When we first moved to the country, I didn't give much thought to goat vs cow. I thought we needed a goat to make "goat cheese" and a cow for all of our other dairy products, such as milk, cream, cheddar cheese, yogurt, and so on. Before I learned the error in my thinking, we had already purchased two cows, in addition to three goats we bought. If you grew up drinking … [Read more...]
Gjetost
Gjetost (pronounced yay-toast) translates from Norwegian as “goat cheese,” but it is more like fudge or caramel than cheese in both flavor and the process for making it. It is not ripened. It is simply whey that has been boiled and reduced to about 20 percent of its original volume, which makes it incredibly rich. My first attempt to make gjetost was an icky failure. I wound … [Read more...]
7 Things You Need for Milking Goats
You will need the following items whether you will be milking by hand or with a machine. All of these things can be purchased through goat supply companies, but in some cases you can make your own or come up with creative substitutes that cost less. Milk Stand Don’t skip this one! Someone once bought a perfectly trained milk goat from me and then complained that she was … [Read more...]
Heritage Shorthorns: Dual-Purpose Cattle for Grass-Based Production
At The Livestock Conservancy conference in November, mother-daughter duo Winifred and Martha Hoffman (BestYet A.I. Sires) gave an excellent presentation about Dutch Belted Cattle, which I wrote about in this post: 5 Reasons to Add Dutch Belted Cattle to your Homestead. Well, it turns out that there is another breed of milk cow that the Hoffman's recommend even more for … [Read more...]
5 reasons to add Dutch Belted Cattle to your homestead
After reading Keeping a Family Cow, I've been considering adding a cow or two to our homestead. So I was easily hooked when I learned about a beautiful heritage breed of milk cow - Dutch Belteds. At The Livestock Conservancy conference in November, mother-daughter duo Winifred and Martha Hoffman (BestYet A.I. Sires) gave an excellent presentation about this breed. Three … [Read more...]
Milking donkeys
For those with food sensitivities who are unable to drink cow, goat, or sheep milk, there are other alternatives. In addition to milking her East Friesian sheep, Angelia Silvera of Gods Blessing Farm in Niota, Tennessee, started milking donkeys more than a year ago because of her health problems. “Donkey milk has healed my stomach and digestive issues, and cured food … [Read more...]
Make caramel coffee creamer
Until I was in my 30s, I was never a coffee drinker, but it started with coffee ice cream. Then I moved up to those super sugary, flavored coffee drinks. Then I started making coffee at home and buying the flavored creamers at the grocery store. Once we moved to the homestead, and I started looking to make everything from scratch, I figured out this recipe pretty quickly. If … [Read more...]
Book Review: Keeping a Family Cow
I’ve written previously about how I recently returned from two months traveling across the U.S. working on farms. On a farm I visited in Kentucky, the family had a family cow, and their teenage son was typically responsible for milking. I was really struck by how adept he was at milking the cow for his family as well as his confidence in helping me to learn how to milk too. … [Read more...]
Natural Cheesemaking book review
Have you been looking for a book on natural cheesemaking? Do you want to learn to make cheese without commercial starters, microbial rennet, or freeze-dried fungal spores? Ready to ditch the pH meter, plastic cheese form, and sanitizing solution? Want to say good bye to stainless steel vats and learn to make cheese like our ancestors? Then you need to check out The Art of … [Read more...]
6 reasons homesteaders need a kitchen scale
When I started reading about how to make soap, I noticed that everyone said I needed to have a digital kitchen scale. Why do I need a scale to make soap when people have been making soap for thousands of years? Eventually I learned that when people made soap historically, they used whatever oil was available locally, which usually meant lard or tallow in the U.S., coconut or … [Read more...]