Shake, shake, shake! Shake your BUTT-ER!!

I'm very excited that we've have the opportunity to purchase a cow share. We get a half gallon of raw milk weekly, along with a dozen eggs from our fabulous farmers Ms. Emily and Mr. Daniel at Tuckahoe Lamb and Cattle.

Last week for whatever reason, we didn't drink our milk. Saturday morning I stood staring at a gallon milk. We decided to make a go at butter.  Being a former preschool teacher, I've made butter from heavy whipping cream before. So using a spoon I skimmed the cream from the top of our milk and placed it in a mason jar. I set the jar on the counter top for an hour while I began making our roast for lunch.   After an hour in the ever warming kitchen, the cream felt the right temperature. I've always been a hands on temperature reader for most things, even meat at times. 

I began shaking the jar. Miss Moo came in and asked to help. We shook. We danced. We made a butter making song.  We shook some more. I was amazed at how quickly this butter came together. I recall being in the classroom for what seemed like an eternity shaking little jars of cream to assist my Pre-K's in the butter churning process.  I also recall having to form my butter into a ball before rinsing it in the past.

Here is my butter just out of the jar.

After rinsing and salting, I stirred it and formed it back into a ball.

I then remembered that Nana gave me a small pineapple butter mold.

Nana and I are a little nuts about pineapples. Well, perhaps that isn't worded strongly enough. We are a bit obsessed with pineapples. They are all OVER her kitchen and creeping their way in here. I LOVE the southern quality of the pineapple and just how happy they look!

Next, I shoved that little gal in the mold and threw her in the fridge!

After lunch, and with the girls safely tucked away in their sleepy naps, I pulled my butter out to see my pineapple :)

Pottery by John Bryant of Old Tavern Clay.

Can you see it?? Are you sure? Maybe if you squint?? Oh, good!!

Perhaps the mold wasn't the best idea considering I made a very small amount of butter. But the point is that I made it, it was easy, fast, and fun for Miss Moo.

I'm trying to find ways to allow her to help in the kitchen more. Miss Roo is much more of a challenge during meal preparation now that she is walking, running, and "helping" me. I spend a lot of time doing things quickly or ahead of time to avoid stepping on or over Roo.  Moo does want to help, but in many cases shows interested during the last few steps of meals which can be quite boring for her and frustrating for me. So, butter making was a great kid activity and simple. You might consider making some with your little helpers. It's as simple as a jar, a dance, and a song!

Inspiried by Ani....

I've been trying to get back into the swing of blogging. Now the Mommy of two under two, I really think I feel the need to do so for my sanity. The entries that I had on my previous blog were great, but they represented a static notion of myself. This idea couldn't be further from the truth.

These days I spend my time playing, teaching, cleaning (well sort of), cooking, nursing, and researching. Researching schools, foods, chemicals, parenting, etc. all for the sake of being the best Mommy and wife that I can be. Nothing in my world stands still. Everything is constantly evolving.

A few days ago I introduced Roo to the magic that is Ani DiFranco. She cooed and smiled all the way through 32 Flavors and cried when it ended. I was touched. I continued to listen to that siren of my soul and felt drawn even more than I usually do to the song Evolve. If you have never heard the song, or Ani for that matter, look her up on Pandora. You won't be sorry. The lyrics to the song are as follows:
I walk in stride with people
much taller than me
and partly it's the boots but
mostly it's my chi
and I'm becoming transfixed
with nature and my part in it
which I believe just signifies
I'm finally waking up

and there's this moth outside my kitchen door
she's bonkers for that bare bulb
flying round in circles
bashing in her exoskull
and out in the woods she navigates fine by the moon
but get her around a light bulb and she's doomed

she is trying to evolve
she's just trying to evolve

now let's get talking reefer madness
like some arrogant government can't
by any stretch of the imagination
outlaw a plant
yes, their supposed authority over nature
is a dream
c'mon people
we've got to come clean

cuz they are locking our sons
and our daughters in cages
they are taking by the thousands
our lives from under us
it's a crash course in religious fundamentals
now let's all go to war
get some bang for our buck

I am trying to evolve
I'm just trying to evolve

gunnin for high score in the land of dreams
morbid bluish-white consumers ogling luminous screens
on the trail of forgetting
cruising without a care
the jet set won't abide by that pesky jet lag
and our lives boil down to an hour or two
when someone pulls a camera out of a bag

and I am trying to evolve
I'm just trying to evolve

so I walk like I'm on a mission
cuz that's the way I groove
I got more and more to do
I got less and less to prove
it took me too long to realize
that I don't take good pictures
cuz I have the kind of beauty
that moves


This song has been on repeat in my head since that afternoon. It speaks to my soul. It mirrors my heart.

So here it is. Here is my place of evolution. Here I will talk about whatever is on my mind, from babies, to toddlers, to being crunchy, to homeschooling. I couldn't pick a word or title that defines me because I am still learning who this lady is.