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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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 Posted - Jan 10 2016 : 6:35:33 PM
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charlene, cecily is exactly why i wrote the last part - as those are literally the most troubling steps that you might need to assist with. perhaps also adding in fitting all the disks together, as i know you mentioned some dexterity issues ?? i'll think about that when we do round four, i haven't put a lot of thought into that as lover boy puts it together.
also charlene, i was wondering for the butter business - can she operate a bicycle if she doesn't have to worry about balance? i started to think about mary jane's flour grinding bicycle setup from a few issues back, and thought that it could be engineered to do a butter churn quite easily. it could be great physical therapy, but i don't know regarding your situation. i was even thinking a recumbent bike versus a traditional, or if legs aren't an option a recumbent bike type setup that actually used arms to rotate the pedals instead of legs/feet... just a thought. not only would the business be emotionally beneficial, i think most of the aspects of it could be setup to not only be physically doable but to be a form of exercise/therapy.... |
_(199x300)_(66x100).jpg?v 93697001) Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 09:25:00 AM
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| Cindy, you made me laugh out loud when I read your last post because my younger son, Owen, saw that bicycle grain grinder and was already trying to figure out how we could make the same thing! Oh, he's such an engineer! Cecily has a recumbent bike and cycling is great for her. We even have a tandem recumbent tricycle that she and I use! She can't keep her balance but is able to pedal. So to the drawing board ... I think we just might be on to something! I definitely see a butter business filling multiple needs for Cecily ... emotional/interacting with people, physical, mental, fine and gross motor skills, etc. Love gathering all the ideas and possibilities ... the difficult part will be to implement them and it will take time. But do keep the ideas coming as Cecily's future butter business is beginning to shape up. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 12:30:58 PM
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| great minds think alike! i think this is very exciting for you and cecily. and thanks for your patience if i don't word something as specific or as sensitive as i should. i am a pretty cut and dry type of person and just trying to take into account cecily's challenges. i am impressed at what y'all are going to achieve. you are inspirational. |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
Edited by - txbikergirl on Jan 11 2016 12:31:16 PM |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 1:02:30 PM
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| Cindy and all, the instructions that came with my old IHC hand/motor separator, a 3, say to separate while the milk still has body heat, above 100 degrees. If it cools off and has to be reheated the quality of the cream is 'lessened'. Just a FYI. |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 1:19:45 PM
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So, Mike, if one is thermizing the milk then right afterwards, one could use the separator while the temperature is still above 100 degrees. That information is helpful, thanks.
Cindy, we are pretty "say it like it is" around here so please don't ever hesitate over certain word usage or whatever when describing Cecily. We are not offended and would prefer to have others not be afraid to speak. (for those of you who don't know, we have a daughter who has special needs resulting from an extremely premature birth).
A cute story regarding Cecily: We were at a children's hospital many years ago seeing all of her specialists (7 appointments in a matter of two days!). As Cecily gets stiff just sitting in her transport chair, we decided to take our time to the next appointment and walk the very long hallway to the next specialist. We left her transport chair in the rental car. As we were walking, a very kind nurse came up and asked if he could get us a wheelchair. I explained that we really didn't need one right now, but thank you so much. As he walked away, Cecily turned on her crutches and spoke in a loud voice, "What does he think I am? Handicapped??" It cracked me up!
I'm pretty excited thinking that we might be able to hook up a bicycle to a butter churn ... I'm all about multi-tasking and keeping Cecily busy. :-) |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 4:55:21 PM
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thanks mike, that pretty much goes along with what we read too... but we only get 1-1.5 gallons of milk daily so that isn't enough to make getting out the cream separator worth it ;> some day if we have two milk cows then with 5-7 gallons a day i might just have "cream day" one day each weekend and do it straight from the cow. that would be neat.
at least we know reheating does work, and as long as everyone knows to NOT attempt to separate cream with a machine if milk is less than 100 degrees. |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 5:09:14 PM
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cute story charlene, love it! a good sense of humor is mandatory.
