Do You Know Where Your Milk Comes From?

The other weekend, I took Penelope to visit Kurtz Dairy Farm in Live Oak, Florida.  As part of New Leaf Market's Annual Farm Tour.


I have been buying Kurtz raw milk for years, so I was thrilled to finally be able to go and see everything myself.

Kurt's Dairy has been in business over 20 years and they farm the right way.  The cows are pastured and very well treated.  


He has Jersey cows.  He used to have Holstein cows (bred to be huge and big milk producers) when he farmed in a more industrialized way.  Now with his Jersey cows, they hardly ever get sick, have miscarriages or still births and just over all are more healthy and fertile.

Penelope really enjoyed seeing all the cows up close and personal!

I went with a friend of mine, and we were all taken on a hay ride to visit all the different pastures and groups of cows.  He keeps a couple of separate groups, ones that are ready to breed and ones that are too young or are nursing young.

This Mama was pre.gn.ant!

And this Mama was about to give birth!  He said you can tell, by looking at her utters. They get very swollen with milk right before birth, and they loose their mucus plug right before labor begins as well.


Since I am such a birth junkie (I am a retired Doula and Birthing From Within Mentor), I thought all of this was super fascinating.  He said they all eat their placentas after birth (just like me!).  And that he lets the calf nurse for 3 months before weaning her and then bottle feeding her.  I wish he would let them nurse longer, some local farms will let them nurse for 6 months or longer.  But 3 months is a huge improvement from industrialized dairy farms where they take the new born away, directly after birth and never the two shall meet again.  

This is the pump room.   He said likes to keep them as relaxed as possible and doesn't let anyone in to watch or talk while they are pumping, to let them pump in peace.  They get more milk when the cows are relaxed.  Which cracked me up, because I remember trying to figure out a way to pump that was the most relaxing, so I could max out my supply.

The pump.  I wonder if the cows hate pumping as much as I did at first?  Or if like me, they just got used to it and it became a normal and enjoyable part of life?  They all seemed pretty happy to me!


Have you met the cows and farmer who work hard to give you milk? Do you even know where your milk comes from?
Have you ever heard of anyone drinking raw milk?






Or on Facebook!

Bay Scallops with Bacon Vinaigrette

The other week we took Penelope on her first boat ride and it was a huge success.  She is such a little fish.  If there is water near, she is happy.  I swear, it is because she was born in water, but her Papa is fish too.  He is on the cusp of Aries/Pisces and he used to do competitive swimming, teach swim lessons.  He has been surfing and fishing, since he was a kid too. 

We got that hat at REI, mostly she rips it off, but I got her to wear for a little bit. And her shirt is another applique sneak peak, tutorial coming soon, promise!

This is what happened on the way in after a morning of boating and scalloping.  Scalloping is probably the most fun I have had in a really long time.  I will have to do another post on scalloping soon.

When we got home, I cooked up our scallops. It was such an interesting feeling to cook something that I also harvested/gathered myself.  When I was out there, I totally felt in tune with hunter/gather humans that have come before me.  It was also super cool to be eating an animal food that was local and in season.  Veggies are easy to eat local, but meat is a whole other ball game.

Before the recipe, just a note. Please excuse these horrible pictures.  My husband took them.  :)

First, cook up a half package of bacon.  I cut up the bacon and then threw it in the pan.  But I guess you could chop it up after, if you wanted.

While they are cooking, lay out your scallops on a towel to get rid of any excess moisture.

When the bacon is cooked, remove it and set aside.  Then I add minced garlic, apple cider vinegar ( I use Braggs, its raw and really good for you), and lemon juice.  Mix it all up and let the garlic cook for a second.  I used med-high heat.  And a cast-iron skillet.

Then add the scallops.  Just for like a minute and half, then take it off the heat and let it cook for another minute or two.  That is the trick to scallops, don't over cook them! 

Then mix your bacon back in and toss.  You can put this over pasta or a salad.

Inhale.

Figs!

Last year during fig season I made this pie. It was AMAZING. Best pie I have ever made. And its because of the figs. Picked at the peak of flavor, from a local farmer, Turkey Hill Farm.  They are apart of the Red Hill Farm Alliance, if you are on Facebook you should check them out.  They are doing some cool things, for example you can order and pay for your vegetables online!

This year, I wanted to try and do a different recipe but that got vetoed very quickly from my husband, who has a sweet tooth the size of Texas.

Check out these pictures of Penelope when we were on the farm to pick them up.

Here's a fig on the tree. I think fig trees are so pretty. 

Sweet girl in her straw hat like mama.

The geese they have on the farm.  Penelope loved them.

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Fig Pie

Remember the blueberry pie post I did a few weeks ago? Well, I did fig version recently and it was AMAZING! The figs were from a local farm.


















peeled all the figs and that took forever! Then I chopped them up like so. I only sprinkled a bit of sugar on them, like the recipe calls for, so its a very naturally sweet tasting pie.

I am still learning how to roll out the pie crust made from scratch. So my pie crust topping is a little kooky looking. Whatever. It was delicious.

Semi-Homemade Blackberry Cobbler

Last week I picked a gallon of blackberries from a neighbor's yard! They are crazy yummy, very sweet and not tart. I made a blackberry cobbler with the majority of them, but still had plenty of leftover to put in my oatmeal (it's good for your milk supply) I eat for breakfast all week.
























I have never made blackberry cobbler before and to find a recipe, I did a quick google search and picked the first one I saw. I was in a rush to get to the grocery store during my small window of time that I didn't need to be feeding Penelope or pumping, or putting her to sleep, or changing her diaper, etc.

This is the recipe I used. I did not make my pie crust from scratch. Come on people, it was almost an act of God just to get the cobbler made, even with a ready made crust!

The finished product! I had some extra berries and pie crust so I made two extra thingys ( I know there is a proper name for those dishes, but I am too tired and I can't think of it.) I thought it came out really tasty. Especially, when it was still warm, right from the oven. Peter, not so much, after eating a slice he says "um,I don't really like blackberries." Whatever. It's not like I am not capable of eating the whole pie myself.