Cultured Butter, Ferdies and Christmas Cards

We are in the process of restocking our supplies of cultured butter. This involves looking for every opportunity to skim some cream of the bulk milk supply. For the last couple of months when the 20 litres of milk is collected it goes into the stainless steel milk vat and sits in the refrigerator overnight.

We both agreed that lattes on skim milk taste too watery as does a cup of tea with skim milk. Our drinking milk is removed before the vat goes into the refrigerator. The overnight chilling sets a thick layer of cream (would be better if it was Jersey milk) which we take off and add a souring culture. This is is left out of the refrigerator to warm up and sour. Usually the souring takes about 24 to 36 hours depending on the ambient temperature.

Our old food processor is ideal for butter making. It is getting a bit and old some components are held together with ducting tape but it's good for now. By chance we found that chilled soured cream turns quicker than warm soured cream. Running the processor at a low speed is the best. Too fast and when the cream turns to butter there tends to be a lot of splashing and the butter milk comes out creating a nasty mess.

 

A few rinses in cold water and some patting afterwards is all that is needed before packing and freezing. A small dated label is inserted in the container or affixed to the outside to ensure stock turnover.

 

 

The milk form today went on to make a good batch of Fetta - skimmed Fetta. Must be healthy.

The Ferdies (after Ferdinand the duck in Babe) are growing rapidly. They started sleeping in their outside pen at 13 days and adapted easily. At 15 days old their growth rate is spectacular. They have settled into a routine of a morning walk with Jean from their outside pen around the house to sit with her while she has a breakfast cup of tea then back again. There is a much longer walk later in the morning to let out the chooks and then an evening stroll. These walks exhaust them and afterwards they are quite happy to go back into their pen and rest occasionally hopping up en masse to cavort in their water containers.

 

Wacky is the little one on the left

 

They started arriving about 2 weeks ago, the cards that is. A Real Estate agent we have never met has sent us a card for the last 15+ years. I don't know why. We must have left our name and address with him once but I can't recall. Then there is Jeans friend in Victoria. Hers is beautifully hand made with photographs of their rural property and animals carefully orchestrated across all the pages.

 

This coming week a former work mate of Jean's will send us her annual round up of the family printed on 2 or 3 closely spaced pages. Always and interesting read. A former work colleague of mine from the mid 1990's still sends a card with a picture of her family. That family is a long, happy story. And then there are a couple of others from business's we dealt with (or didn't) and some friends or associates.

 

Eventually the shelf above the fireplace builds up a respectable collection of cards. You see this is amazing as we have never sent out a Christmas card to anyone ever. I admit quite few years ago there were some cards from other people but they stopped when we never responded. We are just not net-workers. It's just not on the radar or in our make-up to tick off a contact with everyone we know on a regular basis.

 

Some people are good at it and we envy them. And its not as if we are not social people. Send an email and you'll get a long reply. Ask us over for a meal or drink and we're there loaded with goodies - first to arrive and last to leave. Our speciality is weddings, we'll dance all night.

 

But us send Christmas cards? Just doesn't happen. By the way in the stationary drawer there is a wad of RSPCA Christmas cards from 20 years ago – unopened. Yes we are a bit different.

Fencing, Chicken Food, Culturing Butter

As usual there was the morning run to check the different herds for any births and top up food where necessary - all well. Yesterday's Havarti soaked in 20% saline solution for 3 1/2 hours and then went on to cheese matting do drain.

We have a local women who works from home cutting hair (very cheaply). A quick telephone call, a time agreed and the job done efficiently while catching up on any local goings on and status of mutual friends.

The Asparagus received a dose of Seasol Plus this morning. As it is a seaside plant why not a bit of seaweed extract. The feeding should ensure better root growth and enhance the spears when the shoot.

In the chicken food we are focusing on grains such as Wheat, Sorghum, Barley and Lupins which are lower in polyunsaturated Omega 6. Always having the chooks free ranging on grass not dirt. Better for the chooks and produces better eggs which are lower in Omega 6.

Added some culture to the cream from the milk collected the other day. In this cool weather it takes 12 - 20 hours to reach the right flavour.

The bulk of the day was spent over the river fencing. Having pulled out the old steel post fence we went around and dug the holes with the Post Hole Borer. The ground was soft and occasionally we hit heavy clay. Some of the holes will need to finished off by hand as the borer couldn't penetrate all the way even with one of us swinging off the end of a steel bar. The bar is used to keep a good distance from any rotating parts. Next week we'll put up the string line and stand as many of the recycled plastic posts as we can and then dig out any remaining holes by hand. With heavy clay it'll take about an hour for each of those.

Butter Making

Up until recently we have been making unsalted sweet butter from our surplus cream. Sweet meaning it is not cultured or salted. It is kept in the freezer and a batch defrosted as needed. Small inexpensive plastic containers are best and if care is taken not to damage them they can be re-used many many times and if damaged recycled. Occasionally we come across freezable glass containers which we buy as well but they always have plastic lids. Each container has a scrap of paper taped on with the date.

