About Tricia

I am Tricia. Momma of nine, homeschooler, artist, foodie and maker of all kinds of things. It's a pleasure to share here our family homesteading adventures, the things we make, and what inspires our days. Read more about my family and work here. Thanks for visiting!

Author Archive | Tricia

Tweet ! New chicks at Moss Flower Farm

By Tricia on May 11, 2011 in Moss Flower Farm, our animals

Today is the day the kids have been waiting for. It has been 3 years since we have had chicks and it was time to add new chickens to our farm. We picked up our 16 chicks and 2 Pekin ducklings. They will be raised together so hopefully the ducks will not think they are chickens.

so hard to pick

the chosen in their temporary digs in the foyer

this is love

so for the next two days I am on around the clock watch turning on and off the heat lamp for them and wiping poop off their little buts until they can do it for themselves.

and outside taking a nap on the porch, the girls wonder what’s the big deal with those little fluffballs

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Make it yourself Monday: Butter tutorial

By Tricia on May 10, 2011 in Do it yourself, Make it yourself Monday, Tutorial

So I am starting a new thing on Mondays. The little things we really can make for ourselves which no one knows how to make anymore…Make it yourself Monday. I decided to start with butter because I happened to be making some.

This is seriously so easy! You need only one thing…raw milk! OK you could go to the store and buy some cream but digress.

For starters, you see the whiter stuff at the top of the milk, that is cream. It is called the cream line. This is what is turned into butter. Sorry if that is a duh. Now to get the cream to rise to the top you just put it in the fridge for 12 hours and viola it floats to the top. Next we have to skim it off. Here is my little trick. I pour the fresh milk into a tea jar with a spigot at the bottom. Then you just pour off the milk until you get to the cream and then stop. Easy, told ya.

Pour your cream (room temp) into the bowl of your mixer.

If you don’t have a splash guard you are going to want to put some plastic wrap around it or you will be bathing in cream. Start your mixer on medium and work it up to fast. Let it mix on high for a few minutes and keep an eye on it. I think this took about 3 minutes and

the fat started separating from the buttermilk.

when you see the cream look grainy, you are almost done.

Now you have to pour the buttermilk off of the butter. I took a spatula and just pressed all the butter to one side and then poured off the liquid into a container (don’t throw it away, I use it to make pasta, and pancakes).

Next we are going to wash the butter. You are supposed to wash the butter to get the buttermilk out so it does not spoil too quickly. I don’t normally do this because the butter does not last long enough in my house to get rancid. Just pour some ice cold water into your butter and press the butter with your spatula to get any buttermilk out. Pour the water off and enjoy your butter.