Yesterday I picked up my weekly shipment of 1/2 gallon of raw milk from my dairy farmer. This was milked from a cow named "Nora" the day before yesterday. It is expensive but worth every penny - in fact, it is almost priceless here in the U.S.
It is illegal to directly sell raw milk for human consumption in the United States. I had to jump through some legal hoops for the privilege of this weekly delivery. I bought a small share in the Helios Farms dairy herd, and sign an annual contract allowing the good folks at Helios to manage my share of the herd for me - I pay them a one time annual fee to manage my share of the herd. Throughout the year I receive a weekly allotment of the milk produced equal to the share I purchased (1/2 gallon/week rate).
Helios Farms believes in what they call "Single Moo" milk, meaning they never mix the milk from different cows together. Every jar of milk in the delivery is labeled with the name of the cow. When there is surplus milk production compared to demand I get extra milk. Sometimes I get random free deliveries of farm-ranging chicken eggs.
This may be hard to believe in this day and age, but the delivery is left unattended in a large cooler along the side of a house in my neighborhood. The family that lives there has agreed to be the host for the dropoff, and they keep the large wooden gate to the side driveway open from 9am to 9pm to allow people to pick up the product they pay for. This operates 100% on the honor system. A sheet of paper in a ziplock bag is tucked inside the cooler, and you just cross your name off when you pick up your product. You are expected to return the empty mason jars but no one is counting or enforcing any of this.
Nora is a recent arrival to the herd and I had not tried her milk before. She is not a heavy cream producer - you can see the cream line clearly at the top of the jar. Her milk has a clean taste with grassy notes. Some of the cows in the herd (I am looking at you, Buttercup) produce so much cream that the dominate taste is a buttery velvet that slides over the tongue and is positively decadent. Nora on the other hand is clean and refreshing, and the notes of grass and clover come on toward the end of the swallow and leave a really wonderful taste in your mouth.
Vodka Berry Infusions
After I cleared out my freezer of carcasses and miscellaneous meat/bones to start my soup stock yesterday, I decided to use up some bags of frozen fruits and berries. I filled three mason jars, one with watermelon and mango, one with blueberries and blackberries, and one with just blackberries.
Next I filled the jars with my favorite vodka, Monopolowa potato vodka, and left them to do their magic in the freezer. My freezer is now mostly empty! A very temporary state of affairs. Plus of course I have a chest freezer LOL.
We are coming into fruit and berry season in the Willamette Valley again already and soon enough we will have a fresh harvest of bounty.
STILL making stock!
The ham and bean soup was/is delicious! We ate it for dinner last night and I just had a bowl for lunch today :)
The big stockpot is actually still simmering while I type this. I think 24 hours is a minimum slow cook time for a proper stock, particularly with large bones like the ham bones in the mix now. I will strain this batch out tonight to freeze.
Much love - Carl