My Journey Has Begun!

I have always been fascinated with the "good ol' days" and their way of life. It just seems to have been a slower pace than how we live now. I don't know what mental picture pops into your mind when you think about the "good ol' days" but, I think of the Andy Griffith Show. Andy, Aunt Bea, Opie, and Barney sitting on the front porch drinking sweet tea. They didn't seemed to be too stressed out or worried about anything. They worked hard, and enjoyed the simple pleasures of life.

I also have a great desire for my family and myself to eat traditional, whole foods. Once you start researching and figuring out exactly how to go about making this change it can be OVERWHELMING! I have been easily discouraged in the past, and stopped proceeding in making these changes. I have since had my desire renewed and have begun my journey in making the switch to whole foods.

One last area I am making advances in is living a more self-sufficent lifestyle. Notice I did not say totally self-sufficent lifestyle. BIG DIFFERCE! I don't plan on giving up my hair dryer or washing machine any time soon, so don't think I've totally lost my mind and fallen off the deep end! If I can start to take some items off of my master grocery list and learn to make them myself, and not be as dependent on the electric company to provide our heat in the wintertime, I will be excited with my progress in this area.

I have found that these changes are something I am very passionate about, and am loving everything I am learning about them. I am going to start sharing my adventures in these three areas. I'm sure this will be a learning experience for all of us! So stick around and enjoy the fun:)


Raw milk. Our first change in whole foods has been making the switch from pasterized cow's milk, to raw cow's milk. I was very nervous about tasting it for the first time. I had been looking for a local dairy that would sell my family raw milk, and finally found one. The kids and I went to pick up the milk for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and we have already been back a second time for more!! I just knew that it probably wouldn't taste as good as the milk that I was used to drinking from the store, but I was very wrong! It tastes GREAT! The kids love it. They drink it every morning. And let me just tell you all of the things we have made with it so far: butter (wich I will show you below), homemade ice cream, banana shakes, in my coffee, buttermilk, and there are a ton of other things I can't wait to try.

So, in buying raw milk, I have taken several things off of my grocery list that I do not plan on having to purchase ever again! Half and Half, Whipping Cream, Butter, Buttermilk, and Ice Cream are all things I can be self-sufficient in making myself. I know that this probably doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to most people, having to make your own, but I am totally enjoying myself!



Butter

If you have raw milk and a good mixer than you can make your own butter. It was super easy! And tastes great! I am not going to go into every detail here, you can google it yourself if you are interested, but here are the steps pictured below.

Scoop all of the cream off the top of your milk, put it in the mixer, and let it blend for around 15-20 minutes. This is what it will look like after that. Buttermilk separates from the butter.

Pour the buttermilk into a glass jar and keep it to make pancakes and biscuits!

After you rinse the butter a few times with cold water, pat it dry with a towel or paper towels.



Store in the fridge or freezer!

Enjoy it on toast!