Healthy goats, healthy goat milk, healthy goat milk soap

The health of our goats is very important to us.  If our goats are healthy their milk is healthy and will have lots of nutrients and minerals.  Healthy goats require good management and good nutrition.We are constantly evaluating our management practices to ensure healthy animals.  We like to use a holistic approach in all we do. Prevention is the key, prevention through good nutrition and good environment.

We feed non-GMO, organic as possible grains, feed, and alfalfa to our animals as well as the organically produced vegetables and herbs we grow here. They are given free choice minerals, fresh water, and allowed to get lots of exercise and sunshine while roaming the fields of the farm. One of my favorite things to do is take them for a walk.  They get to eat tons of yummy leaves, weeds, and twigs and I get to be in god's creation and meditate on the beauty of it.

Our goats are like members of our family.  I've been know to share a few secrets with them and a hug or two for comfort. They know their names and run to your to get attention. 

At Raisin' Acres, the milk is carefully produced for our family and for the soap we make.  That way we know the quality of the milk that goes into our bodies and our products. 

 The benefits of goat milk soaps.

• Goat milk soaps are free from chemicals that may hurt you and are in a PH range that is similar to human skin.  This makes goat milk soap a mild soap that is safe for all skin conditions.

• Goats milk has alpha-hydroxy acids;  they help cleanse by naturally exfoliating dead skin cells. 

• It has triglycerides,nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that nourish and act as natural emollients that help moisturize and feed your skin.

• Has been shown to soothe and calm dry, inflamed skin and help with aging and wrinkles.

 

Why do you suppose Queen Cleopatra bathed in goat milk and was purported to have beautiful skin? Not all of us have a herd of goats to fill our tubs with milk but we do have access to goat milk soap and it's benefits. However, you need to beware, not all goat milk soaps are the same.  Some soaps are made with a small percentage of goat milk, powdered goat milk, or canned goat milk. When shopping around, be an informed consumer and ask how the soaps are made.  

At Raisin' Acres, we are committed to the quality of our finished soaps.  This quality starts with the animals that we care for and carries through to the finished bars of soap. If you are interested in trying our soaps go to www.raisinacresfarm.com and check us out.

Homemade tapioca

We eat a lot of tapioca in our house this time of year.  In fact my husband has a tapioca compartment as well as a peanut compartment and a chip and salsa compartment that he has to fill on a regular basis, normally at night before he goes to bed.  Now if I were to indulge myself and fill my compartments before bed, I would be gaining weight every week with no end in sight.  Not so my dear husband, I'm not quite sure how he does it but I wish I knew his secret.

I thought I would share our recipe with you since it is such a big hit around here.  I will warn you that is has a lot of eggs in it therefore it has lots of fat and calories.  This is an estimation of a recipe since I don't always measure exactly.

Goat milk Tapioca Pudding

1 and 1/2 cup tapioca pearls
1 gallon raw goat milk
1 cup sugar or maple syrup (you can add more but we don't like it too sweet)
9-12 eggs beaten in separate bowl
1/2 tsp salt
vanilla

You have to soak the tapioca at least 6 hours before you cook the pudding so I usually start the tapioca soaking before I go to bed the night before.  Place the pearls in a bowl and cover with warm spring water.  Allow for expansion since the pearls soak up the water and get softer.
The next day place a gallon of milk up in a heavy bottom pot.  

• Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat until bright yellow.
• Add the sugar and salt to the milk and heat until steamy
• Add some milk to the eggs and stir in to temper the eggs then add the eggs to the pot of milk stirring constantly
• Heat and stir well until thickens and coats a spoon.  I use a hand blender as well as the spoon to make sure it is creamy.
• When the tapioca is thick add the vanilla and stir in well.  
• Let cool, stirring occasionally as it cools, refrigerate
• Once nice and cold enjoy.

It is important to stir as it cools because a lot of the tapioca pearls will end up on the bottom half of the pudding if you don't.

Quiche A.K.A "Egg Pie"

So we made "Egg Pie" last night for dinner.  I have been meaning to make it for a couple of weeks now but just got around to it.  It might have had something to do with the High temperatures we have been having and me not wanting to turn the oven on to bake the pies.  Quiche is one of the meals we eat when we have a lot of eggs and a lot of milk to use so we generally have it in the spring and summer.  When I make it I also try to make extra to have for lunch the next day.  It is great warm or cold right out of the refrigerator.
  
Quiche is one of those recipes that you can be creative with and use some of the ingredients that you have on hand.  Some of the ingredients we use are:  sausage, peppers, caramelized onions, sauteed spinach or Swiss chard, hamburger, ham, bacon, sauteed or roasted veggies, mushrooms, and leeks.  The different cheeses we use are: Swiss, cheddar, mozzarella, and feta.  You are only limited by your imagination.


