Peaceful Heart FarmCast

You have heard me talk about A2A2 milk. Some of you may not know what that means. You may wonder if it really matters to you and your family. I'm going to fill you in on some of that information today.

First let me say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to you veteran homestead loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast every week. I appreciate you all so much. I'm so excited to share with you what's going on at the farm this week, a little bit about A2A2 milk and a great and tasty recipe. Let's just jump right in.

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• What is A2A2 Milk?
• Ice Cream Base Recipe – with downloadable document with flavoring ideas

Homestead Life Updates Cows

The cows are doing great. We have a new calf and the last one for a while. There is likely one more, but that cow is way behind the others. In fact, we are getting ready to breed some of them again in a few weeks. Cloud will deliver so late that she likely will not get bred back this year.

We are selling all of our bulls. We have six. Yes six. There is 2-year-old Sam. He is 95% Normande genetics and the sire of this year's crop of calves. Then we have 1-year-old Ray's Rocket – mostly we call him Rocket Man. Lastly is the group of newlings born this year. All four are for sale. Some are currently being negotiated for but I'll put a link in the show notes to the Facebook page where all of their information can be found. If you are looking to improve the genetics of your herd, this is the bull for you.

Sheep/Goats

Lambert is so fat right now. He will be receiving his bottle twice daily until nearly all of the milk replacer is gone. Then I will switch him to once a day for a week or maybe two before weaning him completely off.

If you want to get a whole or half lamb, speak up now. It will be months yet before these are ready for your freezer. We have one lamb and/or 2 half lambs currently available. A whole lamb yields 30 to 35 pounds, sometimes more of meat. Half lambs, half that. You can see the cuts that come on a whole or half lamb on our website. www.peacefulheartfarm.com/shop/lamb-package.

Orchard and Garden

There is always so much going on around here that a lot of stuff gets pushed back. Thinks like birthing, gathering and storing milk, making cheese, taking care of animals all have the highest priority. The garden and the orchard, not so much. My garden is still overrun with weeds, though I was able to dig out my carrots and surprisingly there are lots that beat the grass. Watering the garden does have a priority or it would all simply die. Other stuff slows down or stunts growth. The bottom line is we will still get a crop, but perhaps not as large as if we had gotten the weeds out and fertilized more often.

The peas are just such a crop. They are producing like mad and I will be picking them within the week, I think. Then they will have to be processed in some way. I'm scaring myself with all of that. There are just not enough hours in the week.

I still don't even have everything planted. The green beans need to be put in the ground. The peanuts need to be replanted; I have no idea why not a single one sprouted. And the eggplant is going to wither away to nothing if I don't get it out there in the garden.

Everything needs to be weeded. Everything needs to be fertilized.

Scott is diligently digging out the orchard from the waist high grass. It would be great if we could graze some of the animals in there, but they all eat the trees. We are still investigating how to get the sheep in their without having them raise up on their back legs as high as they can and eating all of the leaves off the branches they can reach. The goats are a complete disaster anywhere near the orchard or the berries. They will eat the bark off of the trees, killing them. And because they like to eat woody stemmed plants, they will decimate blackberry vines and blueberry bushes. No, we don't want them anywhere near the orchard.

On the upside, they did a really great job of clearing out the wild blackberries on the island in the big pond. It is now quite pleasant to sit out there and enjoy being surrounded by water and nature.

Quail

We are newbies with the quail. It is unbelievable how quickly those quail grew. They outgrew their brooder box a good week before we had planned. Outside they went as we were having a warm spell. There were a couple of cool nights but these are wild birds and they faired very well. They are only barely over 2 weeks old and are fully feathered. The tiny birds that were barely the size of a gold ball are now the size of a baseball – perhaps even a softball. It's amazing. They will begin laying eggs in as little as six weeks from now. Yum, yum, we look forward to it.

Four eggs are required to equal one chicken egg. Our plan is to have about 30 laying hens and 6 roosters for breeding. We will need to continually hatch out new ones as their lives are actually quite short and they only lay for a year or two.

Creamery

The creamery – ah the creamery. So much still to do there and Scott has so little time to do it. We really need that building completed. However, as I mentioned earlier, there are priorities. First the animals, then the perishable milk and cheese, then the garden and orchard. The creamery, as an inanimate object comes in last place. There are even maintenance projects that take precedence. Fences, driveways, pathways, other infrastructure – all has to be kept up to ensure the safety of our animals.

It's a lot but I wouldn't trade it for anything. We work long hours every day – very long hours every day. Alarm goes off at 6:00 am and though 10:00 pm is bedtime, more often it is 11 or 11:30 before that happens. And every bit of it is worth it. There is never any lack of meaning in our lives. Boredom is something very distant in the past. The constant attention to the next task makes us know that we are alive in God's wonderful creation.

One thing that evolved through nature is the composition of milk in cows. Recently, some of the genetic content and protein structure of milk has changed.

What is A2A2 Milk?

There is a great deal of scientific gobbledygook about the proteins and how they are broken down or not. I'll try to keep this layman friendly and skip most of the mumbo-jumbo lingo. By the way, did you know that gobbledygook is an actual word that my spell-checker knew? Who knew? Well, my spellchecker knew.

A2 milk is cow's milk that mostly lacks a form of beta-casein proteins called A1 and instead has mostly the A2 form.

A1 and A2 beta-casein are genetic variants of the beta-casein milk protein that differ by one amino acid. Casein is a family of related phosphoproteins. These proteins are commonly found in the milk of mammals, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 45% of the proteins in human milk. Sheep and buffalo milk have a higher casein content than other types of milk with human milk having a particularly low casein content. Casein has a wide variety of uses one of which is being a major component of cheese. We respect our casein.

A genetic test, developed by the a2 Milk Company, determines whether a cow produces A2 or A1 type protein in its milk. The test allows the company to certify milk producers as producing milk that does not metabolize to beta-casomorphin which is an opioid peptide or protein fragment derived from the digestion of the milk protein casein.

I know, I'm getting too scientific with the lingo there. All that means is that the chemical composition of A2A2 milk may benefit our health because it is digested without inflammation that might arise from BCM-7 produced by A1 beta-casein. Consequently, A1 proteins may be detrimental to our health. That causes great push back from the gigantic dairy industry as A2A2 genetics is rare in Europe (except France) and the US. That would really disrupt their operation if their milk was found to be harmful – while others had milk that was beneficial.

As with so many health-related topics, the science is divided on whether or not there is reason for concern regarding the A1 protein in milk – whether there are adverse health effects from its consumption. Personally, I'm erring on the side of caution, as I do with so many other foods. I'll go with tradition as opposed to modern fads in nutrition. We are breeding our cows for the A2A2 genetic conformation.

And when I say modern fads in nutrition, I mean everything that came pouring out of the 20th century and that continues to pour out in the 21st century. I'm talking about three square meals a day, the food pyramid, and the modified food pyramid. I'm talking about low fat diets, vegan and vegetarian diets, the Mediterranean diet, the South Beach diet and so on. All of these so-called nutrition experts are literally experimenting with our health as human beings. We evolved over thousands and thousands and thousands of years eating locally grown food, whatever it was. Historically, in the tropics the diet was heavy in fruits, nuts and greens, in Alaska fat predominated. In other regions protein was the main source of dietary sustenance. You must find what works for you.

Which brings me back to A2A2 milk.

History

In the 1980s, some medical researchers began to explore whether some peptides (including peptides from casein) that are created during digestion might have negative or positive health effects.

Interest in the distinction between A1 and A2 beta-casein proteins in milk began in the early 1990s via epidemiological research and animal studies initially conducted by scientists in New Zealand. The scientists found correlations between the prevalence of milk with A1 beta-casein proteins in some countries and the prevalence of various chronic diseases. The research generated interest in the media, as well as among the scientific community and entrepreneurs. If it were indeed true that BCM-7 created by A1 beta-casein is harming humans, this would be an important public health issue.

Scientists believe the difference in genetics originated as a mutation that occurred between 5000 and 10,000 years ago—as cattle were being taken north into Europe with the mutation subsequently spreading widely throughout herds in the Western world through breeding.

The percentage of the A1 and A2 beta-casein protein varies between herds of cattle, and also between countries and provinces. While African and Asian cattle continue to produce only A2 beta-casein, the A1 version of the protein is common among cattle in the western world. The A1 beta-casein type is the most common type found in cow's milk in Europe (excluding France where our Normandes with predominantly A2A2 genetics originate). It is also the most common type found in cow's milk in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Let's talk about the possible health benefits.

Health Benefits

Symptoms of stomach discomfort, such as gas, bloating, and diarrhea that occur after consuming dairy products, are typically attributed to lactose intolerance. However, some researchers believe that it is BCM-7, not lactose, that affects digestion and produces symptoms similar to lactose intolerance, in some people.

A study on Chinese adults with self-reported milk intolerance compared the effects of drinking regular milk that contained A1 and A2 proteins with A2-only milk on intestinal function, stomach discomfort, and inflammation.

The participants consumed 8 oz of milk twice a day for 2 weeks. They reported worse stomach pain after they consumed the regular milk but no change in symptoms after they drank the A2 milk.

Participants also reported more frequent and looser-consistency stools while they drank the regular milk. These symptoms did not occur after they consumed the A2 milk.

So, what MIGHT be happening on the other side of the coin?

Potentially Harmful Effects of non A2A2 Milk

Notice the words "might and "potentially" there. I'm not making any claims here. Some of the effects can include:

Inflammation

In the same study mentioned above, researchers also looked at markers of inflammation in the blood. They found the participants had higher levels of inflammatory markers after they drank the regular milk.

Brain function

The research showed that milk could impact brain function. Study participants took longer to process information and made more errors on a test after drinking regular milk compared to A2 milk.

Type 1 diabetes

The potential risks associated with milk containing A1 proteins include an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

Some studies have shown that children who drink cow's milk protein at an earlier age than others have a higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes. However, other studies have not shown the same association.

The research also suggests that the amount of milk a child consumes could influence their risk of developing type 1 diabetes, with higher milk consumption observed in children who develop the condition.

At least one study showed a link between the consumption of A1 protein and incidence of type 1 diabetes, although this kind of study fails to prove that it is a direct cause.

Some animal studies have shown associations between cow's milk consumption and a higher incidence of type 1 diabetes. One study in mice found that 47 percent of the mice that had A1 protein added to their diet developed diabetes, while none that had A2 protein added did so.

However, other research does not support the hypothesis that there is any association between milk consumption and a higher incidence of type 1 diabetes. There are links in the show notes for both sides of this discussion. Debate about the potential health effects of A1 and A2 milk is ongoing.

Research suggests that A1 beta-casein causes adverse digestive symptoms in certain individuals. But the evidence is still too weak for any solid conclusions to be made about the supposed links between A1 beta-casein and other conditions, such as type 1 diabetes and autism.

That said, A2 milk could be worth a try if you struggle to digest regular milk.

There you have it. The basics to the why of A2A2 milk. I'll let you decide. Again, we like to err on the side of caution. We have two A2A2 certified cows and will be testing the rest of the herd as we move forward with our dairy operation. Go to the show notes for the links to the research I referenced.

Speaking of milk, how about an ice cream recipe for your A2A2 milk and cream.

Ice Cream Base Recipe (Download Flavorings)

When it's warm outside, a cold refreshing dish of ice cream can really hit the spot. This is a basic ice cream recipe that can be used as a base for many different flavors. I've included a download link to the flavorings.

This silky, luscious and very classic custard can be used as the base for any ice cream flavor you can dream up. These particular proportions of milk and cream to egg yolk will give you a thick but not sticky ice cream that feels decadent but not heavy. For something a little lighter, use more milk and less cream, as long as the dairy adds up to 3 cups. You can also cut down on egg yolks for a thinner base, but don't go below three.

Time: 20 minutes plus several hours' cooling, chilling and freezing

Yield: about 1 ½ pints

What You Need

• 2cups heavy cream
• 1cup whole milk
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 6 large egg yolks
• Your choice of flavoring (download here)

What To Do

1. In a small pot, simmer cream, milk, sugar and salt until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk about a third of the hot cream into the yolks, then whisk the yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream. Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer).
2. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
3. Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed.

Final Thoughts

I hope your days are filled with as much love and joy as you can stand. We love our lives here. Yes, we are busy beyond belief. Yes, it's a little stressful sometimes. I just find it so fulfilling. From the time I was a child I was told to work hard for what I wanted. I was also told that I was too smart to not be college educated and have a career. So, no physical work. That was for those not smart enough to get out of that poor and decrepit existence. Funny isn't it? In the end, educated to the max, I prefer the hard work. And indeed, some of it is smart brain work. But the best and most enjoyable part involves sweat.

Particularly, I love our cows and our dairy operation. Check out the references I provided for the research around A2 beta-casein. Then sign on to our herd share program with our A2A2 milk and value added products, go to www.peacefulheartfarm.com/virginia-herdshare. Read, ask questions, download the documents. We'd love to do business with you.

And as this Memorial Day weekend stretches into Monday, I hope you'll try that ice cream recipe. There is nothing more traditional than everyone taking turns operating that crank on the ice cream machine. Well, we use the electric method. Likely you do too, but the principle is still the same. Enjoy your time with your family and friends.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, Subscribe and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

References

• Peaceful Heart Farm Bulls for Sale
• NIH published study
• Nutrition & Diabetes Study
• The A2 milk case: a critical review

Recipe Link

Ice Cream Base

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This week I want to share our dream with all of you. Perhaps you've been dreaming the dream as well and just don't think you can get there. Sometimes it takes time—a lot of time. But it is so worth it. I encourage you to start today.

Welcome new listeners. It's so good to have you. And welcome back veteran homestead-loving regulars. Thank you for stopping by the farmcast every week. I appreciate you all so much. I'm super excited to share with you what's going on at the farm this week and I'm super existed to share the history of our homestead dream with you.

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• Our Virginia Life
• Greek Spiced Ground Meat with (optional) Yogurt or Sour Cream

Homestead Life Updates Garden

Starting with the garden which seems to be at the end of our list of priorities at the moment. The strawberries are overwhelmed with wheat grass. I believe I mentioned that the straw we bought for mulch was full of seeds. I've never seen so much waste of wheat. Scott is working on that project today. The carrots are overrun with grass and weeds. I just looked at them. They seem to be holding their own for the moment. It will have to do until Tuesday. That is 3 days from now. Market is tomorrow. Church on Sunday and much needed rest in the afternoon. Cheesemaking on Monday. Hang in there, guys. I'll save you. And the rest of the garden needs to be weeded and fertilized as well. I still need to get the green beans planted. The peanuts did not sprout and will need to be replanted. And the first harvests will be happening next week as well. I use flowers as pest control but I'm so far behind on my flower starts that the bugs may take over in June. Oh well, we do what we can and don't sweat it. That's not quite true is it? We will be sweating a lot come next week.

Cows

Cows are finally getting back into a routine. They really, really don't like change. We added a new cow. We split up our girls and put one with Butter as a companion. Butter had a calf. All changes. The big one was we changed their feed. Once we changed their feed, all of a sudden the entire herd of Normandes no longer wanted to come into the milking shed and stick their head in the stanchion. I don't mind so much the ones that we are not milking. But Claire and Buttercup are in milk and have to be milked twice a day. Anyway, we fooled them by putting a bit of sweet feed on top of their nutritional supplement and they are now eating it and getting better about coming into the shed without a lot of hassle. Still some work to do there, but we are making progress. We changed their dairy supplement from a garden variety from Southern States to a non-GMO, non-soy dairy supplement. It's like a kid that is used to eating McDonald's and then being switched to organic salad greens. They were pretty petulant. Butter is a different story. She will eat anything you put in front of her and beg for more.

Lambs and Goats

The lambs and goats are doing great. We couldn't be more pleased with how this group of lambs is progressing. And the goats just keep on keeping on eating weeds and brush that the others won't touch. They have cleaned up so much around here in the way of small trees that were sprouting, briars, wild blackberry bushes and so on. Good job!!

Creamery

The creamery project has been sitting idle for nearly two weeks. Scott had to fix the bush hog and then mow everything. He built the quail cages for when the little guys get out of the brooder and into their permanent digs. A load of gravel was delivered and he spent quite a bit of time spreading that in the places where erosion and mud was making our lives miserable. A day of digging a trench for drainage out of the milking shed took another day of his time. The days seems to slip by one after another. There is always so much to do and not enough hours in the day.

That update was pretty intense with listing our setbacks on timing. But you know what? We love it and wouldn't have it any other way. Our lives are filled with purpose and meaning. The geese are strutting around with their gaggles of goslings. The trees are leafing out. The garden is full of all kinds of plants. The calves are a joy to watch as they bask in the sun or galivant around their pasture. We have taken the moment to look at the stars at night in a while. But they are there, waiting for us to enjoy their magnificence.

Our Virginia Life

That brings me to today's topic. Have you dreamed of living the homestead life? Do you think it is impossible? I want to give you inspiration and share a bit of our journey. It all started in the last century.

The Beginning . . .

Scott and I met in 1999 in western North Carolina. We were two people following similar paths who met and become life-long friends. We apprenticed together at a spiritual training center learning how to teach a meditation technique. This is where we reconnected to our hearts and desire to be close to the land. The dream of our homestead life was born.

During our training we dreamed of a sustainable farm and communal living. We wanted to raise good food as close to nature's intended way as possible. We knew that experiencing loving relationships with others and soaking up nourishing nature would ultimately help us remember our kinship with God and creation. Two souls had found each other.

Our dream has changed and evolved over time. It continues to evolve. We just took a step and then another and another. Each step clarified our vision. Each step led to the next and sometimes our direction needed to change. So we changed. We continue to take steps and we continue to change.

The first step began 16 years ago and we still don't have that creamery built. But we love our homestead life and all it brings us.

Buying Land Was the First Step

In the summer of 2003, we bought our first piece of land in southwest Virginia. We rented a mobile home nearby. At this point in our lives we had a great deal of debt: credit cards, school loans, taxes, and now a mortgage. We set out to pay everything off in full. We would have our farm — but we would have it debt-free. We both took on lucrative jobs in Information Technology as the electronic medical records industry kicked off.

Our jobs required extensive travel. We traveled all over the US and to a couple of European countries as well. Every other week we flew home to Virginia to visit our beautiful piece of land.

In 2005 we bought our own mobile home and moved it onto our land. And in the fall, our wedding ceremony took place at the homestead. It was so beautiful. Even though it was November the weather had permitted the leaves to change very slowly. And with very little wind this particular fall, there were many leaves still on the trees. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect time.

Learning to Produce Food

Our first experience with livestock was raising chickens in the summer of 2006.

The contract we had been working for a couple of years was done. I moved on to a different contract and continued traveling. Scott was done with traveling. He remained on the homestead and built a couple of chicken tractors ala Joel Salatin. He raised, and we processed, around 100 chickens. We ate a lot of them ourselves and gave a lot away to relatives and neighbors. This part of the journey was just a taste to get our feet wet.

Twists and Turns and . . . Texas?

Somewhere along that two-year time period we paid all of our debts in full. The next step along the path was making the money needed for infrastructure.

February 2007 Scott went back to work . . . in Texas.

I was now traveling to various places around the country every week instead of every other week. I lived in hotels and airports with a too quick Saturday and Sunday at home with Scott. What a far cry from the peaceful life we envisioned. We persevered and dreamed on.

In 2008 we bought an additional 40 acres adjoining our property. We were in debt again. This time for more money than ever before. It's a good thing that I got to walk around that property occasionally or I might have forgotten exactly why we went into debt again. The "why" had to do with dreaming bigger. We were learning about raising sheep. Still very much a dream at this point . . . we're still living in Texas. The timeline to move permanently to the homestead kept getting longer. That can happen when you're dreaming while making good coin.

The constant travel and living out of a suitcase got really old, really fast for me. It was fine when I was traveling with my best friend and awesome life partner. Doing it alone was torture. Within a year I was insisting that Scott get a job closer to home. If I was going to fly home every weekend, I wanted it to be Virginia — not Texas. Scott made it happen.

