You Can't Go Back

Things are changing in the world. Quickly, with a complexity that cannot be fathomed. There are too many variables, too many players, too many possible outcomes to be considered, combined and deciphered. We have many daily conversations about a myriad of topics all of which leave us wondering what in the world will happen next.

Here are some topics we have been thinking about. We would really like to know what you think. There is much afoot in the world and it's difficult to see through the haze, and listen through the cacophony of blaring noise that surrounds the world of information everyday.

The Queen's speech indicates the UK will have Brexit and leave the European Union on October 31st. Now Boris Johnson has made a deal with the EU. It still has to go through a vote of the Parliament. I don't know how the governmental system of the UK works, I have not studied it. But we see similar disagreements and attacks on Boris Johnson that we see here with President Trump. The UK voted years ago to split from the EU and become their own country again. From what I can gather they were tired of unelected bureaucrats in Brussels deciding things for them. They want their country back. There are other countries across the globe that seem to be on the same path.

Turkey, Syria, the Kurds and the USA. Very interesting situation. Almost the entire Congress disagreed with President Trump. What happened? A cease fire. The events of the 120 hours or five day "pause" may usher in a new era of peace in a region that has known war for decades. The resultant relationship between the USA and Russia may be an added benefit from the events taking place in the region. I read recently that President Putin said the relationships between our countries could be much better if it weren't for the political upheaval in our country. He understands why President Trump can't meet and work with him at this time.

Then there is this underlying hum of information from groups across the globe. Groups supporting their own countries instead of globalism. Imagine that. I applaud any country/culture/peoples that have a national, patriotic pride for their own country. We are not all the same. We are not. And we shouldn't be. There is nothing wrong with being different. Unless, of course, you don't like anyone that's not like you. Please read this tweet.

I think President Trump put it quite well. They are coming after us. Just like the EU is going after the UK. I have no problem with a country running their own affairs the way they see fit. I am forever grateful for being born in the United States of America. I don't want to wear a burka or be banned from driving a car. But you know what? If other countries have different laws and customs than we do, that's okay. We don't have any more right to impose our customs and beliefs on another country than they have the right to impose upon ours. We have enough trouble within our own borders, we don't need more coming in to muddy the waters even further. We don't have to abide by Sharia law, we have to abide by US and local laws. If you want to come here, learn to speak English and abide by our laws. Otherwise, go back where you came from.

There are many issues that aren't being addressed here. The border wall. ILLEGAL aliens, they aren't immigrants. The constant attempts to impeach President Trump. Endless wars all over the world. The unbelievable fake news stories coming from the mainstream media. Attacks on religion. Always attacks on the 2nd Amendment. These are just a few.

The header for our last article said, "I miss the America I grew up in." And we do. The civility of yesteryear is not to be seen except in the rearview mirror of time. But you know what? We can't go back. Why would we want to? That would be like the movie Ground Hog Day, reliving these same mistakes over and over and over. Why would we want to return to a system that could lead us right back to the same problems we face today? We may return here even faster the next time since we already know the way. Besides, why would we keep trying the same thing again expecting different results? Some say that is the definition of insanity.

What we need is a new system. There are a number of groups that support a variety of changes to the current system. John Mark and Curt Doolittle support a system they have devised called Propertarianism. There are a number of people that see a financial reset to a sound money system that does away with fiat currency and the debt cycle we have created with the world wide central bank systems. There are others that see no way out of the cycle of hatred and division in our country outside of an all out civil war. Regardless of how this all plays out, it is abundantly clear that things will continue to change. There is no way our country, and therefore the world since we are all so intimately interconnected in this day and time, can continue on the current course without massive, destabilizing change occurring. The question is where do we go from here? What will it look like?

