February 26, 2014
This was a long put off shopping day. I am proud of us; I think we have gone almost a month without visiting Walmart! That is my goal. We also stopped by our local market, Murfins, because I will not buy some fresh things from Walmart (such as eggs).
February 27, 2014
Today is 'milk' day. I am not out but since we will have company soon, I want to get some ahead. . All the grands, but especially our son's kids, absolutely love our whole, raw milk, If they come when Willow is dry they let me know how disappointed they are. I have taught them a little farm animal biology about her having to be dry 60 days and then having to wait 3-5 days to use her milk. They may start timing their visits accordingly!
I plan to be like the Administrator of the Family Cow Forum who is in her late 80's and still milks daily. I don't even have to do that, only when we want and need milk.
Do you read food labels? If not, please start doing it now! I thought I was being very conscientious about that since becoming a nut about real food (not processed, home cooked and grown if possible) but now and then something slips past me. For instance since DH started eating a yogurt daily and I was too lazy to milk more often to make yogurt, I have just been buying him a week's worth with blueberries. He likes Dannon's Orikos Greek brand. I finally read the label.....they use cornstarch to thicken it. Now that is not horrible since cornstarch is a food product and not a chemical, but it annoys me and seems like cheating to thicken it that way. It could possibly be even more nutritious since they aren't draining the whey to keep it thick. I need to be open minded. However, there are more things added. Mine has only whole milk, and a starter that is just a little natural yogurt.
Another product that jumped to my attention was vanilla. I have made my own for a couple of years now and even got my son and ex-DIL making it. Gave my Sis l0 beans too. She told me she thought it didn't have a vanilla taste! Well she ordered two bottles of Mexican Vanilla and brought one to me the last time she was down. It was a full quart so I thought I would just use mine up and then use hers.
Here are the ingredients: Vanilla bean, Extract in Purified Water, Vanillin (Artificial Flavor), Alcohol, Corn Syrup, Natural Dark Color.
Mine would be: Vanilla beans, alcohol.
You can't take pure, natural, or any of those other terms for granted. You have to read the label!
BTW, the older my vanilla got, the sweeter it got.....and the smell was wonderful.
UPDATE ON CALVES
These two are of Willow's calf, a bull. He will become a future herd sire in 2015 as a 2 year old.
This is the calf we bought to put on Willow so I wouldn't have to milk daily,
That is Jewel's rear you can see. This isn't a prime animal; he has too much Jersey in him and probably some Holstein. He comes from what is called a rainbow dairy herd. (I won't share my opinion of those dairies which are mostly grass based!)
and this is Jewel's first calf, a heifer. I love her beautiful brown color
RANDOM CAT PICTURE
There would have been several more cats enjoying the morning sun but my 'assistant' decided to drive
Willow past the door into the field and the cats scattered.
This was a long put off shopping day. I am proud of us; I think we have gone almost a month without visiting Walmart! That is my goal. We also stopped by our local market, Murfins, because I will not buy some fresh things from Walmart (such as eggs).
February 27, 2014
Today is 'milk' day. I am not out but since we will have company soon, I want to get some ahead. . All the grands, but especially our son's kids, absolutely love our whole, raw milk, If they come when Willow is dry they let me know how disappointed they are. I have taught them a little farm animal biology about her having to be dry 60 days and then having to wait 3-5 days to use her milk. They may start timing their visits accordingly!
I plan to be like the Administrator of the Family Cow Forum who is in her late 80's and still milks daily. I don't even have to do that, only when we want and need milk.
Do you read food labels? If not, please start doing it now! I thought I was being very conscientious about that since becoming a nut about real food (not processed, home cooked and grown if possible) but now and then something slips past me. For instance since DH started eating a yogurt daily and I was too lazy to milk more often to make yogurt, I have just been buying him a week's worth with blueberries. He likes Dannon's Orikos Greek brand. I finally read the label.....they use cornstarch to thicken it. Now that is not horrible since cornstarch is a food product and not a chemical, but it annoys me and seems like cheating to thicken it that way. It could possibly be even more nutritious since they aren't draining the whey to keep it thick. I need to be open minded. However, there are more things added. Mine has only whole milk, and a starter that is just a little natural yogurt.
Another product that jumped to my attention was vanilla. I have made my own for a couple of years now and even got my son and ex-DIL making it. Gave my Sis l0 beans too. She told me she thought it didn't have a vanilla taste! Well she ordered two bottles of Mexican Vanilla and brought one to me the last time she was down. It was a full quart so I thought I would just use mine up and then use hers.
Here are the ingredients: Vanilla bean, Extract in Purified Water, Vanillin (Artificial Flavor), Alcohol, Corn Syrup, Natural Dark Color.
Mine would be: Vanilla beans, alcohol.
You can't take pure, natural, or any of those other terms for granted. You have to read the label!
BTW, the older my vanilla got, the sweeter it got.....and the smell was wonderful.
UPDATE ON CALVES
These two are of Willow's calf, a bull. He will become a future herd sire in 2015 as a 2 year old.
This is the calf we bought to put on Willow so I wouldn't have to milk daily,
That is Jewel's rear you can see. This isn't a prime animal; he has too much Jersey in him and probably some Holstein. He comes from what is called a rainbow dairy herd. (I won't share my opinion of those dairies which are mostly grass based!)
and this is Jewel's first calf, a heifer. I love her beautiful brown color
RANDOM CAT PICTURE
There would have been several more cats enjoying the morning sun but my 'assistant' decided to drive
Willow past the door into the field and the cats scattered.
