The Road Less Traveled...To the Raw Milk Farm!

(The funny thing is this started out as a crock pot yogurt post. It evolved to a milk post. Yogurt recipe coming soon)


One of the skills you just have to have as a homesteader is to be able to make your own dairy products out of milk. If you're really lucky, like I am you will be able to make things out of local raw milk. (This is where the post veered off the yogurt topic..just sayin')

I'm so fortunate to be in a state where raw milk is legal and in a community where it's easy to find. For cheap! I read so many other blogs that have talked about raw milk and all of the troubles they go through to find or to be able to "purchase" it. I've met some women online that travel 2 to 3 hours a week and pay $10 or $12 for a gallon!  It really made me think about how I buy my milk. Again, I say I'm fortunate.. Just to make some of you extremely jealous, I'll tell you my milk acquiring story!

The farm that I buy from is about 8 minutes away. It's the most beautiful drive in the world and I always find myself especially aware and filled with gratitude while I travel the back roads to get there.

Let me take you there with me for a minute:

 I start by passing through my little small town and crossing onto a winding back road. This road takes me through a vineyard...a beautiful vineyard that hosts beautiful concerts every Saturday night all summer long. A vineyard that has rows of grapes that seem never ending with the backdrop  of  rolling hills and far off tree lines. After the vineyard, I make a left. This road takes me directly along a beautiful stream that reminds me of all of the times I would go fishing there with my dad as a little girl. On a warm day with the windows down, you can hear the sound of the water babbling along as you drive by. After coming to a stop at the end of that road I make a right and proceed to pass nothing but farms and distant trees. This is the part I especially love in fall before they harvest the corn from the fields. It's just wide open pastures and crops that no matter what the weather may be it always make the sky seem to burst with colors. After a sharp wind in the road I turn into the farm and park by a humble little yellow shed with an open sign on the door and an "honor box" and notepad inside. The system is..You drop of your empty gallon jars and pick up your filled ones. Then you put your money in the box, writing what you've purchased so the farmer can keep track of the sales. If you don't have the exact change? Well that's okay just pay next time! This is a Farmer that still trusts his patrons. AMAZING! This is truly the way I want to do my business. This is who I want to give my money to!! I love everything about this dairy farm and I love the 8 minute drive there to reflect on the beautiful simplicities of nature that are abundant all around me. And most of all.....I love the milk!

I wish I had pictures of this beautiful path less traveled to share with you. Unfortunately it's dark outside as I type this or I would be taking that spirit lifting drive right now, camera in hand.

I will add some photos to this post the next time I fill my jars, in the meantime here is a photo of my  milk jar....which in my opinion is pretty all by itself!

 

 

And the real kicker is it's only $2.50 a gallon!!

 

Where do you all get your raw milk? How much do you pay?

(If you say from your own cow then I will be the jealous one!)

Our Chickens

 

 

So since I'm trying to fill you in on some of the happenings around here over the past year I of course have to tell you a little bit about my darling girls out back.

 

Last year at this time we were eagerly awaiting our order of 10 chicks. I had researched the breeds I was interested in and decided on 2 each of 5 different breeds. (all about the same size, dual purpose birds) We ended up choosing Americanas, Buff Orphingtons, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Reds,  and White Leghorns. They have gotten along flawlessly over the past year and I'm happy that we chose to go with mixing breeds. We picked our order up early spring last year and they spent a few weeks in the house in a storage tote getting to know us all. Oh man did these girls (and as it turned out...1 boy) ever have unique personalities! We had initially planned on raising these birds for eggs and later on in life for their meat but this group of birds will NEVER make it to the table. They are our pets and we love them too much! We will eventually be getting a fair amount of broilers and raising them knowing that they will be for food, until then our birds are for eggs only. Anyway, back to the point. Here is a picture of them when they were one day old and in their tote.... weren't they sweet?

 

 

Here is when they moved to their new coop. They were so happy to be able to run around! See Dandy dipping into her food bowl?

 

 

 

Aww...here is Winnie one of my reds, checking out the new coop. She is my sweet and slightly shy bird.

 

Oh my gosh...And Briquitta...The top of the pecking order around here and my most curious chicken. She is front and center in every picture because she is so intrigued by the shiny camera.

 

Okay sorry for all the pictures but I can't believe how fast they've grown!

Here are some of my ladies now, enjoying some nice hot oatmeal I made them yesterday.....

 

 

 

I could talk about them for hours but I will leave that for another day. I should introduce them to you more formally by telling you their names.

 

Our ladies are:

 

Briquitta

Gertie

Henny (Henrietta)

Dandy

Mama (Mother Clucker)

Winnie

Betty White

Chicken Little

Gypsy

And RIP Nugget, the rooster that we shot because he was a jerk to our kids. But that's a separate post entirely.

 

Thanks for getting to know a little about our birds. You'll be seeing lots of updates about them....And eventually the full story of Nugget the Rooster!