A quick word on cheese.  We like to use raw cheese when we have it or can make some.  You ask why?  It is healthier for you to eat.  The good bacteria and enzymes haven't been cooked out of it, not to mention it really tastes yummy.  I guess it is debatable whether or not putting the raw cheese in the quiche and cooking it kills these bacteria and enzymes.  But it still tastes yummy and I'm hoping that something survives the oven.

The crust on the quiche is so easy to make and really adds to the flavor when combines with the egg and cheese.  I will give you and exact recipe for the crust and an approximate recipe for the filling since I make adjustments every time I make "Egg Pie".

Tart Pastry

3cups flour (we use whole wheat)
1 egg yolk (put the white in with the filling mix)
1tsp salt
1/4 lb unsalted butter (cold)
2T ice water

Place dry ingredients in food processor, add chopped butter and egg yolk.  Mix to just enough to blend well.    
Pour into a bowl and add just enough water to make pastry stick together.  Pat flat, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to cool while you cook up some of the filling ingredients.

5-10 minutes later, take out of the fridge and pat into pie plates.  One pastry recipe will cover two 8 inch pie plates. If the dough gets too sticky put in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up.

Egg Filling:


8 eggs (plus egg white from pastry)
1/2 gallon of milk
1/2 tsp salt
dash of hot sauce / or pinch of cayenne
Nutmeg (optional) we don;t use this

Mix well and once you fill the pie pan pour over the top and place in oven at 350 degrees.  Cook until middle is firm.  Let sit for a few minutes to firm up, cut and enjoy.

Sausage Pie without filling

Sausage Pie with Egg filling.

Carmelized Onion

Carmelized Onion with Filling

"Special" swiss chard, leek, and feta filling.

Refreshing old Kefir

So, some of us drink kefir in this house, and some of us don't.  The people that drink the Kefir have not been keeping up with the drinking part of the equation lately.  By lately, I mean it has been probably 2 months since we have had any.  The quart jar has been sitting lonely and sad in the fridge waiting to be useful to someone.

I pulled it out today to refresh it and start drinking it daily once again.  It looked fine and the little kefir granules were in good shape.  I thought I would post some pictures so you could see what I did and how everything looked.  The quart jar is sitting on the counter right now and will be ready (I hope) by tomorrow.  However, depending on the temperature of the room etc. it can take a little longer to work.

This is the jar of old kefir from the fridge.

I used a metal strainer to drain the old kefir through and to catch the kefir grains

After draining the old kefir, I used spring water to rinse the grains in the metal strainer.  We have a city water system here with Chlorine and Flouride in it so we don't use it for cooking, drinking, or any of our recipes.  The Chlorine/Flouride can kill your kefir grains so be careful not to use anything but clean, clear water when rinsing them.











Once the grains were rinsed, I pulled a fresh quart jar of goat milk out of the refrigerator, added the grains, shook the jar slightly and placed it on the back of my counter to start fermenting.

Kefir grains look like little pieces of cauliflower.  Here is a close up of these friendly little bacteria.

Don't throw out the kefir you haven't been drinking, just re-fresh it and you can start all over.

Herbed feta in oil and around the house today

Pat went to pick up some more stain for the back deck and we will be getting to work on that this afternoon.  In the meantime I decided to make herbed feta in oil with a batch of feta I made a few days ago.  If the cheese remains covered in the oil and there isn't a lot of moisture this can be stored for a very long time.  I have made this and eaten the cheese as long as 18 months later and it tasted wonderful.  It does use quite a bit of olive oil depending on how well you can pack the cheese in the jar but you could re-use the oil for more cheese or I have used it in salad dressing and to drizzle on veggies.

To make this you need feta with all the extra moisture removed, good olive oil, herbs of your choosing, and a jar with lid.  I use wide mouth canning jars and for this herbed feta I used fresh garlic and rosemary.  Once the feta and herbs are covered with oil keep in a cool dark place.  You may not want to keep it in the refrigerator because the herbs can't infuse as well and the olive oil has a tendency to harden and stick to the feta in globs.

The bread I made yesterday is a little crumbly but good, we had that for a snack with a cold glass of milk.  I know we are going to be busy painting and I won't feel like making dinner tonight so I got a ham bone out and out it in the crock pot with some salt, peppers, onion, and navy beans.  This should be ready by dinner with some cornbread.  I used the leftover feta and made a cucumber, garlic, banana pepper, basil, One lonely cherry tomato, and cilantro salad for lunch.  All from our gardens and goats.  I drizzled this with olive oil and apple cider vinegar and a dash of pink sea salt.  So delicious!

Modern buttermilk making

When we have plenty of milk I like to have a half gallon of buttermilk going to use in my cooking.  It gives bread, pancake, and muffin recipes a nice flavor.  It is also nice for pre-fermenting your flour prior to making a recipe.  I have some recipes in a a book called "Nourishing Traditions" that do just that.  I have extra zucchini right now and there is a recipe for banana bread/zucchini bread in the book that calls for the flour to set with buttermilk in it for 12-24 hours before you make the bread.

