You Butter Believe It!

Hello my friends!
It seems the last post on my Freak Show stirred up a little talk.
That's a GREAT thing! Kudos to all of the Freaks out there....keep it up!

Butter is what I want to discuss now. I made 10 pounds of butter a week or so ago but it had a smell to it. Not a bad smell, just a different smell.
Well, turns out that I was making "ripe" butter, as some call it. Some also call it European butter.
It happens when you sit the cream out on the counter for 12 hours to warm up to room temperature and it then also cultures a bit. Interesting.
I am using that butter for baking. I can't seem to adjust to the scent because I am used to sweet cream butter.
Well, sweet cream butter is when you whip the cool cream past the whipped stage and into butter.
It's. Very. Good.
This week I made 6 pounds of it and we will use it for lathering toast, etc.
I want to share that if you are making butter (isn't everyone?) I found this little flat butter spatula excellent for getting all of the water from the butter. I found it at Lehman's.
I love that catalog. Is it just me or do ya'll love combing through the pages and finding a ton of goodies you need  want?

I also packed this table butter into one cup containers so they would shape up round, since my butter dish is round. I wish i could claim that brilliant idea, but I got the idea from a friend.

After the butter freezes a bit I wrap them again so they are extra protected because butter can pick up any odor from the freezer......not that mine EVER needs a cleaning, mind you.


I never realized until I got a family cow how flavorless dairy products are in the store. Especially since we moved Lucy onto some fresh, lush grass with clover. Her milk smells "grassy" now.

Everything tastes wonderful, it's just when it comes from the store, it really has no taste at all. We whipped some cream a couple of days ago and I thought we would all founder from scarfing it down.....yummy!!

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We have a couple of hens who have made nests and are sitting on them. Two days ago a hen came out from the woods with her brood of 15 babies!!!!! They were so very sweet following mama hen around. She's good to keep them within the wood line, well protected.

This afternoon I was outside with the boys washing my van when I heard the cheeping around the corner.

She was there in the front yard with her babies, scratching for bugs and grass to eat. It's such a beautiful scene, a mama bird with her babies. She sat on those eggs 3 weeks in the woods in all kinds of weather and now she teaches them how to forge and survive.

If you are lucky enough to witness this beautiful sight, then you are lucky indeed. It's nature in a perfect setting. I was so happy that my kids all get to experience it everyday!

Happy Mother's Day!