Add one more dimension to the mix. The food supply. The climate of our planet has gone through many changes over many centuries of time. Sometimes warmer, sometimes colder, but always changing. Until the last hundred years or so, there wasn't enough man made activity to impact any of these climactic changes and they happened anyway. The problem is not man, the problem is man's ability and willingness to observe the changes and take steps accordingly. Running around crying the sky is falling, the world will end in 12 years, we have to become cannibals and start eating babies (which was an actress sent to disrupt a presentation), does not address the issue of the food supply.

There are those that insist we have too many people on the planet to feed. There are those that think the growth in population is due to the overproduction, through chemical means, of franken-foods. Either way, the current solar output from the sun is affecting the weather which in turn affects the food supply. Over the last few years, weather has impacted food production across the globe, some areas are flooded, some are too cold, some are too hot and some have droughts. Is this normal? Maybe a little more extreme than at other times? I tend to believe the solar minimum we are experiencing is bringing on one of the times of climactic change that may have a drastic impact upon mankind. Others see it as a challenging time that will pass just like it always has in the past.

When you add these things all together, what do you see? Are countries pulling back, trying to increase their independence from the interconnectedness of the world because the food supply is going to be impacted in such a way that there will be shortages? Will there be starvation? Just from the impact of weather, diseases like the swine fever that is decimating the hog population in China? Crop failures like corn, hay and soybeans in the US this year? How does that impact the meat and milk supply when farmers can't feed their animals? 

Are we going to stop participating in the endless wars as President Trump calls them because we need to draw inward? Bring our troops home to deal with whatever problems are going to arise here from food shortages, to hatred, and division? Peace where there has been war for generations is a good thing. I am all for it. I think there is more going on behind the curtain than the good will of some of the leaders of the nations of the world. If we could really see behind the curtain would it cause panic in the streets all across the globe?

The events unfolding all across the globe will take us to a new point in time. A different way of life. We can't go back, it's impossible. I'm not sure where we are going or how bumpy the ride will be before we arrive at our new 'home'. What I do know is that things are changing. As for Frank and I, we will continue to prepare. Some things can't be fixed. Some cancers can't be cured. Sometimes things die. 

Your thoughts, wishes, desires and insight would be appreciated. If need be, we'll see you on the other side. Until that time, keep your powder dry and watch your back. And never, ever get on the bus.

Until next time - Fern

No More Surrender

We raised pigs for a while, the American Guinea Hog. It is a standard breed, just smaller in size by nature. 

Well, the day of my uncle's funeral, six months after my double bypass, we were feeding the pigs that night, which we had done every night for a year or two. The male pig decided he wanted to get a little aggressive. His weight was around 250 pounds, fully grown. I felt a nudge on the back of my leg, then I felt a nudge again, a hard nudge, which is not really uncommon, our pigs just did that. But on the third nudge, I realized he was biting me about knee high. I hollered at him and he started to circle me. 

Being the prepared person I am, I pulled out my pistol and fired a shot into the ground in front of him. This did not deter him, he continued to circle. It was still daylight at this time and I knew what was coming, so I shot him right behind the head, which ended the circling.

Here is food for thought. When I drew my pistol, I did not have to think, is my gun loaded? Is my safety on? You see, my gun is an extension of my hand. I didn't even have to think about where it was pointed, where it was aimed, it was second nature. I know my gun. I know it well. I have shot this same brand of pistol for decades. You need to practice and you need to train. You don't want to be fumbling for a light switch in the dark, you want to know where your flashlight is. You want to know that your radio is charged and what frequency it is on. Your life my depend upon these little, bitty, simple things. An animal circling is looking for a weakness. Don't give your enemy a weakness to exploit.

So, you say what's the problem? A 250 pound pig, the way pigs are built with their neck strength, if he had gotten me to the ground, he could have killed me. That's the problem. So we waited a few months to see if any of the girls were pregnant, which they weren't. We hauled off all of the pigs to the butcher, therefore, no more pigs. No more surrender. 

