We have 11 goats, three of which will produce about a gallon and a half of milk on any given day (sigh). Now, this wouldn’t be such a big deal were it not for the fact that there are only two of us (as in humans (sometimes even that’s debatable) on the homestead. I mean, think about it, even the fittest of the fit couldn’t drink a gallon and a half of milk a day right?! Well, maybe, but still. So, this is the quandary I’m left with. How do I “move” all that milk every day? E-V-E-R-Y D-A-Y. 
First off, before I can do anything with the milk, I have to cool it down. Once the milkman, my hubby, finishes the milking of the goats, he brings the milk in and gives it to me. Yay, me! (Not really) We use stainless steel bowls with snap on lids; both for sanitary and cooling reasons. I place the milked-milk (what? it could be a thing) in the fridge and cool it down to 48 degrees within 30 minutes, which ultimately results in the milk being 40 degrees after about an hour and a half. The milk is now ready for use. And yes, if you’re asking, we drink and consume raw milk.
Before getting into what I do with all this raw milk, let me share the benefits of goat milk. Goat’s milk is a rich source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals and actually has a better digestibility and lower allergenicity than cow’s milk, which is good news for some of you lactose intolerant peeps. My father-in-law who is lactose intolerant, loves coming to visit us because he can enjoy some of the goodies like ice-cream, cheesecake and mozzarella cheese topped pizza that he wouldn’t normally get to have, which makes me the best daughter-in-law in the world. (Well, yeah?! Just sayin)
Okay, back to moving the cheese. Now I come to the creativity part on what to do with the raw milk. I do not have the space for gallons and gallons of jars filled with milk in my fridge. And because there are no preservatives in the milk, it has to be used in short-order. So, first and foremost, is always cheese. Mostly soft cheeses like mozzarella because it is fast and easy to make. I put cheese in the dogs’ food, shred it for food toppings and, for snacks; like yummy string cheese. Then, next is soft cream cheese that we can use for dips, veggie and herb spreads, cream pies, or creamy cheesecakes. And then there’s the yogurt. If you didn’t know, goat milk yogurt is high in probiotics like thermophillus, bifudus, and bulgaricus (I know that’s a bunch of big words that probably none of us understand, but what they mean are that the goat milk yogurt is packed with a lot of healthy probiotics.) In fact, both my hubby and I have a bowl of goat milk yogurt topped with fruits or preserves from our garden, and a little raw honey (thank you bees) every night before bed.
And the best thing, and favorite with friends and family, and yeah the ol’ goat himself, I make goat milk ice-cream. Rich, creamy, melt-in your-mouth ice-cream. Again, I add goodies from the garden to make the ice cream.
If I’m really feeling adventurous, and have a little time on my hands (Time? What is that?), I will make hard cheese, like mild cheddar. But of course this means, pulling out the cheese press that my hubby made me (saving us a couple hundred dollars that we didn’t have in the first place), and taking up a lot of counter space for a few days for squishing the whey out of the cheese, and drying it on racks, before sealing for storage. So I only make hard cheese on my downtime like in the winter, where there is no harvest to preserve. Hard cheese doesn’t need a lot of babysitting either, after the initial pressing and flipping that is.
With all that cheese whey, I feed it to my dogs, chickens and ducks, sprinkle it in my greenhouse, and make some really yummy protein bars. Nothing goes to waste here on our homestead!
There you have it, how I “move” the milk. Although it all seems fairly easy enough with just the two of us, if you combine the cheese making task with all the outdoor, and indoor chores, and preserving of the garden harvest, I have been known to whine a little bit, okay, I whine a lot bit, when I see my hubby coming in the door with a gallon and a half of milk and two five-gallon buckets filled with garden harvests for me to “deal with”. Just sayin.
