Keep On Keeping On

Thank you all so so very much for all your prayers, it is keeping me going.  Molly is still all over the place with her numbers but we moved her next to our bed so I can easily monitor her through the night.  Some nights I have to poke her finger while she is sleeping about every 20 minutes to make sure she is not going too low.  I use frosting to bring her up because juice and berries and other very natural things do not work.  If she is at 30 and going down fast, you have to get something in the mouth that she will not choke on and that it will make the sugar go up very fast.  I hate to do straight sugar but I would hate worse to have her pass out.  We still have her on the raw food diet which is good for the whole family.

This morning I made raw granola which is really fun and easy:

RAW GRANOLA

• 2 cups of raw soaked nuts chopped
• 2 cups of shredded coconut
• 2 cups of ground raw flax
• 1/4 cup of virgin coconut oil
• 1 cup of dried cherries or berries
• 1 Tbs of cinnamon

Toss together and serve with raw milk.  Very good.

Fresh Squeezed GreensMolly drinks spinach, kale, cucumber, celery, and parsley fresh squeezed juice before she eats anything every morning.  That is how we start our mornings.  Very fun.

Today I am making colby cheese again, because it is so wonderful.  I am so excited about making cheese.  My husband and I say one day, Lord willing, we would love to run a raw cheese factory with a small jersey herd.  That would be really neat but we are thankful we can make cheese either ((whey))).  It is a very nice to make cheese with the girls.  They help take turns stirring curds with me.  It is very relaxing for us while we go through such hard times.  Making hard cheese during hard times makes sense to me.

COLBY CHEESE

• fresh cows milk has to cool down to 86 degrees F.  Otherwise, heat your cold milk to 86.
• Add 1 teaspoon of Mesophilic starter culture to two gallons of milk and cover stainless steel pot for one hour after mixing thoroughly into the milk to maintain 86 F.
• Add 1 teaspoon of liquid rennet (mixed into 1/4 cup cool water first) mix into 86 F milk up and down motion to mix the cream for about 3 minutes.  Let set up maintaining 86 F for about 20 minutes until you can cut the curd.
• Cut curds into 3/4 inch cubes and let set for 5 minutes until whey starts shining through nice and yellow.
• Bring up the temp 2 degrees every 5 minutes until you get to 102 F.  Maintain and stir continually to prevent matting of the curd for about 30 minutes.
• Drain half the whey out and replace it with 60 degree F water until the contents reach 80 F.  Then stir and keep at 80 for about 15 minutes.
• Pour your curds into a colander and let them drain for 20 min.
• Massage some salt into the curds to your taste.
• Line a mold with cheese cloth.
• Pour curds into the mold.  Press 20 pounds pressure for 20 minutes.
• Redress and press 30 pounds for 20 minutes
• Repeat and press 40 pounds for one hour
• Press for 50 pounds overnight or for 12 hours.

I know it is tedious, but it is really good.  You can wax and age this cheese for up to 3 months or just eat it fresh.  Aging should be about 50 degrees F if you want to to that.  We eat it too fast to age it.  I once did not press it for the overnight and it was similar to havarti in texture.  So creamy, light and nice.

I will be filming this process just so you are aware.  It is better to see it being done in my opinion.  It can be very frustrating to have your cheese that you worked so hard for, fail.  🙁  But, when you see it being done, you will feel like you can do it too.  I have taken cheese making classes years ago, so I have been doing this for some time now and enjoying it immensely.

CHEESE PRESSMy handy man husband just made me the neatest cheese press by hand.  I was using an antique wine press which works but the old rusted metal makes the outer edge of my cheese dark and I do not know what else it reacts with.  The new press is made with PVC piping 10 inches.  I just think it is the most marvelous cheese press.  He is planning to make different shapes and sizes as well with all the left over building supplies.  Wow, what a great use. Here is a photo.  Isn’t it just so sturdy and nice.  I am going to test it out today with 6 pounds of Colby cheese.  Yum.

Because we have so much milk, I started canning the milk.  I figure I can use it once the cow is dry next summer.  You can use canned milk for making yogurt, cheese, or for baking.  It looks tan in the can and the cream looks white, isn’t that neat?  It is a good feeling to know we are preparing for our future.

CANNING MILK

• Pour milk into glass jars up to the neck (1/2 inch head space)
• Place jars into pressure canner and process for 30 minutes 10 pounds pressure.  That’s it.  Easy.

 

We have been canning pickles, the kids love the tiniest ones the best.  So we go out early and pick the baby ones all the way up to big ones and see how many we can put up for the coming year.

German Dill Pickles

• Pick some fresh cucumbers, nice and small
• Have some dill handy
• Make a brine with:
• 2 quarts of water
• 2 quarts of white vinegar
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup xylitol (I use this because of Molly)
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

bring to a boil and pour over the fresh cucumbers, half clove garlic, sprig of dill.  While it is boiling hot, put your lids on tight and turn upside down for sealing.  These pickles are strong, but it is our German background that came up with the recipe, if you would rather less strong, then you can use half the amount of vinegar and add more water.  Enjoy!

I also canned up some sour cherries.  I canned them just with water and xylitol so they are runny but all I do is thicken after opening for pies or to add in yogurt.  That way I can use Non GMO corn starch instead of permaflo.  Never try to use xylitol with permaflo or surejell, it will not set up.  You have to use for jams, one part xylitol, and two parts crushed berries bring to a boil and boil stirring constantly for 10 minutes.  It makes a very thick, very sweet jam.  What I have learned with xylitol, is that if you cook it, it will not flush you out like it will raw.  If you want to detox, use it raw, but some folks would like to skip that part.  It is wonderful jam.  Molly can have that rather than jam with sugar.  It is really nice to have on hand.

Cherry Pie Filling to can:

• 6 quarts unsweetened pitted washed cherries
• 9 cups water
• 6 cups xylitol

Bring water and xylitol to a boil, pour over cherries, mix and ladel into the jars.  Process for 30 minutes in a water bath canner.  Yummy.

Our green bean are starting in now so I will be trying to freeze them again.  I may even dehydrate a bushel of beans in our Solar dehydrator.  Mark made us one a little while ago and we have been using it to dry our soaked nuts and Ezekiel 4:9 sprouts in so we can grind it into flour for our Molly girl.  I just want you all to know that your encouragement and prayers have kept me on track and focussed on what is important.  Minute by minute.  We still have so much joy it bursts beyond the seams.  We will be praying for all of you this summer to put up and store lots of produce and other dried goods as the economy seems to be getting tougher.  We all are in hard times and we will pray for each of you.  Thank you again.  We will keep you updated as we keep on keeping on.  Glory to God!