South Carolina is Closer Than Texas

From the fall of 2008 until December 31, 2016 Scott traveled 6 hours every Sunday evening to Beaufort, South Carolina. A guy by himself doesn't need much and a travel trailer we purchased for the task was sufficient housing. Every Friday evening, he returned to the homestead in Virginia. Six hours again. He did it alone for the first year and a half. Then I got a job offer . . . just outside of Savannah, Georgia.

We moved the travel trailer to a park halfway between Savannah and Beaufort. It was an hour drive for me and 45 minutes for him. We were completely back together again as a couple.

Then in 2010 I got a job offer at the same hospital where Scott had been working for over two years. I jumped on that like a duck on a June bug. We moved the travel trailer to Beaufort and cut our work commute down to 20 minutes. As we were still driving 6 hours each way, we were actually able to leave a little earlier on Friday as Scott no longer drive backwards 45 minutes to pick me up. We only buying gas for one vehicle. These were small but important steps on our journey.

All of this unconventional living circumstance was worth the huge amount of stress that came with it. After all, we were now back together as a couple. That was great. We were at the homestead every single weekend. That was great. And it was only going to be for a couple of years . . .

Five years later and nearly 12 years into the process, I was stressed beyond my capacity to remain sane. I needed a nest. For the final two years of working in Beaufort, we rented an apartment. Moving from 100 square feet to over 1,000 square feet of living space was just enough nesting happiness to get me through it.

In the end, even that wasn't enough and we decided to make the leap to full-time homesteaders. That was December 31, 2016. Over 13 years of tiny steps and a couple of giant steps.

Getting that creamery built is the focus of our lives right now. We are over 2 years into that process. The dream keeps going. The dream keeps moving forward.

From Chicken Tractors to Raw Milk Artisan Cheese

Let me back up a little bit and fill in some details of how we grew the farm during this period of time. How did we go from pasture raised chickens to artisan cheese? What the heck happened there? Well, we tried a few different things over the years. In order to succeed as a small homestead farmer, diversity is important. You don't want to have all of your eggs in one basket. However, having a central core enterprise is also important. So one big basket and lots of smaller baskets was our ideal. This also supports our ideal of living a traditional life where every farming family raised much of their own food in addition to their main crop or livestock enterprise.

The weekend life allowed us to dabble a bit in a lot of areas. And we read a lot and studied a lot about many areas of interest. We did a lot of trial and error experiments on a small scale. There is so much that can be done on a homestead. Which was going to be the best fit for us? Like a lot of folks, we tried to do too many things at once. Having that central enterprise is the only way to make it.

Early on we were clear that raising the chickens in 2006 was a great learning exercise but not where our hearts were. Having them for eggs and meat for personal use, yes. But not as our central farm enterprise. In 2009 we put in fruit trees. That's a long-term project that continues to stretch over many years. Also, for personal use at this point, though the orchard will provide a small income at a later date. You know. The date we actually have time to give it attention. 😊

In 2010 we bought a flock of sheep and a donkey as a guardian animal for them. Twelve pregnant ewes and a pregnant donkey. We proceeded along the lines of raising sheep and selling lamb as our centerpiece. We learned a lot over several years. At one point we had over 70 sheep. However, two things happened that prompted us to change our course yet again. An issue arose around raising and marketing lamb. One, we simply didn't have the land to raise enough livestock to make it profitable – and two, in 2011 something big changed on the homestead. Love crept in, awakened and rapidly altered the farm dream.

I wanted to make my own butter and cheese and I loved drinking raw milk. I still can't stand the taste of cooked milk. In 2011 we bought cows. With working toward homestead sustainability as part of our mission, we also wanted beef (and pork and chicken and rabbit). And after researching every cow breed under the sun, we settled on the Normande. It's a dual breed cow. A prolific milk producer as well as producing well-marbled muscle perfectly suited for beef. For more details on these cows, give a listen to the Peaceful Heart FarmCast episode I dedicated to them.

Suffice it to say, I fell in love with these cows. We knew the lamb was not going to produce the income we desired without adding a lot more pasture. Another alternative arose out of the dream. We could build a creamery and make artisan and farmstead cheese. It just happened to coincide with my desire to have more of these cows in my life. To pay for it, how much longer are we going to have to work for someone else? Yes, that's the decision that drove the planned two years of living in a travel trailer to a full seven years of craziness.

It was so worth it.

Peaceful Heart Farm Creamery is Born

Finally, I've gotten to the part of the story where the creamery comes in. It has been a wild and varied journey getting here. But this is the one. We are investing all of our time and energy into becoming a local cheese resource for our community. We will use traditional cheese making techniques to develop our local cheeses. I have two recipes that meet my expectations regarding the product I want to sell . . . and I have two others that are currently in development. One is failing miserably. Fear not! I will prevail. We are going to produce the best cheddar cheese that Virginia has ever seen! With a slight tweak on the salt, I'm expecting my alpine-style cheese to be a winner this year as well.

The creamery still has a long way to go before passing state inspection. I've got a little time to get the cheese right. In the meantime, I'm getting to know you and getting some really good traditional cooking information together for you. If you are buying local food, it pays to know how to prepare it well.

The latest change is the addition of the herdshare program. We became aware of this need some time ago for offering herdshares to our fellow Virginians. Not everyone wants to live this life but they want the benefit of the great food that it produces. One of those great foods is milk from pasture-raised cows. If you've been following me, you've heard me talk about this before. You can own a piece of a grassfed dairy herd. We provide the land, animals and labor so you don't have to do that part.

We purchased a lovely Jersey cow from a fellow Farmer's Market vendor. She has had her calf and is now producing wonderful A2A2 milk. We are offering milk and/or yogurt (full fat or low fat with honey) during the summer months, May through October. November through April cheese and butter will come out of the herdshare. During times of abundance in the summer you may find yourself with a little extra product. Your herd sometimes produces a LOT of milk. And at other times not so much.

What Else?

At some point we added cashmere goats to our livestock. I'm a big knitter and dream of using only 100% cashmere. More and more my skepticism that I will ever reach that goal increases. You can only do so much! For now, they keep our pastures clear of brambles and provide us with some really great nutrition. But their days are numbered. You remember what I talked about earlier? There are only so many hours in a day. So, dream big but keep in mind that at some point, likely you will have to trim it back a little.

At the present time on the homestead, the only food we don't produce is eggs (and coffee). That situation will be rectified in the next few months. I believe I've mentioned before that Scott doesn't have the time to invest in building elaborate chicken housing and protection. His priority is getting that creamery functional. Instead, we've opted for quail. This is 99% my project. Scott will build a couple of cages that will likely take no more than a day or two to complete. The rest is all on me.

With the addition of the quail, all of our food will now be produced on the homestead. We spend hours and hours working, sweating and loving every minute of our life.

We are meeting new people just like you at the Wytheville Farmer's Market. Come see us on Saturdays 8am to 12 noon. Taste our grass-fed beef, lamb, and goat. Talk to us about your interest in a herdshare and taste our yogurt. There are lots of other great vendors there as well. And remember, you can come directly to the farm on Tuesday mornings 10am to 12 noon or Saturday afternoons from 3pm to 5pm. Call for directions. We'd love to help you get here.

Greek Seasoned Ground Meat Medley with (optional) Yogurt or Sour Cream

This recipe is for my Keto and carnivore friends and listeners. If you have a traditional, diversified farm with all kinds of ruminant animals, this recipe is for you. Or if you are shopping at your local farmer's market for a variety of grass-fed meats, this recipe is for you. It calls for one pound each of beef, lamb and chev or goat, but you can use any combination of these meats. Or you could divide the ingredients by three and only use 1 lb.

What You Need

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 lb ground chev (goat)
• 3 tablespoon butter

Spice Mix

• 3 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 ½ teaspoon dried basil
• 1 ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 teaspoons salt (less is fine)
• 3 teaspoons ground pepper
• ¾ cup water

What To Do

1. Brown ground meats until fully cooked
2. Drain pan drippings and add butter (this is actually optional but worth it)
3. Mix in spices and water
4. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes
5. Serve with yogurt or sour cream

Final Thoughts

I hope you found some inspiration to follow your dreams whatever they may be. By continually putting one foot in front of the other, you will get there. Keep the vision in front of you and keep plugging away. Start as small as you need to and build a little each day. It doesn't matter how long it takes or what route you follow. It really doesn't. It is all about the journey. You will never reach your destination because there is always another dream in the making. It's all about the journey and living each day to the fullest. Go for it!

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, we'd really love it if you shared it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

Recipe Link

Greek Seasoned Ground Meat Medley with (optional) Yogurt or Sour Cream

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This week's topic brings back memories of days gone by and just might stir up the desire in you to cook over an open fire. Well perhaps not you. Maybe someone you know.

In any case, I thank you all for listening and hope you find this information useful. Thank you, thank you to all of you veteran homestead-loving regulars and welcome to all of you new listeners out there. Let me know what you're interested in and I'll see if I can come up with some compelling dialogue.

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• Cooking on the Hearth
• Mint Sauce (for Lamb Roast)

Homestead Life Updates Cows

Our newest addition, Butter, had her calf. Butter is a purebred Jersey with certified A2A2 genetics. If you are not familiar with what that means, well that's a podcast for another time. The health benefits of raw milk from cows with A2A2 genetics are substantial. We have four calves now—with 2 more still to come.

Sheep

Finally, the last ewe had her lambs. She has a lovely set of twins. That brings our total lambs this season to 9. All are alive and well. Only one issue. But Lambert is doing well on his bottle. Every morning and afternoon I go out and call "lambikins" and he comes running. As soon as he has finished his bottle, he turns around and trots back to his mom and 2 siblings.

Quail

The quail have hatched. We have 24 baby quail in a brooder right now. They peeped a lot when they first hatched, but now they are as quiet as church mice. I've spent lots of time just watching them run around pecking here and there. In three weeks' time they will be fully feathered and ready to move to their quail condo. By 8 weeks, the hens will be laying eggs and I will start the process all over again until we have the number of birds we want for breeding stock. Our goal is to raise all of the eggs we eat. Eggs and coffee are the only items I currently buy from the grocery store. Soon to be only coffee.

Steers

We have 3 steers soon to be up for grabs. If you are interested in a ¼, ½ or whole steer, please get on the list quickly. The first one will go to processing in late June and will be available for pickup around mid-July. We are always limited in the amount of grass-fed beef that we have available. Again, please get on the list early.

Garden

The tomatoes are in the garden. It was a bigger job than I thought, but I persevered and got them all in the ground. The beans are up. I still need to plant the green beans. And just today we got the sweet potato slips. Once the beans and sweet potatoes go in, I will have planted that entire garden. Oops, I almost forgot. I need to plant the sunflowers between the tomatoes.

I'm amazed at how much I accomplished on my own with this garden. Sure, Scott did a lot of the heavy work with the mulch and initial fertilizer, but the rest was all me. I've never done that much on my own before. Diet and exercise is working wonders for me.

Creamery

Not much to report on the creamery this week. We've been tied up with other tasks and another week has slipped by with only a little progress. Life on the homestead is constantly filled with meaningful, fulfilling tasks. Scott really does have a lot on his plate right now. He's doing a great job juggling all of his responsibilities. He is so awesome.

Cooking on the Hearth

In the Cooking Through the Ages FarmCast I finished up with a recipe for cooking cornbread on the hearth. There have been so many questions about hearthside cooking, I decided to do an episode on the techniques and knowledge that our great-great-great-great grandmothers used to cook meals for their families. When the United States was founded, all cooking was done over a fire. Most often it was done in the fireplace of the home.

Knowledge of fire-building was a part of everyday life. There were specific tools and implements that assisted in the cooking process. I'll talk about those as well.

Today we see a fireplace is a charming optional feature for a home. In yesterday's world a fireplace was absolutely essential to living and the virtual center of family life. It was the primary heat source, was a major source of light, and provided the means by which all food was prepared.

We have a wood stove and perhaps you do too. Once the match was invented, fire building became pretty easy. We merely crumble up some newspaper, lay on some wood, then strike the match. Before this modern convenience, coals had to be carefully banked at night to ensure a ready fire was easily built for the next day's meals. A "cold fire" meant using flint and steel to strike sparks in extremely flammable tinder, skillful application of air and carefully feeding small twigs, then larger and larger sticks into the flame.

Fire Safety

Another convenience of today that we may take for granted is our screened fireplaces. Together with normal precautions, fire hazards from sparks and coals hitting the floor are reduced to nearly nothing. In the past, the fear of fire meant constant vigilance. A coal of fire accidentally falling on the floor causing a fire was not uncommon in the days of large fireplaces with steadily burning fires and no protective screening. In fact, hearth injuries were second only to childbearing as the leading cause of death in women.

Certain safeguards made the difference between a pleasurable, rewarding cooking and heating experience and possible tragedy.

Some things kept on hand included having a bucket of water nearby and a woolen blanket that could smother flames. Long skirts would be tucked up and out of the way when working at the fire. Women often checked the lower hem of their skirts for smoldering cloth if their dress was dragged across live coals. Have you noticed how women wore hats in the past. Their hair was covered and no bare feet were to be found near the fire.

Carefully thought out steps also guarded against accidents. The immediate area needed to be kept clear when moving hot coals. Heavy iron pots filled with simmering liquid or food were not easy to handle. Extreme care was taken in removing them from the crane or lifting them from the coals. Frying foods and roasting meats require care to avoid burns from splattering fat. Staying continually alert was the best protection against mishaps.

Building a Fire

Everyone has his or her own theory for "correct" fire building. Here is a relatively simple method that has worked quite well for us. Sometimes we have to start with a clean fireplace. However, old ashes provide insulation and helps to maintain heat. We usually crumple several sheets of newspaper on top of the existing ashes for kindling. In the 18th century scrapwood, bark or small and dry branches would be used in lieu of paper. Next, we lay the wood on the kindling in a grid pattern, starting with soft kindling wood such as pine. On top of the kindling, we lay a mixture of hardwood and softwood in slightly larger pieces. Next follows another layer of hardwood. At that point, we would simply use a lighter to make a flame on the end of a very small piece of pine kindling and light the newspaper at the rear of the fire. Starting the fire at the rear allows the fire to start warming the chimney. After the fire is well-established, we add large pieces of wood to keep the flames burning steadily. Hardwoods for this purpose include oak and hickory. Cedar has a tendency to "pop", creating a possible fire hazard without the door on our stove or the fire screens I mentioned earlier. So no cedar in an open hearth. You can use fruit woods, such as apple and cherry, to provide a tantalizing aroma and impart a delicious flavor to roasting meats.

Cooking on the Hearth

The fire should be started well before actual cooking begins. You might think that Hearthside cooking is all done directly over a fire. Not true. Though flames are necessary for roasting and cooking on a crane (I'll talk more about the tools next), the quantity of coals is more important. It will be at least two hours of preparatory fire burning before a large amount of coals is ready to be raked or shoveled into individual mounds on the hearth. Moving the coals around and piling them creates cooking areas something like the burners on your modern stove. Most hearth cooking—baking, frying, simmering—was done over glowing embers. The need for a steady supply of embers necessitates a continuously burning fire.

Equipping a Fireplace Hearth for Cooking

If this topic of Hearthside cooking is of interest to you as a hobby, there are tools are available still available for purchase. Artisans are producing ironwork, pottery, woodenware and tin-ware for reasonable prices. With a few basic implements, any fireplace can be made ready for cooking. The following are essential for open hearth food prep:

1. A swinging crane
2. Pot hangers—S-hooks, trammel, ratchets
3. Dutch ovens—a minimum of two
4. Long handled tools including spoons, ladle, meat fork, and spatula
5. Trivets
6. An iron pot
7. Poker, tongs, and shovel

The crane

The swinging crane, a hinged device bolted into the side of the fireplace, was a major development in kitchen furnishings. Prior to the crane, the lug pole was used. It was a fixed device suspended across the upper portion of the fireplace and fitted into the brick itself. To use the fixed lug pole you had to step on the hearth and leaning into the fireplace to suspend or remove those heavy iron pots filled with food or water. At best, this was dangerous. The swinging crane brought new flexibility and safety since it could be swung out and away from the fire for use.

Pots Hangers

Pots were suspended from the crane by a variety of hangers. The simplest is the S-hook, which can be linked together with others to raise or lower a pot over the flames and thus regulate the amount of heat for cooking. I use a version of this to raise and lower the height of the lights over my plant seedlings.

Other pot hangers included the trammel, basically a flat hanger with the hook and eye arrangement. The eye goes over the crane and there is a hook for the pot handle. The trammel is too long and cumbersome for modern fireplaces, but they were very important for the large fireplaces found in the days of colonial America.

Dutch Ovens

A Dutch oven is probably the single most important item for Hearthside cooking. It can be used to bake bread and desserts. You can use it to stew meats and vegetables or to brown foods. Standing on three short legs, the Dutch oven would be placed on a bed of coals and its contents would be covered with a tightfitting lid. Additional coals are then shoveled on top. Voila! An oven is created. The coals are replenished as needed. Generally, cooking times are equal to those given in modern recipes. With this most important piece of equipment, anything done in a modern oven can be duplicated on the hearth.

Long Handled Tools

A variety of long handled tools are needed for stirring, mixing, turning, basting, skimming, and labeling. Made of iron or wood, they include spatulas, meat forks, spoons, strainers, and ladles. You can find these today for use with outdoor grills.

Trivets

Trivets refers to a tripod used to elevate pots from the coals of an open fire. In fireplace cooking they were used to hold pots and kettles for cooking over the coals and for keeping already prepared foods warm.

Iron Pot

An iron pot, hung on the crane, is indispensable for soups, stews, and boiled puddings. Usually equipped with legs, the pot is also useful for simmering directly over the coals.

Tongs, Poker, Shovel

The same equipment used for our woodstove—tongs, poker, and shovel—are also needed and for the same purpose as times past. They are used to manipulate the wood and coals.

Additional Utensils

Hearthside tools could be supplemented with an endless array of additional utensils, especially those for roasting.

For roasting meats and fowl, a pair of andirons or firedogs, fitted with hooks to hold an iron spit, is one such accessory. Food to be cooked is skewered on the spit and then suspended between the firedogs. The simplest of these spits has a handle at one end. The meat is turned on the spit for even roasting.

A necessary adjunct to roasting is a dripping pan, generally made of iron. It is placed underneath the roasting meat to catch its juices. The juices are then used for basting and later used to make gravy.

A long handled frying pan is another helpful utensil for open hearth cooking. Set on a trivet or made with three legs to stand over the coals, the frying pan is helpful for frying or sautéing.

A griddle for baking over the fire is another useful kitchen utensil used to bake a variety of muffins, buns, and pancakes. Its handle is secured to the crane by a pot hanger. Also needed for baking are pie and cake tins and tart and biscuit pans.

We've come a long way baby. It's still fun to use some of these traditional techniques. They are applicable on your camping trips or backyard firepits as well.

A colonial meal would be composed of foods dictated by the season and the weather. In a future podcast I'll talk about the traditional seasonal cuisine of Virginia.

Eliza Leslie's Mint Sauce Recipe

We have lots of lamb. Cruise on over to our website www.peacefulheartFarm.com, and place in order. Then stop by the farm on Tuesday mornings between 10 and 12 or Saturday afternoons between three and five and pick it up. And to go with that lamb you might want to try making this wonderful mint sauce.

This is Eliza Leslie's mint sauce recipe in its original form.

Take a large bunch of fine fresh green mint, that has been washed well. Strip the leaves from the stems, and mince them well. Put it into a pint bowl, and mix with it gradually some of the best cider vinegar. This sauce must not be the least liquid, but as thick as horseradish sauce or thicker. Make it very sweet, with the best brown sugar. Mix it well, and transfer to a small tureen, or a little deep dish with a teaspoon in it. Serve it up always with roast lamb, putting a teaspoonful on the rim of your plate.

A quart or more of mint sauce, made as above, but with a larger portion of sugar and vinegar, will keep very well for several weeks, in a jar well corked.

As I've said before, early recipes can really only be followed by the best of cooks. Here's what the recipe looks like in our modern lingo.

Makes approximately 1 cup

• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or more to taste)
• 1/3 cup minced fresh mint leaves

Hearth:

1. Combine vinegar and brown sugar in small saucepan. Set on trivet over hot coals and heat until warm.
2. Remove from heat and add mint leaves. Stir well and set aside to cool.
3. Pour into sauce boat and serve as accompaniment to roast lamb.

