adventures in making butter

A had a friend spend the night this weekend. Needless to say, there wasn't much sleep going on. That was okay though, this is DD's best friend L. L and her family are headed out of town for nearly 2 months. (That's how we roll around here. If you are going to spend the money to get off the island, you better make it worth it!)  A won't see L until March, and 2 weeks later we leave to head to the 'real world' for a month. These two girls are going to miss each other, that is for sure. So after playing all evening, getting very little sleep, and spending all day Saturday playing outside in the fresh snow, setting traps for ground squirrels, and playing with their American Girl dog sleds, they headed inside to warm up.

I figured it was a good time to make butter. Both these girls are studying colonial times. (L is homeschooled too, and it's cool to watch them both learning the same thing. It comes out in there imaginative play each time) 
They were super excited about it, so we grabbed a mason jar, some heavy cream, and 2 marbles. Filled the jar with the cream and marbles, screwed the lid on tight and....
SHOOK!
 and shook some more....
 And some more.... this took a really long time! Finally the butter rose to the top, separating from the pure, fresh buttermilk left behind.
We scooped out the butter, and dug the marbles out of course, then on a cutting board mixed the butter around with a spoon, pressing out the excess liquid. Added a little salt and ....
 Butter!
 Nothing better than homemade butter on fresh bread made by A and I the day before.
 No two colonial girls could have been cuter!



Comments

Sandra said…
So cute :) I make butter all the time, but never add the marbles, is there a specific reason you do that?

Thank you for your comment on my blog, I appreciate it :)
What a great pair they are together and really neat that they made butter.

Gill
Tammy said…
Very cute girls, and a neat learning activity. I love reading about your adventures up there.

Stay warm!
Amanda said…
Sandra- I used the marbles so the girls would have an audible way to tell something was happening. At first the marbles make a lot of noise rolling around in there, but as it gets thick and then starts to separate the noise is less as the marbles become stuck in the butter LOL.

Gill- Aww, thanks for the comment. They are an awesome pair and just complement each other so well.

Tammy- Thanks. I'm so glad you have fun seeing our adventures. Trying to stay warm, it is snowing out right now, but it is definitely warmer here in Alaska than in parts of the lower 48 right now. My in-laws in PA are much colder than us today. CRAZY! LOL