Making Butter

So all you need is heavy whipping cream and just mix it until you get butter and buttermilk. First it starts out looking like whip cream. And turns a little yellow.
It gets thicker and now is a good time to add salt if you want to.

Now it is really starting to separate. See the buttermilk collecting at the bottom.

Here is the butter, nice and yellow and creamy and delicious. The butter milk is delicious too. I make awesome whole wheat pancakes out of the buttermilk and then make honey butter out of the freshly made butter. I crave this every morning!

You then put the butter in cheese cloth to squeeze out the buttermilk. I would recommend squeezing it out with your hands only. You lose a lot of the butter when it sticks to the cheese cloth.

Squeezing out more buttermilk.

Here is the finished product. I made half of it right away into honey butter and the rest I froze to save for cookies. This butter makes the cookies have a smooth texture that is delightful.
Making butter is so easy. All I need now is to find someone with a milking cow who has a lot of cream on their hands. So fun trying new things and discovering ways you can be more self sufficient.
This process all together only 20 minutes. With my bosch is doesn't take long at all to mix it up.

It is fun watching the process unfold and then eating it right after.

Give it a try your kids will love it and you will too!

This Kid loves to Work!

Working with a smile on his face! Adam brought home a bunch of cardboard blocks for the kids to play with. Fords favorite part was unloading them and then later making a chicken coop out of them with mom.
Four at a time what a big strong boy!
Ford is up early every morning and goes right outside to play or I should say work out at the shop. We need to get some animals soon so he can feed them first thing in the morning.

Izabel got in on the action too.

Here is a big load thanks to the help of dad.

Stacking them up tall. The kids loved these big blocks. Ford played with them for hours.

Update for the Zickgrafs!

Easton is now on the move! He is crawling everywhere and loves to pull himself up on the furniture. You can tell he is so proud of himself, feels like a big boy.

He also feels like a big boy when his brother gives him a light saber and plays swords with him.

All the kids! Izabel and Ford love to get in bed with Easton in the morning, as you can tell Easton doesn't like it as much as the other two.

Here is Ford on Daddy's job site. He loves seeing Dad at work, and working with him. Grandpa Wayne was there with a lift and gave him a ride and even let him work the controls!

So January and February are what I call the enduring months! It has been fairly good weather so Mary and I have been able to go on lots of walks to feed the ducks. These walks are wonderful for both mothers and kids. The kids take their bikes and ride to their hearts content and Mommy's can talk and get a break. It has been a great mental, physical, activity to do in the enduring months!

Here is a shot of Easton on a walk to show off his new teeth. He is getting a mouth full. He has four on top and two on the bottom.

Izabel is feeding her friendly goat on our walk. She loves feeding the animals, which is good because the Zickgraf Family is getting ready for spring. Adam and I are talking about getting some chickens and maybe even a couple of pigs if all works out. Ford talks daily about building a chicken house, he already has names picked out for the chicks, Heidi, and Mason(some friends of his). We are also excited about expanding our garden and planting peas soon! Hope everyone is doing well and getting excited about Spring too! Wishing all Love and Happiness this Valentine's Day!