Some months ago we tried a cultured butter from a small butter maker in Victoria. This led onto culturing our cream and trying to make the same flavour. The recipe is in the Cheeselinks book and the starter was one we keep for cheese making (B Flora). Being raw cream it did need some experimentation to ascertain the best culturing time. A lot depends on the cream harvested that day and the ambient temperature. Fairly easy to decide when to churn just by tasting. If you want to be technical pH should be 4.6 and the temperature at 8 degrees Celsius.

Once an acceptable flavour or the technical measurements are met the churning is done. It is a lot quicker with cultured cream. Our churn is a cheap food processor using the plastic mixing blade. The speed is set to just below half and it all happens quite quickly after that.

This is all done in what we call the La Cave when making wine so supposedly it should be called the the Dairy Room when making butter. On the other hand it is also where keep the bulk food supplies so therefore the Pantry. And the Onions, Garlic, Nuts and Turmeric are in drying racks so therefore the drying room. The main reason for doing it out there is because it can be a noisy operation when the food processor is doing multiple batches.

We collect our 20 litres of milk every 3-5 days. Each time it is settled in a 25 litre stainless steel pot overnight in the spare refrigerator. The cream rises to the top and is skimmed off. If Camembert or one of the creamy blues is on the cards then some milk is drained off for other usage and the cream added back to make a double and sometimes triple cream Camembert or a very rich soft creamy blue cheese. Every now and then some of it goes towards making some ice cream.

We use raw milk in tea and coffee and for the cats and dogs. We found over the last decade that the raw milk keeps better than the bought stuff. The longest period was 10 days before there was an obvious souring and the milk would curdle in hot tea. The important thing is to chill it as quickly as possible after collection. The Somatic Cell Count also effects its keeping qualities. Raw milk cheeses tend to ripen quicker than pasteurised and have more complex flavours and sensory attributes due to the indigenous micro flora. Our supplier posts the laboratory tests for Somatic Cell Count and Total Platelet Count in the vat room every 2^nd day. Knowing the quality of the milk provides the confidence to use it as we do.

Inexpensive and aging Food Processor

Home Made Butter Paddles from Recycled Pallets Dressed with Olive Oil

Cultured Butter, Nuts, Olive Oil Storage, Tomato Ketchup, Buying Wine, Manure, Firewood, Tools and Generosity

Cultured Butter

Most weeks we make a little butter. Because the milk is collected in a 20 litre container and repackaged into one litre bottles, the cream rises to the top after a day or two. All we do is decant the top 25-50 mm into a jug whenever a fresh bottle is opened. Sometimes we pour the entire 20 litres into our 25 litre stainless steel cheese vat and set the spare refrigerator to a low temperature overnight. This facilitates the cream rising and the broad surface area of the vat enables a quick collection of cream.



Cultured Butter



For ordinary butter it is a simple matter of using the electric mixer to churn away until the butter forms. Our Kenwood Chef has a clear plastic cover plate for the bowl which stops splashes making a mess. Once the butter forms, pour off the butter milk for own consumption or feeding to the chooks. Stirring and rinsing the butter in fresh cool water is done as often as needed until the rinse water isn’t cloudy. If the butter is not for immediate consumption, we store in glass or food grade, freezer tolerant plastic containers with a small piece of paper inside giving the date. These keep very well in a normal freezer.

Of recent, we have become devotees of cultured butter. All this involves is a little starter culture stirred in and left at room temperature for 16 hours. Because the cream is still cold when we start we only begin counting the 16 hours from when the temperature reaches about 20 degrees Celsius. The starter culture is from Cheeselinks but any good supplier of cheese making supplies will be able to recommend the appropriate starter.

Cultured butter has an extra dimension of flavour and texture. We don't bother salting as we find the pure taste very acceptable.

Nuts

Chestnut Catkins

Hazel Nuts

Over the last few weeks the various nut trees have flowered and have now formed catkins or nuts. For only the second time we have Hazel Nuts and for the first time Pecans. One of the Almonds has a small crop while the other is bare. As usual the Macadamia trees are laden. These are so consistent that they have become our staple. The chestnuts are producing as well although in past years the fruit has been disappointingly small. Our Winters are not really cold enough for them.



Pecans



500 ml Storage Jars



Olive Oil Storage

When buying olive oil in bulk such as 3, 4 or 20 litre containers, we try to ensure that as little oxygen as possible interacts with the oil. The 3 and 4 litre containers once opened are decanted into 500 ml glass bottles and corked while a 20 litre is decanted into glass flagons of 2-3 litres and then these, once opened, moved to 500 ml bottles. The glass containers are kept out of sunlight. This may seem tedious but it ensures the oil is kept at its freshest.

