Two days ago, on one of those tremendously hot days, Daisy launched herself into the milking parlour. She always pours through the door at speed, she has never and will never be a gentle giant of a cow. The moment she hears the bell she takes two steps backwards to accomodate the opening half barn door, and the moment it is open enough she propels her one ton body in through the gap.
That day I moved around to the side of her head to click the tether onto her collar and oops.. no collar. She had lost it. Already her head was deep in her treats tray so, after a pause, I just clicked the leather catch beside her ear, patted her, saying the usual things, and proceeded with the milking. She behaved exactly as she always does. As though she were actually tethered. Later I looked for the collar but she has hidden it out there somewhere. So I have just continued to pretend clip her ON and pretend clip her OFF. 
Last night I forgot to pretend clip her OFF. Yhe last steps of our routine are always the same. I take off the cups, apply the iodine, open a side door and take out a small handful of the extremely popular lambs quarters hay, then open the barn door to the yards and place it out there, leaving the door open as I return. I come back in, unclip her and slap her on the rump in a friendly way and say, ‘There you go, Boss. Off you go, Daisy. Off you go’ And she turns herself completely around and out she goes. Last night I did the door, I did the hay, I opened the other door, popped the hay out, walked back in, slapped her on the rump, said,’ There you go Boss, off you go, Daisy Off you go.’ And she did not move. Her four big feet stayed firmly planted in the same place and she continued to stare at her empty tray, heaving a great sigh and waiting. I patted her again. ‘Off you go boss. Off you go, Daisy.’
Still no reaction. I raised my hand to pat her again and move her off when she turned to look at me.
Keeping all four feet in exactly the same place, she turned her head at an angle and looked at me standing at her rump. She reached her head around to the exact length of her pretend tether and quite clearly said. ‘You have not unhooked me you stupid blond.’
‘Oops, I said sorry Daisy. I forgot to pretend Unclip you.’ I moved to the correct side, picked up her tether from its ring on the wall, clicked the clip by her ear then dropped it back with its usual thunk.
Thank you, she said, you can carry on now. And she turned her massive body around and out the door she went. Muttering about how it is hard to get decent help nowadays and don’t be giving too much of that good milk to those no-good lay-about cats. 
It was significantly cooler yesterday. We all breathed a continuous sigh of relief. I love that word sigh. There is such gentleness in that word. We also exhaled a glorious sigh of relief when it rained too. Just a little rain but wet.
Good morning. Daisy has been giving so much beautiful milk with cream that yesterday I made icecream. The Tall Teenager has returned too, so this is a wee welcome home treat. This is French Vanilla icecream. 
And just out of the shot is the Tall Teenager, muddy from filling the water troughs (thank you God), with his spoon poised, saying hurry up already, it is melting. It may be cooler but it is still hot enough to melt icecream in a hurry.
The guttering needs repair.. ah well. On the list.
French Vanilla Icecream made with raw milk.
In a pot I heated 2 cups of whole fresh milk and 1 split vanilla pod until hot. Turn off the heat when the first bubble breaks. Do not boil. Allow to sit.
- In a bowl
- Whisk 5 egg yolks
- 1 cup of sugar (brown or white)
- 3 tablespoons of honey
- big pinch of salt
(I made this sweet as a treat for the boys.) Slowly combine the egg mixture into the hot milk. Back to the stove and heat stirring until 180F(82C) and thicker.
Strain and add 2 cups of cream. Refrigerate until cold then proceed to your ice cream maker. Freeze the ice cream afterwards to let it harden. This icecream was the best I have ever eaten and I do not have a sweet tooth.
If you want to make icecream to have with your high tea, start it in the morning. It all take a while.
Good morning. Yesterday was a wonderful day of the most tremendous support and care. All day comments poured in from you, encouraging me to look after myself and growling me for staying out in the heat too long. There were many stern voices! I think what you all created yesterday was a bubble of loving and encouragement so strong that it will have encompassed you all as well. We are now more together in this enterprise than ever before. You and I. Thank you. I will be good I promise.
As I was meant to be resting, I spent a fair part of the day (when I was not making cheese and ice cream) trolling about reading many of your blogs, confident that you would go and find my comments should they tip over into the Spam Can. My internet connection even sped up to a crawl which was helpful. There is so much lovely work out there. Thank you.
It is cooler again this morning. We will have a good day.
I can hear Minty calling. Time to begin.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
83 responses to “I Scream you Scream we all Scream for Icecream”
Pretend clipping–ha! Love it–and Daisy. So glad for your respite from the heat–you worry us on the hot days. Thanks too for a gracious blog and comments. I read a blog yesterday that was so unkind to readers–I won’t return there, but the kitchensgarden is such a welcoming place.