Modern:

1. Follow hearth direction 1, heating vinegar and sugar over low heat.
2. Complete following hearth directions 2 and 3.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this week's traditional hearth cooking topic. The mint sauce recipe is available FREE for download at www.peacefulheartFarm.com/category/recipes/. You'll find all of my other recipes there as well. And again, don't forget to pop over to the online farm store to make your lamb purchase to go with that mint sauce.

Speaking of lambs, we have been extremely blessed this season with nine healthy lambs. It doesn't always happen that way and we are grateful.

Remember to get on the list for purchasing ¼, ½ or whole beeves.

As we get ramped up for our herd share program, we will be busier than ever. But we're never too busy to listen to your input. Stop by website and leave us your feedback. We'd loving your ideas.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

Recipe Link

Eliza Leslie's Mint Sauce

To share your thoughts:

• Leave a comment on our Facebook Page
• Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

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• PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on Apple Podcasts.
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• Donate on Patreon

Website

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Happy Mother's Day and welcome to all the new listeners and a shout out to all of the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast every week. I appreciate you all so much. There is a ton of stuff going on at the homestead right now and I'm so excited to share it with you. As Mother's Day is quickly approaching that's what I'm going to focus on this week. It's a particularly important topic for me and I'm going to get a little more personal this week and share the mistakes I made regarding motherhood that changed my life forever. I hope that it helps someone else out there make easier life choices.

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• The Tradition of Mothering
• Mom's Chocolate Pie Recipe

Homestead Life Updates Animals and creamery

I'm going to make this short because I have a lot to say and share about motherhood for the FarmCast. The creamery is steadily progressing. Lambert, the bottle-fed lamb, appears to be doing very well and will live to a ripe age.

Farmer's Market

This weekend we start the summer season. You will find me at the Wytheville Farmer's Market every Saturday from 8am to 12pm. In addition to our grass-fed meats, I am offering celery starts. I have quite a few more, but they went fast last week. It's a unique vegetable start that you don't often find at a farmer's market.

My herdshare program is finally defined. I just need to get the paperwork done. I'll be offering yogurt samples at the market. Stop by and taste the tradition of yogurt made from grass-fed cow's milk.

We've added to our cow herd. A jersey heifer made her way to our farm in the last few days. She will be giving birth soon and provide us with lots of yogurt and certified A2A2 milk for our herdshare participants during milking season. During winter market the herdshare will provide aged cheese and butter. Catch up with me at the market and I'll give you the details. If you're coming from south of us, you will probably want to stop by the farm instead. Our farm store hours are Tuesday's from 10am to 12noon and Saturday afternoons from 3pm to 5pm.

The Tradition of Mothering

Since the beginning of time, Motherhood has been the bedrock of human existence and survival. Without mothers of children, the next generation simply would not have existed.

• History of Mother's Day including traditions observed around the world
• The Mothering Mistakes That Altered My Life Forever
• Why are Mothers So Important there is a Day Set Aside Just for Them?
• How has Mothering Evolved – What Has It Evolved into?
• How Can We Bring Back the Value of Being a Mother to Generations Convinced it is Not What They Want?

History of Mother's Day

While the Mother's Day that we celebrate on the second Sunday in May is a fairly recent development, the basic idea of honoring women as mothers goes back as far as ancient mythology and the Greco-Roman civilizations.

The Greeks paid annual homage to Cybele (pronounced sibilee, the mother figure of their gods, and the Romans dedicated an annual spring festival to the mother of their gods.

Traditions Around the World

India: 10-Day Festival

Each October, Hindus honor Durga, the goddess of mothers, during the 10-day festival known as Durga Puja. The celebration is thought to date back to the sixteenth century and is considered both a religious ceremony and a time for family reunions. One story tells of Durga returning to her parents' home to show off her own children. Families spend weeks preparing food, gathering gifts, and decorating their homes for the festival.

Japan: The Right Flowers

Following World War II, a version of Mother's Day grew popular as a way of comforting mothers who had lost sons to the war. You'll see carnations presented during this holiday. The carnations symbolize the sweetness and endurance of motherhood in Japanese culture.

Ethiopia: Sing Along!

The Antrosht festival, which comes after the rains stop in early fall, is dedicated to moms. After the weather clears for good, family members from all over flock to their homes for a large meal and celebration. Daughters traditionally bring vegetables and cheese, while sons supply meat. Together, they prepare a meat hash and sing and perform dances that tell stories of family heroes.

United Kingdom: Mothering Sunday

England and Ireland observed the mid-Lent holiday and honored and decorated their "Mother Church," the church where they were baptized. The church eventually extended the observation to honor all mothers. The English called this Mothering Sunday and, in the 1700's they observed it by taking a break from the fasting and penitence of Lent and having a family feast.

France: Medals For Mom

In 1920, the government of France began awarding medals to mothers of large families in gratitude for helping rebuild the population after so many lives were lost in World War I. After the second World War, the government declared the last Sunday in May to be the Day of Mothers. The traditional gift is now a flower-shaped cake.

USA: Mother's Day

The idea of celebrating Mother's Day in the US was first conceptualized by Julia Ward Howe (famous lyricist of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"). In 1870, Julia Ward Howe wrote the "Mother's Day Proclamation". Julia Howe was distressed over what she saw as the unnecessary deaths of young men during the Civil War. She called upon mothers to come together and protest the senselessness of "sons killing the sons of other Mothers", and to unite and celebrate an international Mother's Day that would celebrate both peace and motherhood. She originally proposed converting July 4th into Mother's Day as a way to dedicate the nation's anniversary to peace. By 1873, eighteen North American cities observed the new Mother's Day holiday. However, Howe was the principal financier of these celebrations, and as she stopped contributing, many cities and states ceased observing the holiday. The idea for a day set aside to honor Mother's lost momentum until the early 1900s.

When Anna Reeves Jarvis died on May 5, 1905, her daughter Anna Jarvis was determined to honor her. She asked the minister at her church in West Virginia to give a sermon in her mother's memory. She began writing to congressmen, asking them to set aside a day to honor mothers. In 1910, the governor of West Virginia proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and in 1914 the bill passed in Congress. President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill, declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day - forever establishing Mother's Day as an official holiday in the U.S.

These are only a few. There are many other celebrations around the world all honoring motherhood and the glorious gift of mothering.

The Mistakes That Altered My Life Forever

When I was a child, all I wanted was to be a wife and mother when I grew up. I wanted to have a wonderful loving and attentive husband and lots of children. This was my dream life.

I was raised by a good Catholic turned Episcopalian mother. She instilled in me the virtues of loving one man, raising children with purpose and serving the community at large via volunteering. She grew much of our food. She made our clothes. She insisted all six of us were at least exposed to the sophistication and culture of music and dance. We were required to take one year of music and dance. I had two brothers that continued with music. I continued with both music and dance for many, many years.

My point here is that my mother took her job seriously. She educated herself in whatever she needed to in order to develop our character. Her basis for determination was based on her understanding of what a citizen contributing to society would need. I vividly remember her dedication to us. Often, we did not like what she required of us. But there was no doubt why she did it as she was repeating her reasons often. The vision she had of her role as our mother was crystal clear. Unfortunately, mine was never sharply defined.

As I described earlier, I wanted this great husband and lots of kids. That's it. That was the extent of my vision. I do remember her telling me what I needed to do in order to ensure those things happened, but for whatever reason, they did not stick. And she was unaware that they did not stick or I believe she would have done something about it. She followed her playbook and expected a good result.

She constantly encouraged me to go to college. I was very good in school and loved learning. Shoving me toward college was one of her biggest mistakes, though I do not think I could have ever convinced her of that. I certainly had the brain for it and might have done well had I stayed on the straight and narrow path for which I was shaped.

It was the modern mantra. Your kids had to go to college. This was back when a college education meant something. It was a mark of your intelligence and potential for success beyond the middle class. My first 4 years would have been dedicated to expanding on what she began with a broad base of knowledge in English literature, foreign languages, world history, art appreciation and culture and so on. And then I would move on to focusing on a particular area of expertise where I could have a career if I chose. This was her vision. But the 60's arrived.

I grew up in the 60's as the 2nd wave of feminism took off. It was all about free love and peace and women burning their bras and getting out of the prison of housewifery and childrearing. We would use our brains for more than those simple tasks. Well, I still wanted to be a wife and mother even in the midst of all that. I was still following my ideal script. Then I became a teenager.

In the late 60's things began to change more dramatically. There was civil unrest all over. After 12 years of a stable household in the same town, we moved a few miles away, then we moved from Michigan to Florida, then we moved to Georgia. My parents were going through some trials in their relationship and this was very bad timing for me. And I think for my older brothers as well. The foundation we were raised on was shaken and we all found out how weak and fragile it was. I still can't put my finger on why it was weak. My memories of my childhood upbringing tell me I was secure and safe. And then all of a sudden things changed and I did not adapt well to that change.

I'm getting too far off the beaten path here. The bottom line is that I made choices that were in direct opposition to what I was taught as a Christian. No sex before marriage. Choose a "good man" who would support me and with whom I would live forever. Divorce was not an option. And then the little aside that my mother threw in there was "go to college because you never know what will happen". And then "No Fault Divorce" came around.

My dream life was forever altered because I got pregnant at 17, had my first child 10 days before I turned 18 and my second a month before I turned 19. I had married a man with no concept of hard work and determination and building a better life for his family. He had no real concept of the responsibility of being a father. Well, that being said, I had only vague concepts of what it really meant to be a wife and mother. I could see that my mother was doing it very well but I did not really understand what I needed to do. And after my superb fall from grace with my mother and especially my father by becoming pregnant out of wedlock, I was too ashamed to asked for their advice. Would I have taken it? I certainly hadn't taken it so far. Who knows? This is all so far in the past.

The "no fault divorce" option made it easy for me to make yet another life-altering decision that put my vision and dream of what it would be like to be a wife and mother even farther from my fingertips. It slipped away in the space of 3 years. By the time I was 20, that dream was dead. I was a divorced mother of two. The idyllic dream of living happily ever after with the man of my dreams and a dozen children surrounding us with their gales of laughter was dead. My life became one of simply surviving.

I know that popular rhetoric is that divorce is not an issue, but I beg to differ. Not only was my deepest heart-felt dream shattered, but the lives of my children were irreparably altered because of my poor choices. No child ever wants their parents to be divorced. Every child wants safety and stability. They want the original bond with their mother and father to be there forever – not simply on weekends and two weeks in the summer.

I can see your comments flowing into this post already. But Melanie, everyone makes bad choices sometimes. And I agree with that. But the choice of a mate and the choice to have children are the two most important decisions a woman can make. You mess either one of those up and your life will never be what you imagined. And with the focus today on women having careers, they are even less likely than I to make informed, educated, carefully thought-out decisions regarding their choice of a life partner. Their idea of building a family revolves around their own ability to make money rather than finding the man dedicated to providing the resources necessary.

And before everyone jumps in there and says that it requires two incomes, let me just jump ahead of you and say that is a myth. It depends on what physical circumstances you require. How large will your house be? How many cars will you have? How attached are you to designer labels? And are you willing to be the principal provider of food from a garden or must it be purchased? There are many choices that can be made. Unfortunately, so many of our choices today are based on what everybody else is doing rather than what our heart is telling us. I get it. It's hard to go against the current and swim upstream. But I contend that the rewards are worth the effort.

Being a dedicated mother to the next generation is the most important job in the world. It requires your full attention. It requires much more than an hour in the morning while rushing your children off to the school bus and a couple of hours in the evening having let God knows who have charge of their precious minds for the other 9 or 10 hours of daylight. In order to be the best mother, you need to choose a mate that will provide financial security for you and your children. It means making your career "household manager in chief". You are a partner in a small business where you manage and someone else brings the required finances. You are dependent on someone else to bring you the resources you need to make that happen for your children. That takes a great deal of self-respect and trust in yourself. Those just may be the most important missing pieces of character that led me down the wrong fork in the road.

Mothers So Important there is a Day Set Aside Just for Them

Mothers hold the future of civilization in their hands – or should I say in their wombs. Since the dawn of time, it is mothers who have born the children, cared for them, fed them, nurtured them, educated them and ensured that the genetic line would continue. Those that had the most children, did the best job of protecting them, and were able to provide sufficient nourishment, clothing and shelter ensured the continuation of the human species.

Until the 20th century, the odds of living to a ripe old age were dicey. Many women died in childbirth. Children died of exposure, pneumonia, and any number of infections often before the age of 1 or 2. If they made it to 5 or 6, things began to look better. Last week I talked about traditional healing wisdom and how it was the educated mother and community healer that helped the human race get to where we are today. And while that is true, perhaps I did not stress enough the value of modern emergency rooms. Technology has brought us light years into the future of survivability. Emergencies are things that a traditional herbalist cannot address. The merging of the traditional and the modern is the ultimate combination. The world is fraught with danger for a child – well adults as well. But today we are speaking of motherhood and children. Broken bones, deep cuts and wounds, burns, head injuries – you know the kind of things that we still have today with our children of all ages – these were often fatal before our modern medical emergency rooms were established.

Even as adults an infection could kill. Even with the care of a truly great and wise herbalist, infection could kill – and kill quickly. Today, we can get quick transportation and immediate medical care when a life-threatening condition arises. Sure, leave the common cold, mild fever, and mild diarrhea to a local healer. But the big stuff that keeps us alive in an emergency is modern medicine. They go hand in hand. Keep the small stuff close to home and keep those ER rooms free for true emergencies.

In the end, it is most often the mother that is making that decision. It is the mother that employs here best healing skill, or calls the local healer when it is beyond her knowledge. And ultimately it is usually the mother that makes the decision to rush to the hospital. She makes sure her child gets the best care available according to his or her needs at the time.

How has Mothering Evolved – What Has It Evolved into?

So often today, being a mother takes second place to a so-called career. I say so-called because this is a fallacy that our daughters are fed from a very early age. They are going to have a career. They need to have a career because this is how they will define themselves. But most don't have careers. Many do have these great careers, but most have jobs. And those that do have these so-called great careers, have little time for children. They either forego children altogether of someone else raises them. A true career is very demanding of a person's time. Long hours. Evenings and weekends along with the daily grind. Lots of stress. Lots of mental resources being used in the process. Is there anything left for kids?

It is up to the mother to educate herself in nutrition, exercise, cleanliness, education and so on. I know, I know. You are saying that the man should be there to help. You know why you say that? Usually it's because you are working and need that help. So you take away from your husband's work hours and ability to provide a greater sense of financial security because you chose to work. You ask him to do more so you can work outside the home. Truly, you wouldn't need or demand that help if only the traditional value of motherhood and your responsibility to your children had not been usurped by the few so-called modern women of the 60s bashing you for wanting to be the best wife and mother possible. As a gender, we abdicated our inner urge for the mothering role because we were shamed by the 2nd wave feminists. We were fooled by popular media into believing that we were the minority if we only desired to be a wife and mother. If all we wanted was to manage our household, our children and our loving spouses with passion and expertise, we were ridiculed by those that would tell us we were not living up to our full potential. This from women who did not have a husband and children. This from women who literally had no knowledge of what they professed to have expertise. And, in the end, it has evolved into women working even harder because now they try to do both and end up doing neither as well as they are done individually.

I realize that some of my bitterness for my own mistakes in listening to the drivel of these childish females pretending to be adult women is coming through. There is still a part of me that wants to blame them for advising me incorrectly. But in the end, my choices are my own. And I live with them. I adapted to them and did the best I would with what I created for myself and my children. It was a wonderful journey – just not the one I had originally planned.

How Can We Bring Back the Value of Being a Full Time Mother?

Is there a way to bring back the tradition of motherhood? And I mean in every sense of the word. Dedicating your life to educating yourself every day in the care and education of our children. I can't put my finger on how it happened that while we were bombarded with the idea that being a full-time wife and mother was beneath us, the first thing I often hear from those not comfortable with homeschooling their children is "I don't know enough to teach my children". So, does that mean we are too dumb to learn how to teach our children. But by the same token we are too smart for the task and we must have a career. Which is it? Until we recognize these diametrically opposed thoughts, we will continue to make the same mistakes over and over. And yet not.

Have you noticed the jobs that most women choose? A publication called ThoughtCo.com published an article titled, "Top 10 Occupations That Employ the Largest Percentage of Women". Here's what they are, along with my comments on why women choose these jobs. And please don't misunderstand. These are all very valuable occupations in the whole scheme of the world. Someone needs to do them.

Here they are:

1. Registered Nurses – 92% are women. Caring for others. These 2.5 million women in the US are caring for others. What if that desire was spent on their children? Obviously they are able to learn a lot about healthcare. That desire and ability would serve the family very well.
2. Meeting and Convention Planner – 83.3% are women. Well, I can certainly see that. If you are genetically wired to be a woman you would need excellent planning skills. But apparently those are only valuable if you make a lot of money doing it. You know, it's about the money. It not about the nurturing, education, health and security of your own children and figuring out how to make all that happen. It's so much better to do it for others so you can get money.
3. Elementary and Middle School Teachers – 81.9% are women. Are we beginning to see a pattern here? Women are dedicating their lives to the children of other women who are dedicating their lives to the children of other women. Someone else is educating their children while they educate the children of others. Does it sound craze to you? It sure does to me.
4. Tax Examiners, Collectors, and Revenue Agents – 73.8% are women. I love this one. Before women began filling these jobs and were still lowly homemakers, a primary responsibility was to choose a husband who was fiscally responsible. One who provided the resources to be collected and spent appropriately and responsibly for the household.
5. Medical and Health Services Manager – 69.5% are women. I won't belabor this one as it is the same industry as nursing which is, again, the number one employer of women.
6. Social and Community Service Managers – 69.4% are women. This is an interesting one. Again, before women ventured out into the world for a better life that was more suited to their needs, they were the social and community managers in the volunteer industry. Women literally abdicated this responsibility to government agencies that now perform these functions so they could go and do the same thing for money. But does anyone believe the government agencies are doing the same level of service that volunteers used to provide? Perhaps, they are mostly women after all.
7. Psychologist – 68.8% are women. This one makes a great deal of sense. Any mother knows that some level of psychology is necessary to raise their children. I consulted one several times when I ran into issues with my children. These people are invaluable in that regard. However, with today's technology, instead of spending so much time in school I think on line education and support groups would provide most of what we need as mothers. There will be exceptions of course.
8. Business Operations Specialists (other) – 68.4% are women. Other, really? That's the category many of you mothers out there will recognize as doing whatever it takes to manage the family. Administrative analyst (making everybody and everything is where it is supposed to be), claim agent (mediating disagreements between siblings), labor contract analyst (clean your room and your get X), energy control officer (please turn off the light in the bathroom when you are done), import/export specialist (what should we buy and sell), lease buyer (you know it's the mom that makes the decision about which house to rent or buy), police inspector (is everyone following the household rules) and tariff publishing agent (this trade will get you that new bicycle but will cost you a trip to the lake).
9. Human Resources Manager – 66.8% are women. I don't know if I even need to explain this one. How are household responsibilities divided? Mom decides who is responsible for what and when to keep the household in order.
10. Financial Specialists (other) – 66.6% are women. Oh yeah, mom manages all the money. I think we talked about this one earlier. You learn how to stretch a dollar, save a dollar and make dollars grow.

There you have it. All of the things that women were too oppressed by their husbands to abide are exactly what they are doing outside the home. The downside is you are working on someone else's schedule. You march to someone else's tune when you could be the top banana in your fiefdom.

With a valiant effort to listen to our hearts we can bring back respect to the greatest office in the world. The office of wife and mother. And occupation where you decide how your children are nourished, how they are educated, how they are brought forth as morally, upright citizens as they enter their adult lives. You can have the greatest responsibility in the world as a mother. All it takes is recognizing the internal beating of your heart leading you forevermore into that blissful existence as chief nurturer of your clan.

Happy Mother's Day. Make it a good one.

