Chocolate

“Remember kid, with great chocolate comes great responsibility."

~Larry-Boy~

Today's Did You Know?

Did you know that I do not like milk? Yes, you read that correctly! lol The oldest daughter of dairy goat farmers Tim and LeeAnne and the person who does 90% of the pasteurizing for Swede Farm Dairy does not like milk.

And it's nothing new. It's been a battle since I was three years old to get me to drink my milk, mom would set my cup of milk down with my lunch and I would sit there for more time than it would have taken me to drink the milk plotting of ways to get rid of that awful cup with the white drink in it.

I remember sitting there thinking that there HAD to be a way to get rid of the stuff without wasting it or drinking it! And then came that wonderful day when mom said I didn't have to drink the milk anymore. By then she figured that if a girl could eat a pound of cheese in a day if given the choice (it was my favorite lunch for years--Cheese and mustard.) that I must be getting enough calcium without having to do a battle of the daily cup of milk.

Then we moved out to the country and got our goats. And people started asking how I liked drinking goat's milk instead of cow's milk. When I answered with "I don't like it." I got the all too common "Of course not! It's goat's milk and I hear it's gamey." Well, no not really it's just milk. lol

The real joke came when we opened the dairy and started selling milk at farmers markets. Me being there was almost a marketing disaster. Until I started telling the truth, but not really answering peoples questions (it's that part of me that makes some of my sisters think I would do O.K. in the political world).

You see one of the top ten most Frequently Asked Questions about the dairy (to me at least) is "Do you like it?" And what is my answer, oh me who doesn't like milk of any form unless it's got a good amount of chocolate or coffee in it? My answer is the truth of course!! "It's the only milk I will drink.".

And that's the truth, I promise! I would rather by my milk from mom and dad then drink that white stuff from the store that taste like 2%! But I would much rather get my calcium from eating cheese and drinking chocolate milk then drinking the milk straight up. lol

RAIN!!

It just rained for a full hour and not just a little bit here and there, but a full fledged, out and out, soaking pour for over thirty minutes!! :D

I think the last time it rained this much at one time was back in early June! It sure was nice to see the puddles get larger, the rain keep coming, and to run through it and get soaked. :D

Oh, wait I guess at 21 I shouldn't be running through puddles. :-S Forget you read that.--That is until the next time I say that, as there are just somethings that I just can't seem to give up even as I get older. :D Ask my family, puddles are one of them. lol

Well, I need to go bottle chocolate. The gallons of some of the darkest, richest, best tasting chocolate milk you will taste is almost ready to bottled and I got distracted by rain. You would think I could grow up some day. :)

This Week...

Let's see, it seems to have been a busy week, but when I sit down and think about what we did it wasn't that much. :D

Sunday--We had lunch at church and then went to a farmer's market down town. Once we got home, even chores were worked on, then dad and I sat down to watch the Braves and Phillies.

Monday--Started with me making vanilla bean yogurt as soon as they were done milking. And then cleaning up the dairy and making a batch of soap for my conference next week. That evening I spent an hour doing my best not blow a gasket over the fact that I couldn't watch the Astros. And we had a farm visit from someone who had some questions about how to take care of her goat.

Tuesday--Started out with pasteurizing milk for that night's market, as soon as I was done pasteurizing, bottling, and labeling. I loaded up all the product, got ready to go and helped a little with getting the younger children ready to go. We--Mom, Sara, Emma, Liberty, Noah, Judah, and Seth--all headed out with a goat and three bunnies for the market. Where we were REALLY busy.

On our way home we stopped at Central Market and HEB for some stuff for our yogurt and Seth's family birthday party that night and Emma's and Seth's non-family birthday party this Saturday.

Once we got home, dad and I unloaded product while they finished the finally touches on the birthday cake. Then we had some birthday cake and ice cream and then crashed.

Wednesday--Started with pasteurizing 18 gallons of milk, only to be reminded that I needed to save some milk for a costumer who has been our costumer and picking up milk from us for at least a year. I can NOT believe I forgot that!! For, some reason I was think it was Thursday (I was even planing what I would do with the milk as if it were Thursday). About half way through bottling a Friend called to see if she could take me and a sister out for lunch. Being very busy I had to say no, but they ended up going out with Chris and Grace. :D

While they were gone, I bottled and cleaned the processing room and then headed out to the trailer to make some soap. With the dairy I have fallen behind in my supplies for Swede Farm Naturals but with my conference coming up next week I am in fast mode making sure i have all my products ready to go.

Wednesday is also the day we got our new herd sire from South Fork. This is our fourth goat from her and we have LOVED them all, very sweet tempered goats, lovely and all around great. :D

Alamo, is a very cute little guy and looks kind of like his half brother that we got three years ago. :D I love that coloring on goats. :) (He's the ear less one. lol )

Thursday--I had to make some chocolate milk, once that was done I headed out to the trailer yet again to make another batch of soap. While I was soaping some friends came for some goat help. They are new to goats and we are helping to learn all there is to goats, just like other people did for us four years ago. :D

That night we had pizza while watching "It's A Wonderful Life". W movie we watch ever Christmas season, but with the Dairy and new markets and family visiting we did not get around to it, so they decided to 'break the rules' and watch it now. :D

Today (Friday)--I got to sleep in late. :D I was not out of bed before 9! :D That felt nice, plus the extra cuddle time with Judah. I had to pasteurize again, this time for the chiefs that buy from us. While it was pasteurizing I bottle some raw for a costumer who was coming out today. :D With that done I am now sitting here typing this while Noah and Judah are supposed to be napping.

