making butter

Our produce share for the week. Such bounty and color at this point in the season - it's beautiful. And so bittersweet, too, as I know it's a sign of the end. Among our greens and oranges and reds - in the center - is some raw milk. Ezra, in particular, is a fan of the idea of raw milk, as much as I'm in love with the idea of knowing the name of the cow from which our milk comes. This milk comes from Dulsie, the Mama cow we see each week. We talk a lot on the ride to and fro the farm about Dulsie and the milk she gives. And all the many things that her milk becomes.

After we made cheese at the farm earlier in the summer, Ezra was most interested in making some butter. From Dulsie's milk. And finally - finally, today we did.

We got some instructions from the farm, but checked here online too. Really, though, it was pretty simple - skim the cream off the top, shake (a lot), drain, shake (a lot more), rinse, form into a shape. So simple that I've been wondering all day how it is that I've made it 30 years in this life without making my own butter. I'm so glad we did so today.

Once we started and I knew how much Ezra was loving the whole thing, I realized we needed something really special to put this butter upon. So out to our blueberry bushes we went, and returned in to the kitchen for some blueberry muffin making.

So good. So very, very good. So good that it prompted one of my near-daily visits to the real estate websites to search for Maine farms for sale (I can't help myself). Nothing quite right for us, though - not yet, anyway. And so, for the time being, I'll gladly take our local milk when we can get it, make it into whatever my little ones prefer (yogurt next?), and treasure the whole thing. And of course, give our thanks to Dulsie, the cow.

Comments

[Kristy]

One of best ever school memories was making butter aged about 6.The whole class took it in turns to shake the jar all day almost! The next day our wonderful teacher brought in homemade jam and scones for us to have it on.Just amazing and something I'm sure your boys will always remember!

[t]

Find the children's picture book, Kiss the Cow, by Phyllis Root. I think your family would enjoy it.

[IamSusie]

You can make butter with whipping cream from the grocery store, just be sure it is pure with no stabilizers in it. I'm all for the raw milk thing, but this can be a stopping block for folks who just want to do a simple activity with their kids without too much running around for special ingredients.

http://webexhibits.org/butter/doityourself.html

[IamSusie]

You can make butter with whipping cream from the grocery store, just be sure it is pure with no stabilizers in it. I'm all for the raw milk thing, but this can be a stopping block for folks who just want to do a simple activity with their kids without too much running around for special ingredients.

http://webexhibits.org/butter/doityourself.html

[melissa]

i am so impressed by this. i grew up on a farm but sadly we never tried making our own butter! such a wonderful thing to do with your children- and i love the idea of giving thanks to the animal that produced the ingredients.

[kat nicholas]

Thank you so much for your blog and this post. I've been reading your blog for some time now and haven't ever left a comment until today. I figure it's time to come out and tell you how inspiring you are, the way you continually teach your children while living such a fulfilling life.

I live in North Carolina and am very fortunate to have so many great local farms and CSAs in my area. We would like to start a small farm of our own but our 5 acre lot is currently very full of trees. . . it's a hard thing to think about cutting down so many trees. For now, we're enjoying the dappled light and the birds while we seek balance between the beauty that is before us and the bounty that could be. We definitely plan on chickens and goats and, if I one day get my wish, a little donkey too. In the meantime, we feel very lucky to be able to purchase fresh eggs from a neighbor's sons while my two year old ogles their llamas. (The sons are 8 and 5 and call themselves the "eggstraordinary egg brothers"; they sell them for $1.00 a dozen and have the most beautiful orange yolks you've ever seen)
We buy local milk and cream all the time, but have never tried to find raw milk - going to have to give it a try, I reckon. . .

[Steph]

Every kid needs to try their hand at making butter!
I love the little arm in the top photo!

[Mary C]

We've been drinking raw milk for 5 years now. The benefits have been remarkable!

Thanks for spreading the wisdom through your wonderful blog.

[colleen]

i'm not trying to rush things along or anything, but i can't wait to see what wonderful things your children will do when they get a bit older. i think ezra will be the memoirist -- he just strikes me as one, with that little secret smile!

[tereza]

I just started to make my own butter a month ago... If you have a food processor, it can be super quick.

http://webexhibits.org/butter/doityourself.html

[Rae]

Wow, good job, Dulcie. I love raw milk, and raw CHEESE! MMMMMM.

[amanda]

That is so fantastic. And yummy! You guys rock. And so does Dulcie!