Mom's Chocolate Pie Recipe

It's a basic custard. The recipe is over 100 years old – well sort of. I altered it a little for my own tastes. 😊

What you Need

• 9" deep dish pie shell
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup cream
• 3 tablespoons powdered cocoa
• 1 cup Sugar
• 6 tablespoons flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

What to Do

1. Brown the pie shell per instructions on the package or in the recipe you used to make yours from scratch. (Congrats to you on that accomplishment!!)
2. In a cast iron skillet (or sauce pan) mix dry ingredients and milk until steaming.
3. Beat egg yolks, add a small amount of milk and whisk it in. This is called tempering. You want to bring the temperature up a little without cooking the yolks.
4. Add tempered egg yolks to hot mixture.
5. Add vanilla and butter and stir in. Continue stirring and allow to thicken.
6. Pour into pie shell.

Meringue What you Need

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

What to Do

1. In chilled mixing bowl, mix egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.
2. Slowly add sugar and beat until stiff (but not dry) peaks form.
3. Top pie with meringue, bake until just slightly browned.
4. Cool before serving

Final Thoughts

I did the best I could with the choices I made. My children are doing well, though they too were infected with divorce. I love them dearly and have never regretted my decision to give them birth. In my older age, I now have part of the life I dreamed of. I have the best mate that anyone could ask for. I love him with all my heart. It took me many years to understand how to be a good wife. He stood by me through all of it. And I'm still a work in progress. We love our farm life. We love it when the kids and grandkids come to visit. Who could ask for more?

Give that chocolate pie a try. And while you are savoring the lovely texture and flavor of your creation, you might contemplate the awesome power of motherhood from a new perspective.

I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

References

Top 10 Occupations That Employ the Largest Percentage of Women

Recipe Link

Mom's Chocolate Pie

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Traditional Healing Wisdom has been with us since the beginning of time. Exploring where we are with that today is my main topic for this edition of the Peaceful Heart FarmCast.

I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to all of the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast every week. I appreciate you all so much. I'm so excited to share with you what's going on at the farm this week.

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• Traditional Healing Wisdom
• Stinging Nettles Infusion

Homestead Life Updates Wytheville Farmer's Market

Life is moving along at a rapid pace here at the homestead. The Wytheville Farmer's Market is having the last winter market this Saturday. We will be there from 10 – 12 noon. The following week the market opens up for the summer season. We will be there each and every week from 8 am to 12 noon.

I have decided to let go of a lot of the celery starts I planted a couple of months ago. Celery is hard to get started but pretty easy once you get it going. Stop by and pick up a plant or two. Celery grown in your own garden is nothing like what you would buy in the store. 110 days and you will have wonderful celery. Fresh celery is so different from store bought. It has an intense flavor and smell that is almost peppery. I planted Utah Tall. It is the standard for green celery.

Dairy Cows

Yesterday Claire's udder was so big and tight it looked like it was about to burst. We thought, "surely tomorrow it will happen." And . . . It did. She had trouble last year and I wasvery anxious at this point for her to deliver without issue. Shortly after I got to the Farmer's Market to set up, I got a call from Scott. Claire had her calf without issue. Yet another bull calf. Two more to go. Will we get a heifer? That's a girl calf for those who are not farm animal savvy.

Katahdin Sheep

We are still waiting on one ewe to have her lambs. Oh, and the triplets are a unique situation. A couple of days ago I noticed one of the triplets was hunched over. He was also much less bulky than the other two. I'm sure he got colostrum in the first day or he wouldn't have made it as long as this. It is absolutely required for any young ruminant animal to survive more than a few days. But his mom was definitely not standing still for him at this point, or perhaps the others were pushing him out.

Lambert

That brings me to the interesting situation. We started giving him a bottle to supplement his nutrition. However, we left him to run with his mom and siblings. She doesn't let him nurse but she let him hang out. He is very fast and keeps up with her very well. He stays closer to her than the other two. We were hoping to get him to come running to us so we didn't have to chase him down to give him his bottle. Our sheep are not wild, but they are not tame to our touch either. We can get to about 10 feet from them before they all run off. We have a Shepard's hook to catch him up. We get close to them and then I get a little closer and kind of force them to a point where they will run past Scott. He reaches out and snags the little guy as he runs by. Once we have him, he eagerly drinks that bottle. He knows where his food is coming from.

This morning we had to alter that plan a little. He is just not thriving. He is still very small compared to all the other lambs. We decided to keep him close and feed him more often. Scott caught him up again and put him in a dog cage that we have for just this situation. Lambert has straw bedding and is keeping Scott company while he lays blocks for the creamery.

The Garden

The strawberries are now all planted in the garden. We bought straw to use as mulch. Bad purchase. It was full of seeds. We have all kinds of wheat grass growing in the strawberry bed and also in the potatoes where I piled it high to cover the potatoes. Using straw mulch on potatoes is normally a great idea. Using straw instead of dirt is much lighter cover where the potatoes will form. There is less resistance for those potatoes so they can grow really big. That is if we can keep the wheat grass pulled out.

As far as the Herd share status, we are working with the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Organization to get our contracts in order. They are a great group of people that help small farmers all over the country with legal issues. As soon as the contract is ready, I will let you know so you can purchase your part of the herd and get going on having your own milk products available for weekly pickup. I'm experimenting with yogurt and I must say it is the best yogurt I have ever had. And I eat a lot of yogurt.

Another plug for the Farmer's Market. I will have samples for tasting each week. These cows truly are unique and your yogurt, butter and cheese will reflect that.

Traditional Healing Wisdom

Today I want to talk a little bit about traditional healing wisdom from days gone past. Much of the issues with health care up until the later part of the 20th century revolved around access to care. I know it seems like people died from all sorts of things that we can treat easily today, and there is truth in that. But I want to point out that much of the problem in the past was how spread out people were and how little access most people had to anyone who had any knowledge at all about medicine. It was all herbal medicine back in the day and a lot of it worked pretty well. But again, if you weren't at least an herbalist, your chances of getting medical care in a timely manner were greatly diminished.

I want to take a moment here and point you in the direction of a resource that I have used for many years. Herb Mentor and Learning Herbs.com. I started with them shortly after they started their mission to see an herbalist in every community. There is so much valuable information on their website, I couldn't begin to fully describe it here. There are courses from the vary basics all the way to advanced courses for full-time herbal medicine practitioners.

The Village Herbalist

Village or community herbalists are the mainstay of herbalism, the nurturers and protectors of good health. Their ideal to have someone educated and experienced in the use of herbs for general health and minor illness and injury is a very noble one. The role of the herbalist complements the work of other holistic care providers and even modern medical providers. A community herbalist can be invaluable in educating people about good health practices and in helping them recover from common family ailments. They are first in line to give people answers about how plants can assist in their basic care.

When I was growing up, I was fortunate to have a mother who was not afraid of practicing some home care medicine. While she wasn't a village herbalist, she was educated in what to do for cuts, bruises, colds, diarrhea and so on. She even knew exactly what to do when, at 12-years-old, I burned by left hand very badly. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital healing from that. But her quick thinking, calmness is the face of disaster, early action with cold water and ice, and a methodical but hair-raising drive to the local clinic were invaluable to my healing process. The hospital treatment was an age-old one. Silver nitrate. It forms a crust on the burned surface where skin used to be. Leaking fluids due to no skin to hold it in runs neck-and-neck with infection as the leading cause of complications and death in extensive burns.

Traditional village herbalists can and do provide education and healing techniques to their local communities. I want to stress the importance of education. Again, because I had a wonderfully educated mother when it came to basic first aid, I benefited and also learned much of the basic medical knowledge that I believe every woman in the world should have. Teaching basic first-aid for everyday use and using herbs for specific therapeutic purpose has long been the province of the village herbalist. However, many people today either never had it or have lost this traditional link with basic survival skills developed over millennia.

Return to Our Roots

The desire for a return to this basic understanding—moving away from conveyor belt apparatus that is our modern healthcare service—to a simpler and more natural lifestyle grows ever stronger as human experience becomes more complex and the further removed from our connection with the Earth. Western culture pushes incessantly for more modern access to medical care, but how much of those costs would be reduced if we were simply educated in what to do for a fever, a cough, diarrhea. More will always be balanced by less somewhere else. Today's "less" is less knowledge of how to take care of ourselves and our families during the simplest of illnesses. And don't let me forget to mention that a HUGE part of that education is knowing when you need that specialized medical care that can only be obtained from someone with far more education. Context matters. Looking at our medicine—how we care for ourselves—reveals the need for greater knowledge and more personal responsibility for the health of ourselves and our families.

A functional health care system, first and foremost, takes place nearby. Caring begins with people who know us. This is where you or someone you know can be that village herbalist. Certainly, conventional medical care serves a good purpose in apt situations. We definitely want that 7 to 9 minutes with a doctor should the need arise. Yet somewhere between our body's innate ability to heal itself with a little knowledgeable support and conventional medicine's high-dollar attempt at a cure lie many situations that can be bridged by common sense and a compassionate connection to the community we serve.

Alternative Medicine

Is it truly "alternative" or is it simply a return to the basics of what has worked throughout our time here on earth?

More than 83 million Americans reported using what is termed "alternative medicine" in 1998, according to a nationwide survey published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The therapies most commonly used were chiropractic, herbs, massage, and relaxation techniques. Yet the numbers are not the telling consideration here. People are turning to healing modalities that work effectively, cost less, and do the desired good with fewer side effects than mainstream medicine. The term alternative medicine is revealing, for it completely overlooks the fact that from the perspective of someone born in the 1800's it might seem as though the medical profession threw out the baby with the bath water as each modern technique became the new miracle, the connection to the simpler forms of health eroded. History shapes all cultural destiny, and medicine is no exception. Shall we examine the thousands of years of herbal knowledge garnered from plant-based experience that preceded the allopathic doctoring to which many now turn to in times of illness or injury?

Doctors have been quoted as saying that a good three quarters of the people coming to see them have come to the wrong place. Patients often come at the first sign of discomfort or irregularity, expecting a quick fix for obvious symptoms. Over-the-counter medications possess all the glitter that advertising can muster, yet a pill prescribed by a doctor carries a heavier stick. Naturally people want assurance, and to understand the current predicament of their bodies. We are fearful, inconvenienced, and downright whiny. We place our responsibilities at the feet of professionals and pay for expensive services rather than take it upon ourselves to learn a little bit about the human body and how to work in harmony with it.

To Doctor or Not to Doctor

It has been estimated that 70 to 80% of the people who go to doctors have nothing wrong with them that couldn't be cleared up by a vacation, a pay raise, or relief from everyday emotional stress. This is the education and support that a local herbalists could easily provide. Education and coaching. Only 10% of patients visiting their doctor for that 9 minutes—that required half a day off from work—require drugs or surgery to get well, and approximately 10% have diseases for which there is no known cure. Most illnesses run a benign course if left to what the Hippocratic physicians called the healing power of nature. The natural healing mechanisms of the body build in an 80% recovery rate from all illnesses regardless of medical intervention. . . . But the mothers and other caretakers would need to know how to treat at home and when it is beyond their knowledge. It's a scary thing, I know. It's so much easier to just go to the doctor and be done with it.

We are thankful for good doctors. Medical intervention proves itself whenever the surgeon repairs bones or remove stones, the internist uses antibiotics or insulin appropriately, or the pediatrician spots a problem and nips it in the bud before it can cause greater damage. Yet many situations call for more personal involvement and homegrown understanding.

Interfering in the natural processes of the body can cause trouble. Iatrogenic (treatment-caused) harm is every doctor's worst nightmare. The listed side effects of pharmaceutical drugs often gives us pause to consider the additional health risks incurred to obtain a predicted benefit. Working humbly within these limitations makes physicians good at what they do. I do want to point out however, that doctors are as human as the rest of us. They are not infallible. They do not know your child the way that you know your child. Educate yourself or find a local herbalist to help you understand. It will be well worth it.

Responsibility for Ourselves, Our Families, Our Communities

Taking care of yourself and your family for the majority of everyday health needs is both plausible and sensible. Empowerment begins with knowledge. Herbalists can help people use plant remedies respectfully and intelligently. Going to medical school is not essential to be able to help people feel better. We have deeded the legal practice of medicine to an elite group on the basis of one type of training.

Interest in an herbal approach to health is growing rapidly. However, this high regard for natural living is often accompanied by an allopathic perception of illness we've been raised to view as routine. We now take this herb for that condition. Modern medicine insists upon a physical explanation for each cause and effect. Symptoms are treated accordingly. Yet the whole of the matter often goes unresolved. Holistic plant medicine goes well beyond this kind of narrowminded, simplistic thinking. Each individual has a different Constitution. Different therapeutic strategies for seemingly similar conditions must take into account the biological, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of each individual. A good herbalist not only helps people become medically self-sufficient but also shares the journey into the big picture of who we are. There is no one-size-fits-all in good health care.

Traditional Healing Wisdom

Using plants as medicine predates written history. Anthropologists believe that people learned how to use plants for healing by trial and error and by watching birds and animals. Many wild animals possess an instinct to seek out plants that are good to eat and filled with vital nutrition, while avoiding those that might be poisonous.

Plant by plant, humans have added to a collective knowledge that is been handed down through the ages by word-of-mouth and later in written documents. Regardless of a given cultural understanding of plants, where blood flowed, Yarrow stanched it. When influenza raised its head, garlic was universally applied. Plantain for bee stings is another treatment that spanned continents. Such plant remedies showed their effectiveness time and time again.

Western Herbalism

Here in North America, the aboriginal people had a multitude of uses for the plants of this continent. The Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and other tribes on the planes were the first to discover and use Echinacea for its immune-stimulating ability. You saw the Eastern Woodland tribes boil wild mint and inhale the steam to help relieve congested lungs and sinuses. The Apache, Hopi, and Navajo rubbed powdered cayenne on arthritic joints to help block pain and reduce swelling. The Chippewa and other Great Lakes tribes boiled willow bark and drank the tea to reduce fevers and headaches. Modern science has identified many of the plant components that validate the use of each of these treatments exactly as they were prescribed.

As the European population of the US grew, many learned the Indian ways of using the local herbs. These treatments were passed along to eager settlers and pharmaceutical entrepreneurs needing knowledge of native botanical medicine. European herbal lore and Native American plant wisdom joined together. They united many traditions under one banner and Western herbalism was born.

Modern Medicine

Today much of the world population continues to use herbs as their primary source of medicine. The world health organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of the world's people rely on herbs for their health. An unbroken chain of herbal knowledge has continued to be passed down in many, many cultures around the world. Take for instance, the long-standing teachings of Chinese and Ayurvedic health practitioners. Unfortunately, for many of us in the Western world this chain has been broken. We have fooled ourselves into believing that synthetic medicine made in a lab by people wearing white coats has more worth than the humble dandelion in our backyards.

We still need the perception and conscious intelligence of our ancestors to be embodied anew in every generation by women and men who are called to be healers. They include the country doctor who is well-versed in spending time with patients; the village herbalist who uses plant medicines for treating an array of disease; a midwife who assists with home births in the home. We don't have to go back very far in time to find such these healers who diligently cared for their communities to the best of their ability.

For many of us it was our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers that taught us the basics but we dropped the ball. We dropped the ball for the quick trip to the doctor's office instead of the continuing education that is readily available in our modern society. The internet offers any amount of education in the body and its systems. Books galore on your kindle can provide the basics that a mother needs to know about how to treat a fever and when to abandon home remedies and get to the ER immediately. What better way to pass the time during pregnancy than educating yourself in the care of your children? Too often I see that women have been convinced that attention to a career is so much more important. I just can't see it. Caring for my family seems a much better choice.

Women: Traditional Keepers of the Hearth

Traditionally women are the keepers of the hearth. The responsibilities of cooking, tending the herb garden, drying the herbs, making medicines, and brewing the brews traditionally have been met by their loving hands. Women tended to the birth of babies and care of the sick in the homes of their families and friends. The unique ones heeded a call to serve the wider communities. Are you one of those? Is it brewing inside of you and you haven't responded to the call? I urge you to reconsider.

People will always need good medicine. Accordingly, a process of trial and error has been going on for thousands of years, always directed at the same goal of making us well. Therapies that worked were passed down to subsequent generations; those that did not were forgotten. Plant remedies that survived this test of time, and especially those shared by different cultures from around the world, have tremendous validity. Coming to understand how these remedies work—the job of objective science—will never alter the fact that they do work. Let's bring back these traditions. Why don't we get away from the cold, impersonal medical office and return to the native community support provided by your village herbalist.

Nettles Infusion

This is an energizing infusion. It works on the adrenals to build energy and stamina. Conversely, with strengthened adrenal function you can expect to rest better and to experience less anxiety. Four to five quarts of nettle infusion weekly can yield results in 3 to 6 weeks. That's right. Three to six weeks. True health is not a pill that you take. You didn't run yourself down in one day. It takes time to return your body to balance. But return it will.

Nourishing infusions ensure that your body stays in tip-top shape. Once you've achieved a balance, a quart a week should be sufficient. Using nourishing infusions becomes part of your daily lifestyle.

As far as I know there are no contraindications to stinging nettle infusion. However, you may experience side effects such as thicker hair, softer skin, stronger veins, an uptick in your enjoyment of life.

What You Need

• 1 oz of dried nettle herb
• 1-quart boiling water
• Salt (optional)

What To Do

1. Place the herbs in a glass quart jar. Fill the jar with boiling water.
2. Steep for at least four hours; More is fine. Overnight is fine.
3. Strain herb from the water with a cheesecloth. (You can use an old white T-shirt as well.) Add salt if desired.
4. Compost the herbs and drink the infusion. Refrigerating and then drinking cold is great but finish it within a day or two lest it ferment.

Final Thoughts

No matter how stressed fast life goes for Scott and myself, we just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Our life together here on the homestead is everything we could have ever dreamed of and more. We are blessed each spring with the gift of life in your animal offspring and the plants in the orchard and gardens. I invite you all to go to our website and sign up on our mailing list. We'll let you know when our farm tours kick off. We'd love to meet you in person and hear your stories, your hopes and your dreams.

In the meantime, you can come to the farm and shop our grass-fed meats on Tuesday mornings from 10 am to 12 noon and on Saturday afternoons from 3 to 5 pm.

I hope you incorporate nourishing infusions into your daily routine. You might consider replacing your infusion of coffee with an infusion of nettles. Well, that may be too far for some of you, but at least give it some consideration.

I have not spoken before about my herbal formulas. As I continue to grow the website, I will be adding listings and information about the herbs I use. You can join our mailing list at www.peacefulheartfarm.com to stay up to date. Currently, there are 3 formulas that I use regularly. Echinacea and goldenseal, a formula I call Sleepwell, and a heart tonic I call Heart Health. I'd love to talk with you about what they contain, when I use them and why.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to iTunes and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

Recipe Link

Stinging Nettles Infusion

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I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast every week. I appreciate you all so much. I'm so excited to share with you what's going on at the farm this week.

There's a lot going on. It's spring. Lambs are coming. Calves are coming. Plants are sprouting. There is not enough time in the day to get everything done. This will go on for a while. I love it. It's so good to be alive.

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• The Taste of Cheese
• Best Lasagna Ever

Homestead Life Updates

We have lambs. This morning we found a set of triplets who are doing well and a single. There are still 4 more ewes yet to lamb.

We still only have two calves. They are drinking all of the available milk from one cow. So no cheese, butter or yogurt yet.

In the garden Scott planted 50+ strawberry sets and I planted over 100 strawberry seedlings that I started indoors a few weeks ago. I am overwhelmed with celery. I started way too many seedlings. Likely I will offer some of this from the homestead store later this summer. Home-grown celery is nothing like the bland, tasteless stuff in the grocery store. My tomatoes and eggplant seedlings are doing great. It will still be a few weeks before they can be planted out in the garden.

Today, we placed row covers on our cabbage. Hopefully, this year we will actually have a crop that the cabbage moths don't destroy. Pray for us in that regard. We've never been successful because of those pesky cabbage moths. Integrity and love for the land keeps us from using any poisons. This could just be the year for cabbage for us.

In the orchard the kiwis are going crazy. We had a few very small fruit starts last year but I got too busy and did not keep them watered enough. The fruit dried up and fell off before it got to any size. I'll be keeping a better eye out this year. The grapes and blackberries are putting on leaves. No blooms yet but soon. The blueberries have bloomed. June is the month for those lovely jewels to reign supreme. If we can keep the raccoons out, we just might have a blueberry crop this year. We got an electric fence up last year, but most of the blueberries had already been eaten.

