Reminding myself why I do this
Mar 11, 2023 11:32:54 GMT -5
simplynaturalfarm, Shawn, and 10 more like this
Post by thystledown on Mar 11, 2023 11:32:54 GMT -5
Mud season (like all winter this year), I'm sick, the beef calves weaned yesterday are in the barn crying and complaining loudly while I milk, all the horses were in all night because of the heavy wet snow that pulled down the chicken wire fence around my garden, and I have to do all the mucking out alone today while hubby (also sick) plows. But I just put a 6 lb cheese into the brine this morning. Organic grass fed raw milk cheese isn't cheap to buy. I used to value the milk and cheese etc. at grocery store brand retail when calculating if I made or lost money on the dairy cow and was it worth the work. But now we actually do buy organic. And, although I don't know if it makes a real difference, my cow is also fed soy free because I am so soy sensative. I can't even find that to buy. Anyway, at conservative retail for organic cheese at store brand price, its about $11-12/lb. So the $66 value of that cheese that took me about an hour or so of active work, contributes a lot toward her feed. That is just one wheel. I get 6lbs from 4.5 gallons of milk. I make quite a lot of cheese. Good cheese that makes people hope I'm bringing cheese or cheese spreads to gatherings (which I didn't know until a graduation party pot luck when the teens ran eagerly to greet me and then discovered I'd brought deviled eggs for a change ). I can buy raw milk at a farm about 10 minutes away. Mostly brown swiss and bottled in plastic, tested and certified. But I can't make my kind of cheese from that. I use warm from the cow milk for my cheese, yogurt and kefir. And the raw milk farm cows are conventionally fed including silage, not grazed. We eat really good beef year around--even the expensive cuts. And the fresh air and exercise are good for me even when I'm sick. I had to take one day off this week because this bug was gastro-intestinal. But I have a lovely fat calf who was glad to do the milking for me. So even though it is dirty, smelly, hard work, I guess I'll keep doing it. For another year. Dry off is Memorial day. Due date is August 5. Right now is early March with heavy wet snow on top of mud. This is the tough time--the slog through it time. But also the time to finish making cheese for the year before the summer pulls me back outside.
Edited to add: Tell me why you keep going even when the going is tough.
Edited to add: Tell me why you keep going even when the going is tough.