Ah-butter

With all the calving going on, but yet not enough cows in the parlor for cheese making, I decided to get started stocking up on raw milk grass-fed butter. What is this? This is butter made when the cows are out on grass and not pasteurized. With the larger proportion of Jersey cows' milk now in our herd, their milk makes superior butter.

What makes superior butter, you ask? Larger fat globules which the Jersey cows have. The size of the globules makes the butter 'break' into butter and buttermilk more readily than milk with smaller fat globules. And oh, the color! Butter made from cows out on grass is like egg yolks from chickens out on grass-bright yellow. Since I don't own a butter churn I use the food processor method for making butter.



Basically pure chilled cream is put into a food processor and whirred around for a few minutes until it breaks into a sloshy yellow mess of butter and buttermilk. Then it is rinsed with cool water and washed and washed and worked by hand until the liquid is out of the now solid butter. Then all that's left to do is form or package up the butter into whatever vessel you like. I like packing butter to be consumed soon in little ramekins.

Butter for storage is wrapped in freezer paper and frozen to be eaten later in the year. Visit Eatwild to learn more about the benefits of raw milk butter and other dairy products.

Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my...

Lambing, calving and cheese making, oh my! Well spring has truly sprung in Vermont as the grass has just begun on our farm to green up. Granny Smith green at this point. Birthing time always brings with it a season of obstetrics. Little sleep and then all of a sudden lots of babies on the ground. We have a ball watching the lambs, especially, frolicking with each other and engaging in their daily races. Lambs, like clockwork, run races of sorts until they are so out of breath, they all come to a screetching halt at once. How do they know when to all stop at the same time? It's as if it's a choreographed dance. Or perhaps they are a secret society.




Our calves, on the other hand, do what we call, boinging. All of a sudden they discover their legs and boing straight up in the air with tails held skyward and zoom across the field in a short burst. And then they are done.



The above photo is Peony, a first time mom, with her new baby, Carmela. Peony is half Jersey, half Brown Swiss. Unlike most dairies, we leave the babies on the moms for a bit to nurse. There are several reasons for this. For first time moms, it is very beneficial for the bonding process, and what is known as 'let-down'. This is the process of any lactating mammal of letting down her milk. She needs to get used to the sensation of having something nurse on her udder and it is stress-less. On the other hand, training a new mom in the milk parlor having never been nursed before can be a small nightmare. She must learn not only to walk into a very clean man-made room, hear a loud vacuum pump (which runs the milking machines), then stand still while a milker puts teat cups on her udder and then, lastly, let down her milk. So by leaving their babies on for a bit, they learn in a most natural way to let down and also give the farmers a small break during a most challenging and busy time of lambing and calving. Another huge benefit is of health. The calves get the antibody rich colostrum direct from their mothers.

The other day another baby born, to Iris, another Jersey-Brown Swiss.


Altho the heifer introducing herself to him is Bramble, who was born inconveniently in the middle of a blackberry bramble patch a few years ago. The markings on this baby are from his Dutch Belted father, with his semi-belt around his middle. Bramble herself is a Jersey-Dutch Belt cross and she didn't get the white belt either. Her mother, Reo, short for Oreo, has a most beautiful thick white belt across her middle.

The 5 Seasons of Vermont

Well here we are again. The worst season in Vermont. It's called mud season. It is after winter and before spring. Some would argue that in Vermont there is no spring. Just winter and then mud season and quick summer. All the winter run-off causes roads, pastures, fields and driveways to turn to muck. Including ours.

Our small viewing room is still open but if you come to visit please be aware that the farm road to it is a bit messy. This should all end by the end of April-hopefully. It is never a sure thing, how long it will last. And also remember that our viewing room is self-serve as we don't have the extra hands to give formal tours. We are in the throes of calving and lambing now. Yikes!

Please stop by and visit us at the Montpelier Winter farmers market tomorrow, April 5th. It will be the last one until next winter. After this market ends, we will be attending the Burlington Farmers Market for our 15th season! It begins May 10 and runs thru Oct 25, 2008 (Saturdays 8:30-2, in City Hall Park). See you then!