From One Year to the Next

It's 11:35 CST and 2008 is almost over. Boy, what a year! I have been thinking of doing a sort of "Year in Review," but haven't gotten around to it; maybe in this post, with a brief break to see in the New Year and drink a glass of champagne. I'll start this post this year and finish it next year. A few things have been particularly memorable. Let's see:

January: Life pretty much as usual--or at least what I remember of it


A little snow on the mountain

February: About like January

March: Ditto; I attend a couple of spinning workshops; youngest son completes requirements and earns his Life Scout rank, begins looking ahead to completing requirements for Eagle before turning 18 in September; husband steps down from three years as Scoutmaster back to Assistant Scoutmaster

Handspun for handknitting



Color in spinning





Life Scout with parents


Dad retires as Scoutmaster



April: I start this blog and get new glasses

New Transitions lenses


Seem to work outside even in shade


Spring comes to the Valley


May: Oldest son's birthday (37th); progress on Eagle Scout requirements continues, planning and preliminary work for Eagle project begins


Calling all blood donors, 5/31/08

June: Daughter made honors scholars' list at college with a 3.9 average for the semester and 3.7 overall; husband's birthday (58th); work on Eagle Scout requirements plods along; Eagle Scout project on June 8

7:00 a.m., 6/8/08: setting up for the blood drive


Folks waiting to donate


A few project helpers relaxing at the snack table at the end


Blood drive is a success: 64 units collected



Clearing out: 2:00 p.m., 6/8/08; putting away chairs




July: Must be something other than my birthday (57th), but I can't think of anything; gas prices too high to go on vacation anywhere, but we drive up to Chattanooga and go to Ruby Falls; youngest son still working on Eagle Scout stuff (two of the required merit badges require 12 weeks of planning, activities, and record keeping, another requires 13 weeks of same); Eagle Scout project report in progress

I'd like to be here


I get to go here
Ruby Falls or a UFO?


"Stalagstuff" in the caverns


He thinks he's heard this story before



August: I celebrate my one-year anniversary of no longer being a museum employee after many years in the profession; son still working on Eagle requirements; Eagle project report is finished


Back in the living history days


I really dig living history


Adjusting the spinning wheel


September: We celebrate our 38th anniversary; youngest son turns 18, completes last Eagle requirement the day before his birthday and gets all paperwork signed off and turned in, Eagle board of review pending

Some signs of autumn here and there



October: Garage catches on fire, youngest son saves our house, our rabbits, and probably our lives; I want to write about the fire, but can't; we get Dixie;

Charred water heater



Washer and water heater



It used to be a paper towel rack



Remains of some Christmas decorations



Some of the damage to the ceiling




Preparing to chew


November: Our daughter turns 21; we give thanks for having a house to live in and being alive; repairs on garage begin, but progress is slow and intermittent; we end up with the biggest water heater I've ever seen and I think it's really the second stage of a Saturn V rocket

Daughter with a friend at the botanical gardens



My girl




The new water heater



December: Our son's board of review for Eagle Scout was successful and he is now an Eagle Scout, Court of Honor TBA, probably in February or March with his other two new troop Eagles; construction on garage plods along, with the painters just coming yesterday and today (12/30 and 12/31) to do repairs to sheetrock, but we have a lovely new back garage door, the giant 80-gallon water heater, and new washer, dryer, and shelves, so far


New washer, new door, huge new water heater, and lots of painting to do



Just happy to be here


It is now 2009. Happy New Year.

Butter Making: The Final Chapter...????

Well, we've shaken up some butter in our Mason jar. Now it has to be removed from the jar and worked to remove all the buttermilk that remains in the glob of butter. This is usually done by working the butter in a bowl with a pair of butter paddles similar to the ones below. As you work the butter by turning it and gently squashing it, the milk that remains in the butter is gradually removed. It is important to remove as much of the milk as possible because it improves the texture of the butter and makes it keep longer. The milk will spoil before the butter gets rancid (remember it is just fat). Usually, the butter is eaten far too quickly to worry about it going bad. However, if you aren't much of a butter eater, it will keep for about two weeks in the refrigerator. The buttermilk can be saved for cooking, drinking, or feeding to critters. I like to drink it. I was raised on buttermilk. Unfortunately, it was rarely the freshly made sweet cream butter like we are making here, which I only got when my aunt happened to churn up some butter, but it was the best stuff that you could get at the grocery store--usually cultured, salted buttermilk. Boy, is it good with some yummy old cornbread crumbled up in it. Eat it with a spoon for a tasty treat.