We've had rain and more rain. Our homestead is doing okay with all of this wetness, but lots of flooding just south of us in North Carolina. We will be getting even more rain this evening. Our location keeps us safe, though there is mud everywhere. Especially where 1,000 pound cows are tromping over and over up and down the travel lanes to the milking shed.

The creamery walls are steadily rising. I have to give it to Scott, he is consistent. Every moment he has available, he is out there making that happen. He did give me a half hour or so this morning to help with those row covers for the cabbage and it was much appreciated.

Hey, I have quail eggs in the incubator. Yes, quail eggs. In just 18 days, we will have quail chicks. I think I mentioned that I don't like to interrupt Scott in his faithful mission to get that creamery built. So, building housing for chickens and pigs is out of the question at this time. However, he has said he will give me a half-day to build a couple of simple quail breeding cages. The quail will be providing much-needed eggs for us. We eat a lot of eggs and are constantly facing the decision to buy cheap less-than-optimally nutritious eggs from the grocery or paying lots of money for those great farm fresh eggs offered by our fellow Farmer's Market sellers. The Farmer's Market eggs are definitely worth it but our budget will be less stressed with us growing our own eggs.

Lastly, let me talk about the Herd Share program we are working on. We want to offer you the opportunity to have your own cow and reap the benefits that we are blessed with by virtue of operating our homestead. I know all of you cannot possibly do what we are doing, but you'd like to have the benefit of fresh dairy products from pasture raised cows. Soon you will be able to purchase part of the herd and simply pay a monthly boarding and maintenance fee. We will take care of everything else for you. On a weekly basis, you can come to the farm and pick up your fresh milk products. We are still working out the details of what we will offer as far as value added services and how much we will charge for that service. Butter and yogurt for sure and perhaps some fresh cheeses such as mozzarella, cream cheese, or lemon cheese. Let us know what you want. After all, we are doing this for you. How can we serve?

For those of you out there listening to the sound of my voice, if you are in the southern/southwestern Virginia area or northern North Carolina area, we are here for you. It is about an hour trip from Winston-Salem, North Carolina and perhaps an hour and a half from Greensboro. In Virginia, Martinsville, Hillsville, and Galax are all less than an hour away. Wytheville is slightly over an hour. It takes us an hour and 10 minutes to get to the downtown Farmer's Market. Roanoke is 2 hours from us. Floyd, Christiansburg and Blacksburg are somewhere in between.

We are open for on-farm sales and herd share pickups: Saturdays 3 – 5pm and Tuesdays 10am – 12pm. Come on out and get yourself some homestead sunshine. Take a look at how our animals are raised. We'll answer all of your questions and make sure you get the best grass fed and finished beef, lamb and goat on the market today. Tuesdays 10am – 12 pm and Saturdays 3 – 5 pm.

The Taste of Cheese

A few episodes ago I talked about the sensory experience of taste. Next, I talked about the basics of cheesemaking. Today, I'm putting those two together. This episode is going to be all about the taste of cheese. What is it? Where does it come from?

As I said, in a previous episode (link above) I talked about the basics of cheesemaking. We learned about how complex organic compounds in milk are transformed during the cheesemaking and aging processes. Many of these compounds are broken down into other water or fat-soluble compounds. Some of them are volatile, which means they can be detected as flavors or aromas by our taste buds and the smell receptors in our noses, respectively. Let's explore where these flavors and aromas come from, and delve into how we perceive, describe, and compare them.

Whether professional or amateur, the way all cheese people approach the subject of flavor is framed by Prof. Frank Kosikowski's theory of component balance. According to Kosikowski's model, very specific compounds in very specific amounts and combinations are responsible for the often-mind-boggling array of flavors detected in cheeses, yogurts, and other dairy products. When we talk about a cheeses flavor profile, were referring to its overall taste as comprised by multiple individual components.

Any fine artisanal cheese has many distinct aroma and flavor components, which, when well put together, form a whole greater than the sum of its parts. While each fine cheese is unique—with individual pedigree and identifiable terroir—it is also similar to others of its type; in fact, it distinguishes itself precisely because of the way it's many volatile compounds combine, interact, and balance each other to present a signature flavor profile. The more components a cheese has in its flavor profile, the more complexity it is said to possess. If one or more of those components dominates and drowns out the others, we say the cheese lacks balance. If it only has a few of them, we say it lacks complexity.

Where Do Cheese Flavors Come From?

The three principle nutritive substances found in cheese—casein (milk protein), butterfat, and lactose (milk sugar)—are the building blocks of its flavor. Those volatile compounds we perceive as cheese aroma and flavor, often referred to as "aromatics," come from two principal sources: first, the plants the animals eat and the breakdown of chemical compounds in those plants during the animals' digestion process; and second, during the cheesemaking and ripening process the action of key enzymes, secreted by microorganisms, is used in breaking down those three "building blocks".

Dairy and flavor scientists who study cheese generally estimate 20 to 30% of aromatics come from the feed the animals eat (and the water they drink). The remaining 70 to 80% is determined by cheesemaking and ripening parameters. As we learned in the basics of cheesemaking, making cheese is mostly a process of dehydration, that is of increasing the percentage of milks solids; in terms of taste, the flavors of these aromatics become more focused and concentrated.

Starter cultures release their enzymes, which continue working after the bacteria cease to function, and remnants contribute their animal or plant enzymes. These agents start the breakdown and flavor making processes. Molds, yeasts, and bacteria introduced during cheesemaking and/or ripening secrete their own enzymes, which in turn act on the fats and proteins to create volatile compounds. Each different substance contributes it specific flavors. Brie style cheeses, for example, obtain their delicious mushroomy flavors from the white candidum species of Penicillium mold growing on their rinds. Thistle rennets used in certain traditional Portuguese and Spanish cheeses lend a typical hint of bittersweet flavor.

Terroir: From Cow Pasture to Cheese Plate

Common sense tells us what the animals eat will affect their milk and thus have a tremendous impact on the cheese. The greater the amount of natural, local food our animals consume, the more of our lands' character (terroir) will eventually end up in our cheese.

A study co-authored by Drs. Carpino, Licitra, and Barbano and published in 2004 in theJournal of Dairy Science, examined the difference between cheeses made from the milk of pasture fed cows versus ones made from the milk of those consuming a TMR or dry formula feed (TMR is total mixed ration).

The study provided conclusive scientific evidence for two key concepts of flavor origin: first, pasture feed yields more flavors and aromas; second, native plants and grasses offer unique aromas and flavors, that is, terroir makes a big difference. The study showed that a significant portion of the aromatics came from specific plants known to have been eaten by specific animals. As the cows chewed up grasses and flowers, crushing them and oxidizing the chemicals within, aromatics got released into the animals' digestive tracts. Those aromatics eventually made their way into the milk. Even later they emerge as aroma and flavor-giving substances in cheeses.

How to Describe Flavor and Aroma

Aromatic compounds are described by way of references to other substances with the same flavor or aroma. Many flavors and aromas are very, very specific; others are significantly more vague or complex. An example: to most people—even serious foodies—the chemical name diacetyl means absolutely nothing; however, the reference "movie popcorn butter" has immediate resonance. Its aroma is unique and has no other clear reference; in fact, the chemical diacetyl was used for many years to create artificially flavored buttered popcorn.

To know cheese, you've got to taste it—and lots of it. By far your most crucial skill as a cheese connoisseur is your ability to taste, first recognizing what's in a cheese and, second, articulating what it is you like and don't like about it.

Tasting cheese in a vacuum is difficult: there is nothing to compare it to. Once you have two or more cheeses, you can develop references and begin to see the range of possibilities, and eventually accumulate a vocabulary based on your personal library of cheese experiences. Again, taste lots of cheese.

Another way of tasting cheeses is alongside wine or other beverages which provide further contrasts and/or complements. Sometimes a wine or beer pairing with cheese will evaluate both partners and in almost every case it will reveal something interesting about each of them.

How Do We Taste Cheese?

What we perceive as cheese flavor is made up of a few fundamental components: first, the four flavors detected by the taste buds on our tongues—sweet, sour, bitter, and salty; and second, the thousands of odors we can pick up with our noses. The pleasures of cheese tasting are made possible by two things. First, the incredible sensitivity of our olfactory system—we can pick up something on the order of 10,000 aromas—and second, its physiology, namely, the retronasal passage connecting the nose to the mouth at the top of the back of the throat. These oral and nasal perceptions, added together, comprise an overall taste impression, or "flavor by mouth." When you include the additional factor of texture, you have another compound sensation called mouth feel. Remember I spoke of these in the previous podcast on Why Food Tastes So Good. Link is in the show notes.

About 90% of what you taste in a cheese's "flavor by mouth" is aroma. Our sense of smell comes into play twice: first, when we put a cheese under our noses and, second, when we put it in our mouths. One reason for the difference between the smells and tastes of cheeses is due to our ability to smell only surface volatiles, in what flavor scientists called the "headspace" of a cheese (the immediate vicinity of its surface). When we put cheeses in our mouths and begin to chew, however, all the different aromatics inside them become available. Four tastes and thousands of aromas.

Many of the compounds on a cheese's surface, including that which makes an ammonia smell and quite a number of potentially stinky, barnyardy (even somewhat noxious) odiferous substances, have actually had a mellowing effect on the interior of the cheese. If you can get past the initial smell, you will find they are among the ripening agents responsible for balanced flavor development and are one reason why a really smelly cheese can taste quite mellow and mild.

Once we put a cheese in our mouth, another breakdown process has begun: Our body's own digestive enzymes, starting with those contained in the saliva, go to work at releasing flavor compounds. Multiple component taste factors immediately come into play, starting with those four primary flavors of the tongue and including the tingle, rasp, or caress of the cheese's textures stimulating all those nerve endings on our palates and creating an overall impression of flavor by mouth, plus mouth feel.

Cheese and the Four Primary Flavors

Of those four flavors of the tongue, fine cheeses do exhibit quite a bit of underlying sweetness and also sourness. After all, milk sugar (lactose) is one of the three building blocks of flavor, and fermentation, producing lactic acid. It is the first step of cheesemaking.

What about bitterness? A little bit of basic bitterness goes a long way. And if at all, we only want a little and it must be balanced.

Next comes "salty." This is the most common flavor in all cheeses. Like any other flavor component, salt should be in balance and it should complement the other flavors. Of all cheese defects, over-salting is the most frequent. Salt should emphasize or bring out a cheese's other flavor components—not call attention to itself.

The tactile sensation of a cheese—how its texture is perceived in your mouth—is an important part of its overall profile. Whether it's satiny smooth and near liquid or crunchy and more crystalline or anywhere in between, a fine cheese's texture and consistency will settle over the tongue in a particular way to deliver a distinct impression. As with flavors and aromas, personal preferences come into play: some of you will prefer softer types, others will salivate over harder ones. In any case, contrasting tactile sensations can enrich your cheese experience.

How to Practice Tasting Cheese

The main steps in tasting a cheese are look, touch, smell, taste—wait, think about it and reflect, and don't miss the finish. Clear your palate; do it all over again with the same cheese again, take your time and move on to the next one only when you're good and ready.

What to Look For:

Examine the rind and, if it's a cut piece, the interior or paste. Make a note of all the textures and colors there and also if there are any interesting, different, curious or potentially meaningful markings. Think aesthetics: what is it about this cheese that looks good or bad and/or bodes well for how it might taste? Bear in mind that some very scary looking cheeses can be very delicious.

How to Assess Cheese by Touch:

Poke it, tap it, run your finger over the service, roll or press a small portion of the paste between a thumb and forefinger. How hard is it? Does it have any resistance, any kind of springy, bouncy consistency or texture? How does it break or crumble? A tactile assessment does not make or break a cheese's reputation, but it's an interesting piece of the bigger picture. By the way, if a cheese feels too cold, give it more time to warm up to room temperature before going any further.

How to Smell Cheese:

Take a good sniff. A very common question we ask is, "Why do some cheeses smell a lot stronger than they taste?" This question leads quickly to the realization that the character and intensity of the cheese's aromas do not necessarily coincide with its flavors. A strong cheese may have a deceptively mild aroma; a real stinker may taste mellow and mild. Also, make sure your hands are clean and free from any kind of perfume or other potentially conflicting odors.

Tasting Cheese:

Take your time throughout the tasting but particularly with the all-important moments after you put it in your mouth. Keep a clean, clear neutral palate and an open mind. This is where a little bit of good white bread (classic baguette or its equivalent) and a sip of water or some other fairly neutral beverage can help clear your palate of any potentially clashing or conflicting flavors. Just a tiny piece of bread works like a swab to take acid and fats off the tongue so you can taste a cheese more clearly.

Take a small bite of the cheese at first and make sure it comes into contact with every part of your tongue and as much of the inside of your mouth as possible. This is important because your taste buds are spread around the tongue and other parts of the back of the mouth and also because different receptors may focus on different flavors. Chew slowly and gently. Note all the flavors on the tongue and try to determine whether they are in balance. Be sure to note the initial sense attack and also to what extent there is an evolution of flavors: some fine cheeses make a strong immediate impression; others build from a quiet start to an impressive crescendo. As the cheese settles over your tongue and then migrates to the back of your mouth, begin to taste its full flavor profile. Note its texture and mouth feel.

Wait for the finish and see how long it lingers; great cheeses don't disappear quietly or slink away meekly, but they frequently offer distinct final impressions.

Finally, Describing Cheese

Descriptions can be quantitative or objective as well as qualitative or subjective. Outlining a cheese's appearance is more objective than trying to capture all of its aromas and flavors. Observers can generally agree whether its rind is reddish orange or orangish red. Once taste and preference enter the equation, however, all bets are off. A cheese that tastes sour to you may seem only slightly tangy to me. One I feel is lush and luxurious may strike you as boring tub of butterfat, but hopefully we can objectively identify and acknowledge the traits upon which we base these opinions. It can be a valuable exercise to compare tasting notes with your cheese-lover friends.

In the beginning you may find it difficult to move past such seemingly mundane adjectives as salty or buttery or creamy. That's fine. People attach all kinds of different tags to an item in order to keep track of it in their memory banks. After years of tasting, there may be still many cheeses that you file under simple terms like buttery or crumbly, but with experience, your vocabulary will broaden. The more cheeses you taste compare, the more sophisticated your descriptions and references will become.

To assist you in developing your vocabulary I'm going to offer a couple of free downloads one will be sample vocabulary terms that describe color, color modifiers, firmness or density, texture, mouth feel, flavor and aroma, flavor modifiers, and subjective, qualitative, or interpretive terms. The second download will be an outline of the basic cheeses by types and categories.

How Are Cheeses Classified?

Categorizing cheeses can be a useful extension of describing them. It helps you find substitutes or alternatives when your preferred cheese isn't available, and it can help you create an interesting, varied selection when putting together a cheese plate for your friends.

Any categorization system that accurately describes cheese traits can be useful not only in sorting them out but also in understanding and appreciating their various qualities and attributes.

The basic international categories include: Fresh, chevre, bloomy rind or soft ripened, washed rind, natural rind, uncooked and pressed, cooked and pressed, and blue.

Other types include: stretched curd (pasta filata) and whey cheeses.

Due to the melting pot that is America, the American Cheese Society Awards have a huge number of categories. These categories include: Fresh unripened, soft ripened, American originals, American made/international style, cheddars, blue molds, Hispanic and Portuguese style, Italian type, butter, low fat and low salt, flavored, smoked, farmstead, fresh goat, fresh sheep, marinated, aged sheep, aged goat, and washed rind.

In the end, they are still all based on the international categories.

What Makes a Cheese Great?

In assessing greatness complexity of aromas and flavors, stimulating textures, balance, distinct or unique character, and impact—in the sense of making a memorable impression are central. You might taste a cheese once, and not even remember its name, but you can't get it out of your mind. Maybe it doesn't even have strong aromas or flavors—after all, great cheeses can be very subtle—but it begs you to try it again.

If a cheese is unique, it may qualify as great. But, to be an exceptional cheese, it doesn't absolutely have to be one-of-a-kind. Cheeses that are variations, or even imitations, of great types should not be automatically ruled out. They may be very similar in character but at the same time could possess enough individual personality to stand out. My favorite cheese, cheddar, comes to mind. A great cheddar will stand out.

Another key question: does it truly express its terroir? Great cheeses, like great wines, have an uncanny ability to transport you. Merely good cheeses taste like a type or are recognizable as a category; great ones taste like the place they are from. An outstanding Chianti beams you right to a sundrenched hillside vineyard beside a dusty road in Tuscany. Likewise, a taste of a perfectly ripened Appenzeller take you to a flowered mountain meadow with a backdrop of majestic glaciered Alps.

Great cheeses live and breathe; they evolve and grow—not just from cheesemaking through ripening but on your palate when you taste them. Cheeses with profound, complex flavor profiles inhabit your mouth and offer a broad evolution. They start with an attack, subtle or not-so-subtle, hitting the taste buds of the tongue with fundamental flavor highlights. Those flavors develop and expand, melding and competing with myriad aromas, working their way back to the retronasal passage and up into the intellectual and memory centers of your brain. You are excited, stimulated, challenged. Tasting a great cheese makes you say, "wow." Strong or mild, hard or soft, you're bowled over by its brilliance.

At this point I'm going to remind you that we now have store hours where you can come to the homestead and see our terroir. We currently have various grassfed meats available and I would love to talk with you about what you are looking for in your dairy products. Before the end of summer, we will have cheese, yogurt, and butter available for our herd share members. Let's talk about you owning part of a cow herd.

Best Lasagna Ever

Good Lasagna takes a little work, but it is so worth it.

What You Need

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• ½ cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 6-ounce cans tomato paste
• 2 6.5-ounce cans canned tomato sauce
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
• ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

What To Do

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water.
4. While noodles are boiling, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and ½ teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl.
5. To assemble, spread 1 ½ cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13" baking dish. In layers, arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with ½ of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with one third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 ½ cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
6. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Final Thoughts

Whew, that was a long one. There is a lot going on here. Between the plants and the animals, things are growing, growing, growing. We are still looking for 3 calves and who knows how many more lambs—Scott just stepped in and said we have another set of twins. Three more ewes still need to give birth. I'd say no more than five more—that is unless someone else has triplets. Thanks for stopping by and keeping up with our homestead life.

Go out there and taste some cheeses. Then come visit us and taste our cheese. We think you will be delighted. Our traditional food practices make great food choices for you. We are dedicated to providing you with the most nutritionally dense foods money can buy. Remember to visit our website, zip down to the bottom of the page and get those 2 downloads for expanding your vocabulary in your quest toward cheese connoisseur status. You'll also receive a notification for a free download of my herbal bone broth recipe.

Try out that exceptional recipe for lasagna and then ask us about the possibility of fresh mozzarella from your own cow via our herd share program. Yum, yum.

If you enjoyed this podcast, don't forget to subscribe via iTunes or your favorite podcast listening app. Also, please share this podcast with any of your friends or family who might be interested in this type of content.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for listening and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

References

Expand Your Cheese Vocabulary

Classifying Cheese by Type and Category

Recipe Link

Best Lasagna Ever

To share your thoughts:

• Leave a comment on our Facebook Page
• Share this show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

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• PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW for Peaceful Heart FarmCast on iTunes.
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Website

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The tradition of dairying has been around for thousands of years. Today, in the United States, the number of small dairy farms continues to decline. The desire for the fresh and nutritious commodity we call milk remains steady and is mostly fulfilled by gigantic mega-dairies. As with anything else, the bigger it gets, the cheaper it gets. But the other side of the coin is that the bigger it gets, the less concerned the producer is with the nutrition and health of the livestock. They simply need to meet their goals for the bottom line as cheaply as possible. In the United States, have become consumers of cheap goods. Quality that was valued above cheap in the 50's and 60's seems to be nearly extinct in this country.

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• The Tradition of Dairying
• Ghee Recipe

Homestead Life Updates

Homestead life updates are both happy and sad this week. If you are on our mailing list, you received a newsletter on Wednesday in which I shared the good news of our first calf just 2 days earlier. You can get on our mailing list by going to www.peacefulheartfarm.com and entering your name and email address. I send out a newsletter once per week that highlights this podcast, recent recipes, and some pretty interesting articles that I come across from time-to-time about food, cheese and tradition. Join us, we'd love to have you ride along with us on the homestead journey.