- Survivor Jane
For More Information and Tickets for "Prepper Camp" - the largest 3 day outdoor preparedness event in the country go to www.PrepperCamp.com
If you liked this ... then you will love my book, "Emergency/Survival Hygiene: A Prepper "Cookbook" for Survival Personal Hygiene Products", "What Could Possibly Go Wrong??? How to Go From Completely Clueless to Totally Prepared" and my NEW Book "Puzzling Over Preparedness - Survivor Jane's
Prepper Word Search Puzzles" (Direct links to all my books on the side bar >>>)
If you have any questions, or would like to see a specific article addressing survival preparedness for women on Survivor Jane website click here > editorial@survivorjane.com)
First off, before I can do anything with the milk, I have to cool it down. Once the milkman, my hubby, finishes the milking of the goats, he brings the milk in and gives it to me. Yay, me! (Not really) We use stainless steel bowls with snap on lids; both for sanitary and cooling reasons. I place the milked-milk (what? it could be a thing) in the fridge and cool it down to 48 degrees within 30 minutes, which ultimately results in the milk being 40 degrees after about an hour and a half. The milk is now ready for use. And yes, if you’re asking, we drink and consume raw milk.
Before getting into what I do with all this raw milk, let me share the benefits of goat milk. Goat’s milk is a rich source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals and actually has a better digestibility and lower allergenicity than cow’s milk, which is good news for some of you lactose intolerant peeps. My father-in-law who is lactose intolerant, loves coming to visit us because he can enjoy some of the goodies like ice-cream, cheesecake and mozzarella cheese topped pizza that he wouldn’t normally get to have, which makes me the best daughter-in-law in the world. (Well, yeah?! Just sayin)Okay, back to moving the cheese. Now I come to the creativity part on what to do with the raw milk. I do not have the space for gallons and gallons of jars filled with milk in my fridge. And because there are no preservatives in the milk, it has to be used in short-order. So, first and foremost, is always cheese. Mostly soft cheeses like mozzarella because it is fast and easy to make. I put cheese in the dogs’ food, shred it for food toppings and, for snacks; like yummy string cheese. Then, next is soft cream cheese that we can use for dips, veggie and herb spreads, cream pies, or creamy cheesecakes. And then there’s the yogurt. If you didn’t know, goat milk yogurt is high in probiotics like thermophillus, bifudus, and bulgaricus (I know that’s a bunch of big words that probably none of us understand, but what they mean are that the goat milk yogurt is packed with a lot of healthy probiotics.) In fact, both my hubby and I have a bowl of goat milk yogurt topped with fruits or preserves from our garden, and a little raw honey (thank you bees) every night before bed.
And the best thing, and favorite with friends and family, and yeah the ol’ goat himself, I make goat milk ice-cream. Rich, creamy, melt-in your-mouth ice-cream. Again, I add goodies from the garden to make the ice cream.
If I’m really feeling adventurous, and have a little time on my hands (Time? What is that?), I will make hard cheese, like mild cheddar. But of course this means, pulling out the cheese press that my hubby made me (saving us a couple hundred dollars that we didn’t have in the first place), and taking up a lot of counter space for a few days for squishing the whey out of the cheese, and drying it on racks, before sealing for storage. So I only make hard cheese on my downtime like in the winter, where there is no harvest to preserve. Hard cheese doesn’t need a lot of babysitting either, after the initial pressing and flipping that is.
With all that cheese whey, I feed it to my dogs, chickens and ducks, sprinkle it in my greenhouse, and make some really yummy protein bars. Nothing goes to waste here on our homestead!
There you have it, how I “move” the milk. Although it all seems fairly easy enough with just the two of us, if you combine the cheese making task with all the outdoor, and indoor chores, and preserving of the garden harvest, I have been known to whine a little bit, okay, I whine a lot bit, when I see my hubby coming in the door with a gallon and a half of milk and two five-gallon buckets filled with garden harvests for me to “deal with”. Just sayin. - Survivor Jane
For More Information and Tickets for "Prepper Camp" - the largest 3 day outdoor preparedness event in the country go to www.PrepperCamp.com
If you liked this ... then you will love my book, "Emergency/Survival Hygiene: A Prepper "Cookbook" for Survival Personal Hygiene Products", "What Could Possibly Go Wrong??? How to Go From Completely Clueless to Totally Prepared" and my NEW Book "Puzzling Over Preparedness - Survivor Jane's
Prepper Word Search Puzzles" (Direct links to all my books on the side bar >>>)
If you have any questions, or would like to see a specific article addressing survival preparedness for women on Survivor Jane website click here > editorial@survivorjane.com)
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