I finally had to admit to myself that we do not live the "normal" lifestyle of a typical American family. We have been gradually making changes to our lives over several years and our lifestyle has become so normal for us that I forget that it isn't the same for other families. Our weirdness showed itself in the manner of how we celebrated Valentine's Day this year.
What did your man get you for Valentine's Day?
- Flowers?
- Candy?
- A night out?
Well, my hubby gave in to another one of my crazy ideas....
Meet Bessie!
Bessie is a black Jersey heifer. She is pregnant and due in about one month. We are hoping for an easy delivery and plan for Bessie to help provide for our home dairy needs.
We are currently spending time together and allowing her to get used to us and our routines. The hubby is working to build a milking stanchion and we plan to practice entering this area for her to eat and be rubbed down.
After delivery, we plan to share the milk with the calf by leaving the baby with her during the day and separating them at night. We will milk in the morning and then put Bessie and her calf back together for the entire day. We are not trying to run a commercial dairy and feel that this method could provide more than enough milk for our purposes.
Why would we try to add dairy to our list of farm items?
The answer is simple. We are currently consuming over six gallons of raw milk per week from our current herd share.
How is that possible?
Well, we have slowly been transitioning away from processed foods and towards from-scratch cooking methods. We aim to make the majority of our meals at home with whole ingredients. We were consistently consuming five gallons per week until our son received an ice cream maker for a Christmas gift. The ability to make our own ice cream with real milk, sugar, vanilla, etc. has been a great treat. Now, we are struggling to make six gallons of milk stretch for an entire week!
We love the milk that we are getting from the herd share but feel that it may be time to try it for ourselves. As with all good plans, I am sure that we will run into hiccups along the way and will have to discover ways to navigate through them.
While we may do things a bit differently around here, at least we aren't boring!
I’ve never made cottage cheese. I will have to look into this one. Thanks for the idea!
My family had Jersey cows while I was growing up. I loved helping my grandmother make butter and cottage cheese. Homemade cottage cheese is the best ever!