I grew up churning butter in Grandma’s kitchen out at the farm. She wouldn’t let us use her good butter churn. She handed each of us a quart jar with some room temperature heavy cream in it and we had to shake and shake and shake till the butter began to separate from the buttermilk. It was hard work I’m telling you, but it was all part of Grandma’s plan to wear us out so we’d go to bed at a decent hour.

I now own both my grandma’s and my mom’s big Daisy Butter Churns. They sit on top of the fridge with Grandma’s only flower vase and my hand coffee grinder that I use when I’m camping. With it just being the two of us, and since I don’t have a dairy cow, I’ve never used the big churns for anything but decor and memories. Still, I had it in my mind that I wanted to churn small batches of butter to spread on my homemade breads.

When we were up at Lehman’s Hardware on Friday, I found this little gadget in the kitchen store. I was intrigued by the design of it. The lid comes off and there is a strainer underneath. Then the bottom unscrews to allow you to remove the butter when you’re finished. You put heavy cream in the jar up to the line and let it set out overnight. Then the next morning, you shake it vigorously for around three minutes till the butter comes. You are supposed to take off the lid and just strain the buttermilk off, but I found with the warm temps in the kitchen and holding it in my hands, the butter solids weren’t terribly firm. I didn’t want to lose any of the butter when straining it off, so I poured a little ice water in to allow the butter to firm up a bit.

After the first straining, I poured more ice water in and shook the jar to rinse the butter. I did this several times till the water I drained off was clear. The next step is fun. Using a small spatula, I scraped out all the butter into a bowl and began to press the butter to remove all the buttermilk. If you don’t remove all the buttermilk, it will quickly sour and ruin the butter. Once I was satisfied the buttermilk was out, I added a little salt and folded it in. It made just shy of a cup of butter. Then…I cooked breakfast.

I have just about finished cooking the last of the coarse ground yellow grits I bought from Gaston’s Mill up at Beaver Creek State Park last fall. I combined 1.5 cups of the coarse ground grits with 1/2 teaspoon salt then poured 4 cups of hot water over it, stirred it together, covered with a lid and set it aside for twenty minutes. While the grits were soaking, I grated 2 ounces of Parmesan cheese and cut up a stick of unsalted butter. I didn’t use my freshly churned butter because I wouldn’t have had enough for the grits as well as toast.

After the grits had soaked, I brought them to a boil over medium low heat then lowered the flame and stirred them with a rubber spatula for a full twenty minutes will they were very thick. I added the cheese and the butter and folded them together till it was fully incorporated. I popped the sourdough in the toaster, fried up a few eggs, and slathered the fresh butter on the toast. I like my grits in a bowl and put the eggs on top then cut them in with a knife and fork. A little salt and pepper to taste and it was a feast. Definitely NOT on anyone’s diet, but it was Sunday. Sunday is my day of rest and culinary indulgence.

I feel like I’m living in an episode of Little House on the Prairie…and it’s SO much fun! The tomatoes are coming on fast. I’ll be canning later in the week. Today the Dish guy is coming to replace the satellite that got squashed when the tree fell at the farm last week. The work is never done around here!

❤️

“People who don’t take care of their relatives, and especially their own families, have given up their faith. They are worse than someone who doesn’t have faith in the Lord.”

1 Timothy 5:8 CEV