The day after the newsletter was published, we had very sad news. The cow who had delivered the calf died. She had a very virulent systemic infection that resulted from her difficult birth. The calf was breech. We thought she was going to be fine the day of the birth and even the next day. But the third day she was despondent, not eating and isolating herself. I had the vet out on the farm and on the phone all three days keeping tabs on what to look for and what to do. However, it was only hours between the despondency in the morning and her ultimate demise.

Her name was Dora. It is short for Adorable. She was the most adorable calf. In fact, that is her picture on our home page. She has been there for years, welcoming you all to our website with her adorableness. We miss her so. Her calf missed her so also, but he is doing splendidly now and follows us around like a puppy. We call him Trooper.

I still don't have the strawberries planted. That is on the docket for Monday. I had to replant some of the cabbage due to it getting frosted and stunted so bad that I thought it better to start over with some more well-established plants. Cold weather plants must be planted early, but not too early or they get frosted. And they must mature before it gets too hot. It's a delicate balance.

Creamery walls are still rising. It's a beautiful site. It's going to be a beautiful dairy and creamery. Speaking of which, let's get to the topic of the day.

The Tradition of Dairying

We love it and can't imagine doing anything else at this point. Sure it's a lot of work, but so worth it. So fulfilling. We hope to pass on the tradition of dairying to the next generation, keeping it alive far into the future.

The tradition of dairying in its most reductionist form, merely swiping some milk from a cooperative grazing animal, goes so many thousands of years back into prehistory that we can't get a fix on it. It is known that Laplanders herded and milked reindeer 11,000 years ago. 30,000 years ago, people in the High Sinai were confining and breeding antelope with the aid of fences, a human invention arguably as important as the spear. Wherever antelope, reindeer, sheep, camels, goats or cattle have been brought under human control, they have been milked. Among the very earliest human artifacts are vessels containing milky residues.

Even horses have been milked. The hordes of Genghis Khan swept out of Asia eight centuries ago on tough, speedy horses. They triumphed everywhere because of two important military advantages: they used stirrups, thus freeing both hands to use weapons. And they had a lightweight, high protein food source always handy: mare's milk, ingeniously dried by their wives prior to their raids. Each day a horseman put about half a pound of dried milk into a leather pouch, added water, and by dinnertime he had a tasty fermented yogurt-like food. No army travels far nor fights well without provisions. Because he didn't have to wait for the quartermaster to catch up with the speedy horses, Genghis Khan always maintained the advantage of surprise.

On the other hand, more peaceable folks milked goats and sheep. Sheep and goats had the advantage of being able to thrive on steep, rocky land and they reproduced rapidly. Gestation takes only five months. It's nine months in cows and a full year for donkeys. Goats and sheep often have twins and are old enough to breed by one year. Cows need to be at least 15 months old before being bred, giving birth no earlier than two years of age.

But wherever people have the choice and needed resources, they choose the cow. So long ago was she chosen and so much was she valued that her wild ancestors vanished many hundreds of years ago. The last known wild cow died over 500 years ago in Poland. Cows were integral in a relationship with humans at least 10,000 years earlier than that. They have been lovingly nurtured and defended throughout Africa, Asia and Europe ever since. The cow lives in symbiosis with us humans.

Archaeologists and anthropologists have shown much greater interest in the role of grains in human history, speaking of what came before as "mere" herding. In fact, discussions of modern diet seem oblivious to the long prehistory of herding. Arable farming, growing grain, began about 10,000 years ago. This is an unknown number of years after dairying was already being practiced as I just talked about. But most writers link arable farming together with animal husbandry apparently assuming they sprang up together. Not true. It is often stated in otherwise well researched sources that dairy products are a comparatively recent addition to the human menu. To the contrary, grain is the recent inclusion in the human diet, not dairy foods. This false assumption about dairy foods is apparently linked to the widespread belief that milk production is dependent upon grain. It is not.

To produce grain in useful quantities requires rich wetlands such as floodplains. It requires a large amount of energy, available in antiquity only where complex cultures had developed. This energy was produced by slaves. The more slaves you had, the more grain you could grow. And the more grain you could grow, the more slaves you could afford, thus giving rise to a wealthy class able to afford monumental tombs and other durable artifacts of civilization. Grazing animals have been around for millions of years thriving on grass. They are not dependent on grain. For many thousands of those years they were herded and milked, tasks which require neither slaves nor even permanent dwellings.

To herd animals requires only the availability of shepherds and can be done on any kind of land from rocky mountain sides to the beach. Wherever herbivores have been herded, their milk as well as their meat became important parts of the human diet. Herbivores transform grass, bushes and weeds into high-grade readily available food. They do this with enormous efficiency whether in captivity or not. Remember the great herds of buffalo on the plains. No grains, just grass.

Grain is not necessary in the diet of grazing animals, but where it is available in excess of human requirements it can be fed to animals to fatten them and as an extra energy source. We use it as a supplement when the cows are lactating. They get a couple of handfuls of a specially prepared supplement twice a day during milking. It takes a lot of energy to produce the milk in the quantities they provide. The health of our animals is at the top of our list of desired goals. They can survive just fine on their own on grass. But when sharing their resources with us, we make sure they get some daily candy.

Historically, the fence served less to keep animals from running away than to protect them from the predators at night. Ancient Sumerian writings reveal that it also provided a means for keeping the best milk producing animals close at hand. But this was only feasible where there were servants available to fetch and carry feed to the milking animals. The downside of fencing is that it forfeits the transcendent advantage of the grazing animal, that it finds its own food.

The fence served another function basic to animal husbandry. It permitted selective breeding of cattle, sheep and goats. By confining smaller and more docile males and permitting only these to breed, at least 10,000 years ago people were manipulating animal genetics to create the domestic breeds. These breeds began to have smaller horns and be of more manageable size and temperament. This was particularly important in the case of cattle which like all dairy animals, are often handled by women and children. The original wild cattle were huge and quite dangerous. Although in actual numbers worldwide there have always been more sheep and goats being milked than cows, the cow very early in human history became the most prized of the dairy animals.

The Cow, the Premier Dairy Choice

The cow is the premier dairy animal because of her cooperative temperament, the comparative ease with which she can be milked, the volume she is able to produce, and because of the versatility of cow's milk. The cream is easily skimmed and made into much prized butter and ghee. Ghee is butter that has been melted, rendered and strained.

The cow is a primary producer of wealth. She can support a family. She not only turns grass into milk in quantities sufficient to feed a family but also provides extra to sell and she contributes a yearly calf to rear or fatten. The byproducts from cheesemaking (whey) and from butter (buttermilk) will support a pig or two. Her manure improves her pasture and when dug into the garden, results in plant growth that cannot be surpassed by other growth mediums. The family that takes good care of its cow is well off indeed.

The cow is now forever domesticated. Other domestic animals can revert to a wild or feral state with predictable success. Put hogs in the woods and they won't look back. They won't get fat but they will immediately form a breeding population. So will horses on the plains. Many breeds of sheep can establish themselves in hill country. Goats are well-known for this aptitude so long as they are not too far from the sea; they have a high iodine requirement. Cows are dependent on humans for their survival as a species.

So Huckleberry Finn's Pap might've had a pig or goat he could turn loose and still call his own but a cow requires consistent responsible care. If she doesn't get it she won't give milk and she won't start a new calf and she won't live through much cold or draught.

She Created the Surrounding Community

The dairy cow doesn't ask for much but she asks every day. Historically, people creating wealth with the cow either are hard-working and reliable or they get that way in a hurry. This is the way it has been for a very long time. The fine farms of Europe, England, New England and much of the United States were all established thanks to the wealth derived from cows. Wherever there is, or used to be, a big barn it was built to store winter hay for the cows which once dotted the pastures.

The need to milk a cow twice a day determined the location of churches; people had to be able to walk there and back without disruption to the milking schedule of cows. Formerly, every district in Europe, England and the Eastern United States had a corn mill situated so that a farmer driving a horse and wagon could deliver his load of corn and still get home in time for milking. It is certainly no coincidence that such a large number of our finest American statesman were born on farms. Important virtues are nurtured on the farm, including a graphic understanding of the relationship between working and eating. Homestead living is making a resurgence in the US for just those reasons. Moms and dads want to raise their children to be virtuous. A farmstead with a milk cow goes a long way to accomplishing it.

If Cows Are So Great, Why Doesn't Everybody Have One?

Not so very long ago, a great many people did indeed keep a cow and she was often an adored member of the family. Well-to-do families even in cities kept a cow well into the early part of the 20th century. During the Victorian era, country homes of the wealthy included charming accommodations for their cow. Some of these were quite fanciful and included beautifully tiled dairy rooms for making butter and cheese. All this attested to the high regard in which the dairy cow and dairy products were held.

Peasant homes were built to take advantage of the considerable heat given off by a cow. In Scotland often the cottage was built to surround a stall in which the cow spent the winter; picture an arrangement like a playpen in the middle of a low-ceilinged room. In other locales, including Spain, the family lived in rooms above the cows, using them like a furnace in the basement.

Some of the forces that stopped cow-keeping were the same ones that have stressed the American family. An insatiable desire for consumer goods focusing the whole energy of the family on acquisition of every imaginable gadget was certainly a factor. The automobile was important; it dispersed families and directed interest away from home-based activities. A rising desire for consumer goods fostered a yearning for enhanced social status. There have been eras and there still remain places in the world where the cow accords status. But nowadays status is more likely to derive from real estate in a good location. If it is a country property, the high-status animal is now the horse. We call them hay burners. They provide no sustenance for the family, but they sure do eat a lot themselves. But all these factors are as chaff compared to the power of the 20th century revolution in food production, processing and distribution.

The food revolution is lauded in school text, political speeches, virtually everywhere as an exemplary modern triumph that is showered us with endless choice and plenty. Occasionally there are warning from farmers and homesteaders like me. We point out that the current food system is extremely wasteful and definitely nutritionally compromised. But the most astonishing feature of this food revolution is usually overlooked.

For all of human history until very recently, and still for many people living in the world today, food is something you find, you grow, you fish from the sea, or you obtain locally from the actual producer. The purpose of this food is straightforward and obvious: it is to feed people. If sold, it changes hands only once. It goes directly to people who intend to eat it. Designer food intended only as a source of profit has arrived late in man's history.

The foods in our shining supermarkets were produced as a financial investment. They are not so much food as consumer goods. As such the primary constituents of the majority of finished goods, the wheat, corn, edible oils and sugar cane or sugarbeets, are grown as a monoculture on millions of flat acres, traded on the stock market, the constituents are broken down and reassembled into something that keeps nicely on the shelf and vaguely resembles food.

As for milk, because of its extremely perishable nature, milk initially presented a challenge. In the late 19th century as the size of American cities rapidly expanded, the demand for milk was met in several ways. One enterprising solution was to position a great barn full of cows right downtown next to the inevitable brewery. The cows were fed the spent malt. In theory, this could have proven satisfactory; in practice it was disgusting. The cows were kept in filth and were milked by hand by anybody off the street. On top of that, the milk was routinely watered down diminishing its nutrition even further.

Rural dairies had a better reputation and made a valiant effort to get milk delivered fresh and cold by train. And in most smaller towns and cities, it was possible to get fresh milk delivered right to the door by the actual producer. These dairies took enormous pride in their products.

Milk trains moved through the countryside before dawn picking up milk cans that waited on platforms. The milk did not travel great distances and it was bottled and delivered fresh to doorsteps that very morning. Cans on their way to the creamery were kept cold by blocks of ice cut from the northern lakes in winter. Ice cutting was an important industry in northern states. The big blocks of ice were packed in sawdust, available in quantity from sawmills, and it kept right through the summer. There was an amazing support structure for the rural and small-town dairy industry.

Honorable dairymen well understood that milk quality depended on healthy cows, clean milking practices, rapid chilling and expeditious delivery. Milk itself tells the tale at the table just as unmistakably as does fish. Your nose knows when it is fresh.

There are two ways to achieve a safe, edible product. Number one is by conscientious handling. Number two is by sterilizing and preserving the milk or fish or any other food, after which it matters a great deal less how it is stored or for how long. Small dairies able to exert quality control every step of the way, often even bottling and delivering their own milk and cherishing the one-on-one relationship with their customers, supported the method #1. Larger, well-funded consortiums seeking control of dairying favored method #2. Their approach was to pool larger quantities of milk, drawing it from greater distances, overcoming problems of quality by heat treatment or pasteurization. The outcome of this struggle was by no means a foregone conclusion. Heating changes the appearance, flavor, nutritive and culinary properties of milk and none for the better. As for its keeping qualities, everybody and his grandmother knew milk goes sour after a few days. It wasn't expected to keep; after all, that's why we make cheese. Everybody preferred fresh milk and consumers understood perfectly well that pasteurization served as a substitute for quality. Dairymen who wanted to continue selling fresh milk geared up for more efficient delivery using ice and seemed about to make their case for quality control at the source. Quite apart from concern for their customers preferences, this enabled them to maintain financial control of their own product.

The Winter of 1886

Then came the winter of 1886, the winter the lakes didn't freeze. Lacking ice, the case for fresh milk was lost by default. Dairy farmers were forced to sell their milk to the middleman as they do to this day. They have never been able to regain control over their own product. The mega-dairy industry overwhelmed the little guy.

Consumers had their minds changed about pasteurization by a fear campaign based on disease standards said to be unavoidable from unpasteurized milk. Indeed, this is likely to be true when milk from thousands of cows is pooled, although then as now, it is perfectly possible for herds to be clean and disease free. What is not possible when fresh milk is pooled and transported great distances is to avoid it's going sour and becoming unsalable; pasteurization was instituted for the benefit of distributors. But a nervous public was sold on a slew of new public health statutes that fostered the concept of pasteurization as being the only safe way to consume milk. Though we had survived as a species for 10s of thousands of years on unpasteurized milk, today unpasteurized milk is demonized nearly as harshly as poison. Indeed, at that time America was in the mood to sterilize everything possible. It was the heyday of the hospital-white kitchen and bathroom. Dairymen were required to paint everything white too, as part of the mystical association of whiteness with health and cleanliness. To this day, we dairy farmers must conform to public health regulations far more strict than those imposed on any other industry including the very processing plants where milk is conveyed to be pasteurized.

That's as far as I'm going to go with the history today. In another episode I'll talk about the demise of the Family Cow in the 20th century and how we have evolved in terms of milk production today. There is a renaissance of desire for fresh milk from our own cow. Perhaps the family cow will return in great numbers. Or at the very least, families will buy their milk from a nearby farmer whom they know. More and more will want to buy a share in a cow herd, paying the farmer to house, care for, maintain and milk their cows for them. Herd shares are gaining in popularity here in Virginia. We are currently looking into the possibility of providing butter, yogurt and cheese to folks just like you who want to own a family cow but don't have the time, place or know how to properly care for her. We'll take care of that for you. Just stop by the homestead and pick it up each week. What do you think?

Ghee

Making ghee is a process I enjoy, and it yields a wonderful cooking medium. For those of you who might be unfamiliar, ghee is an unsalted butter that has had the milk solids removed after separating from the butterfat, resulting in beautiful, golden, pure fat with an unusually high smoking point.

This means ghee (and its cousin, clarified butter) is remarkably stable, even at higher temperatures. The process for making clarified butter is similar to that of making ghee, ghee is simply cooked longer and has more contact with the browning milk solids, in turn lending a different flavor profile.

Tips for Cooking with Ghee

1. Use less. If you've never cooked with ghee before, just go easy to start. I've found that I typically need less throughout the process compared with, say, olive oil.
2. Wok cooking or stir-fry is an exercise in high-temperature intensity. Which can be hard on oils, and you end up having the oils break down, and not in a good way. So, ghee is a good option, as long as it works for the flavors you are cooking. I don't think it works alongside soy sauce, for example, but a quick vegetable stir-fry is a winner
3. In my opinion, the best ghee comes from homemade butter. Meaning, you first make butter from fresh cream you got from your herd share. Then you turn that butter into ghee. You might try making cultured butter and turning that into ghee.
4. Ghee can be stored, unopened, in a cool, dark, place for 9 months. Once opened, a jar can be kept on your counter top for 3 months. Beyond that, the open jar can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 year. How's that for shelf life.

What You Need

• 2 pounds unsalted butter (I've used salted as well)
• Pinch of salt (optional)

What To Do

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low. It will start to bubble and separate. The whey will float to the surface creating foam. Skim the whey foam as it arises. Continue to cook the butter until it turns clear and the milk solids sink to the bottom. This is clarified butter. (You could actually stop here.)
2. Continue to cook your butter until the milk solids brown (lightly) on the bottom of the pan. It will smell like popcorn butter.
3. Remove saucepan from heat, add salt (optional); cool for about 2 minutes.
4. Pour ghee through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Store in tightly sealed mason jars or refrigerator.
5. Use it in place of almost any cooking oil. It will add butter flavor without burning.

Notes

• If butter turns dark brown or black, you've burned it and you will need to start over.

Final Thoughts

That's it for today. I hope to have better homestead news next time. We checked Buttercup today and she looks like she might give birth in the next 2 to 3 days. Pray for her please. She had trouble last time.

I hope you enjoyed the history of milk tour. Lots of people say we are not meant to drink milk. However, we have been doing for thousands of years and have prospered as a species. Lots of people say that no other animal drinks milk after a certain age. Perhaps that is because they are smart enough to figure out how to squeeze that teat and get at that luscious white nectar. For sure, anyone who has ever had a barn cat in the dairy knows that cats will most definitely continue to drink milk when it's offered to them. They would have a real problem getting those paws trying get at it themselves.

And lastly, give that ghee recipe a try. Homemade butter and other natural animal fats are very healthy. Humans have survived on animal fats for thousands of years. Ghee is a great way to preserve that milk/cream/butter for a long time. It is an excellent cooking medium.

Ghee is even used in traditional ayurvedic medicine. Ayurvedic medicine is one of the world's oldest holistic healing systems. It was developed more than 3,000 years ago in India. It is based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and spirit. And that's a beautiful thought to end with.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for listening and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

Recipe Link

Ghee

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This episode focuses on the basics of cheesemaking. This is in preparation for the next episode which is about why cheese tastes the way that it does. It's all milk. Why are cheese different?

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• The Basics of Cheesemaking
• Easter Leg of Lamb

Homestead Life Updates

We are still trying to get Dora trained for milking. This morning she didn't even come to the milking shed. Tomorrow is another day. The new halter that is just the size for her has arrived. No calves or lambs yet, we are still waiting.

The last of the hay went out yesterday. No matter what, they go out on the grass as soon as that hay is consumed. The grass is greening up very nicely. We are expecting a bit of rain for a couple of days next week and the temps are going to be in the 70's. All signs are good for a successful spring launch into those lush pastures.

Walls continue rising on the creamery. It's so exciting to go out every day and see the progress. Since we are taking so long to get cheese out to you, I am looking into setting up some cow shares. That will allow us to assist you in your goals for dairy products. You buy part of a cow and we board it, feed it, care for it, and milk it for you. We will even make you some yogurt and/or butter if you like. If you are interested in this arrangement, please visit us at www.peacefulheartfarm.com and get on our mailing list so you can be first in line when we open this up. The number of shares will be extremely limited due to our herd size.

The spring garden is on the move. Adding to the seeds we planted last week, onions were planted, the celery has been transplanted to bigger pots, and the strawberries are lined up for planting tomorrow. Early tomato plants and eggplant have sprouted. It will be weeks yet before they get out into the garden.

Easter is fast approaching. Come see us at the Wytheville Farmer's Market and pick up some Easter lamb. We have bone-in legs, boneless shoulder roasts, and ground lamb. Choose a free recipe card with your purchase. I have Greek Meatballs for Easter, Easter Leg of Lamb and Southwestern Shoulder Roast.

Email me at melanie at peacefulheartfarm.com if you would like to pick up at the farm.

