I managed to freeze a half dozen smaller bottles and two gallon jugs of milk before I dried the does up, but I've already gone through the smaller bottles. And I won't have any fresh milk until Annette kids, which is like two months away (actually, 53 days away.....but who's counting?).
I've been letting Rhiannon have the milk if she wants cereal or oatmeal, and I've been using it sparingly in my tea. I had put an ad in the local paper looking for a source of fresh milk, but nobody has answered. When I was at the store a few days ago I glanced at the price of milk; $4.65 a gallon! I'd have no problem paying that for fresh milk, but store milk? No way! I'll be using powdered milk for cooking or baking and once our frozen milk is gone, we'll just go without until kidding time. I would have frozen more, but our freezer space was at a premium and I really couldn't jam much more in there than I already had.
Oh, and speaking of milk cravings, guess who is back to crying for a cup of milk whenever I go out to the barn to feed the goats?
Outside Kitty came back! He was only "gone" for a day, and he may have actually still been here and was just giving me the cold shoulder (or a furry middle finger). I even got him to eat in the barn, but he's much more skittish now whenever I move, probably thinking I'm going to lock him up again. But when I'm away from the barn, he runs right up and meows hoping for a snack. Which I am of course, obliged to provide.
Yes, I'm a total sucker.
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Outside Kitty is back! That is great news - and bad news for the rodent population. I am so glad I have my cow and dairy barn (and someone else who milks her) just down the road. Too bad you don't live here - there are at least four small dairy goat operations around. Of course, if you lived here you'd freeze your bum off, but there's always a trade. I'd feel a whole lot better about paying the price for store-bought milk if I knew that the dairy farmers got a better cut of it. I'm not interested in supporting the middle guy.
ReplyDeleteHe really is a cute little dude! I am happy he came back, even though he may be slightly more crazy than he was before.
ReplyDeleteI have never had truly fresh milk... I don't even know where I could get some around here... Maybe I should start the hunt??
The thing is with the store bought milk, it's so far from real milk that it's . . . well, not even milk. And it won't give you and/or your family anywhere near the nutrients that your "homegrown" milk will. I think you need six or seven more goats so you'll never be out of milk. (Did Paul just say he's gonna block me from your blog?)
ReplyDeleteThose "outside kitties" can drive ya crazy, can't they? A couple of years ago, we had a really big, all-white cat that had snuggled in to our baled straw stack in the back. We fed him/her twice a day and thought we had acquired a good barn cat (although we don't technically have a barn) but one day . . . no big, all-white cat. Ne'er to be seen again.
The one thing that scares me when I think of keeping dairy animals is the thought of too much milk, but you have shown the flip side of that with your milk cravings LOL! The price of store milk is ridiculous! I order from a dairy but that's not a "fresh" variety either since it's "city milk" and all the laws that go with that. Our closest real thing is about 2 hours away and costs a fortune to buy into their "plan", ugh. Outside kitty doesn't know how good he has it yet!
ReplyDeleteOur outside cats will do the same thing. They hang out most of the time but might go away for a bit. When they return, they are skittish for awhile. Glad yours is back.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap! $4.65 a gallon? I just paid $3.73 at Walmart a few days ago. Geez, I better quit complaining!
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised at the cost of that milk it's nuts right now, so I have not bought any milk from the stores of late other than canned milk when I can find it cheap. I hope your milk cravings can go away soon!
ReplyDeleteWow, it's been almost two years since I bought milk, I had no idea it had gotten that expensive!! I have to admit, I'm STILL milking my goat that freshened in 2011 and didn't breed her this year either as I'm still getting almost 3 quarts a day from her.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Outside Kitty decided to come back! :)
I would rather pay good money for fresh milk myself, not store bought. Store bought milk is suppose to go up past $6.00 a gallon in the near future. I think my family will also use boxed milk or no milk at all.
ReplyDeleteCR, I'm happy to hear Outside Kitty has returned :-)
Glad he's back! Maybe he'll settle in and stay home...
ReplyDeleteSusan, it's too bad that the Feds make it so hard on small farms/dairies because I'm sure that's what is making it so hard to find fresh milk.
ReplyDeleteTiny Gardener, it's kind'a like tasting your fresh eggs for the first time.
Mama Pea, technically, I could have had year-round milk but I didn't plan the kiddings to have it that way. And honestly, I'll probably still take the winter off next year, but I'll have to make more room in the freezer for the off months.
Erin, we have no problem with extra milk. If we get overloaded, it gets made into cheese and if we REALLY get too much, there are friends and chickens that will gladly take it. If/when we ever get into hard, aged cheeses, I'll be needing MORE milk.
Kathy, I always tell myself that he's an "outdoor" cat and that I have to accept it as that...but it's still difficult when he goes "missing".
Tami, I knew that was pretty high, but we usually get totally screwed on groceries where we are anyhow.
Rivenfae, if it weren't for our goats we'd save milk for special occasions.
Candy C., I thought about doing that this year with my heavy milker, but I just got lazy. And not sure if I'll do it next year as she's getting up in age. But maybe milking through is better than the stress of kidding.
Sandy, we'll use powdered milk for baking & cooking, but I've yet to be able to stomach reconstituted powdered milk as just "milk".