Frank & Fern 1997

If I had not been carrying my gun, well, we can speculate all we want. We are a gun carrying family. When Fern leaves the house, she is carrying a gun, and I don't mean leaves the house to go to town, I mean when she leaves the house - to work in the garden, to take care of the chickens, to go to the barn, or any other household type chore that takes her outside. Fern is very capable and competent with her pistol. She is one of those people that knows which end of the gun the bullet comes out of. She knows that a gun will not fire all by itself, and she knows that her little 40 caliber Glock will stop a 250 pound beast from doing her damage, or worse, killing her. Fern lives in reality. A gun is a tool, just like a shovel, or a flashlight, it is a tool.

My pig story, it could have had a horrible outcome, and it did for the pig. You see, there are people out there that say I can't carry a gun, and there are other folks that say I could have handled the pig situation different. Well, let me be very simple about this. I don't care what those people think, and I know they don't care what I think. But if anything messes with my way of life, I'm going to stop it, by whatever means necessary. On occasion, we'll have a dog come through. What if that dog is a drunk, meth druggy piece of crap in the form of a human? Some people call it the Castle Doctrine, it used to be called Make My Day. But God, through the Constitution gave me the right to protect myself, be it man or beast. Rights come from God, and if you don't believe in God, then your rights come from the Constitution, which by the way, those rights came from God.

I refuse to let some beast rape or kill my wife because some bleeding heart liberal refuses to accept his responsibility to defend his wife and family. I call these people cowards, among other things that I shan't say here. A tool. It's just a tool. Can a hammer be deadly? Absolutely. Can a diving board be deadly? Can a kitchen knife? How about that 4000 pound piece of 70 MPH projectile sitting out in your driveway?

I refuse. Listen to me very carefully. I refuse to surrender my right to protect myself and my family. There are more commandments than just the Big Ten. I'm leaning heavy on God here, but it is my right as a man, and a warrior, and it's my God given responsibility to be a man and protect and defend those that I am responsible for.

I can hear the snowflakes screeching now. This beast is a barbarian! So be it. We are losing our society. Some people would say we have already lost. I'm one of them. If we do not get up off of our fat, lazy, stupid butts and take this bull by the horns, then in a generation or two, we will not even recognize our neighborhoods, our society, or our culture. Don't think it can't happen, because it is happening, while we sit and watch TV, laugh as we watch the perversion, and stuff our fat faces with Cheetos. Read your history. It has happened many times before, people have lost their cultures by idly sitting by. Once you lose, you lose.

It's raining at my house today. A good day to sharpen your kitchen knives. A good day to sharpen your skills. Just look around Ladies and Gentlemen, 90% of the people will never fight, 1-2% of the people will fight. King George had the overwhelming majority of people on his side. If you don't know who King George is, then you should. He had the overwhelming support of the people in the colonies and 1-3% of the people overthrew his local government and his trained military. These were tough people in a hostile environment. Do not believe a word our government says. You know we need leadership that I do not see stepping up. Our last president, Mr. Obama, said that we are not a Christian nation, he was wrong and is wrong. We ARE Christian and we are in need of those 1-3% of the people to do what the majority will not do.

I refuse to surrender. You should refuse to surrender also.

A shift here. You've got to have food and water. You have got to have shelter. It is imperative that your head is screwed on right. You need the ability to protect yourself. You've got to have water.

Next. Quit trying to change the minds of people that you're not going to change. You're wasting energy. I have tried for YEARS and the government and the media has convinced the people that everything is just fine. So quit wasting time trying to get other folks to see it your way. Be very careful who you do trust because through the kindness of their own heart they may tell someone what you're doing and that person may not be a kind, gentle person. I have heard people in church stand up and ask for prayers for when they go on vacation for two weeks. Great. They just told a whole church full of people they'll be gone for two weeks. If one person, in light conversation, mentions that to the wrong person, their house could be empty when they return. 