The Basics of Cheesemaking

It has been my experience that the more you know about how something is made and what goes into it, the better you can appreciate the value and tradition that surrounds it. Understanding cheesemaking fundamentals will help clarify the differences between types of cheese and also helps explain how individual cheeses express their distinctions and character. Prof. Frank Kosikowski, who founded the American cheese Society (ACS), outlined the eight basic steps, which have become the standard for how cheese is made.

First, let's look at some of the additional varied procedures involved in making the cheese we know today. Then we'll consider the raw material that is milk that goes into cheese. Finally, I'll outline a layperson's overview of Kosikowski's Eight Basic Steps.

Cheesemaking Developments: Step-By-Step

From a historical viewpoint, each of the basic steps represents one step in a series of technological advances. In the centuries-long evolution of this artisan craft, these advances led to innovations in the cheese recipe; they added complexity, created distinctions, and thereby defined the various modern cheese types.

The first step, acidification of milk, remains the basis for all cheeses. In fact, some still don't require much more than that. Go back and take a look at that Lemon Cheese recipe in "The History of Cheese" episode or Crème Fraîche recipe in the "Why Normande Cows" episode. Links in the show notes.

Prehistoric fresh cheese, which were not all that far removed from today's sour cream, clotted cream, or quark, eventually evolved into something resembling a basic Farmer's cheese, also known as white cheese or, in Spanish, queso blanco or queso fresco.

After simple souring to make fresh cheeses, the next big step is the coagulation of milk to form curds, which is generally done via the proteolytic enzymes contained in rennet from the stomachs of young ruminant animals, the very substances that helped those suckling's break down the proteins and digest their mother's milk. You could say the discovery of the use of rennet started modern cheesemaking because it opened the door to add the curing and aging steps. It is assumed this advance was a stumbled upon through happenstance kind of discovery. I've talked about this in previous episodes. Some clever shepherd used an animal stomach to transport milk, noticed the milk ended up in a large lump with lots of water around it. It tasted good and lasted longer before souring beyond recognition. Shepards may have been the ones to develop a useful procedure for preserving milk in a tasty, transportable form. Voila! Modern cheese was born.

Further developments, beginning in Roman times and extending into the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, included more extensive draining as well is cooking, pressing, molding, milling, and salting. These procedures resulted in harder cheeses that can be aged, stored, and/or transported. That certainly opened the door to a major food staple and commodity for trade. These advances also posted logistical challenges requiring the invention and manufacture of mechanical devices such as vats; baskets or colanders; pots; kettles; and knives; and other efficient cutting, cooking, and draining tools.

Some of Cheesemaking's "Developmental Steps" Large Format "Commodity" Cheeses

By Roman times, cheesemakers had established procedures for making hard cheeses. These cheeses were larger; they utilized rennet coagulation as well as cooking, pressing, and salting. To make rennet, they would either dry the young ruminant stomachs, cut them in strips, and add them to the milk in that form or stir in a rennet solution made with brine.

Blue Cheeses

Encouraging blue molds to ripen cheeses such as Roquefort dates back to pre-Roman times. Today's Roquefort recipe, which includes propagating the molds in large loaves of bread, specifically baked for that purpose, was codified over 300 years ago.

Smoking

Ancient artisan cheesemakers often lived in mountain huts. To keep themselves warm, dispel flies, and dry their cheeses they built fires inside the hut. As a result, their cheeses would acquire pleasant smoky flavors.

Mixing Milk

Small family farms would make the young cheeses for their own consumption from the milk they didn't drink. These small operations might have one or two cows, a few sheep, and a goat—not enough of one species to fill the cheesemaking vat. So, they blended the milk and delicious results evolved.

Leaf wrapping

Soft and semisoft primordial types of cheese were often used as currency and sometimes brought to market. For this, they needed protection, so they were wrapped in leaves. Low and behold, this technique also offered some nice flavor benefits. Today, cheese wrapped in grapevine leaves mark this ancient method.

Commodity cheeses

Among the cheesemaking steps beginning in the 16th and early 17th centuries was partial skimming. Removing the cream to make butter created cheesemaking milk that underwent higher and more rapid acidification. This was a first step toward bigger, harder, lower moisture cheeses. Further steps included scalding, pressing, cheddaring, and salting the curds themselves as opposed to an external salting commonly used in fresh cheeses.

Early "vegetarian" cheeses

Sephardic Jews in Iberia (Western Spain and Eastern Portugal) invented—or at least advanced—the practice of using plant coagulation. Thistle-renneting of curds to make cheeses proper for their kosher diet began about 1,500 years ago.

"Monk" (or Monastery) Cheeses

Monks were prodigious farmers and dairymen who developed fermented, brewed drinks such as abbey ales which they often used to wash their cheeses. Washed-rind cheeses began to evolve about 15 centuries ago with the gradual spread of Christianity and construction of these monasteries across Europe. Munster is an example of a modern descendant of the medium-sized semisoft luxury cheeses which still maintain their traditional form.

Bloomy-rind cheeses

Cheeses of the brie and Camembert types—made with creamy rich milk acidified overnight, gently ladled into draining and shaping forms, and ripened by external molds—had likely been produced, in rustic versions, since at least late medieval times. They originated in the Île-de-France region, not far from Paris, and in nearby Normandy.

What's in cheese?

Since cheese is essentially concentrated, preserved milk with some added salt, in order to answer this question, we need to take a step back and answer a more fundamental one: What's in milk?

The solid content of milk runs from approximately 12.5% in cows to about 19% in sheep. Its principal solids are the protein casein, the sugar lactose, and butterfat, all of which are dispersed or emulsified in water. The fact that all of the solids in the milk are not completely dissolved but rather they float in self-contained units within an emulsion is what makes cheesemaking possible. It supports the separation of the milk-solid curds from the watery whey.

Vitamins and minerals are an important part of milks composition. Milk contains the vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, D, E, and K. Although these and the minerals account for less than 1% of milk's total volume, they are significant nutrients. Minerals also contribute flavor and texture to the cheese. The principal minerals in milk are calcium and phosphorus; it also contains sodium, potassium, and magnesium as well as trace elements, including zinc, iron, manganese, and copper.

Variability of Milk Composition

Different species have different breeding and lactation cycles—determined by their different gestation periods and expected ranges for weaning. This is the main reason most traditional cheeses are not made year-round.

Another crucial factor determining milk composition is terroir—all the components of environment and geography, water, and feed. Water will affect milk and cheese character on two counts: first, via the ground and/or meltwater, which irrigates the animal's plant foods; and second, via the drinking water given to the animals. Whatever special local traits the water possesses—certain mineral flavors, for example—are likely to show up in a cheese.

What the animals eat will also help determine the taste of the milk and the cheese. The fundamental contrast is between a diet of dry feed in the winter and pasture plants in the summer. The types of plants eaten are going to be unique from farm to farm and region to region. No two farms will produce the same terroir.

Kosikowski's Eight Basic Steps of Cheesemaking

Now that we know what's in milk and cheese, we can discuss how cheese is made.

Step One: Setting the Milk (Acidification and Coagulation)

Acidification will occur naturally if the milk is left to sour on its own: inherent and/or ambient bacteria will ferment lactose into lactic acid. Cheesemakers normally add bacterial starter cultures to jumpstart the process. Coagulation is considered first among the microbiological miracles without which cheese as we know it would not exist. A natural chemical reaction, it transforms fresh liquid milk into one of the world's most delicious solids. Coagulation makes one giant curd.

Step Two: Cutting the Curds

Once the milk has coagulated into a giant smooth curd, it will naturally begin to contract and expel the whey, which mostly consists of water. The technical term for this process is syneresis. The more surface area the curds have, the more syneresis will occur. This means the more the curds are cut—that is, the smaller the pieces—the less moisture they will retain. To produce a softer cheese with higher moisture content, the curds will be left larger, whereas for a harder cheese with less moisture, they'll be cut smaller.

Step Three: Cooking and Holding

This third basic step involves some amount of heating or cooking of the curds as well as a holding period during which they are left to sit in the vat while the effects of acidification, cutting (if applicable), and heating proceed. Timing is crucial: the time and temperature of cooking is adjusted according to the composition of the milk and the nature of the curds. The smaller the particles, for example, the hotter they will get.

Curds intended to become softer, higher moisture bloomy rind cheeses, such as Camembert, will undergo relatively mild heating, a gradual cooling, and a resting period, with little or no stirring. Semisoft types may require slightly more heating and some more gentle stirring. Curds for harder cheeses are "cooked"—that is, they are heated to higher temperatures—and also stirred more.

Step Four: Dipping and Draining

Curds are transferred by way of a scoop or ladle to some sort of draining receptacle or mold. Draining vessels are usually some form of basket or colander, but occasionally a large cheesecloth bag is used. At this point, the cheesemaking milk has separated into whitish or cream-colored curds and greenish or yellowish whey.

Step Five: Knitting (Curd Fusion)

During this stage, the curd particles fuse together into a uniform body and begin to attain a distinct consistency. Depending on the recipe and the eventual cheese type goal, knitting can occur in the vat, in a draining vessel such as a hoop, mold, or basket, or in a press where weight is applied.

Step Six: Pressing

This step takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days and is designed to exert varying degrees of pressure to achieve the desired moisture content, density, and texture of a cheese. Soft and semisoft cheeses, and bloomy or washed rind cheeses, are drained gradually and subjected to very little, if any, pressure. Harder types may have weights placed on top of them or pressure applied by various devices. How much pressure is applied and for how long helps determine moisture content, density, and texture.

Step Seven: Salting

Salt is a main ingredient in cheese not only for taste but for moisture reduction and control of bacteria and molds. It can be applied in two ways: dry or wet. Dry salting can occur either before or after pressing. Before pressing, the salt is sprinkled directly in and on the curd mass where it begins to exert its effects on the development of a cheese more immediately. After pressing the salt is sprinkled or rubbed onto the surface as it's about to enter its aging process.

Wet-salting is properly referred to as brining. For this technique, cheeses are immersed in a saltwater solution for anywhere from several hours to several days. Brining recipes, and brining procedures vary and have subtle yet significant effects on the final results. Washed rind cheeses have brine—among other solutions—rubbed onto them during aging.

Step Eight: Special Treatments (Curing)

This step—a series of treatments, many of them optional—marks the end of the active phase, the formation process, and the beginning of ripening. The curds are now cheese, but they have a long way to go before they become great cheese. Their traits have been etched but their true character has yet to emerge.

"Curing" is a term to describe treatments introduced for desired effects during aging. These might include rubbings, brushings, sprayings, wrapping in cloth or leaves or bark, and regular turnings.

That's It!

That's it for the steps in cheesemaking. Even the simplest cheese goes through all eight of these steps. From a fresh lemon cheese created in a matter of hours to a two-year or more aged cheese such as our Dutch style Ararat Legend, it is the variations along the way that create each unique cheese flavor profile.

In the next podcast I want to talk about cheese flavor: what it is and where it comes from. I hope with these basics you'll be able to follow along more easily with that discussion. Let's get to today's recipe. Easter is fast approaching. Today I'm presenting a recipe for creating the centerpiece for that great traditional Easter dinner.

Easter Leg of Lamb

On Easter, lamb may be what's on the menu for your big family dinner. It's a tradition that goes back to ancient times.

Because sheep adapt well to a variety of climates and are raised the world over, many recipes span the globe.

• In Argentina, whole young lambs are cooked close to smoky, glowing wood embers.
• In Italy, legs are coated with garlic, herbs, and breadcrumbs and slowly roasted.
• In Syria, chunks of lamb shoulder are scented with cumin, braised slowly, and served with muhammara, a wonderful red pepper dip made with Aleppo pepper, garlic, and spices.

To start or continue your family dinner tradition, here's how to make that special Easter Leg of Lamb entrée.

What you Need

• 1 leg of lamb, bone-in (6-7 lbs)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbl fresh rosemary leaves, chopped (or 3 tsp dried)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Sauce

• 1 cup chopped fresh herbs (combination of rosemary, chives, and parsley)
• 2 cups diced onions
• 2 cups lamb stock (or chicken stock)
• 1 cup red wine

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Rub lamb all over with lemon juice. Pat garlic and rosemary evenly over the surface of the lamb. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan in oven. Roast for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 F and continue cooking for approximately 1 hour for medium-rare, or until thermometer registers 145-150 F (don't touch the bone with thermometer.)
2. Remove roast from pan and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.
3. Position roasting pan over stove burners. Add mixed herbs and onions to pan. Stir to combine with pan drippings. Add stock and wine to deglaze the pan. Reduce over high heat until it becomes a sauce consistency (approximately 20 min).
4. Slice lamb and serve with sauce drizzled over the top.

Reduction sauce may sound complicated, but I guarantee you that if you give it a try, you will see just how easy it is to make. You'll be off and running in a lot of other areas with that new skill.

Final Thoughts

That's it for this week's podcast. Hope you enjoyed learning about how cheese is made. Stay tuned for next week when I will be discussing how that process applies to what makes cheese taste this way or that.

We are always having fun here on the homestead. Look for upcoming tours.

And please come visit us at the Wytheville Farmer's Market to get your leg of lamb to make that traditional Easter dinner or drop me an email if you want to pick up at the farm. We'd love to meet you personally. We currently have lamb, beef, and goat available for purchase. No cheese for now but stay tuned and let us know what you think about owning a share of a cow so you can enjoy the benefits of raw milk products without the hassle of taking care of the animal yourself.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for listening and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

References

• Peaceful Heart FarmCast Episode: The History of Cheese
• Peaceful Heart FarmCast Episode: Why Normande Cows

Recipe Link

Easter Leg of Lamb

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What Makes Food Taste So Good? is the topic of today's show. The truth is, it is much more than taste. I'll provide some details as to what taste is as it relates to our bodies. The sense of smell and touch also are needed to understand flavor.

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• What Makes Food Taste So Good?
• Cheesy Garlic Roasted Asparagus

Homestead Life Updates

First, I'll talk about all the stuff I planted in the garden this week. Two days in a row, four hours each day, sunburned arms and hands and I got about half of my spring garden in the ground. I planted lots of cabbage. Some red, some green and four kinds of Chinese cabbage. What else? Collards, Swiss chard, escarole, mustard greens and kale. And let's not forget those peas. Lots of green shelling peas and also some snow peas.

Next week it will be strawberries and onions and I think that will finish off the spring planting. Summer planting of beans, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, and celery will begin in May.

Oh, I almost forgot, I planted Red Norland and Yukon Gold potatoes.

Lots of visitors are coming to the farm this coming week. Some family and some that found us on the internet. They are interested in the Normande breed of cows and will be taking a look at what we have to get a better idea of what to expect.

Speaking of cows, it looks like we won't have our first calf for another couple of weeks. We will definitely making changes to the breeding schedule for next year. We should be making cheese by now.

The creamery updates are really exciting. Scott dry stacked a whole bunch of blocks a few days ago. It was so amazing to walk around inside the space he created. While only four blocks high, they clearly defined the utility room and parlor. As usual he is out there right now working on those walls. This morning while we were out with the cows going through the morning routine, I could see the definition of about a quarter of the window in the utility room wall. I don't know how high that is and there is a long way to go, but it is still so exciting.

Another thing that is exciting is cooking good tasting food for our families. I thought today I would talk about how we humans determine our preferences.

What Makes Food Taste So Good?

It's a lot more than taste. We choose our food as much for its pleasing sensory qualities as for health and nutrition. Sometimes that's all we focus on, to the detriment of our waistlines.

From the earliest days we used our sensory organs to assist in survival. We have olfactory receptors in the nose. These were used to sniff out appealing smells and also to warn of rotten or contaminated food. Taste buds helped distinguish between safe foods and foods that were poisonous. Today, eating food is also a pleasurable experience where even the texture is important. Let's get into the sensory experience of food to get a better idea of where we need to grow our understanding around cooking for our families.

The sensory properties of food

Sensory perception is the ability of the sensory organs to detect and evaluate sensory stimuli such as odors, tastes, textures, sights, and sounds, all of which are active during eating. It's all about the smell, the taste, how it looks, is it crunchy and how does it feel in my mouth. Each sense organs have special receptors that detect stimuli. When a receptor attuned to taste on your taste bud is stimulated, it produces an electrical signal. Nerve impulses carry many the signals to the brain, where the information is processed. The brain then determines whether the taste is sweet or salty, or whether it is pleasant or unpleasant. Food presents a lot of sensory stimuli, therefore a basic understanding of sensory perception is invaluable to the Homestead chef. We don't just throw something on the table. Instead we take great care in deciding on menus, blends of tastes and textures and so on. You may not think of it that way but nonetheless it is what you are doing.

I'll start with the sense of sight, then taste and smell. All of these and more are working in your mind every time you plan a meal for your family. After listening to this podcast, I hope you have a greater appreciation for all you do to make the best meals for your family. Not just nutritious meals, but beautiful, fragrant, tasty and lovely luscious meals.

Color and appearance of food

A foods appearance is usually the first indicator of how it will taste so we'll start there. The brighter and more colorful the food, the more visual its appeal. Your brain processes information about flavor and texture on the basis of appearance and makes decisions about your particular likes and dislikes. This evaluation happens because of our highly developed sense of sight. I'll bet those Facebook pictures of food that everyone is always posting already makes more sense.

Human eyesight is so perceptive that the brain sometimes even ignores competing messages from other senses. For example, you expect lemon candy to be yellow. If it were colorless, you might have difficulty identifying the flavor as lemon. If it were purple, some might mistakenly identify it as grape. That's little extreme but you get the point.

Color and appearance are important to food evaluation. That is why we take care in how we present the food. I'll do a whole other podcast on presentation so let's skip on to the basics of the food itself. Factors that affect the perception of a food's color and appearance include its chemical and physical properties, the quality of light that is illuminating it, and the other surroundings. Let's take these one at a time.

Chemical properties

Food is made up of chemicals. Chlorophyll, for example, is the chemical that gives green vegetables their color. Varying the amount of chemicals and produce different effects. Cake made from egg whites will be whiter than cake made from whole eggs because egg whites do not contain yellow carotenoids. That's how you get that whiter than white cake for your child's birthday cake. Fresh spinach looks greener than old spinach because it contains more chlorophyll. The older it gets, the more of those yellow leaves you will see.

Cooking with heat also affects the chemical properties of food. The longer green vegetables are cooked, the duller and more olive green they become. The heat chemically alters the chlorophyll in the vegetables. Another example is, the longer a biscuit is baked in the oven, the darker it becomes. That change in color is the visible proof that the chemical changes have occurred when you baked the biscuit, cake or mac and cheese.

Physical properties

The physical process of food preparation also influences appearance. Take hollandaise sauce or even mayo. The more mayonnaise or hollandaise is whisked, the lighter in color it becomes. Whisking breaks the liquid oil or butter into smaller and smaller droplets and whips air into the sauce. How does that work? Small oil droplets and air bubbles scatter light more completely than large droplets do, so the sauce has a whiter appearance.

I mentioned the chemicals in greens. What happens when you apply heat? Raw spinach and other greens are composed of plant cells that contain a large amount of liquid surrounded by air pockets. When these greens are cooked, the surrounding air escapes, and the air pockets filled with liquid. Now the light is reflecting off the liquid differently than when it was air. They develop a translucent quality. Greens served a short time after air leaves the cells but before they fill with water are the brightest and most attractive to our sense of sight.

Quality of light

I want to briefly mention how the quality of light affects your perception of a dish of food. Different types of lighting can affect the perception of color. Greens viewed under candle light in your dining room can appear more yellow than when you looked at them under your bright kitchen lights. There are ways to make that work for you.

The interaction of the plate as a background with the surrounding food and garnishes can sometimes cause optical illusions. An example would be white cake served on a dark plate or vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce appearing whiter than if served on a white plate. This is because the dark plate or sauce provides a contrast that tricks the brain into thinking the cake or ice cream is whiter than it is. Contrast is a great way to make something stand out from the crowd.

Flavor of food

Why do you like or dislike a particular food. Most likely you will say the flavor, or the way the food tastes. Appearance may provide the first impression of a food, but flavor provides a lasting impression.

More so than sight, we are very familiar with the taste of food. But what are we tasting and how are we tasting? For that we use our mouth and nose.

