Thoughts on using Hoosier Hill Farm dry milk products?
6 years ago
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- 6 years ago
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Comments (27)I have a few observations regarding a dry orchard. Keep in mind my comments are restricted to my own climate which is considerably different than CA. Namely, I think our soil is much higher in organic matter and is probably much heavy than California soils, thus has more water holding capacity. Several years ago, a soil test revealed organic matter at 5% at my small home orchard. Since then I've used many big truckloads of mulch and pickup loads of grass clippings and leaves around the trees. I wouldn't be surprised if the organic matter content is now much higher. I noticed the grass in our yard never did go dormant in the drought, whereas the grass in other yards was completely brown. It's for this reason, I think the water holding capacity is above average at my house, so it's hard to compare with other dry orchards in other climates. Nevertheless, this summer was the driest on record for most of the summer for my locale. We received 6.5" of rainfall from April 1st to almost the end of August (about a 5 month period). During that time we had many days over 100F with almost no humidity. Many of those days had significant wind (which is unusual for our dog days of summer). When you walked outside it felt like you were using a blow dryer. There was no morning dew. The water demand through plant transpiration had to be extremely high. I did not water the peach trees, but did water other fruit trees (to keep them alive). The fruit was noticeably smaller, but was very sweet. The exception was that I had a few peach trees later in the season that had yellowing leaves. Most of the fruit on these trees was not sweeter, but more sour. My only explanation for this is that it was so hot and dry for so long that the drought finally caught up with the trees and shut down photosynthesis. A lot of these peaches I didn't sell, or sold them as seconds for canning only. We got a 7" rain around the 1st of Sept. that broke the drought in my locale. My new peach planting (7 miles away) planted this spring did not receive any supplemental water either. The trees were mulched with wood chips and chemical weed control was used. Trees were planted on the tops of terraces. Following are some pictures I took today of the planting. They follow in multiple posts. You can see the trees did fine, despite being first year trees with no water. The first pic is a row that was not pruned all summer. Here it is:...See MoreDry milk powder in bread recipes
Comments (28)sally2- Not ALL powdered milk products "taste wretched". You just haven't experienced the ones that taste good. These are the brands we use and they are difficult to detect from regular milk - straight from the glass. We've done the taste tests with milk-lovers over the years, including my husband, and they never knew they were consuming "powdered milk" in anything it's been used in, including drinking it. Country Cream - an instant non-fat dry milk product http://www.grandmascountryfoods.com/ Morning Moo's - a non-instant, low-lactose, whey-based milk substitute available from Augason Farms (formerly Blue Chip Group) - http://www.augasonfarms.com/ I realize "taste" is subjective, but many people who would NEVER drink buttermilk wouldn't think anything contrary to adding it to chocolate cake or scones. There is more contributing to the flavors in a recipe besides powdered milk. Heat alters the sugars in milk, which will alter the milk flavor. Have you ever tasted raw flour? Nothing pleasant-tasting about that.... ;-) -Grainlady...See MoreA good powdered milk (Milkman replacement)
Comments (7)I've included a link below that gives you a number of powdered milk products and taste test results on them. I've used, or tried, nearly every brand in this test over the years, and have several of them in our home food storage. We always use powdered milk products, rather than store-bought milk, and have used Morning Moo's as our primary "milk" product for cooking, baking and drinking for around 20-years. It's a low-lactose, whey-based, milk product that works well for our lactose intolerant adult son and 14-year old granddaughter. When reconstituted for drinking, the taste is very nearly like regular milk. It is a NON-instant powder, which means you need to use hot water to reconstitute it. I order it from Augason Farms (http://augasonfarms.com/ - formerly Blue Chip Group). It comes in a wide range of sizes, all the way from a 2# bag, to a 50# bag. More expensive than Morning Moo's (per serving), but also very good tasting and my #2 choice for powdered milk is Country Cream, which I order from Grandma's Country Foods (www.grandmascountry.com). This is an INSTANT powder and it mixes well in cold water. I use both of these powdered milk products on a regular basis. They both come in hermetically-sealed #10 cans, which have a much longer shelf-life (unopened) than boxed powdered milk products from the store. NIDO, as already mentioned, is available in the Latino section of our local Wal-Mart store. It's also a good brand when it comes to drinking, and works very well in cooking and baking, as well as homemade mixes, but is much more expensive than Morning Moo's or Country Cream (per serving). NIDO is an instant dry WHOLE milk product, rather than non-fat, and contains 5 grams of saturated fat per serving. It comes in a small 12.6-oz. container, which may work well for you if you only use it infrequently and want to purchase it locally. I keep a small container of NIDO on hand. There are some homemade mixes I like to use it in because the fat adds some richness to the finished product. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Great Powdered Milk Taste Test and Review...See MoreIf milk prices skyrocket after Jan. 1st....
Comments (33)Rusty asked, "So how would switching [to other forms] be of any benefit, price wise?" Buying ahead at current prices is the benefit. Forewarned is forearmed..... Think of it this way, if I buy $100 of powdered milk products at today's prices (something I normally use and it would be enough for a year) and it goes up 300%, I'll save a lot more on that purchase than if that same amount of money was in a savings account at today's interest rates over that same year. If dairy prices skyrocket for 6-months and then drop again over the next 6-months, I'm going to be able to use what I have in my home food storage, not change my buying habits or what I normally use, and my $125/month food budget won't take a hit - and that's my bottom-line. If nothing happens to the price of milk, I'm still good.... It's also easier to get accustomed to, or learn how to make and incorporate substitutes, before they are needed. I remember a few years ago on this message board during an ice or snow storm, people were posting us lists of food items they had on hand and were asking for help with what they could make to feed their families because they couldn't get out to go shopping and had to rely on what they had on hand. Those of us who practice home food storage do so to save money - first and foremost, be prepared for emergencies such as loss of income, natural disasters, interrupted food supplies, power outages, etc., and we are often good at finding options. I'm not going to wait until AFTER a disaster to prepare. -Grainlady...See More- 6 years ago
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