Making Cheese

So today was a day for cheese making.


Every once in a while Jen and I decide to do something off the wall...  OK, we do it all the time, but we simply don't get to do as much cheese making as we want. We have been on the search for raw milk for some time and the stupid regulations keep getting the in way. Why they can't let all the stupid people go to destiny, I don't know.

Adding in the spices to the curd

So today, after the farmer's market, we made cheese. We had found some pasteurized milk we thought might be suitable since it did not say ULTRA pasteurized and we had plenty of powdered milk.  We also got some cultured butter milk to help out. I already had Calcium Carbonate from a previous cheese making adventure, so we had everything we needed to play for a day.

The basic recipes we followed are

Quick Soft Pressed Cheese
2 c. boiling water
1-1/2 c. dry milk powder
3 T. vegetable oil
1 c. buttermilk
3-4 T. fresh lemon juice -(we used vinegar since that is what we had available)



Soft Cottage Cheese
2 c. hot water
1-1/2 c. dry milk powder 3 T. Fresh lemon juice or white vinegar



We have made these cheeses several times before.  We mix everything up.  Calcium Carbonate (I read somewhere) helps the curds develop when using powdered milk.  So we played around and had fun.

Some recipes we used a blend of powdered non-fat milk, powdered whole milk and lightly pasteurized milk.  Some we added buttermilk; some we omitted the powdered whole milk. Some had calcium carbonate and some did not.

The plain soft cottage cheese is a small curd cottage cheese and it is fantastic in Italian dishes. The soft pressed cheeses are good for pressing into shapes, using as spreads or for a cheese tray.

So the basic way to do this, if you are only using powdered milk
Put the water on to boil and mix in the powdered milk powder. Make sure all the clumps of milk powder is broken up. Right before it boils, add in the vinegar and gently stir until it starts to form curds. When that happens, take off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then strain the curd and flavor. Sea salt, chives, thyme, rosemary....whatever flavors you want to add, add those before all the liquid is strained out of it. We find that washing the curd  in cold water helps remove the vinegar taste if you want to eat it immediately.  If the cheese is to be stored, the vinegar taste lessens after a while.

This is a small curd cottage cheese that will dry out if pressed.  It can be used as a garnish in salads, a topping to any dish and is fantastic in baked Italian dishes. If you want to use this as a dip, rinse it out with a bit of ice water, lightly drain and add all of your favorite dip fixings.  It can be used in place of or as a accompaniment to cream cheese. The only real drawback to this cheese is that it is not spreadable. it is very small curds

If you are only using liquid milk with no powdered milk just bring it all up to heat and follow the directions above, just do do not have any powder to make sure is broken up.

This cheese is a softer cheese. Before it is pressed, it is spreadable.  When it is pressed, you will be able to slice it.  Our biggest issue is not pressing it long enough to get it into a truly slice-able cheese.  This is not the cheeses fault, this is our own hunger at work.

Milk blend mix  heating on stove

Cheese curd mixing in spices

Completed Cottage Cheese

Soft Spreadable Cheese with Chive, Rosemary and Himalayan Sea Salt.

HINTS
Any light cloth will work as cheese cloth.  The issue with the fabric is that it needs to be able to DRAIN the thick whey and it needs to not have too large of holes that the small cheese curd squeezes thru the weave.
Ideally, it is a lightweight unbleached muslin. The squares need to be around 18 inches square and need to have some sort of edging on them so stray threads do not wind up in the cheese.

If the fabric is quality and has an edging - even just a zig-zag stitch will do, it can be washed and sterilized as needed.

All counter tops need to be sterilized before making cheese.  Any stray bacteria can ruin a cheese while pressed and aging.

Making dumplings and noodles... With recipe

Today I had the opportunity to make dumplings.  I had never made dumplings,  my mom always made noodles. She thought dumplings were too doughy.

So Jennifer and I made a single batch of dumplings.  The longer I worked with the dough,  I realized it was my mom's noodles,  just in different proportions. We made the dumplings a little smaller than normal dumplings and I was right... they are my mom's noodles.

The problem was,  while they were easy,  they were also delicious. We started thinking of the next time they would need to be made. If I would have thought ahead,  I would have quadrupled the recipe.

So after eating and resting,  I made a triple batch. While the first batch was mixed by a fork,  I used the mixer with the large batch.  By the time I had them all cut out,  I had remembered all the things I should have done,  things my mom had taught me and I had forgotten.

Noodle dough is dry...
If it is too damp,  it doesn't roll out right.
Your work surface needs to be heavily floured.
Roll out small fist size batches- not large ones.
Roll the dough out thin,  dust it with flour and let it rest several minutes.
Roll it out some more to around 1/8 inch.
The thinner the noodle,  the quicker the dough taste cooks out. The thicker the noodles,  the longer the cook time required. Too thick a noodle it will remain doughy. Actual dumplings can be made a tiny bit thicker but will require a longer cook time.