It's time to quit talking and thinking about telling people what you're going to do. A veteran street fighter knows that when someone tells them what they're getting ready to do, it's not going to happen. A veteran street fighter never tells someone what they're going to do, they just do it. Trust me. Remember the last presidential campaign when Mr. Trump said we are going to quit telling the enemy our plans? Word to the wise.

It was me or that pig. I chose me. I am the person responsible for my house. I choose life over death. Our mindset is strong. Plan to feed those you can, but if you can't, don't worry about it. Do not put your family in jeopardy for the fool next door that didn't prepare. It's your choice.

Choose wisely.

We'll talk more later, Frank

Got Wheat? Fern's Sourdough Bread

I had to look back at some of the previous articles on sourdough to see what we had written, and how this particular journey has evolved since that time. One of the last articles for bread is here if you want to do a comparison. Pull up a chair and a cup of coffee, this has turned out to be a rather lengthy article. Hope you enjoy it.

There were two small boxes of ground flax sitting in the cabinet, that I bought for some forgotten reason (You don't do that, do you?) and wasn't sure what to do with. The research on cholesterol and blood pressure we did lead me to flax. There are many, many articles about the benefits of flax, this one is an example. After reading the research, those two lonely boxes of flax got put to use after checking to make sure no weevils or other bugs had set up residence. 

By the way, when we moved here we had some weevil issues the first year. Then I found some traps (similar to this one) for the weevil moth, and other critters of that kind, that I hung around the area we had grains and food they prefer. After trapping them for two years, we have never had another problem. Our bulk grain is stored in five or six gallon buckets and transferred to a canister as needed.
Once we began using ground flax in our bread recipe, we stocked up on some from Wal-Mart, picking up a few bags each time we went. Then we researched online and found some bulk flax seed that we could store in some of our empty five gallon buckets that have gamma seal lids. The first time we tried the flax seed in our wheat grinder, we thought we had killed it. The flax is too moist and oily for our WonderMill. Frank was able to work and work and work on it. He ran through some wheat that removed the gummed up flax, and it still works like a charm. We have had this grinder for at least ten years and would highly recommend it.

Flax

You see that piece of blue tape on the bucket? That is a date, which will help us determine how long our stock will last at the current use rate. When we're trying to prepare for the long haul, estimating how long our supplies will last is critical. They may not last as long as we do, but if we have a rough idea, we can plan accordingly. 

Wheat

Next, we found a grain grinding attachment for the KitchenAid mixer, which is designed to grind oilier seeds like flax. It works well. Which mixer? Well, the KitchenAid is okay, but we now have purchased three of them since moving here. The first red one died after a couple of years so we got the yellow one. After a year the gears started grinding and we thought it was dying as well, so we ordered a second red one. In the meantime, Frank removed the top cowling to see if there was anything he could do for the gears, there wasn't, but since looking in there and putting it back together a couple of years ago, it still works. The red one is just sitting in the wings waiting it's turn. I guess we could put it away, but as you can see, we haven't. Do any of you have stand mixers like the KitchenAid you would recommend? What are your experiences? We also have manual back-up grinders in case the grid goes down. You can read about it here. 

 And speaking of grinders, see that cord coming out of the bottom? Frank has given up trying to figure out how it wraps up and stores in the bottom of the grinder, he just leaves it for me. He just can't see how it works anymore than he understands how yarn (he calls it a piece of string) can turn into a sweater, or thread keeps fabric together after it goes through a sewing machine. Now, Frank is a very intelligent man and can fix just about anything I ever bring to him. He can wire, plumb and build a house, learn and install a solar system and a myriad of other things, but he just can't see how these things work. Our point is, different people have different talents and it's no sin or crime to not 'get' something. Me, physics and the realistic interaction between things - I just don't get it. Things that are simplicity in itself to Frank are like kryptonite to me. Sometimes this causes friction (another scientific term, right?) and sometimes it causes laughter. There is nothing wrong with not getting something, or understanding things at a different rate, it's the blessing of being individuals instead of robots.

