Janus

still little at two weeks next to his underweight momma

Not knowing if we’re going to raise Freckle’s bull calf for meat or not, I’ve been slow to give him a formal name. I think I wrote earlier about calling him Lil’ Red. He’s not so little though anymore, and that name doesn’t seem to be sticking. At just 25 days old he’s nearly as big as the two 6 mo. Hereford calves we’re housing for our neighbor!

In my web browsing though, I stumbled across a wiki definition of the Roman god Janus, who the month of January is named for: In Roman mythology, Janus is the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, endings and time. Most often he is depicted as having two heads, facing opposite directions; one head looks back at the last year while the other looks forward to the new, simultaneously into the future and the past.

Since he was born on New Year’s Eve — the day that bridges the last year to the coming new year — Janus seems a fitting name. He also ushered in the beginning of my cheesemaking and fledgling dairy…

Freshly churned butter

Warm 2 quarts of cream to room temperature, place in stand mixer with paddle attachment, and let ‘er go. 30-40 minutes later, fresh butter and a quart of tangy buttermilk.

sweet creamy fresh butter

 

Wo-Chi and crew

taking a ride in the truck

Exciting day….driving home from Brownsville, WI with four of 11 new Churros. A new fused 4-horn ram, his son, and two wethers. Ewes will be following in a month, more than doubling our Churro flock!

Got milk

Milking Shorthorn bull calf, 2 weeks old

For breakfast this morning I ate hot-from-the-oven buttermilk scones with pats of creamy butter and a hot cup of coffee with fresh cream. All courtesy of this little guy who shares his mother’s bounty with me. Alice calls him “Caffy,” but I think we’re naming him Little Red.

A new experience for me in the kitchen, cheesemaking is tricky! Wow, does everything need to be perfectly exact. As someone who rarely follows a recipe exactly, this is requiring a new approach for me. I’ll post a recipe as soon as I get something perfected.