Real milk

For my birthday John has given me raw milk. He said I can buy 6 gallons (over a period of time, not all at once, of course). I've already bought one.

The good stuff.

I'm not sure he realized it cost 9 dollars a gallon when he pulled the arbitrary number of "six" out of his head. It seems a bit pricey for a birthday present....(Hey, we're cheap, what can I say?)

 But after we bought it he seemed to think that 9 dollars every other week or so actually wasn't too pricey for something so good.

I think it tastes amazing. John thinks it tastes "basically the same" as store milk.

It comes from a farm about 55 miles from our town. That makes me happy!

And as soon as possible I made a batch of raw milk yogurt. Cream top and everything  baby. YEAH. Take that Stonyfields. *angry face* (As a side note, I still haven't written to them, I need to get on that.)

Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions says not to heat the milk past 110 degrees when making yogurt from raw milk so you don't kill the enzymes. Last time I was at the store, I meant to buy a candy thermometer so I could keep track of such a thing, but I forgot.

So I decided I'd try using my regular human temp-taking thermometer. I washed it. Then I put it in my milk as it was warming up. When the temperature reached 109.3 I pulled the milk off the stove and put the thermometer down. It started beeping frantically, more loud and urgent than I had ever heard it before. 

Poor thing. It probably thought I was about to spontaneously combust with the worst fever of all time. 

Make yogurt, not fevers.

But the yogurt turned out good.