Okay, so, making sourdough bread. Our starter lives over here in this corner away from the kefir and jars of oatmeal. We discovered years ago that most cultures don't play well together so they have their own 'areas' of the kitchen. Our starter now lives in a half gallon jar with a piece of cheese cloth over it to keep the little gnats out that show up here a few times a year. It also has a sprouting lid on it. Why? Well, we had a catastrophe with our starter a few years ago. I was keeping it in a ceramic pitcher in this corner. It had

cheese cloth over it held in place by a rubber band. One morning when we got up there was a hole in the cloth. Upon removing the cloth we could see a live mouse looking up at us trying to keep his head above the surface. The catastrophe of the situation is that I had not kept my backup starter in the refrigerator fed and it had died. I was left without any starter. I was upset. Then Frank remembered that I had shared some starter with a friend, Grace, down the road, who was happy to restock our supply. Lesson learned. Now the starter lives in a jar that is mouse and bug proof. One of those experiences I would never have thought would happen. You know that old saying, "You just never know." I think there is a reason it is an old saying. And remember, two is one and one is none.

The bread. Warning. I don't measure much, so everything will be estimated amounts. I will list everything here then show you the process.

3 cups starter
1/4 - 1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 - 1 cup filtered water
Approx. 2 tbsp. sea salt - no iodine
1/4 - 1/2 cup honey
2 cups ground flax
5 - 6 cups fresh ground wheat

 

We start with the 3 cups of starter, then to that add the oil and water. The amount of water I add depends on how much liquid is in the starter. Sometimes the starter is thicker and sometimes it's thinner, just depends on how much water I put in when it is fed. 

Here is how the salt and honey are measured. Very precisely........

 

We have gradually increased the amount of ground flax in the recipe. I started off with about half a cup, waited to see how it tasted, then gradually added more. Now it's about 20% of the recipe, not quite, but almost. 

Once these ingredients are in the mixer, we start it up and start adding the wheat flour. I usually start with five cups and add the remaining amount as needed until the dough clings together in a sticky ball. Sometimes I need more than others, it just depends on how fluid the starter has, and how much water and oil I put in, since I don't measure precisely.

After enough flour has been added, I set the timer to around seven minutes (it depends on how long it took to get it to the right consistency) and let the machine do the kneading for me. 

 







 We mix the dough in the morning while fixing breakfast, put it in a glass bowl and set it on top of the frig for the day.

One time when we made bread, Frank noticed this glass lid, that goes with the stock pot, fit perfectly on the bread bowl. Up until that point I had been using plastic wrap. Interesting.

 In the evening after doing the chores, it's time to bake bread. I start with pouring some (about this much) olive oil on a large cookie sheet and putting it in the oven to warm as it preheats to 450*. We use virgin olive oil, not extra virgin. We just don't care much for the extra virgin taste.

As the buns or rolls are made, I coat one side with the oil, then turn them over. I've tried a number of different ways to do this including using lard, which works fine, we just prefer the taste of olive oil - while it is still available.

Unbaked

We have tried loaves as well as buns, but we prefer these for the crusty nature of a bun. They also travel very well when we have to be out and about. We take four buns, a couple of boiled eggs, a piece of our cheddar and a quartered apple. Lunch on the go. Besides that, it has been over a year since we have eaten out anywhere. We just don't like any food but ours and if we eat anything 'off the home menu' we feel sick. Part of that may be age, but it's also an indicator of what we're used to, what our bodies are accustomed to dealing with. Another thing to consider if a collapse occurs. Store what you eat and eat what you store, otherwise your body may not cooperate when you start feeding it 'foreign' objects.

Baked

Most other rolls or buns I have baked with past recipes bake for about 20-25 minutes. These take 45-50 minutes. The bread comes out fairly heavy and dense, plus, we like the crust on the crunchy side. If you try this you will need to adjust the time to your personal preference. Upon removal from the oven, I coat the tops of the buns with olive oil.

