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!)

Spinach, tomato and sausage Ziti

 

You know the nights when you have nothing ready for supper...When your husband's already on his way home? Usually when this happens to me I find myself reaching for a simple pasta dish. Well the other night I was going to do my standard ziti recipe when I happened to notice a fresh bag of spinach in my fridge and my gleaming cans of garden fresh tomatoes that I had learned to can over the summer. I decided to just throw some fresh stuff in my dutch oven and hope it was delicious...And boy was it ever! Like top 10 best things I've ever made kind of delicious. I had to write the recipe down and tuck it into my recipe box. I'm kind of good at just coming up with recipes on the spot but I'm not very good at writing them down so I can make them again! This one was worth it though. Again I'm not great with measurements since I don't measure stuff but here is what I did.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 lb- fresh loose sausage (preferably from your own backyard pigs. haha)

1 bag of the freshest most locally grown spinach you can get

1- box of ziti or any other noodle

1 small can of tomatoes (preferably from your garden canned stash)

a generous sprinkling of garlic salt

and any white cheese you have on hand. I used Parmesan and mozzarella.

And like a Tbls. of butter

 

I cooked my pasta in my dutch oven (stove top, of course) and drained and set aside. Then I put my sausage in the dutch oven with a small bit of water and let it cook until browned. Add spinach and let wilt. Then put everything else in, including the ziti and stir. I also added a generous amount of cracked black pepper to the top.

 

I'm telling you this meal is delicious! Serve it with freshly baked bread...mmmmm!