If you plan to use them immediately, flour the dough surface, roll the dough up starting with the narrowest width. Cut the dough with a sharp knife into 1/2 strips. Unroll them as they are put into the boiling broth. The extra flour thickens the soup.

If you plan to freeze them,  lay the dough on wax paper first.  Use the pizza cutter to cut noodles.  Then using the way paper,  roll the wax paper and cut noodles up into a log roll. Several of these rolls can be sealed with a food saver and frozen into single batch amounts. If you don't have a food saver,  try to get as much of the air out as possible.

A single batch recipe
2 cups flour
2 Tbs. butter
½ tsp. baking powder
salt to taste (don't use too much,  the broth has salt if using processed)
about a cup of milk, maybe a bit less
(I used powdered milk and just mixed the 3T milk powder in with the dry ingredients and then used a cup of cold water)

Mix the dry ingredients,  cut in the butter like you would in biscuits.  Then slowly mix in the milk or water to get a dough. Err on the side of too dry vs too wet.

If this is for chicken soup
The noodles are boiled in 6-8 cups chicken broth before adding in 2-3 cups cooked shredded chicken. Add herbs,  vegetable and spices to taste. As long as you have a good quality broth for taste,  you can get by with much less meat.

Mom would make this using left over turkey,  rabbit or whatever meat was available.  She would pressure cook the carcass to make the broth. If she had extra,  the broth was canned or frozen for layer. When she would make noodles,  she would make large amounts and freeze some for later. That way,  hallways have the ingredients in hand for a quick delicious,  nutritious soup.

Hot water bottles

You may think my crazy, but I love water bottles.  Really!

Historically, the original practice was to use hot rocks from beside the fire to put in a bed. Later, it became metal boxes filled with hot coals from the fire that were put in the bed and later removed. Only the rich could afford the boxes with long handles so the poor still used plain rocks.

The modern derivative are made of flexible pvc or vinyl. Consigned to the pharmacy isles, no one thinks about just how convenient these wonders are.

I use them at work on my back when is hurting. One quick fill in the sink or a partial fill at the coffee maker (with water already inside) and I am set for hours.

In the winter, one goes to the car with me. It will either sit in my lap to help my hands unfreeze or sit in the floorboard to keep my toes warm. Ran over the inside of the windshield, it can even help clear the ice.

When I have a sick pet, I put one in the bed with hot or cold water as needed. In the winter they appreciate the extra warmth and in the summer it becomes a cooler place to sit.

I use them in bed in the winter on cold nights. When the electricity goes off, I fill them from the hot water heater and put them into bed with me.

When I am working at a desk in the winter and the floor is cold, I put one on the floor in a towel to put my feet on. Working is so much more comfortable with toasty feet.

In a tent on cool nights, I use water that has been close by the fire. They help keep the tent and bedding warmer.

When a friend had surgery and needed flexible ice packs, they came in handy. I filled them ½ with water and ½ with rubbing alcohol. They freez and stay flexible and will not bust if dropped.

The best thing?  They are sustainable.
In the summer, the used water goes on my garden. In the winter, it is returned to a pot on the heater. The pot provides humidity and a constant source of convenient hot water.

Who we are and why do we do it?

So who are we, the ladies that run the Green Living store and do all the crazy things?

Whoo boy, you don't ask hard questions, do ya?

OK, My name is R... Morana Revel as I am known online. I am a 45 year old widow with medical issues. Having ADHD as a child, my mom got me into crafting to save her sanity. So now I am a compulsive crafter, who spends as much on crafts a year as some winos do on wine.

Part of my medical issues is allergies.  A LOT OF THEM. I am allergic to all sort of artificial colorings, artificial scents and food additives.  Funny thing?  I have never found myself allergic to an actual natural, unadulterated food. So while some cannot eat peanuts or strawberries, I cannot get into elevators with women wearing perfume, wash my clothes at a laundromat or eat brightly colored Halloween or Christmas candy.

The laundromat issue showed up as a very young child. Luckily, my elderly babysitter taught my mother to make lye soap one hog killing season and the rest is history.  I grew up on natural lye soap, whole foods and only had issues away from the farm.

I started out in nursing school and studied herbalism on the side.  When I changed majors away from nursing, I kept up the herbalism studies.

Later in life, I bought a bookstore, which I loved. I started a small yarn store inside the bookstore soon after. However, my husbands declining health and my medical issues forced me to place the bookstore for sale and shut it down. I moved my yarn store and started posting more stuff online.

So, the Green Living aspect? For me, much of that has been lifelong. Mom made cloth napkins when I was a child as well as lye soap, cloth paper towels and handkerchiefs. The cloth pads came later...much later. I was on a survival type post on Facebook reading about a large movement to move to line drying clothing. As in, start now because you will have to if the SHTF. I have never been a fan of that type of posting, the over-the-top THE END IS NEAR threat type.  I was having a fun time laughing at all the ridiculous postings.  Having grown up with line drying and quite a lot of hand washing, much of what they were saying was rudimentary skills I learned as a very young child.  The discussion moved to *GASP* toilet paper alternatives. My family being farmers, hunters and campers, this discussion was also very funny.