I used quite a bit of the buttermilk today making the "starter" for the bread and decided to make some more buttermilk.  It is so easy to keep it going.  All you have to do is save some of the old buttermilk and fill the jar up with fresh milk leaving a couple of inches of head room.  Make sure the mixture is stirred in well, put a lid on and let it sit on the cupboard for 24 hours.  After 24 hours stir it up and put in the refrigerator to use whenever a recipe calls for buttermilk.

I have a quart of buttermilk on the right and have filled the half gallon with fresh goat milk.  I added 1/2 cup of butter milk to the half gallon jar and will let it set until tomorrow.

Real old time buttermilk is not made this way.  Buttermilk was the by-product of butter making in a churn.  The fresh milk was set out at room temperature and allowed to "clabber".  The clabbered milk was put in the churn and made into butter.  The left over liquid after the butter is taken out is the buttermilk.

The cool thing about the buttermilk that I make is that it is made from fresh, raw goat milk and has all the vitamins and nutrients still in it because it has not been pasteurized to kill off all that good stuff.  I should also add that the reason it is so good for you to pre-soak the flour in cultured milk is that it helps you to digest and soak up the vitamins, enzymes, and nutrients more efficiently

Processing and using all this milk

We are drowning in milk right now.  Well, not really since the 4 buckling's we have are drinking 2 and 1/2  gallons of milk a day.  But, still we have a lot of extra milk.  What an excellent problem to have.   The last couple of years we have had little or no milk so we are excited to have this abundance.
I have been making a soft spreadable cheese that we put on everything to eat.  It is really good with herbs in it and spread on toast or crackers.  The fun thing about it is that you can put different herbs in it depending on your mood.  The recipe is so simple and in the world of cheesmaking it takes little time to eat the fruits of your labor.  If you start in the morning, you can enjoy your cheese by dinner time.
You start with fresh milk of course.  We don't normally use the days milking but milk from the last day or so that is in the fridge.  We put it in our cheese pot and slowly warm it up to 88 degrees Fahrenheit.  At that point we put in a "starter" to help ripen the cheese.  If you are using raw milk you don't need to use a starter but we do.  Starter culture can be as simple at buttermilk or yogurt.  Once the culture is added and stirred in well it sets in the pot for a few hours.  Once the milk has "ripened"  I add rennet to the pot and stir well.  You  can use vinegar or nettle herb to "set" the milk into curd before you cut it.

The curd is cut and left to set for 10 minutes.  While the curd is setting I get a colander out and place it over another pot or bowl and line it with cheesecloth.  Then the curd and whey is poured into the colander.  The whey drains through the cheesecloth and the curds are left in the colander.  This is left to drain for a couple of hours before I tie up the cheesecloth in a ball and hang it from a cupboard handle over a bowl to drain more.  Once the cheese has drained 6 or more hours it is opened and placed in a bowl to mix in the salt and other herbs and spices.  At this point we will also put some into freezer bags without any ingredients for thawing out later. They whey that has drained from the curd can be used for many things:  Making ricotta, feeding to animals, soaking grains, lacto-fermenting vegetables, watering plants, making smoothies, and so much more.  It looks a little like skim milk from the store.

I also make other kinds of cheese, freeze and can some of the extra milk for use in the winter, make ice cream, pudding, and urge the kids to drink, drink, drink!

Making Maple Walnut Ice Cream

We made our first goat milk ice cream for the year last week.  I can't even begin to describe how creamy and good it was.  We normally make what is considered a french ice cream because I make a custard type pudding and cool it before we freeze it.   I was talking with a friend after we made it and she was asking about the cooking process because she was wanting to make a "raw" milk ice cream.......All this time I have been calling our ice cream raw goat milk ice cream and now I realize that it isn't technically correct to call it that. 

So we have tried both "raw" and "cooked" Maple Walnut ice cream.  The verdict of the family is that they really like the creamy texture of the custard ice cream better than the un-cooked.  Being their Mom and liking them to get food that is really healthy for them, I will probably try to slip some "raw" ice cream in there occasionally.

Here are the 2 versions just in case you have some extra milk and want to try it out.

Custard style:
8 cups raw goat milk + 1 cup cream
12 whole eggs
2 cups Maple syrup boiled down to 1 and 3/4 cup
2c walnuts (toasted) chopped into smaller pieces
1tsp salt

Reduce maple syrup and set aside.  Beat eggs in separate bowl until lemony colored.  Heat milk and cream until steamy.  Add  some milk to eggs and stir to temper eggs.  Add eggs to milk stirring constantly, add salt and syrup.  Bring to boil and cook, stirring constantly until thickens and coats the spoon.  Take from heat and cool completely, stirring as cools.  Add to freezer and freeze adding walnuts when 1/2 to 3/4 way done.

To make the "raw" version: change the milk/cream/egg quantities and leave the rest the same.  Do not cook just mix together and freeze. Adding walnuts 3/4 way through.

6 cups raw goat milk +3 cups cream
6 whole eggs

This recipe is healthier if you use pastured chicken eggs.
Let me know what you think