The more I have adopted an agricultural lifestyle the more I have learned to embrace winter. While I am still not happy with the cold or the lack of lush, green surroundings, the break from the hard outdoor work is appreciated. I am tired by the end of the growing season. Plus, there is other work in the world that is important to me and the winter gives me time to focus on that.
Yogurt With Our Peaches
But, if I had to narrow it down to my top favorite aspect of winter I think it would be this: yogurt.
When you produce your own food, you learn the nuances and variations that are lost in a standardized, commodified industrial system. From year to year and season to season differences in the weather and other conditions impact taste, texture, and production. This is particularly true for milk. To some extent what we feed our goats actually changes the taste of the milk, but, more obviously, the seasons greatly change the texture. In the summer when the sun is high and the fresh green plants are abundant our goats give us much more milk. It is delicious but not very thick. The amount of milk they produce in the winter is much less, but the fat percentage is significantly higher thus it is sweeter and more nutrient rich. It also makes extremely thick and creamy yogurt. The winter goat yogurt that I make might be my favorite food in the world.
Yogurt with Strawberries
Years ago, actually decades by now, I was a vegetarian and then vegan for environmental and ethical reasons. I did OK for a few years as a vegetarian but when I cut out eggs and dairy some serious problems developed. I love beans so was getting plenty of protein but I could not get enough fat or B12 to stay healthy. After about six months, I stopped being able to eat at all. Everything I tried made me incredibly nauseous. Then, my roommate ordered a pizza. It wasn’t particularly good pizza, but the smell was heaven and for about a week it was almost all I could eat.
I did not take the hint from my body, however, and went back to being vegan. I again lasted about six months before things started to unravel again. At that point I had to admit that this was not working for me, and move through my disappointment and a small existential crisis to re-embrace animal products. I could have chosen to take pills, but I decided that supporting the pharmaceutical industry was worse than supporting my local farmers. After about a week of putting butter and cheese back on my plate I felt so much better I knew I would never give them up again. Given that my ancestry is from the dairy producing area of Ireland and various goat-keeping places in the Mediterranean I guess it makes sense that this works for my body.
Goat Kid Nursing
And, yogurt cultured from raw milk created in my backyard from the animals I know and love really does sound like a perfect food. Topped with fruit I canned from the previous summer and either honey or maple syrup from the neighborhood… what food could be better for me or the planet?
Nourishing, delicious food is something I am grateful for every day, especially when I remember that there are people in the world who don’t have anything to eat at all.
I eat my yogurt year round, but it is at its best December through March and that is a bright spot in an otherwise dark time of year, one that I will miss as we head into Spring.
Our Goats in Winter: Georgia, Lily & Honey