i don't know if you are aware charlene, but our second daughter was born premature at 21 weeks in April 2005. she had 90% chance of not making it, 10% chance of making it; of that 10%, her chances were to be 90% severely challenged and 10% fairly "normal"... she lived a few hours and didn't make it. we were totally dedicated to whatever level of challenges she might have, so cecily holds a bit of a special place in my heart as i am always excited to see what you are working towards and what her future holds. we never know where our lives will lead us or what they hold, and you are very blessed.
despite the loss we are truly blessed with a wonderful life, it just doesn't involve living children - but we do have 5 nieces and 1 nephew who are wonderful. |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 5:14:36 PM
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ONE DAY LATER - cream update:
this cream is much thinner than the last batch, more the thickness of store bought cream.. or perhaps what we would skim off the top after the milk sat in a mason jar overnight. definitely NOT the thickness after milk has sat in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, as that cream for me is usually the thickness of yogurt ;>
the plan is to modify the settings in round four. we'll leave the top white plastic flow adjustment open wide, but we'll change the internal screw adustment from 4 (largest) to 2 (middle). and see what that does for us.
it is amazing how such a small adjustment makes a huge difference. last time the cream was so thick we had to scoop it out. so stay tuned for an update 1-2 weeks from now. |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 8:07:06 PM
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Way to go Cecily!! That's a great attitude.
When Ma Krueger was separating cream on the ranch she was doing a Holstein cross cow twice a day. She separated once a day and cleanup took all of ten minutes, including starting the boiling water. She had me turn up the water heater to 'high' and just didn't trust that to be hot enough so boiled. Cleaned first in cold water to get rid of milk, then hot soapy water, then boiling rinse. With that little hook/holder assembly for the IHC cleaning all the baffles was pretty easy and seeing that they WERE clean was easy too. I don't remember if she had a ritual to mix the evening milking cream that settled to the top with the fresh, warm, morning milking...... hmmmm.. Too late to ask her too. 1962... She was a pretty shrewd old operator, a Depression era cattle ranch lady. She made the cream for sale so if she could get an extra little bit, she would use whatever trick she needed to do so. When she did make butter, which was seldom, it was sour cream butter and tasted out of this world good. She also taught me to poach.... and how to shoot ducks on the rise, when they transition from that short vertical jump to horizontal flight, with an old pump .22. Short range, out of the back of the pickup truck (not moving), in the head or neck. If you weren't sure of a clean shot, don't shoot, as there were zillions of ducks on the ND prairie potholes and always another shot. Needless to say, the seasons didn't bother her much, and it WAS HER GRAIN they were eating up :)) |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 8:30:07 PM
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http://creamseparatorgallery.webs.com/
They have a download section. It uses Adobe Acrobat and is single page only. I DID find why Ma Krueger had two bowls. There are the valve settings/regulating screws. It mentions separating two different densities of milk and the advice is to have two bowls, each with it's own setting, ie: Morning milk and evening milk. How cool is that! If anyone has trouble with the downloads off that cool site, I will either photograph or scan in my manual and put it up here in the resource section.
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 8:40:36 PM
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| The 'bowl' is all the little cone shaped discs, by the way. Not hard to clean when you have done it a few times, but intimidating with all it's parts, a dozen discs and the containing parts that unscrew. First time I did it, it took an hour..... with Ma watching.....in German. You get a LOT faster with that kind of supervision. I think she trained me in that as I was the backup milker when she went to town or was ill. Glad she was not ill often, nor did she go to town much. I remember when she and I bought dynamite, fuse and caps....along with groceries. Guy in hardware store never even blinked, told me all that was needed, had me make up a fuse and put it into a stick of dynamite, just to make sure. Disassembled that and went home, then next day started taking out the wall of an old pit silo. On the job blasting training. What a hoot when you're just sixteen. Love to blow stuff up!!! |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 9:04:43 PM
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Thank you, Cindy, for letting Cecily be a part of your heart. I could tell there was a special connection but I did not know about your precious daughter. Bless you...