The day of our Dairy Day event, the temperature was too warm to allow working the butter in the usual manner. Trying to work it with the paddles only resulted in a gooey mess of butter stuck all over everything it came in contact with. I considered chilling it slightly to make it easier to work, but due to the time factor involved in the processing, it was not possible for us to chill the butter of each person who tried making butter--and believe me, there were more than a few! Instead, the butter was removed from the jar with a large spoon and put in a dish towel, repeatedly squeezed and dunked in cold water to rinse the buttermilk from the butter. This required frequent changes of water. I used a glass bowl so that the kids (and grown ups) could see the milk gradually rinsing out of the butter. Then, the maker had the option of trying the freshly made butter on some French bread or putting it in a baggie to admire on the trip home.


Here we have some freshly rinsed butter and the finished product spread on some bread and ready to eat. Yum! Makes me hungry just looking at it.















I'd like to thank all the great folks at the living history museum, both staff and volunteers, who helped me prepare for the Dairy Day butter making station, all the wonderful folks who visited us that day and tried their hands at making butter, and my son who was a great help in so many ways, especially in keeping the Mason jars washed and dried throughout the day.

Making Butter--Chapter 2: Heavy Whipping Cream and Mason Jars

Here we have a quart of heavy whipping cream and a Mason jar with the finished butter and buttermilk in it. It was not my intention to advertise for any particular brand of cream, but I wasn't making the photos. For the past few years, our cream has been donated by various companies. This year we did not have a donor, so the curator purchased the cream at the best current price at one of the local retail clubs. Any brand you choose to buy will do fine. The fat content should be between 5-8%.



We begin by letting the cream set unrefrigerated for a bit to warm up. If you are concerned about not keeping it chilled, then you can go on and make butter with it cold, but it will take a lot longer and you'll do a lot more shaking. When I've used chilled cream, I've had to shake the jar of cream for about 20-30 minutes or longer. When I use cream that has been allowed to come to room temperature, it only takes about 5-7 minutes of vigorous shaking. You can also make butter by using a blender, hand mixer (use one blade), or a food processor, but shaking it up by hand is more fun. If you are shaking it in a container and are in a big hurry, you can also put the container in the microwave for 15 seconds or so to take the chill off.

You will need room in your shaker to allow the cream to slosh around so that the fat molecules get agitated and begin to coalesce and stick together. I have shaken up butter in the carton that the cream was in, shaking without opening the carton, but it is kind of hard on the carton once you get to the whipped state and have to bang the carton against the heel of your hand or the kitchen counter. I recommend using a jar or other container that is sturdy and can withstand some bumping and banging.

How much cream you use depends on how much butter you want. You will have about half the amount of butter as cream you start with. Try a half a cup for starters. Now, this is very important: make sure the top of your shaker is on securely!! Once you are all set, begin to shake the jar (or other container). Shake, shake, shake. Shake, shake, shake. Keep on shakin'. Then shake some more. When I have done this with cream that is at room temperature or just slightly warmed cream, I can shake up butter in about 5-7 minutes. Honest! Here are two helpers who are just getting to the whipped cream stage.

As you shake the jar of cream, listen to how it sounds. At first it will be very sloshy sounding. The liquid cream is sloshing around inside the jar and covering the sides of the jar as you might expect. If you set the jar upright, the cream will run back down the sides of the jar. Eventually, the sloshing will decrease and stop as you shake the cream into whipped cream. You will not be able to see through the jar because of the whipped cream coating the sides. You will not hear any sloshing or anything else at the whipped cream stage. Carefully remove the jar lid at this point and take a little taste--yum. All you need is some strawberry shortcake. Important: securely replace the jar lid. Continue to shake. Do not stop shaking. Keep on shaking even though you think nothing is happening. After a bit, you will begin to hear a sort of plopping sound and you will see that the sides of the jar are no longer covered with whipped cream, but with a thin, runny liquid with little globs in it. You will also see a consolidated mass of something in the bottom of the jar. Hey! That's your butter you have just shaken up. Open the jar and take a look inside. The thin, white liquid is buttermilk. The yellow mass of stuff is all the fat molecules that have stuck together and formed a blob of beautiful butter. Congratulations! You have just made unsalted sweet cream butter. But...you aren't done yet.

Well, since I began this draft back at the end of June, I should really go on and post this chapter in the continuing saga of butter making. Check back for the final chapter, which I hope will be posted soon.

Butter

I haven't been able to get anything posted for a few days, so here's a little bit before I go do my thing at the local living history museum today. The monthly "Step Back in Time" evens focus on some aspect of 19th century farm life. Today is Dairy Day. I will be manning the butter making station all day. There will be a couple of churns for folks to try their hands at making butter the old-fashioned way, but the real hands-on part involves putting a little heavy whipping cream in a Mason jar and shaking it (with the lid on) until it forms butter. This is always a big hit for Dairy Day and I'm kept busy all day helping kids and adults make butter. People don't usually want to try it until they see me make some, then they are enthralled and want to try. The whole thing takes about five minutes. Amazing! I even have folks come back for a second or third go at it. I'll try to make pictures to post later.

Have a great weekend!