Friday morning my husband admitted that getting pigs might be a logical next step, considering all the cheesemaking I’m doing, and a split nanosecond later, I’d texted our pig-owning friend to let him know we were in — FINALLY. That very afternoon my husband swung by the farm to pick up two 10-week-old piggies.
They’re adorable and grunty and friendly. I named the small one Petunia (isn’t she a doll?) and the bigger one Fern. Morning and evening, I go down to their pen bearing gifts of deliciousness. I like to sit on a log right inside the gate and feed them chopped garden scraps and dairy.
Petunia is particularly fond of chopped kohlrabi. Fern adores strawberry tops.
They both went nuts for the buttermilk — Fern especially.
Fern is such a pig.
Neither of them liked the whey too much at first, but they’re guzzling it now, so maybe they were just overfull the first time I tried it?
Petunia and Fern are American Guinea hogs, which means they’re foragers — less rooty and more grass-eating. They grow slower and are smaller, so if everything goes according to plan, they should be ready to be turned into sausage sometime in the fall of next year.
It feels so good to finally have little piggies gobbling up all our scraps once again.
A week after Fiona was born, we started separating her from Emma in the evening. Then in the morning, my husband milks Daisy first and then Emma. We’re a week into this new system and Emma is giving approximately 2.5 gallons each milking; Daisy gives a little more.
About Emma’s milk: it’s soooo different from Daisy’s! After less than 12 hours of chilling (actually, more like only five hours!), the cream is so thick that it crinkles when you skim it. And the milk itself tastes different — richer, not as strong-flavored, and sweet. I am beside myself.
Here’s a run down of all the ways we’re enjoying the fresh milk.
Ice cream! Mid afternoon, I blend up an egg, a splash of vanilla, and a half cup each of sugar and milk. I mix it real good, so it’s light and frothy and smooth. Then I pulse in 2 cups of cream and pour the whole thing straight into the ice cream maker.
About 15-20 minutes later, soft serve vanilla! I transfer it to a different container and pop it in the freezer. By the time dessert rolls around, it’s scoopability perfection. Served with a fruit crisp or cobbler, or fresh sugared strawberries and granola, we can eat almost the whole thing. The little bit that’s leftover is a lovely addition to smoothies.
Smoothies! Just this week I bought a new blender.
I’ve been eyeballing an upgrade for months now and when I saw that Costco had one on special for a hundred dollars, I sprung for it. (Amazon, $150)
one of the three blender pitchers: this one’s the extractor
The thing is amazing, and now that it’s hot weather, I have a feeling we’ll be reaching for the yogurt and milk about twice as often as before. Here’s a banana strawberry licuado (before the Ninja).
The first night we had it, we made piña coladas (no milk) before bed.
Baking! Currently, I’ve been making buttermilk ricotta pancakes (because when you have a lot of milk, you double the dairy).
The night before, I mix the drys and blend the wets and then smack ‘em together first thing in the morning.
Yogurt! I’m not a yogurt person, but I’ve actually been eating whole bowls of it for my breakfasts and/or snacks.
roasted strawberries: maple syrup, wine, balsalmic, olive oil, salt
Lattes! So my younger son has been volunteering at the local thrift store one day a week. Days my younger son volunteers at the local thrift store, I’ll get random texts from him: Want this fan? (Yes.) A set of plates? (No.) How about this clock? (No.) Then yesterday, while my husband and I were standing in Costco debating the merits of various blenders, he texted, “Want an espresso machine?”
“How much?” I wrote back. “Does it work?” “Ten dollars. I’m testing it now.”
So now I have an espresso machine and I’m YouTubing my way through how to steam milk, pull shots, and make lattes and cappuccinos.
It’s loads of fun and we’re all drinking a lot of coffee, but it remains to be seen if this is just a fun toy or an actual piece of equipment that’s worth the kitchen realestate it take up.
And speaking of kitchen space, I may need to add on to my coffee stand since my son also got me this spiffy coffee grinder a few weeks back.
Butter!We did it again, but this time with the cream at a cooler temp. While it came together in five minutes, the yield was disappointingly low. We’d used a mix of Daisy and Emma creams, so maybe the low yield was because Daisy’s in the later stages of lactation? Or maybe it’s something else we’re not doing right? But I’m not giving up yet. My snazzy new blender comes with a dough blade, which I think should be perfect for butter making. And it has a lid that locks so I don’t need to hover, whoop!
I can’t wait to transition from store butter to homemade and start stashing it away in the freezer for all my winter baking.