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Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 9:08:30 PM
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| Now Mike, what stories! And what training you got without even realizing it sometimes! What amazing experiences. After all the milk we got tonight, we just might need an extra large pasteurizer and separator! Simply glorious! |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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farmlife
1413 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 9:11:34 PM
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| Okay, now I have to take a picture of the cream separator that was given to us and post it here. It has a million little cups and I have no idea how it works. I also have no desire to wash all the little pieces. But never say never. Maybe I will check it out further. Cindy and Mike are inspiring me to at least give it a second look. |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 11 2016 : 9:22:15 PM
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| Pictures, Keeley, pictures! |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Jan 12 2016 : 5:22:36 PM
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| keeley, let's say Mike and lover boy are inspiring you... i was completely anti cream separator so i am more "along for the ride" on this one... i don't like the clean up. but i am being open minded ;> |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 12 2016 : 7:43:14 PM
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| Yes, but all the butter that you are able to make from all the cream could make this all worth it, Cindy! Especially if you have your hubby helping with it all! |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Jan 13 2016 : 4:55:30 PM
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| yes charlene, we are having to dry off sally o'mally in less than two months so all this frozen butter will keep us happy! |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 13 2016 : 10:02:28 PM
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| Make some ice cream too! That can be frozen as well and vanilla ice cream could work as a creamer in your coffee in a pinch. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Jan 14 2016 : 12:38:38 PM
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| charlene, great minds think alike! we already have several batches of ice cream in the freezer, and i am not afraid to admit that post dinner coffee ALWAYS has a scoop of ice cream in it. my dad loves it too, so we indulge in that as a family when they are over for dinner. |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Jan 14 2016 : 9:09:47 PM
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Oh I knew I liked you, Cindy! Yes that ice cream can tide you over when Sally is dried up waiting for her new calf.
What is your favorite flavor that you have made? What recipes did you use? The ones in MJ's book? They look divine. |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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txbikergirl
3197 Posts
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Posted - Jan 15 2016 : 1:10:03 PM
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charlene, lover boy is the ice cream maker in the family. so there is only one flavor - vanilla. and only one recipe - his grandmothers. and only one ice cream maker - old fashioned white mountain with wooden bucket. no deviations, don't even suggest it ;>
i can tell you that it uses raw eggs, it is not a custard, and is super simple. just love it. i honestly haven't even looked into the MJ ice cream recipes as unless i make it, they won't happen ;> i do have a kitchenaid freezing bowl that once in awhile we make small batches of specialty ice cream, i have done chocolate peanut butter and strawberry cheesecake... need to do another something special soon! maybe i will go check out the MJ MCK recipes... |
Firefly Hollow Farm , our little farmstead. Farmgirl living in the green piney woods of East Texas on 23 acres with a few jerseys, too many chickens, a pair of pugs and my Texan hubby (aka "lover boy") |
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farmlife
1413 Posts
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Posted - Jan 15 2016 : 9:04:00 PM
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Okay everyone. Here is my challenge. This cream separator was given to us by friends who took it from their 90 year old uncle's farm after he died. They thought we could use it, and in all fairness if I had a clue how it was supposed to be put together we probably could use it. First it needs a lot of cleaning up. By cleaning up I mean lots of washing, followed by lots of bleach, followed by lots of washing.
These are all the pieces I have.
Here's the electric component.
About the only thing I know for sure is that this plug attaches the motor to the white stand.
.jpg?v 13601301)
Seriously the thought of washing all these pieces makes me a little ill. The kind of ill that says, "Honey, I know I wanted to try the cream separator, but after using it I feel a headache coming on. Will you wash it?"
Does anyone have an idea of how it goes together? Are there any parts you recognize, Cindy? |
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NellieBelle
11217 Posts
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Posted - Jan 16 2016 : 04:48:21 AM
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| My grandparents had a manual and electric cream separator. Large. I remember washing all those discs,bowls, and parts, and I say "no thank you." They have to be cleaned after every milking. Lot of time involved. There was no choice then. It had to be done. (and they had to be CLEAN). They had 8-10 milk cows at the time. I helped with a lot of milk, cranked the handle of cream separator after many a milking. Good memories but it was a lot of work back then, and more than I would care to do now. I have the old cream separator. I hope to find room for it in my new parlor. It will stay retired. ;) My refrigerator does just perfect. You folks have fun! I'm sure it will give you some good memories too. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Manual cream separator
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