Parkay? No way!

Since, our Jersey cow Ruby calved, we've been getting quite a bit of milk on the farm. So, we've been trying to think of what do with the milk besides the obvious (raise her calf Opal on it). So, we have made butter. We had read where it was really easy and now we agree. We put the milk in the refrigerator and left it for a couple of days in order to allow as much of the cream as possible to rise. Then, we simply skimmed the cream off the top and placed it in a jar and began to shake it. It was a very simply process and very interesting to watch. The cream started in a very liquid state and with shaking, quickly turned into whipped cream. With continued shaking, small droplets of butter started to form. We just kept shaking and soon there was a large glob of butter in the jar. It truly was a very easy process. We drained off the buttermilk and then washed the butter under cold water.

I even drank some of the buttermilk. I had always had a very bad image of buttermilk and prepared myself for the worst. However, I was pleasantly surprised with its very sweet milk flavor. Will have to use some to make homemade buttermilk biscuits soon and top it off with the homemade butter.

Once the butter was washed, we put it in the refrigerator and now have a nice supply for our usage. We aren't 100% self sufficient, but it's a pretty good feeling to know that we now produce our own supply of milk, eggs, and butter on our farm. Very thankful for the animals and what they give us in return for their care.

Stop by sometime for some buttered biscuits!