Flavor is the blend of taste, aroma, and feeling factor sensations. These three sensations occur when food stimulates receptors in our mouth and nose. Let's go back to the chemicals. It is because of the chemical nature of food that the senses are considered chemical sensors. Although together they constitute flavor, each sense system is distinctly different in that each one is stimulated by different chemicals and detected by different receptors. That all sounds complex and it is, but the perception of the sensations happens at once. While the food is enjoyed, the appearance, texture, and temperature are evaluated.

The three components of flavor are perceived by three separate sensory systems. Each system functions independently and each continues to function even when one or more of the other systems no longer work well or at all. For example, persons who have lost their sense of smell can still perceive the taste and feeling factors of foods.

The term taste is often used interchangeably with flavor, but taste refers specifically to only one component of flavor – the perception of dissolved substances by the taste buds.

Basic tastes

There are four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Sugars are the most well-known stimuli that produce sweetness, but certain other chemicals do as well. For example, artificial sweeteners, like saccharin and aspartame, taste sweet although they are not sugars. The sweet taste of shrimp and other seafood is from a naturally occurring amino acid called glycine. Acids in foods, such as citric acid in lemons and acetic acid in vinegar, produce a sour taste. Salt, such as sodium chloride or table salt, produces a salty taste. A variety of other chemicals, including caffeine, quinine, and many poisonous substances, create the taste of bitter.

Taste buds are located primarily on the tongue, but there are others scattered about throughout the mouth. These clusters of taste cells have receptors for the basic tastes – sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Taste chemicals in the food – the acids, sweetness, salts, and bitter components – alter the chemistry of taste cells. That triggers a signal that travels through nerve fibers to the brain, where the information is processed. Yum yum.

Saliva plays an important role in taste perception. Saliva, which is composed mostly of water, transports the taste chemicals to the taste cells on the taste buds. Without saliva, we would not be able to experience the basic taste.

Aroma, the sense of smell

The perception of aroma—smell—is much more complex than the perception of the basic tastes and is not as well understood. We can identify four basic tastes, but we can sense many hundreds, even thousands, of distinct aromas.

Each aroma is highly complex. For example, there more than 800 separate chemicals that make up the aroma of fresh coffee. Exactly how do we smell? Evaporation. The chemicals in food evaporate and they bombard the aroma receptors, called olfactory cells, at the top of the nasal cavity. Smells are perceived as they evaporate to the nose or up the back of the throat as food is chewed and swallowed. From there, nerve fibers transport signals from the olfactory cells to the brain, where the information is processed. Aroma is often thought of as the most important component of flavor. Without aroma, it would be difficult to distinguish between certain foods. You are left with sight, taste and texture to determine the identity of the food.

Aroma is a large component of flavor. You've probably experienced your nasal passages blocked from a cold. It would not be uncommon for you to say that you can't taste anything. In fact, you can perceive the basic tastes but you cannot smell. So you are only getting part of the sensory experience. Here's another interesting factoid. The part of the brain in which information about aroma is received and processed is wired to the part of the brain responsible for memories and emotions. Not surprisingly, aromas often trigger memories or strong emotions. Hence, today we have aromatherapy as a treatment for various physical and emotional ailments.

Now that you know many more details about the amount of creativity you are putting into your cooking and how you might look at it differently, let's get to today's recipe.

Cheesy Garlic Roasted Asparagus

Around here we are just waiting for the asparagus to peak its head up from the ground. Yes, it's that time of year. From about April through June an abundance of fresh asparagus is available. Check out your local farmer's market.

Speaking of the Farmer's market, we will be at the Wytheville Farmer's Market on April 13th from 10am to 12noon. No asparagus, but we would love to compliment your fresh asparagus with our ground beef, lamb and/or goat.

I urge you to take advantage of your seasonal asparagus. This dish is easy to make and low carb and keto-friendly. Use a cast iron skillet or perhaps a baking dish handed down from your grandmother. It should be large enough for the asparagus trimmed of the woody stem to lay flat.

What You Need

• 1 pound (500 g) asparagus spears, woody ends removed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (or 4 cloves garlic, minced)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

What To Do

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Lightly grease your baking dish.
2. Arrange asparagus on baking sheet. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl mix together the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Drizzle the oil mixture over the asparagus and toss to evenly coat.
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes until vibrant and just beginning to get tender.
5. Remove from oven and top with the mozzarella cheese. Return to oven and broil (or grill) until the cheese melts and becomes golden (about 4-5 minutes).
6. Adjust salt and pepper, if needed. Serve immediately.

Final Thoughts

Life is speeding up. We have lots and lots of stuff going on. I'll bet you do too. There is just something about spring that brings out that "gotta get stuff done" attitude. Have you been lounging around the house sipping cocoa in front of the fire for far too long? It's time to get out there and experience the fullness of life's pleasures.

Perhaps one of your first activities might be a spring dinner party. It's the perfect opportunity to try something new in the kitchen. You can use traditional methods of food prep to make it a special evening. Put into practice some new ideas about the importance of everything you do in the kitchen.

In the 70's it became fashionable to think that women were so much better than being a simple housekeeper and mother. The women that led the charge had no real experience in what it takes to be a fantastic homemaker and mother. They had no idea the complexity of creating a well-run household with fantastically creative meals for the family and close friends.

So many young women have been taken down this primrose path of chasing a career and keeping the house up as well. It's not like that crappy homemaker stuff went away because mom is now working. Nope. It all still needs to be done. Only it's not getting done nearly as well as it could. Cooking for family and friends became eating out at fancy restaurants. Raising your children has become a couple of hours in the evening and weekends—unless you're divorced and you may not have most weekends.

Giving 100% of your time to your family is a full time job that doesn't require you to get the kids up early in the morning, rush them around the house getting dressed, fed, and into the car so you can ship them off to someone else's care while you struggle through traffic to sit in a cube somewhere or to maybe rush around even more, serving food someone else cooked to those who are not your family. It's absolutely crazy how we've demeaned the most important job in the world and substituted it with boring cubicles or serving others instead of serving our family.

I'm going on and on here. I'll just end it for now and regain my peace. I hope you'll try that simple cheese with roasted asparagus. Remember to stop by the website. Sign up for our newsletter so you can get links to the latest recipes I've published.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for listening and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

Recipe Link

Cheesy Garlic Roasted Asparagus

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Spring has finally arrived. At least the spring equinox has passed. I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. Looking forward to sharing the homestead life with you. Today it's about "getting in touch with the land".

Today's Show

• Homestead Life Updates
• What Does It Mean To "Get in Touch with The Land?"
• Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe

Homestead Life Updates Retraining cows

Now that spring is approaching, we are preparing to begin the milking cycle once again. I'm excited. I can't wait. Milking the cows is one of the great pleasures of our homestead life. Every fall we stop milking the cows. That causes the cow's milk to dry up. This step in husbanding our animals is important. We want to make sure that each cow has the energy reserves she needs to feed her developing calf. After she has her calf, she has lots and lots of milk – more than her calf needs, and milking begins.

Before that date, it's important to get the cows back into the habit of walking to the milking shed every day. They need to be reacquainted with that process. To fulfill that need, we have started walking them up to the milking shed every day. It has gone pretty well so far. They get there just fine. It's the part that comes next that we will be working on diligently for the next week or so. It has been a while since they've actually been inside the milking shed. There are some unfamiliar aspects to the milking shed. And then there are those that have never been in the milking shed. We'll get them there with a little practice.

The Milking Shed

Last year we erected a newer version of our temporary milking shed. We used it the previous year in the only flat place nearby the corral. Scott even ran power out there. Unfortunately, the corral area is also a lowland area and a lot of rain water flows through there. Not a problem if you only use it occasionally. Twice a day for milking is a different story. We were trudging through mud. All. The. Time. The temporary floor of the milking shed was a few sheets of plywood. That was fine as long as you didn't step off the plywood. Everything around the area was deep mud, made deeper by the weight of those cows.

Last year Scott moved the ShelterLogic Shed-in-a-box structure to higher ground and made a small animal loafing area to hold the cows while two were in the shed. It was level and he made sure the water would flow around it. We didn't need the plywood floor. Or so we thought. There is always a lesson when using temporary structures. Afterall, we evolved our permanent structures based on each previous need.

The Concrete Pad in the Milking Shed

A few days ago, Scott poured a concrete pad under that shelter. It took him a day of very hard work. It's beautiful and will serve us well this season. But why did we need it? Last year we milked one cow. This year we will be milking 5. Here are the basics of how that works.

Under the shed are two spaces for cows to be milked. They walk in and put their heads into a stanchion. We secure their heads which keeps us all safe during the milking process. The milk cows get two handfuls of a sweet treat during the milking season to keep their health at a maximum while they produce lots of milk. Once they finish that, they start working on the hay. Everybody stays calm and content. Once the milking is done, they return to the rest of the herd hanging out in a small pen just outside.

The Milking Process

So why did we need the concrete pad? One of the lovely things about having animals is their freedom to express themselves at any time and anywhere. The shear amount of feces and urine from 5 cows on that dirt floor would be overwhelming. The way it worked last year was that we might go days without one of the cows practicing the eliminating of waste with abandon. Then again, it may happen day after day, twice a day. We were putting down lime in large amounts.

So, the concrete pad, while taking way a day from Scott's working on the creamery, was well worth the investment. I can't imagine the mess 5 cows would have made had we done it the same way as last year. The concrete pad is slightly slanted. Scott being the genius that he is, also made sure of a path for washing away the mess. I feel blessed and can't wait to give it a go. Last year I had to balance my stool on tree roots.

Calves and Other Animals

No news on when the birth of the first calf might be. We are watching and watching.

Other animal news, the two young goat kids spend a great deal of time outside of the fence. We don't worry about that because they just go back in as needed. The flock of sheep, the herd of goats and two donkeys moved into the garden area to graze the grass down before the garden gets going and they are not allowed in there.

The Garden

We took the plastic covers off of the raised beds today. Yay, I can plant. Well, as soon as it warms up just a little bit more. We're right on the edge. I'm ready. The plants I have started inside are ready. Come on weather. Get with it!

And that brings me to the topic of the day.

What Does it Mean to "Get in Touch with the Land"?

The first thing I want to talk about is the movement of the seasons. The extremes of the summer and winter solstice and the balance in the middle with the spring and fall equinox.

Winter

The force of nature is immense. The universe is immense. Everything about our world outside of the shelter of our homes is untamable and works on its own schedule. Let's take a look at this past winter.

It has been a long and hard winter, not just for us, but for many throughout the country. Major snow, deep cold, and the flooding accompanying the interminable rains. Here in southwest Virginia we have been blessed with the first dry spell since August last year. It's the first time since August that we haven't had rain each and every week. Sometimes torrential rains for days on end. Heck, we had to alter the pathway we bring the cows to the barn. Their usual pathway went through the creek bed. Only the creek bed has been flooded countless times since late last summer. With seven 1,000-pound cows trudging through it day after day to get water, it became a quagmire of mud. Bringing them back and forth twice a day for milking looked like a nightmare in the making.

Yay It's Dry!

We have been blessed with a week of dry weather. It's not something we had any control over and we are grateful for the break. Many in the Plains states continue to suffer the ravages of the weather flooding their lands.

Why would anyone want to do this on purpose? Why would anyone do this knowing that nature was going to slap us hard from time to time. I can answer that in 5 words. It makes us feel alive. It's all about life and death and the continuous cycle of the seasons. The continuous cycle of death and rebirth that gives us a deep appreciation for the life we have as well as the gifts of our family. We appreciate the gifts of our plants and animals.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

The seasons move on a rhythm and winter flowed toward spring. I commonly experience seasonal affective disorder. For me it usually begins some time in January. For others, it can start as early as late fall before the winter solstice. The shortest day of the year. The depths of darkness.

The season of winter is a time of everything shutting down. Outside the world becomes more immobile. The animals cluster together. The water freezes. The trees spend their time growing underground where the temperature is stable. Above the ground they look dead.

As the winter wears on I become more lethargic, less active, and quite dull. This is an inner experience I'm describing. Outwardly, life goes on. Tasks are completed if more slowly. Stuff gets gone. Because, after all, the globe is still spinning on its axis and time keeps going. But as it goes on and on, each day I would feel a heavier load pressing down on me.

This year my perspective was different. I'm here "in touch with the land" and I think it made a difference. Even though I could feel the pressure of hunkering down, I was not quite as profoundly affected by it. And the day it changed was profound.

Spring Has Sprung

I woke up on Thursday morning, the day after the vernal equinox, and I felt great. For no particular reason, I felt great. And I knew it was over. Winter is over. The winds are blowing very strongly today on a day cooler than normal for this time of year. It doesn't matter. My heart and soul know that the time of hibernation is over. Spring is here.

I don't really know what it's like for others that live farther south where the trees and flowers have been blooming for a week or two or more. Did they feel it all the way up to the first day of spring? I don't know what its like for those farther north still in the depths of frozen snow and ice. Do they feel it? Even though they may not see it for weeks, do they feel it?

In truth, we have a week or two before we can expect truly spring-like weather. We could easily get another snow. But it doesn't matter. The globe has turned in its endless journey around the sun. The moment when the center of the sun is directly above the equator is past. The hours of daylight continue to lengthen. The daffodils are blooming. Our peach, plum, and cherry trees are blooming in the orchard. We have starting the journey toward summer.

Summer

At the peak of summer, our tolerance for the heat has likely begun to wane. The extreme of the solstice will now take its toll. Will we get enough rain? Even though we were flooded for months and months, we will need rain during the summer to keep our animals and crops hydrated. The cycle of life and death is there in every season.

This is what it means to be in touch with the land. We are close to life and we are close to death every day. We are reminded daily of the wonder of life and the fragility of life. Isn't that what we are all looking for? That connection with the natural cycle of life and death and the wonder that is creation. I strive to be filled with awe in every waking moment. It's pretty easy in spring, summer and fall.

Getting in Touch with Modern Technology

Sure, I get distracted by Twitter and Facebook and the latest cooking gadget. These are great things that have made our lives easier. Each invention throughout history came to fulfill a need. And each one brings with it the opportunity make life easier, safer, more uniform. Today, in the US, the lowliest person has a better chance of surviving to old age than the average person of 100 years ago. In the early 1900s disease was still rampant and modern medicine was in its infancy. The nationwide transportation system had yet to be built. People were closer to their food source by necessity. You just couldn't get fresh food as far across the country before it was no longer fresh. All of that changed rapidly throughout the 1900s.

The more we got mechanized, the less we had to worry about the fickleness of mother nature and the cycles of the calendar. And the more distance we placed between ourselves and death.

Nature is Ruthless and We are Humbled

Nature is hard. Nature is ruthless. Being in touch with the land and living close to that knowledge gives me the sense of my place in the world. I am such a small speck in the larger planet and universe. Isn't that what it means to "get in touch with nature"? Isn't that what we seek? When the facts of death are thrown in our face daily, it gives us the deepest respect for life. We know that we are alive. We are grateful to be alive. Obsession with our creature comforts and personal issues becomes small and petty. We are focused on something much greater than ourselves.

It's taking that thought into the activities of our daily lives that makes the difference. You know, we spend a lot of time creating food here. In that process, we experience a great deal of love for our animals and we put in a lot of work hours into supporting them. We care for their lives. These are domesticated animals. Their lives are in our hands. We work hard for them. The amount of effort we put into providing the best possible environment for them is worth the effort we put forth. Our investment of blood, sweat and tears is what makes us all more human.

Support Local Farmers

As we share our stories, the opportunity for you or anyone else to participate abounds. You don't have to be the one putting in the effort required to make it all work. But you can be the one that supports the ideal of nurturing ourselves via nurtured plants and animals. It doesn't have to be all factory farming and monocropping. Your support for the local farmers in your area brings a little bit of peace to the world.

Sometimes we feel like we don't make a difference. It's easy to change that. It's easy to teach your kids to know they make a difference in the world. Connect with your local farmers. Visit their farms when they offer tours. Make sure your kids can play in the dirt of a farm garden. Let them pet the smaller animals and watch with awe from a safe distance the larger animals grazing peacefully. Let your children know that these are not just beautiful plants and animals, but the sustenance that keeps us all alive. What an awesome responsibility we have in caring for our plants and animals so they may feed and take care of us.

Keep your ears peeled for when we offer farm tours. It's coming.

We are all just small specks in the enormity of the universe. And we are all integral specks in the creation and maintenance of it all. Well, I just went on waxing poetically there. Let's get down to brass tacks and talk about today's recipe. How about an ooey gooey grilled cheese sandwich.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe

If you're going to enjoy cheese, I can think of no better way than melted on some toasted bread slathered with butter. A grilled cheese sandwich is simple to make but improvements can always be made. This recipe will give you the confidence to make your grilled cheese sandwich spectacular. Here are some tips for making that perfect grilled cheese sandwich.

4 Tips for the Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Tip #1: Use a really great bread. I have some great bread recipes that will be coming along shortly. For now, you might want to visit your local farmer's market. I don't think I've seen one in a long time that didn't have some local lady making some awesome bread. You can experiment with whole grain varieties, sourdough, or pumpernickel. Experiment to your hearts content. Just make sure its not sliced too thick and doesn't have a lot of holes. Otherwise you either don't have enough cheese to bread ratio or the cheese leaks out. Yikes.

Tip #2: Using butter is great but have you tried mayo? Usually we use butter on the outsides for sure. Sometimes we butter the insides as well. But what if we used mayo on the outside and butter on the inside – or vise versa? Mayo is basically oil, eggs, and a splash of vinegar. The oil browns the bread really nicely when used on the outside and the vinegar adds a bit of tang.

Tip #3: Use the right cheese. American cheese melts really well, but man o man is it boring compared to other choices. You definitely want a cheese that melts well. Just about any aged cheese will work well, with the exception of really hard cheeses like parmesan. So, gouda, cheddar, gruyere, fontina, and so on. Look for availability of our Clau d' ville Aged Cheddar, Ararat Legend washed-curd cheese and Pinnacle alpine-style cheeses this summer at the Farmer's market in Wytheville.

Tip #4: Cook it slow. Keep the heat in the medium to medium-low range. You want the bread to toast at the same rate the cheese melts. You definitely don't want to burn the bread before the cheese is fully melted. Press is firmly with a spatula. You can even put a heavy pan on top of it while it cooks. That pressure is going to give you that super crispy crust.

What You Need

1/3 cup (3 oz) of cheese per sandwich, sliced or grated

2 slices of bread per sandwich

1 Tbs Butter per sandwich

1 Tbs Mayonnaise per sandwich

What to do

1. Apply butter or mayo to one side of the bread. Flip it over and apply butter or mayo to the other side. Lay it on a plate. Lay the cheese on top of the bread. Lay the cheese on top of the bread. Apply butter and mayo in the same way on the second slice of bread. Lay it on top to complete the sandwich. Repeat to assemble all sandwiches.
2. Heat your grill or frying pan to medium-low. You can raise the temperature to medium if your cheese is melting rapidly enough.
3. Place the sandwiches in the pan. Grill until lightly browned and flip over. Continue grilling until cheese is melted and bread is browned on the second side. Press down with a spatula to get a crispy panini bread crust.

Final Thoughts

No matter the size of your household, you can get in touch with the land. From container gardens of herbs on your balcony to a full-blown backyard garden, from a great relationship with your family and pets to a backyard chicken coop and goat pen, there are opportunities to view nature in all her glory. Take the time to just gaze with awe and remember how small we are in the larger scheme of things. Use that awe to inspire you to do something for someone else. Use random acts of kindness to show appreciation for the wonder of life that exists all around us, every day. All we have to do is look.

I hope you'll take time to enjoy that grilled cheese sandwich with close friends and family. You'll find the recipe on our website. www.peacefulheartfarm.com Sign up for our email list. I send out a newsletter each week with easy links to the recipes. Included will be the link to the latest podcast. You'll also find links to articles about cheese in the news.

Remember, getting in touch with the land by making a huge investment in a homestead is not required. Simply get in touch with someone who is in touch with the land. Listen to their story. Embrace their story. Live vicariously through them. Make their story your own via your friendship and custom. Understand what it takes to be close to the land. Understand the immensity of nature. Your farmer will share that with you. In that sharing lies your connection to the land.

As always, I'm here to help you "taste the traditional touch."

Thank you so much for listening and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

Recipe Link

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

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