Here are some interesting web links I’d like to share with you this week.
- Unnatural: Thought provoking post on how unnatural “natural farming” really is. The author writes, “No matter how hard we try, the reality of any farm is that it is an “unnatural” system. Through breeding, forage selection, grazing management, fencing, reproduction and growth goals, necessary survival rates, and a whole host of other human manipulations the gap between natural animals and unnatural farm animals is quite large.”
- Cultured Butter Recipe: Since I don’t have (and don’t want to pay hundreds for) a cream separator — nor do I have extra fridge space to put my goat milk in shallow pans to increase surface area to skim off cream — I am going to try the linked recipe from Homesteader’s Supply. But instead of using cream, I will use milk. You culture the milk with a mesophilic culture and then make butter from that – no cream separation required! I am going to tell you more about Homesteader’s Supply later after I receive a milking pail and other items from them. The owner, Jerri, is the one who told me about this recipe. Another goat-acquaintance locally told me about this technique, too. As soon as I’m done with this post, I’m going to get a quart of milk culturing to make butter!
- Response to Monsanto Giving “Food, Inc.” (the movie) Two Thumbs Down: The movie Food, Inc. isn’t out yet (but some have seen advanced screenings), but it is not hard to guess at some of the issues (food corporations, GMOs, etc.) and this post is a great rebuttal to Monsanto’s website response to the movie. Anyone planning to watch the movie?
- The Rise of Gluten Intolerance: I found this to be a great analysis of possible factors explaining why gluten intolerance is on the rise, and how traditional food preparation can help people mitigate and/or heal symptoms of gluten intolerance. I encourage you to read it! The article resonates with my family’s experiences with gluten and gluten-intolerance.
Have you read anything interesting on the web this week? I’d love to hear what has captured your attention!
About Wardeh
ABCs of Grain Mills. Free PDF tip booklet. 
Take the guesswork out of what to fix, what to buy and what to prepare. This week:
Class materials compiled into easy downloads: 
Thanks for the great links! I have a question regarding the “Rise of Gluten…” article and the author’s mention of a slower fermentation process when making bread. I’m not a regular bread baker and don’t understand what that means; but it reminded me of the “Artesian Bread in 5 Minutes.” Are the two connected or am I way off base? Thanks Wardeh! I love this blog and shared the Gluten article w/ Priscilla (from Willamette – her family is GF, Df and I think egg-free as well).
Hi, Jessica- I think she is referring mainly to traditional sourdough, where the dough is allowed to rest for 4 to 24 hours and a hefty amount of the dough is a mature sourdough starter to get the bacteria working. This doesn’t mean you can’t achieve this with the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. You ask a great question – it has been on my mind how to adapt that recipe to be more traditional, even allowing my family to use unsprouted flour because of making it a sourdough bread. So, the answer is… I’m not sure. I wonder if anyone else could shed light on this? I’m not experienced enough with sourdough breads to be able to judge how to make that technique more traditional. Certainly, letting the dough rest for so long (in the original recipe, not my quick adaptation… ‘sigh’) and/or keeping the dough in the fridge for a week and letting it “age” suggests to me that it would be a candidate for this type of longer ferment! Oh, dear, I haven’t answered your question I know, because it is one of my own questions… I am happy you referred Priscilla here; she has been here before and I have enjoyed catching up with her on FB. God bless!
Jessica – to follow up, here’s a recipe from Girl Gone Domestic for the artisan bread done sourdough style: http://macmama.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/easy-no-knead-sourdough-bread/ I’m going to try it soon!
The gluten article was most interesting to me, as we are trying to figure out if my husband is experiencing trouble with gluten. One tiny detail I questioned concerned the historical aspect of man’s consumption of grains. As a Christian, I guess I’ve kind of believed man has always eaten grains, given that I don’t believe we evolved. But we have also lost how to prepare grains properly. I do agree that grains may have changed in quality.
Good links! That’s an interesting one from Monsanto. Very deceptive.
Thanks for the links! Stoney Brook Farm is not too far from where I live and it’s nice to see a local farmer blogging!
Hi Wardeh –
) for $25, but it would be nice to be able to skip that step. (And keep all that lovely fat where it belongs!)
Can you please let me know how that cultured butter recipe turns out with your milk? We actually have a cream separator that we found at the thrift store (no one knew what it was, cos it’s a HAND CRANK
Thanks for sharing – I enjoyed reading through the links this afternoon. And the Monsanto one is just … ugh.
Meg, I *think* it worked, but it is hard to tell if I got all the butter possible out of the milk I cultured. For the quart I cultured, I got about 2 T of butter… it tasted good, and it was smooth and creamy, but not much for all that work!
Enjoy your separator! I just got done telling my husband that we should start praying to find one cheap or for free! ‘Cuz otherwise, it isn’t worth it…
But like I said, I’m not sure if I did it right. I started out in the Vitamix, but it didn’t keep the mixture cold, so I switched to the food processor and I don’t know if it is powerful enough with churning to separate all the fat from the liquid, KWIM? Have you made butter before from cream? I never have, so it is hard to know if I’m on the right track.
I just watched the Food Inc. movie and was stunned! I believe it’s very accurate, and I can see why Monsanto would want to badmouth it (even before it came out). It’s a real eye-opener. I’ve never understood why some people have ‘ears to hear’ and why God allows some to ‘not hear’. Obviously, the ‘naysayers’ are in the latter group.
My lifelong dream of having my own organic farm just got wheels on!
Tammy – I’m so excited for you and your family. Please keep in touch how you like the milk and the farmer. I agree that Food, Inc. is a real eye opener. My kids have heard the issues from us before, but watching the movie really helped it all sink in for them.