We've been making our own butter for about 2 months now. My husband surprised me with a small hand crank butter churn and it is the perfect size for us. We can buy a quart of local cream, use most of it for butter, and have a small amount to whip up for a little dessert treat. I think we should be getting more buttermilk out of it - the butter is pretty soft, but since we use one jar within a week and freeze the other, it doesn't have a chance to go bad. We had been buying cream from a local dairy that is rBST free, but we don't know how they keep their cows. We just realized that even though the farm is supposed to be right behind the store and bottling plant, we don't ever actually see a herd of cows. So I'm thinking that they might be grain fed. The white butter on the left is from their cream.
The delightfully yellow butter on the right is from a local Amish farm that I know is grass fed, hormone free. The cream was super thick and produced a firmer butter. Buying organic butter in the grocery store would be cheaper (almost $5/pound instead of $6 for less than a pound of homemade), but when it comes to something like this, I believe that cheaper is not better. While I was churning butter this morning and my little babe was fervently telling me, "My turn now please!", that $6 is well worth it. For a whole lot less money than what people spend on fancy television systems, we have wholesome entertainment, we get an arm workout, we're supporting local farms, my little babe gets a food education and the end result tastes great!
Now we just need our own cow.
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On a different note - I want to thank Gillian over at Hookin' A Yarn for the Two Good Reads tag. It always makes me smile to hear that people enjoy stopping by here and reading what I have to share.
I'd like to tag Tracey over at Clover who shares beautiful pictures of her life on the South Carolina coast and is a knitting fiend. I'd also like to tag Elin at Smatt Og Smatt. I just started reading her blog and I am enjoying seeing photos from a different part of the world (Iceland!) and being amazed at her awesome knitting projects - especially the Icelandic sweaters!
(Tracey and Elin - to pass on the nomination, you simply have to chose two awesome bloggers to nominate, link back to my blog, and display the Two Good Reads tag.)
Shared on The Self Sufficient HomeAcre for the HomeAcre Hop.