on me and I NEED a vitamine D fix.  BADLY.  Even for the Lower Mainland, this weather is just out of the ordinary.
Or maybe it was because I am just getting over a cold that has lasted for 2 weeks and I can't seem to catch up on my sleep...
Whatever it was. I phoned Dave sobbing. "I can't do this anymore"  and with three screaming kids in the background, he knew it was true.  He offered me a job 2 days a week on the spot.  I just need to set up daycare.
Yesterday, the sun shone.... all day... a friend of mine offered to take my kids. All three younger ones while Kaelyn was at school.  She said "Do something for you!  Anything you want and don't worry about the kids."  I LOVE HER.
Want to know what I did?  I ran. I showered (I know!!! It's a good day when....). I cleaned the bathrooms. I cleaned the kitchen. I de-cluttered. I had lunch in the sun. By. My. Self.  So simple and yet it was heavenly.  I picked up Kaelyn from the bus and we headed over to Marie's dairy farm.  Dave and Kaelyn and I went out for dinner together.... and the other 3 kids were back in time for bed.

Thank-You Anita.  Words could not express how much oil was poured on my soul.  I woke up this morning ready to tackle the day. Refreshed and ready. thank-you. I WILL be paying this one forward.... just give me a decade to get ready.   All you ladies planning on being a mom in a decade or so from now... I'm your new best friend. You just don't know it yet.

Canuck Overtime Totally killed my Yogurt

I used to make yogurt in my oven. I had a gas stove and so the pilot light in the oven was always on. Perfect for making your own yogurt. There isn't anything easier to make. Take some milk, whisk in some plain yogurt and let it sit in the oven with only the heat from the pilot light for 8 hours and TA DA!! Homemade Yogurt.

My friend (life-saver) Marie came over this morning so that I could go to the Mother's Day Tea with Wesley at Garden Gate Preschool. She brought with her 2 Litres of Raw milk from her newly acquired dairy farm. I was thrilled, but I had just bought about 8 Litres of milk (because my kids only have the option of milk or water at home), so I knew right away that I HAD to try making yogurt with my crock-pot. I found a crock-pot yogurt recipe about a year ago and hadn't tried it yet.

I got out my meat thermometer, because I knew I would have to keep an eye on the temperature. I meant to follow the directions. But I thought I knew better. After all, I'm a VETERAN YOGURT MAKER. Just a little out of practice. I did follow MOST of them... until.... I took the temperature of the fermenting yogurt mixture and it was less than 110 degrees. Yogurt has to be incubated between 110 and 120 degrees to be just right. (perfect gas oven pilot light temperature). So in a moment of thoughtless panic, I thought I'd plug in my crock-pot just to warm it up just a tiny bit. Wellll.... then I got caught up in Canuck overtime and completely forgot about the yogurt on the counter in the crock-pot that was PLUGGED IN!!! WHAT THE VEGT?!?!? At 10:45 into overtime Ryan Kesler scored the winning goal for Vancouver and I.... remembered my yogurt.

I killed it. Murdered all those lovely yogurt cultures... the Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bifidus and Lactobacillus casei... all of them.... dead. The yogurt was supposed to sit all night in the UNPLUGGED crock pot insulated to set.... and Canuck overtime totally killed my yogurt. 10 minutes was all it took for my yogurt to get to 140 degrees. 20 Degrees over the maximum. I could tell right away. GLOP. Total Glop. Clear runny liquid separated from all the thick DEAD glop on the bottom. My 'What the Vegt' debut story, humiliated.... and perfect all the same; a fitting illustration of my life, my blog title, and my rookie hobby farm owner. To top it off, I feel completely guilty and mortified and heartbroken that I totally (wait, I'm blaming the Canucks aren't I? If you boys could just win one in regulation time my cooking, blogging and life would be so much better).... I feel totally wretched that I wasted and ruined my lovely gift of raw milk. Sorry Marie. The Canucks will be so sorry.

Determined to try again.

Here's the CrockPot Yogurt Recipe....

Dry Enchilada Sauce Mix

So I recently came upon Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution show. I know. It's old, but I just found it so that makes it noteworthy. It's inspiring. Over the last year or so I've strived to buy and use less processed foods and to serve foods without packaging, without processing. Raw. Since moving to 2.5 acres in the Lower Mainland last June... just 10 months ago, we've raised our own chickens, pig, bought a side of beef, started a garden and have big BIG plans to raise our own meat, perhaps a dairy cow (aside: did you know you get 16 plus litres of milk FROM ONE COW!!!? What would I DO with all that freaking MILK?!), get a llama, some sheep or goats. We're not sure....when we moved in, the entire house was stuck in the 70ies... that little point deserves and entire post dedicated to it. For tonight, I'll just repeat a facebook post that I made.

When I look up a recipe on the internet, what I find really frustrating is reading on the ingredients list: "1 package dry enchilada sauce mix". I mean, that's why I looked up the recipe. I WANT TO MAKE IT! I don't want a package.... that's why I looked up the recipe. Duh.