Yesterday I made kefir and yoghurt. Kefir for me and yoghurt for Mia. Yoghurts contain probiotics, a probiotic is the opposite of an antibiotic. And guess who has been shot full of antibiotics. 
Mia had some of her insides literally dragged through some pretty unclean areas before being washed and tucked back in. We decided that she was at terrible risk for infection, so over the course of those first two days I gave her two shots of broad spectrum penicillin, an antibiotic. Note the broad spectrum. I know this is not organic but I believe absolutely that this was necessary. However the antibiotic depletes the good and bad bacterias in the gut as it surges through. Although it is useful to fight an extreme case of infection the penicillin is indiscriminate. This is only a theory but it makes sense to me. In our family we always follow penicillin with a probiotic. Though I have not had an antibiotic in over twenty years. I have been lucky.
So now to help her quickly build Mia’s little bacterial ecosystem back up and tend to her gut health, (probiotics are also widely used for bowel and vaginal health). I shall feed her a small pot of home made yoghurt (garlic flavoured), every day, for a good while. I will just mix this into her small corn and oats ration, along with a dash of real cider vinegar and feed her seperately. I will only add a little initially so she gets used to the taste and build it up as we go. We need to do everything we can to help her fight for her own recovery. 
I collected some good fresh raw milk from the farmer down the road. Heated it to almost boiling point, cooled it, then added my sachet of yoghurt culture (or 1/4 cup of fresh plain Greek yoghurt- I use Danon) For the next 6 batches I will use a pot of this yoghurt as a restarter, after that we will start afresh. Otherwise Lactobacilli (which is a bit more acidic) becomes too dominant.
This is just for Mia, I am not touching Mama’s diet at all as she is toddling along just nicely, and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it! Mama will get yoghurt after her lambs are born (knock on wood my friends!)
Incidently yoghurt is also good for the gut health of your chickens, just mix it into their grain. And your dogs and cats and yourself of course. 
For me I made a batch of Kefir. Because drinking your probiotics in a smoothie is dellicious. Kefir is a fermented milk. I use the starter sachets as I have not come across anyone with the granules yet. The grains are hard to find. (Certainly impossible to find around here where they think that Probiotics is the name of a transformer!) It will take about 24 hours to start working, then I will make wonderful smoothies with the last of the frozen blueberries or my peach preserves. Or maybe I will get all outrageous and mix them all together! But only mix in your fruit when you are ready to drink the smoothie. So all the good bacteria stay intact.
For my vegan friends you can make a water Kefir, which is tasty too, especially mixed with fruit. And your insides will thank you.
Good morning! Yesterday we had another day of dreadful wind, but a notch down. Only a small notch though, it was so strong at one point that it smashed another barn door open, releasing the cows into the big wide world. It seems the wind is determined to get them out. I looked out the window and Daisy was out in the drive licking the newly returned Green Dodge ’53 truck. What can you do with a cow like that? She was encouraging the Bobby to come over for a taste when The Matriarch and I went out with buckets and led them back in. Of course Daisy was faster than me and got her big fat head right IN the bucket pushing it to the ground and I had to drag the bucket along pulling the half ton of munching cow with me, but we managed in the end and now they really are locked into the barn. Poor wee Queenie was a bit slow on the uptake and was still in the pen looking out the window!
It is raining this morning. I love the rain in little inch doses like this. After everyone’s breakfast, I will go out with my tools and girlie arms and make some repairs so the cows can come back out into their playground. (Animals have to be outside especially in this lovely rain) Then on the weekend John will surreptitiously dismantle my pathetic repairs and do them again with the right stuff. He will not say a word to me, I will just find them refixed correctly. And all will be good.
Everyone was well and happy at my 4am check, and so now Off We Go to start our day.
Good morning
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
78 responses to “Probiotics for penicillin tummies..”
I have never heard of Kefir but it sounds intriguing..maybe it is the fermented part!
Good stuff.. morning Chris! c
Glad to hear that Mia is doing well.