On bread nights, we usually have a lighter supper because regardless of the meal, we always have bread for 'desert'. One for me, two for Frank. It's tradition. Buttered, of course.

We just finished pouring the last wheat from a six gallon, 45 pound bucket into the canister when we made bread a couple of days ago. This bucket of wheat will last us approximately 12 weeks, which means we consume about 3.5 pounds of wheat per week. More than we thought, but it gives us a baseline to use in estimating how much wheat we want to store. It's interesting collecting data on yourself.

How do you make bread? We always enjoy hearing other versions of our recipes, it makes good 'food for thought'.

Well, I'm sure your coffee cup is empty by now, mine is long gone. And I think Frank is wanting another piece of bread. We have one every afternoon for a snack with a cup of coffee. Another tradition we have started.

Until next time - Fern
 

Uh-Oh...Did the Kefir Die?

The performance of the kefir has been causing some concern since we came home from the hospital. Up until yesterday, I didn't think the prognosis was good. This is what happened.

While Frank was in the hospital, the plan was for me to come home everyday and do the chores - feed the animals, milk the goats, etc. One of those chores was to strain and feed the kefir. On more than one occasion, I did not come home for at least 36 hours, and once for 48 hours. This impacted the animals as well as the kefir. The two does I am milking were thrown off their routine as well as their feeding schedule. They did not get milked regularly, but they did not get fed either, so they produced less milk. Was this ideal? No. But, there are times we have to prioritize and choose what we will do with our time. Frank easily won, hands down. It was fairly easy to get the goats back on track, even though they are not producing quite as much milk as before. I expected that.

My standard practice is to strain and feed the kefir every 24 hours. During the 48 hour period I was away, the kefir had fed on all available nutrients in the milk and the jar was half whey and half fairly solid curd, kind of like cottage cheese. I strained it and gave it a full quart of milk to 'eat' and headed back to the hospital. Two days later, it sat for around 36 hours. It was kind of thick again, but not near as much as I expected. I could tell it wasn't happy. A few days later, we were home and I started feeding it regularly again. The first milk I had to feed it after we got home was getting a little older, and I don't think it liked that either. You could say Frank's stay in the hospital made the kefir sick.

It still thickened the milk somewhat the first day or two we were home, then appeared to quit. When I strained the milk after 24 hours it was still very thin, like milk, and had a semi soured smell. The chickens got this milk. After a second day of staying very thin, I briefly rinsed the grains with tap water when I strained them, before feeding them again. I had read or been told that somewhere and had tried it before when the kefir interacted with the sourdough starter I had out on the counter for a number of days. I thought I had killed the kefir then, too. For the most part, it seems to be a very healthy, sturdy culture. Then you find out that there are some things it just doesn't tolerate well.

After I rinsed the grains, I waited two more days to see if they would perk back up and they did not. I didn't take any pictures, but the grains were not round and plump looking like they usually are, they were smaller and more grainy looking. Finally, on about day eight when I was convinced they were dead, about half way through the 24 hour period, I scooped the grains out of the milk and squeezed them with my fingers, just kind of smashing them flat. They still had the sticky, tacky consistency that is supposed to be there, so I that gave me a little hope. Then, surprise, surprise, at the end of the day when it was time to strain them, the milk had thickened some. Not quite as much as normal, but I could tell they were on their way back to health, and that's good.

We were looking forward to drinking the kefir when we got home, especially Frank. Well, I can't say that. He never looks forward to drinking it because the taste just isn't quite in his top ten list. But he is looking forward to drinking it because of it's health benefits, especially now that we are working on healing his body.

This is just one more example of don't give up. Try everything you can think of and then some. Does it always work? No. But you never know. You might just be pleasantly surprised. We were.

