BASHAW, Alta. — At one time every prairie homeowner could turn excess milk into butter, cheese, yogurt or ice cream, but not now.
It’s Mary Ann Stevenson’s goal to help revive the lost art of homesteading skills, including making dairy products from milk, through a series of seminars in her central Alberta home.
On one day during a recent visit, Stevenson teaches two pupils how to turn milk into butter, yogurt, mozzarella, Gouda and cheddar cheese. At lunch, Stevenson serves Italian feather bread made from the whey during the morning’s cheese making session. The salad dressing is made from buttermilk from the morning’s butter-making lesson.
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“Part of our mission is to have as much (as possible) come from here featured in our meals,” said Stevenson over a beef soup made from the meat of their Dexter cattle. Lunch also featured vegetables from her garden, fresh picked raspberries and mozzarella cheese made in the morning classes.
Stevenson is a modern day home economist and district agriculturalist rolled into one.
On the 100-year old family farm on Buffalo Lake, Stevenson and her husband Les Brunelle teach a variety of courses including family milk cow basics, handy farmer tricks, pickling, canning essentials, jams and jellies, and rotational pasture basics.
Stevenson and Brunelle wanted to create an on-farm business niche that would support their philosophies.
“I wanted to do something that would allow me to stay home with my kids,” said Stevenson.
As the couple added more animals to their farm including Dexter cattle, heritage breeds of chicken and pigs, plus a large garden, Stevenson spent more time on the telephone fielding questions on how to raise livestock. She and Brunelle realized the growing demand from people who wanted to learn homesteading skills.
“The Handy Farmer has become one of our most popular courses,” she said.
In the one-day course, participants learn to make gate closures, moveable fence posts, peony and tomato supports and other handy devices for the small farmer. Clients also learn about budgets and setting farm goals.
“I want them to understand what it is they’re getting into and why,” she said.
Buying a few cows and goats is fine, but what about putting up feed or drilling a well to water the animals?
Most of Stevenson’s clients are retired couples who have bought a small farm and want to begin raising their own meat and vegetables, or “home schoolers” —couples who are teaching their children at home and want to have more involvement with food production and save money.
“The home schoolers have three-p lus kids at home and they go through milk like crazy.”
That’s when they come to Stevenson to buy a Dexter cow and to get lessons on milk cow basics, cheese and yogurt making.
While Stevenson has only been making cheese for about a year, it has become her passion. She has turned a small crawl space under her house into her cheese cave, the spot where the cheese begins to ripen.
Like many skills, learning to make cheese is not as easy as following a recipe.
Ilse Bonjean, of Millarville, Alta., was becoming frustrated trying to turn the milk from her two goats into cheese and came to Stevenson for help.
“It’s been a little frustrating,” said Bonjean. “My husband and I plan on being fully sustainable.”
Patrick Watson, a Calgary chef, works with cheese every day and wanted to learn more about cheese production and possibility of making cheese in his restaurant kitchen.
In the morning, Stevenson starts with a simple lesson on making yogurt in a crock pot before moving on to butter making using a modern food processor.
“This is almost a lost art,” said Watson, amazed at how simple it was to make the yogurt and butter.
Making mozzarella cheese required Stevenson’s experience. Adding a bit more rennet was the key to turning the goat milk into mozzarella.
Watson stirred his congealed milk too much and it separated into superfine curds. With Stevenson’s help, Watson gently squeezed the curds together and finally into mozzarella.
Bonjean knows buying cheese or yogurt in the grocery store would be easier, but her family enjoys the time
in the kitchen chopping vegetables or watching the ingredients turn into a meal.
“It’s a time for family building. All of our favourite memories are when everyone is in the kitchen chopping.”