It seems that work and hunting have consumed far too much of my time in the last year, and I have failed to document any of the activities in and around my kitchen. Seeing a steady stream of visitors here, browsing content over a year old, I have decided to begin documenting my culinary exploits yet again.
Two days ago, I had the fortune of running into a local dairy farmer who graciously allows me to hunt waterfowl on his land. I regard this particular piece of property as my best local hunting spot. Being the lone corn field harvested for silage to feed to his herd over the winter, it is cut much earlier than neighboring swaths of crops. As any avid waterfowler knows, having permission on the first cut corn field near a multi-thousand acre lake is what dreams are made of.
During the course of our conversation I asked what his cows were eating this time of the year. I was intrigued when I learned that their diet consisted of mostly alfalfa and other grasses, not the mixed corn diet that they are on during the winter. After a little prodding, I convinced him to allow me to take 5 gallons of raw milk, straight from the cow from the next mornings milking. This did come with a disclaimer: "If you get sick, I don't know you!"
Today, Seth and I will be making a run of mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. Stay tuned for pictures and our recipe in the next day or two.