Until next time - Fern

Making Yogurt

Lately we have been consuming yogurt and kefir to increase our digestive health. There are many things in this world to ingest that are tantalizing to the taste buds, but not for the digestive tract. We are trying to remedy some of that. So, does that mean if you eat yogurt and kefir it negates the affects of potato chips and Cheetos? Probably not. But, until they are no longer available, we do enjoy a bag of chips now and then.

We have made yogurt off and on for years. Sometimes it 'makes' and sometimes it is runny. I find it works better if I add a cup of powdered milk to increase the milk solids. The other challenge is to make it where Frank will eat it. He doesn't care for the tangy taste that yogurt gets if it is allowed to culture very long, so we have been eating store bought for a while. But I decided to try again.

I buy my yogurt culture online. There are numerous places you can buy it. You can also buy plain yogurt at the store and use a few tablespoons of it to culture a new batch. As I mentioned in the kefir post, one of the problems with yogurt is that eventually, you will have to get some new culture to continue making it. From this batch I made I will keep out a few tablespoons to start the next batch. But as my back up, I keep extra packets of culture in the freezer for when I need additional fresh culture to keep our yogurt going. This time, since I had not made yogurt in a while, I am using some of the culture I bought. It is a simple process, so I'm not sure why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

First, heat the milk to 180 degrees. This kills off any competing bacteria, so the yogurt culture can grow. I've always wondered about this step. I don't like killing off the natural bacteria in my raw milk, but everything I have read indicates this is necessary to successfully produce yogurt.

While the milk is heating, I get out my YogurMet and plug it in. There are styrofoam versions of this that don't require electricity. When I bought this, I didn't realize there were. The only thing this does is keep the yogurt at a consistent temperature while it cultures. I put a cup and half of 110 degree water in this vessel. The water surrounds the tub when it is put in the YogurMet. This helps keep the temperature consistent. It would probably work just fine even if I didn't plug it in.

As the milk is heating, I add a cup of powdered milk. If I don't add the extra milk solids, the yogurt will be more of a drinkable consistency, instead of more pudding like.

After the milk has heated, you can leave it sitting until the temperature decreases to about 110 degrees. I put my pot in a sink of cold water and stir it around to expedite the process. Otherwise, I will wander off and forget to check it, then it will be too cold and require more heating. I have learned this from experience.

After the milk has cooled I pour it into the culturing tub. To adequately dissolve and disseminate the culture, pour the culture powder into a small bowl, add a little of the heated milk and stir until it is thoroughly mixed and the culture grains dissolve.

Then pour the culture into the tub with the milk and stir very well, for about a minute, to make sure the culture is well distributed. If you don't, there may be pockets of milk that don't thicken up as well as others. 

There have been times when I checked the consistency of the yogurt and it was still rather runny, so I left it a little longer. I have also added more culture. Then I found out that neither technique will result in a thicker product, it will just create a tangier flavor, which is not what we wanted. I have learned to watch the time more carefully and follow the directions on the culture package. Surprisingly, some cultures call for different amounts of time. This one indicates four to four and half hours. The last time I made this, four hours was not quite enough, so I use the four and a half hour time frame. This time I set the alarm so I would not forget to put it in the refrigerator at the right time.

 

It turned out a good consistency, thinner than store bought, but not runny. 

I set aside some of the plain yogurt to save for culturing the next batch. Then I put it all in the frig. As it cools, it stops the culturing process.

We like sugar and vanilla to flavor our yogurt. For this 2 quart tub, I added 2/3 cup sugar.

And 2 capfuls of vanilla. Yes, capfuls. In other words, I take the lid off of the vanilla bottle and fill it up twice. I used to use a measuring spoon, but realized the cap was just about the same, so I use it instead. Stir it up very well to dissolve the sugar. It's edible right away, but I like it better after it sits for a while first.

This is another instance of really enjoying something made from our ingredients with the least amount of additives. Skimmed goat milk, powdered milk, culture, sugar and vanilla. And it's good for you to boot. And sometimes, Frank will even eat it.

Until next time - Fern