[Tere]

I've noticed those cute little blueberry muffins popping up every now and then on your blog, I was wondering about your recipe. Is it from a book, or something you could post for us? :-) Thanks!
Tere

[SOULEMAMA]

Tere - you know, I was actually going to post the recipe in today's post, but then I remembered that I already had! It's the same recipe as the bread recipe in this post:

http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/2005/08/banana_blueberr.html

[todd]

Wow, look at how yellow that butter is! No annato there, that's just cream from a grass-fed cow!

[Grace]

I have a very painful kidney stone right now, but I finally dragged myself out of bed to see what you and just a couple of other bloggers are up to today, and so glad I did. This just warms my heart so much. Two reasons: my very urban mama (a farm mama at heart) used to make butter with us when we were little. We got our milk & full-fat cream from a local farm when I was wee.
Second, I have the same obsession about looking for farms for sale (only in our area, not Maine). It made me smile to read of another person's obsession with the same thing!

[Grace]

PS: I adore that middle photo. And I talk about getting chickens on a near daily basis. We also live in a city with an ordinance against them, and also in a condo with no yard. ;)

[Leslie]

Buttermilk! The stuff you drained off is buttermilk, low fat and great for baking. This is not like the stuff from the store. I've been churning butter for years at our historical farm (where we did lots of homeschooling stuff.) Let me know if you need any help/advice about churning-there are lots of churns and you can shape/mold, etc.

[Laura]

My brother and I used to irritate our parents in restaurants when we discreetly (or so we thought) shook those little plastic cups of creamer with the hope we'd make butter. Your lucky kids get to do it in the open! Love that tablecloth!

[MiraclesHappen]

We have one raw milk farm in the state of Arizona and it just happens to be in our hometown. It is wonderful to have it that close. The raw milk has been wonderful for me because I was missing an enzyme that would allow me to digest red meat and milk products properly and the raw milk supplies that enzyme so that I am able to enjoy the other items without the painful cramping associated with it before. Imagine that - God made it just right straight from the cow! :o)

[Diane]

What could be more wonderful!? I love homemade everything, so another one for my list. Good luck with the farm hunting. That's my dream too - ever since I was a little girl...

[Ahna]

Ahh. Today I am living my life through your blog. It sounds idyllic. We've been thinking about getting a share of a co-op farm, and this just cinched it. Thanks!

[Bluebirdbaby]

We get raw goat's milk down the road from us and make yogurt with it. If you want a yogurt maker, I highly recommend the Euro Cuisine YM80. I did a lot of research and I especially like how this one has glass jars. We aren't fans of plastic here. We get our started at the local natural foods co-op.

Next spring we are getting goats and chickens and I am so excited to be starting our little farm :)

And, of course, I have to put the plug in for the lower midcoast area. Have you looked up there? Much cheaper and lots of farms!

[Wendy B.]

Do the yogurt! It's so easy! And you don't need any fancy equipment. I use a cooler and some bottles of hot water, and it works nicely. We've made yogurt, butter, and I've even forayed into the cheese making arena.

I don't know how much space you have where you are, but having a little "urban" farm is a lot of fun. My kids have a blast planting the garden and playing with the chickens in the back yard. I'd have a goat, too, if Eric would agree to it ... someday ;).

In the meantime, we're really loving life on our suburban homestead, and while I definitely have "farm dreams", too, I know that where we are is where we should be, and the trick is to make it work right here, right now.

[sara]

wowo, beautiful!!
i remeber when i was 11... i spent one week in mountain near a farm. i ate milk directly from the cow, i make cheese and butter. i never eat something like that!
you are a great farmer mama ;-)

[Linda]

I've been wanting to do this too, but have been a little wary. How could it possibly be that simple?? We love raw milk too and my only complaint is that we have to drive so far for it and we're not ready for the responsibility of a cow. I think I might just have to make that drive today, though, I'm feeling inspired now. :)

[angela rout]

do you even know how jealous I am of you? Wow, I've begun asking my husband for a cow. Dont know where we could put it, but I think the condo board may not mind it in the green space out back. We could all pitch in to feed it, and I'm sure my neibours wouldnt mind milking it for us...I dont think the husband will go for this...but I am thinking the freshly churned butter on toast in the morning idea may help to tip the scales...
you are one lucky lady! Enjoy!!!

[lisa]

sounds so idyllic.
awesome.

[Nessie Noodle]

I love this post, everyting about it. That you know the cow's name, that you made your own butter. that the kids are involved and understand where things come from and how important it is to give thanks to it all.

you made my day- this little post.

thank you for constant inspiration!

