more fun with lil

Before I could let Lilly leave last week, of course I had to do a bit to document her time on the farm. She was not afraid to jump right on in with the pigs, weed with us, pick up chickens and scratch Chloe in her favorite spot behind her ears.



This weekend I was on farm duty so it's been a good time to use some of our ever-abundant milk supply to learn to make dairy products. Today I made butter. You take a pint of cream (a pound...as Geoff reminds me "a pint's a pound the world around") and blend it in the food processor for about 2 mintes. You pour it through a piece of cheesecloth to drain the whey off and then add a teaspoon of salt. Next you wash it with cold water while you press it on a wooden cutting board. you keep folding and pressing it until the water runs clear. This is how you get the remaining whey out of it. You can totally eat it without doing that step, but if you keep the whey in it, it doesn't keep as long. the salt also helps it keep better.

Last weekend, Don made Paneer (an Indian yogurt cheese), so I used it on Friday to make saag paneer. All week we had a big debate over what that dish is called (it's sauteed spinich with freed paneer). I voted for Saag paneer, Katie voted for palak paneer. we bet a pint of ice cream on it. we consulted a cookbook, which listed palak paneer, and then another which listed saag paneer. Finally, we asked a farm member who lived in India for a long time, who explained that saag paneer is made with spinach, palak paneer is a more general term for any green (it could be spinach, but it could also be collards or chard). so, after all the excitement I made the dish and I think we'll just split a pint of ice cream.

The farm is EXPLODING! we've been harvesting bucketfuls of zucchini and yellow squash and in the last week the cukes have finally hit. The sunflower huts and bean teepees that Gabriella helped plant as a childrens garden are growing up and filling out and our farm looks lush and green! I spotted purple Islander peppers that are ripe and on my hike up to the hill pasture to visit the beef cows, I noticed that Lukey had some mucus hanging out her backside…maybe we will get another calf after all!