It was when the discussion moved to alternative menstrual products that the discussion wasn't so funny to me anymore.  While it is true that there are very few leaves in KY that haven't touched my nether regions, I didn't see anything I would feel comfortable long term with my allergies.

That was the first I had heard of cloth pads.  I searched around, found Mimi's Dreams had a few Seconds for sale and I tried those. All of a sudden my allergies started getting better and my constant kidney infections stopped.

Of course, after a year of testing and experimenting on myself, I set out to convert several friends. I started Jennifer, who had already started learning soapmaking. She had many of the same allergies as I and really enjoyed the DIY aspects of some of my ideas.

We started learning, experimenting and following bloggers on Facebook to learn more.  It has been a time of great discovery for both of us.  While I am the more experienced seamstress, most of my experience if from sewing garments. We make what we like.  So while Jennifer likes a wider, straighter pattern, I make curvy styles. We are in a small town, with a small local fabric store and limited selection.  We have issues getting a steady supply of fabric we like. We order in a lot of fabric from WAHMs.  We love being able to support the creativity of other women. And this is where the fantastic hand dyed come from.  While we would love to take credit for the lush hand dyed velours and the fun and funky knits, alas, we can not.  While we have dabbled in the dye pot for yarn and fiber, we prefer  to support others. At least for now.

We are still learning. We are not experts by no means. We are constantly trying to learn new things: canning, weaving, bath salts, cough gummy drops...LOL, we are open to trying just about anything. So cloth pads are not the strangest thing we have done.

Holiday prints arriving in stock

We have a variety of winter and Christmas themed fabrics that will be arriving in stock this week.

Why I chose reusable menstrual products

A journey into reusable menstrual products

I first heard about reusable pads on Facebook. A blog post popped up about surviving without toilet paper. Having been raised on a farm, having fished and hunted, I have used many odd things during nature's call, so I was getting a good laugh out of everyone's comments.

Then the comments turned to menstrual products.  I thought, "I'm screwed" because as a tampon user, there is NOTHING I could think of in the woods that would be touching those parts.

As I continued reading, people were commenting on reusable pads. WHAAAT? In this modern age? Isn't that something that women were forced to endure in the dark ages? Before the modern miracles of disposable products? Yuck!

But ohhh, so the dangers of curiosity. I Googled and I searched. Wow! So not the products of the middle ages!

The colors and shapes and styles, Ohh My! I bought ONE to try out. You know how it goes, "I'll just try it once, it won't kill me". Oh, those fateful words! I got one...and was hooked.

I had started with tampons in high school, mainly due to discomfort of everything else. Every month was a dread, when will it hit..let the itching begin. But that is what it means to be a woman, right?

Apparently not. My allergies...stopped. I seem to be allergic to everything -except cloth! Wow, for the first time in 30+ years, I am not breaking out in rashes every month, no itching and scratching like I am a pro baseball player. Who would have thought you could be allergic to something so NECESSARY!

So began my journey into the world of reusable menstrual products. I instantly became a disciple; passing out literature to friends, sending out links to products and embarrassing husbands in public.

I researched; bought products to try, read blogs and talked to other women about their experiences and needs.  Then I began designing and sewing.

Now in my third year with RuMPs(reusable menstrual products) and CSP (cloth sanitary products), each month is a game.  Will it be the Cloth Tampons, Sea Sponge, All cotton pad, the minky one... what color should I choose? what fabric topping?

I no longer dread that week.I no longer stock up on antihistamines. I haven't been to THAT ISLE of a store in three years...except to laugh at the prices and maybe the chance to spread the word to other women.

What can I say? I am the local dealer..."just try it"..."just one won't hurt you"..."what's one gonna hurt".....

Reusable tampons

When I set out to make reusable menstrual products, I was worried about comfort and allergies. I am allergic to everything, so I knew it needed to be 100% cotton.

I chose all cotton flannel for the fabric with an all cotton string.  I use all cotton thread with an overlock stitch to prevent raveling.  They are sized similar to an OB, but may be customized in length and width as well as string length. These can be in either brown flannel or white/cream.

All materials have been pre-washed in warm water to pre-shrink

Use:
Begin rolling at the string end and roll tightly. They insert like OB.

Out and About care:
I carry a small Ziploc bag to store them in until I get home. Easy trick...turn baggie inside out...grab it and slow turn bag right side out to prevent mess and seal. This can then be tucked into a wet bag.

Care and wash:
Rinse in cold water. I soak mine in Oxyclean but that is optional. Rinse and wash. I do not stain treat, I find that the Oxiclean works well, but use what you are comfortable with.

Some short fraying is to be expected. On these, I did not roll the edges to prevent it being too bulky to use. The small frays should not become dislodged inside and can be picked off before using.

It is best to wash before first use in your own washing supplies.  If you have allergies, you might be allergic to what I have washed these in.

Thank you
Morana

This store tiny when flat. I keep one or two in my EDC at all times...just in case.