Praise God for the Freezer

Christina dries off in three months and it's time to get stuff flowing into the freezer for the dry period.  We'll take two weeks to decrease her milk production down to nothing, then she'll be dry for 8-9 weeks, and then we'll get our first milk about a week after she calves.  I want enough in the freezer for 10 weeks.

Last year we only got cream and milk in the freezer but I don't want to have to buy anything this year.  I calculated out how much cream and milk we'll need, plus butter, fromage blanc, cream cheese, mozzarella, and cottage cheese.  I have a little chart with weekly freezer goals to keep me on track.  I'm freezing milk in washed out vinegar plastic bottles until they run out, then I'll use gallon ziploc bags. 

In the days before refrigeration, I guess people went without milk during the dry period, but cheese and butter preserved a lot of it.

Our daughters found the first ripe strawberry.  They looked it over carefully before sharing it between three of them.  The strawberry plants are full but green. 

The chicks are enjoying their new coop.  This is much more spacious for them, although it will get tight soon as they grow, but then we'll open the door and let them run outside during the day.

For my girl's homeschooling we read a book about the New England summer of 1816 with frost in late June and again in early September, bringing about complete crop failure and impending starvation.  Living this life makes me realize how dependent we are on the weather and how vulnerable we are to a bad year.  The Irish endured four bad years 1846-1850.  People and animals truly did just starve. 

Today's industrial food system ensures a constant supply of food.  Not only can we buy grain year-round, we can buy berries in the January, tomatoes in February, and watermelon in March.  It's a wonderful security that starvation has been completely lifted from our minds.  But it's come at a terrible cost.  Soils are being depleted.  Fossil fuels used to transport those melons in March are polluting the air and warming up the planet.  It's been also pretty hard on the small farmer as large corporate farms and distributors squeeze them with low commodity prices and monopoly-like practices.  I'm glad that people aren't starving from crop failure, but I also believe that we are smart enough to find solutions that don't cost so much.