Sweet Little Dairy Farm

Nancy in the foreground and Karri in the background. 

. . . well, sort of.  In the midst of summer heat, planning and longing for the cool days of fall (no, i'm not totally complaining) where we enjoy our lovely Batavian lettuces, Tuscan kale and beautiful colored chards - we're welcoming two new girls to what is slowly becoming a sweet little dairy farm.

I'm not totally sure what defines that, but i like the sound of it and if you happen to live close to us - or stop off at the Honor System Market, you'll actually hear the sound of it too. . . . meaning our two new darling girls . . . Nancy and Karri - are vocalizing (a lot) - while adjusting to their new farm, the other girls and to us.

What Happens on a Small Little Dairy Farm (and a big one)
Twice a day at 6:30 am (ish) and 5:30 pm (ish) we now bring 6 does - 4 being milked - into our milking parlor (aka sunroom) where for the next hour (yup.... 1 hour) we clean teats, do a strip test on the milk, hand milk that beautiful alkaline milk into stainless steel pails, teat spray those teats to close up the orifice, quickly process that milk, filter that milk twice, pour that milk into sterilized glass jars and then bring the temp down f.a.s.t. (by placing it in small glass jars in the freezer for about 35-40+ minutes), then refrigerate the milk, then wash all the equipment and sterilize it only to do it all again at the next time either 6:30 am or 5:30 pm.

What Do We Do With all That Milk?
Besides drinking the milk we use our milk to make artisanal confections from our sweet goats milk -  caramel (in a jar), fudge, but now we're on a mission to make the most amazing, creamy, buttery, salted caramel candy anyone has ever tasted in their whole life.

Gotta go...time to milk the girls.