It's What day?

Okay, so my week is flying by quickly. Can you imagine why?

She does have a very cute face, though.
It has been a week of getting adjusted to a major new routine (milking twice a day) and still trying to manage school and laundry and meals.

I am mostly able to keep up. I read somewhere that it will take Lucy a week to be adjusted and so I figure it will take me a whole week as well.
One of the biggest challenges is that my kitchen now has milking stuff everywhere, laid out to dry after washing.

I really like my kitchen counters to be clutter free, but I am sure that after a time I will get something worked out that is middle of the road and suitable. For now, I look at the pile and see the upside to having this new bovine creature in the back yard.

We are getting anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 gallons at each milking, or 3-4 gallons a day. That adds up so today I attempted to make a 2 pound block of cheddar cheese.

I think it went smoothly and the directions were easy to follow. With the whey that was left I made ricotta cheese. I was disappointed in the small amount of ricotta for all the whey BUT it smelled divine while it was cooking and I got enough to make ricotta cheese pancakes in the morning.

We also made ice cream.

I made a batch of vanilla, but it lacked much flavor even though I used extra vanilla. I then made chocolate but it did not freeze well.
Does anyone have a great recipe for raw milk ice cream to try? I really want to find a versatile recipe that I know will turn out great each time.
In the meantime, the children did not complain about the frozen treats one bit, so that's good.

I am wrapping it up so I can shower (I have noticed that I always smell like peppermint udder cream and cow), and then I have to eat dinner and hit the sack.

I will look for those ice cream recipes! Hint-hint!