She is coming along.. keep those fingers crossed though! c
I know all too well the problems that antibiotics can cause to one’s digestive tract. I said it before, Mia’s lucky she’s got you caring fo her. Even so — and granted I now absolutely nothing of these things — her recovery seems to be progressing very quickly. And that’s great! Appears like things on the farmy are settling back to normal. That’s great, too! Enjoy your Thursday, Celi.
Well she is up and about, but less spirited today.. I hope this is not a bad sign, we will keep plugging along.. c
I occasionally make my own yogurt, Celi, but never thought of making Kefir. How interesting! For some reason I never liked milk, even as a child, but I’ll eat the plainest, unadulterated yogurt and find it satisfying. I just assume my body knows I need it! I hope the repairs have been going well today and that John is so impressed he doesn’t need much of a re-do! Enjoy the light rain, and still sending Mia a few prayers! Debra
Thank you Debra, Kefir does not taste like milk so you might like it! Have a great afternoon! c
Fascinating start to finish. Thank you so much for what you give us every single day.
Morning charlotte, I hope you are having a great day.. c
Hi Celi!
I’m glad everything is back on track after the huge scare with Mia 🙂
She is still in the pet category Giovanna!! have a good one.. c
I’m sure I saw somewhere that a farm in Wales was feeding cows garlic and it stopped them producing methane!
Good evening, Celi. Good evening farmy’kins. Is this kefir anything like Danish Koldskål? http://miskcooks.com/2011/08/12/the-letter-k-is-for-koldskl/
I’ve taken probiotics for years to prevent recurrences of diverticulitisis. Works a charm.
I have heard that it can be useful for all manner of conditions, I am thrilled that it works for you .. now I am zooming off to your link.. morning misky
O Mia Mine…you do have the best human in the world. Thank goodness you are so healthy, capable and willing, Celi. John is very wise as well as handy! 😀
I am ridiculously healthy really, must be all that butter!! c
Probiotics and home made Keffir is grand. So what flavorings do you add to get the farm animals to eat it. Do you make them a smoothie in the mornings?
Garlic and molasses. They will eat anything that has molasses on it! Morning Bam! c
Your wonderful additions to the feed should have everything corrected soon. At least I hope so.
So do I Karen! I hope so too.. c
Growing up on a ranch, I know how hard real life can be. You are doing a great job.
Oh you will know then Karen! ranching is a much bigger scale but the still very committed work.. c
You are such a good mama to your animals. I suppose you have to be to help them fight for life. John is a good man, probably proud that you go with your girlie arms and do your best to fix the problem. Probiotics is fairly new here. No one ever mentioned them until I got a new doctor a couple years ago.
It is funny that such an old and essential food just slipped through the cracks and was forgotton.. But NO MORE!! c
I’m so sorry to hear about Mia and how she lost her twins. That’s so sad! You are doing such a great job of looking after her. What an enormous effort! My daughter has been on very strong antibiotics for an infection she had and she’s on probiotics but we bought them at the chemist! Now I know how to make my own and I’m sure they would be better and cheaper than what we bought!
Oh yes, and maybe the fresh ones would be easier to digest.. Find some kefir if you can and go the smoothie way, it is fantastic.. I am a huge fan now! c
Good morning Celi, hope you have a better weekend. I always travel with probiotics for in case 🙂
Morning tandy, I made your tortillas last night. they were as easy as you said and went down really well! I think they will become a staple in the kitchen! We have never had them as I refused to buy the processed ones! Thank you.. c
Oh my you have been having a time of it lately. I have just been catching up on your life. Hope the little Mia is doing OK now and that the winds have abated. I am exhausted just reading about that storn. One day I will try kefir but in the meantime I continue on with my yoghurt making and the odd bit of strained labneh. I have French yoghurt enzymes to play with and I have tried various European cultures too, at one point I had four different ones on the go, all with different characteristics but I couldn’t keep it up so now stick to one. Take care dearheart, your writing goes from strength to strength. x Joanna
French Yoghurt! I used to love the yoghurt when I was there. Imagine having different cultures for yoghurt, I never even thought of that. How interesting.. Thanks Joanna c