How funny – it just goes to show how much the animals trust you!
Nice cream too 😉
Nicecream! That is it not icecream – it is nicecream! Morning Mad! c
Just yesterday, I came across a farm that sells (state certified) raw milk. I will go and buy some to make this ice cream for my husband ~ he will be a happy man!
J
how exciting.. all that goodness in an ice cream cone! c
I’m so glad you rested some and that the weather added moisture in the form of rain instead of humidity. Rain does help everyone!
I should be traveling into town today sometime in which I will head to the Post. Once I get my package off I will let you know.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
The ice cream looks great. The last I made turned to more like butter. Our milk is so rich and I didn’t skim it and it called for twice as much cream as milk! My kids ate it anyway but I thought it was awful! I think I’ll try your recipe. I just love the way your animals are trained. We’re working with our new calf in hopes that she’ll be well behaved. This will be the first one not being sold and all our others came as adults except for calves raised to sell. Have a great day and enjoy the coolness. We’re supposed to be 88 today and 64 tonight! YIPPEE!
that is so funny about daisy. these guys love their routines. teddy lets me know if i am a minute off of hers. they keep us on schedule! did you get yourself an ice cream maker? i know i am constantly complaing about this but the rain missed us entirely. it is still hot and humid too. teddy just lays in front of the fan all day waiting for a change but there is none in sight. though the temps are down a bit, the humidity is not so it doesn’t feel much different. hope you all have a cooler day!
yes John bought home the ice cream attachment for my mixer the day after i fell over from the heat.. well times i think! c
Daisy is hilarious–and just like your other readers–I love her all the more. Can you believe there are people in this world who don’t credit animals with any feelings much less brains at all!
I think it’s an amazing thing that Daisy has the ability to adapt to such a routine that even fake harnessing holds her to her post! Good girl! And I’m delighted you had a break in the weather so that at least it felt like a bit of relief. The animals must have liked that, too! Great ice cream recipe. I make a nice ice cream, but there is no comparison, I’m sure, to the freshness of your ingredients! I liked the addition of honey, too. I’m going to try that. 🙂 Debra
Aww Daisy melts my heart! Animals become so routine it’s crazy! Maybe bc we’re so routine with them? Probably a bit of both! Even though she’s bc and not so gentle, you can tell by the way you write of her, that she is still a giant sweetie pie! Glad it finally cooled down there! It did here too, but by Thursday it’s reaching up with the humidity again!
Should I, shouldn’t I. Should I, shouldn’t I. I don’t have an ice cream maker. (exasperated sigh…)
oh.. poo.. ah well! c
As always, I continue to be amazed at how you can manage all the little and BIG things! And constantly add a touch of grace to your day/life. I am so sorry about your near-stroke experience: please take care. We are immensely spoiled here in New England: if it gets a touch over 90 degrees we all wilt—and eat LOTS of ice cream.
Oh lovely rain, and I’m so happy it’s cooler for you too…we “may” get some rain tomorrow I hope, and a break in the heat. It’s a desert here right now. What a sweet Daisy story. It doesn’t surprise me because you have such a rapport with your animals, but what a wonderful experience to share and so humorously told! Okay, now I see what ice cream I will have to make next. So far this year I’ve only made my peach and some sorbets, and while I can’t get the raw milk, the recipe (and the result) look too amazing to pass up! Hope your day is sweet, celi.
What a darling story of you and Daisy…life on the farmy..wow!! And your ice cream looks like a dream!! That first shot of the barn and sky is beautiful….as are all your photos!! Yes, please stay cool in that horrid heat…I know that’s hard to do being a “bubble” headed blonde!! :)) We all love you!!
Bubble heads are hard to come by you know!! c
Never has a temp of 85˚ seemed so cool and refreshing! Yesterday the neighborhood came alive. Everyone was in their yards, talking over fences, reconnecting. It was nice to see.
My, but you have Daisy well trained! That ice cream looks great and your recipe sounds delicious! I’ve not brought my machine “out” yet. I’ve been eating plenty of cheese lately and just don’t need any more milk fat in my diet. This will change soon enough.
Have a great day, Celi!
Still, if you could bring your machine out just once so we can see your recipe?.. or is it loitering about on your site already, i must look! c
What an amazingly intelligent cow she is – that´s incredible! And if you could get to to me before it melted, I´d order a litre of that delicious ice cream right now!
Now, where did i park my time machine! c