That's how it has been here this past week. Plus the added stress of getting ready for a new market tomorrow, making sure we have enough product, ice chest, frozen water bottles. everything is labeled, etc. Very busy time. :D Plus I am slightly stressed since this only my second conference, I am also trying to make sure I have everything, that everything is made, labeled, and packaged correctly.

Along with those things is the fact that we have a birthday party tomorrow afternoon for Emma and Seth and Easter Sunday. :D

So, there you have it yet another overview of a week at Swede Farm. :D

A Not So Normal Friday

All righty then, the first half of this post was done on Friday (during my 'lunch break') the other half has been 'stewing' in my mind since then and this is the first chance I have had to continue it. :D

Fridays are normally very busy days, this Friday was more so. I knew yesterday (Thursday 4/2) that I was going to at least have to make one batch of yogurt and pasteurize some milk. Well, for more then one reason I had to do more then that today (Friday).

The day started out with dad and me getting up way to early and thankfully we were able to, because both or our alarms didn't go off, I just happened to wake up at the right time. After dad and I got the yogurt started he left for work, leaving me to yogurt sit. While I yogurt sat for about an hour, I was making sure the temp would stay where it needed to for it to become yogurt, I had cleaned up the processing room, and did my bible study, after about an hour I headed inside.

Inside I cuddled with Noah and Seth, played with the toddlers, got hit in the face with my purse, worked on labels for tomorrow's market, printed up a flyer for tomorrow's market, ordered supplies for Swede Farm Naturals, (I have a conference coming up soon), played, read some blogs, got breakfast, and tried to direct the kids to do the correct thing at the right time (namely school). And that was all done before ten am!!

I then spent the next hour and half wasting my time on the computer, with a little bit of directing the kids on what to do school wise and trying to get the flyer finished for mom and dad.

After that we had lunch prep, lunch, and naps. I then directed everyone to do certain jobs so I knew that all would be well in the house while I was out in the Dairy. I had Christin watch two toddlers, Sara watch another, Libby on her bed, I directed Linnea, Emma, and Timothy to do a couple jobs each so that the house would be picked up when mom got home, Grace and I then headed out to the dairy to bottle yogurt and then cleaned processing the room.

As soon as I had the yogurt bottled and everything cleaned up, I immediately started pasteurizing and making chocolate milk. While that was pasteurizing I worked on getting both rooms in the dairy cleaned, since we had a farm visit at 7 that evening.

As soon as I could leave the dairy, knowing it was cleaned and the milk was cooling, I headed into the house to grab some 'gear' to take to the trailer for some soap making.

By the time I had grabbed some supplies, mp3 player, and coffee, Emma came in to tell me that milk was ready to be bottled! I couldn't believe it, I must of take FAR longer then I thought I had. But I went out to check anyways. It was not ready to be bottled right then, but there wasn't enough time to make soap before it needed to be bottled, so I did some bible study instead.

As soon as I had the chocolate milk bottled and everything cleaned up from that processing. The girls where by then done with the evening milking and our visitors had arrived. But, my job was far from being done.

I immediately started pasteurizing that day's milk for market on Saturday (4/4). The same old normal thing I do every Saturday. Though I would love to do it in the morning more often, nothing new and out of the ordinary.

As it was pasteurizing I was putting any labels on bottles that weren't labeled, making sure that the ice chests (all 7 of them) were clean for the next day, and we had our milk bottles that were full of water were frozen, and anything else I needed to do to get ready for market the following day.

After the milk was bottled, the room cleaned, and everything prepped for a quick load up the next morning I headed into the house to hit the sack and coddle with Noah happened to have fallen asleep on my bed.

At market the next day I was able to tell our costumers that their yogurt, chocolate milk, and half their milk was fresh! As in from the day before fresh! Friday was a VERY LONG day, but I got to sleep in the next two mornings (not by much, but I did get a little extra sleep). And I wouldn't trade this 'job' in for any other job!!

A Dairy Promotion?

I think I got a dairy promotion this past week. lol Before now I just pasteurized, bottled and labeled. I did the "white milk" and chocolate milk. (The only reason I did the chocolate milk is because I was the one pasteurizing the first time we did it after that it was my thing to do).

So this past week I was walked through making the Vanilla Bean Yogurt. Before now making yogurt was something that only mom and dad did together. No one else had been shown and I honestly didn't expect anyone to be shown for a while. But dad asked me if I would make it, gave me instructions and left. :D Mom and I worked on it together, since mom had helped dad with it before and knew what somewhat what we were suppossed to do, so I wasn't left completely alone the first time.

I did the milk part while mom did the vanilla bean part. (She doesn't know how to run the pasteurizer yet. :D ) After I worked on that all day Thursday (it takes 6-8 hours for the culture to make milk into yogurt). I then made a plain batch of yogurt Friday morning. So two batches in less then 24 hours. Wow!!

Then Thursday night dad asked me if I wanted to do his Kefir while I was wating for the yogurt to finish. Having given me step-by-step direction he left me to do it (he had some business that HAD to be dealt with in the house.) I did that very carefully, knowing that kefir is "alive" and could be "killed", I was very careful with every step I went trough and came back to dad to double check that I was doing it all the correct way, I hadn't forgotten anything and I would not kill it! I got it done without killing it and had over a gallon to sell at market on Saturday.

In the end, we sold over half of both yogurts and some of the kefir we brought (we only brought SIX gallons worth!!) And I felt proud that I had made them and people liked it enough to buy them! :D