Tomato Ketchup Recipe

There seems no value in publishing a recipe if it is just mediocre. Unless it’s an outstanding recipe in terms of simplicity and taste it won't get a mention in this blog. Hence with tomato season upon us, here is a recipe which is superb, can be made in large batches, has a long shelf life and all the ingredients apply to the same season. The recipe is sourced from Mike Michaelson's book A Tomato Cookbook and it’s called Fresh Tomato Ketchup. We have modified it slightly to make a chunky ketchup rather than a sieved sauce. It is a delicious adjunct to scrambled eggs or omelettes and many other dishes.

u  4.5 KG fresh chopped Tomatoes

u  2 cups chopped onions

u  3 cups chopped seeded capsicum (red if available otherwise we use green)

u  4 tsp whole Allspice or 2 tsp ground

u  1 tsp whole cloves

u  1 tsp whole black peppercorns

u  1 cup cider vinegar

u  2/3 cup sugar or less to taste

u  2 tsp paprika

u  1 tsp celery seed

u  1 tsp mustard powder

u  2 tbs salt

Cook first three ingredients together in a large kettle, uncovered for 30 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. You can put the chunkier spices into a bag for removal before bottling. We don’t bother. Bring to the boil for a few minutes then bottle in small jars.

Wine $

We love our wine and we love exploring different brands and varieties. In order to show some restraint in our purchases, we set ourselves a maximum limit of $12 per bottle (give or take a dollar or so). Be assured there are an unlimited number of quality wines available within this price limit. However, as with all things there is always one that eludes the price limit, usually an import from a very special region with wonderful health giving benefits or a particular variety which is highly regarded and rare.

To overcome this price restraint has proved not excessively difficult. It is a matter of averages. As most stores offer an attractive discount for purchasing by the case it makes sense to collect a dozen different tasting samples and make good the discount. Given that, with a price ceiling of $12 that sets the case limit at $144. Naturally some of the samples will fall well below the $12. This allows the surplus from each bottle to be accumulated and put towards that sought after rarity which may be winking at you from the $25 shelf. In desperation you can buy two cases or more. This provides some additional surplus dollars should the apple of your eye be significantly higher. So, as long as when you are loading the rear of your car with the purchases you can confidently divide the total spent by the number of bottles and arrive at a number that is 12 or less, you are sitting pretty.

A frugal life does not have to be a life devoid of simple pleasures, whether of the eye or the palate.

Manure, Firewood, Tools and Generosity of Spirit

We normally collect our weekly quota of milk during milking time as it is easier to fill a 20 litre container from the pipe going to the vat than ladle it from the vat a litre at a time afterwards. As part of the visit, it seems only polite to stop and chat to the farmer and pitch in with helping to wash out. The opportunity of company is warmly received and to shorten the milking time with some assistance is always valued. Most small dairy farmers spend a lot of time working on their own and generally they are a social group. It wasn't long before this routine of stop and chat and wash out moved to helping with the fitting and removing cups as the chat extended. This once weekly visit became a valued addition to the loneliness of milking and the dairy farmer reciprocated in kind.

One thing that dairy farmers have a lot of is manure. It accumulates rapidly and usually in places where it is not required. The offer was simple. If we wanted to remove the manure out the dairy yard (a concrete pad at the entrance to the dairy) from time to time we could keep all the manure. Well what a bonus! Endless amounts of manure for the orchard. Each pick up every 3 to 4 weeks resulted in nearly a trailer load. This was dumped in windrows between the fruit trees in the orchard. The chooks were in heaven spending all day scratching and spreading with their legs, showing brown high tide marks by day’s end.


Four Barrows of Manure after two Weeks

And then of course there was the Christmas Bonus ie a share of the sediment pond when it is cleared annually. This provided 3 or 4 groaning trailer loads of soft well fermented manure.

One of the continuous tasks on any large property is the renewal of fencing. On a dairy farm this is particularly evident as the property is broken into many more grazing cells. This farm had been in the family for generations and the farmer is in the midst of replacing grandfather’s fences on the rich alluvial flats. A lot of time is spent pulling and winding up kilometres of rusty barbed wire before removing the aged ironbark posts and in some cases even rails.

We seem to be always on the lookout for firewood for heating during winter and the idea dawned that a trade may be possible to the benefit of both parties. The idea was broached and accepted enthusiastically. In return for removing the fences we keep the very aged timber. In addition, we could use the farm equipment to do the task. This was soon followed by the offer of paid work to assist in the erection of the new fencing.


Fence Posts for Firewood

From time to time we have a need to borrow specialised tools or equipment from friends or neighbours. Usually items which you would only use once in a while and not something to justify a purchase. We always return them promptly and in better working order if possible. A sharpened chainsaw, a little rust removed and paint applied, fuel topped up, some oil or grease where necessary or even some cheese and wine as a thank you. It’s not surprising that these friends and neighbours are enthusiastic about putting their tools in our safe hands. Our belief is that along with the tools comes the responsibility of fixing it if you break it.

We have a strong belief that it is important to be generous with your time and to demonstrate willingness to do a good job and to not have expectations and not want something for nothing. The benefit of having no expectations is that you cannot be disappointed only gladdened when reciprocal generosity is demonstrated.