[courtney]

I remember when I taught preschool, everyone loved the butter making day (of course we did not have time to make blue berry muffins to go with it) every one loved it. We always made sure to stop along the way and show them the whipped cream, and then butter.

If you are going to make yogurt Alton Brown did a show on doing it without any special equipment. The show is online here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PqQtdtcJtE

Let us know how it goes if you do it!

[kate]

We have moved from the city to a very small town, and we love it! We have flock of laying hens, and are raising our own meat chickens.
Our milk comes from Mona, my neighbor's Jersey...the milk, butter, yogurt and cheese from Mona is sooo good.
Good luck on your home/farm search...
Love and light to you
K
ps I got a super good yogurt maker from a thrift store for $4, I love it!

[Andria]

My heart aches for the day when I, too, can move to a small farm in the country where we can have chickens and two Brown Swiss cows. I shall name them Ilse and Inge. I can just imagine their sweet warmth as I rest my face on their soft flanks while milking them, just like when I was little and helping my Grandpa do the milking. Oh your post this day makes me think the best and warmest thoughts.

[Emily]

Hi, Soule Mama! Been visiting your site for a while now. I work at a candle company that makes Honeypots that we sell at Edith and Edna, and I recognized the store name from your blog! So I always smile when shipping orders for them.
Your love for pintucks made me think of this book: The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Wolff. Have you read it? Might as well purchase it because it is a treasure trove of creative fabric ideas, but with the added plus of not being specifically about clothing or crafting. Chapters such as... "Controlled Crushing", "Supplementary Fullness", and "Systematic Folding" (thats where the pintucks are). Anyway, a fabric lover's dream book.

[manda]

hi there from a girl living on a dairy farm in australia. drinking milk straight from the cows?? i couldnt possibly :-) but how wonderful for your kids to have a mumma that goes on these wonderful journeys exploring life with them.

[Katy Shields]

I don't think pin tucks are strange obsession at all. My final year at Art School was spent photographing pleats, drapes and gathers. It's something to do with the sculptural quality of them I think.
On the butter front - On Saturdays when I was small I used to skim the tiny bit off the top of a milk bottle and shake it in a jar til I had my butter for toast. It was one of my very favourite things to do.

[zand2ohs]

Butter. I think what's wonderful about this post is all the lovely photographs throughout your words. Making butter seems like such an elemental, peaceful thing.

[Tere]

Thanks, Amanda!

[jennifer]

that butter is the lurvliest shade of yellow - you can't find THAT in the grocery store.
mmmmm. raw milk. It makes all others taste like ...well, milk toast. LOL

[donab]

I had a long conversation over dinner last weekend with some friends who had never made butter before (we started off discussing traditional and store-bought buttermilk). We used to make butter this way - shaken in jars - when I was a kid. I happen to have some raw milk in the fridge right now from a local, wonderful, antique dairy, and am inspired to bust out with some fresh butter!

I also recommend home-made yogurt. It is so so good.

[knittymama]

Thanks for the butter tips! We've been reading "Little House in the Bug Woods" this summer and were thinking of trying the same thing.

I'm always sad when our CSA share comes to an end as well. It's even harder this year in Minnesota since so many of our organic farmers lost many of their crops due to the flooding.

[Heather]

Butter, a little bit of heaven. That color really is the perfect color of butter. Lovely post and sweetest pictures, Amanda. :)

[Péitseoga]

hey, we used to make butter, too, when i was a kid!

my brother once made it accidentally, from a tub of cream from the shop, when asked to whip some for the sunday afternoon cake, unfortunately it was sugared butter then... sometimes my mum made it from raw milk, she just used a blender, it think!

we had plenty of raw milk at our hands, in fact, we grew up on it, living on a farm with some 16 dairy cows! we were often sent across the yard to get the milk, with a tupper ware jug, there was a stool to get up on, next to the chilling mashine (a big square metal container that chilled and very slowly stirred the milk until the dairy factory tanker came to pick it up) and a designated metal ladle. some of my earliest memories are probably of watching the milk be stirred in there, and the smell of cold milk, and the hum of the machines...

[lynn]

We're members of a cowshare so we can get raw milk regularily. It's more expspensive than store bought organic milk, but a lot cheaper than buying a farm! And the milk is sooo good. Even sour it tastes good. I find it's really good for making homemade yogurt. I don't have to add any dry milk, just a little plain yogurt. It gets nice and thick- and a lot quicker than the time I made it with pasteurized milk.

[Mama Urchin]

It's so wonderful to know where your food comes from. I love hearing about your kid's reaction because it reminds me of how mine react and will react as they get a little older.