Look what John and The Matriarch brought me back from Missouri. The label on the back says Flynn milk. I need to try and date the bottle.
The theory is that you let the milk sit overnight, all the cream rises then you can pour the cream off without any milk diluting it. Usually I very carefully submerge a ladle and skim the cream off the top for my coffee or to make butter or sauces. Isn’t that great!
There are a terrific number of very useful American inventions that make life easier for the homesteader. Especially in the kitchen and the fields. Many of these stunning implements are loitering in dusty bric a brac stores and antique shops and the lofts in barns. And like the butter churns and the grabber for lifting hay, post hole diggers like big tweezers, corn shuckers and sausage makers, potato shovels, coffee grinders, mangles and hoes, I am happy tor relieve them of their museum existence and use them. No electricity necessary.
And they are always built to last for centuries. I think that the people who worked the land, milking their own cow, raising their families, growing their own wheat and beans and meat and vegetables and storing it all for the winter, heating their houses with wood and planting trees to keep the house cool in summer, being sustainable and organic before the labels were touted, all without electricity, were some of the most innovative bunch I am learning about. And the bravest.
This is how we spent our Easter Sunday morning. The tree assassins are going to start setting fire to the piles of unwanted trees today so we are working against the clock to pull out firewood. My shoulders ache, but it is a good ache. The teenagers are set to help today so I have a reprieve from the job of hauling the wood out of the piles. John is hoping to get a couple more loads. While they are off doing that I shall split and stack this lot.
Thankfully we have a wood splitting thingy that attaches to the green tractor. I have two sharp axes, but I really do prefer to take the easy way out when dealing with this much wood at a time. And as you know I prefer to pack my own woodshed (we call it the Wendy House) so that in the dark of the winter I know exactly where to go to grab the weight of wood that I want.
I have a wee list of people who would like a tree planted in their name. What an absolutely stunning thing. Thank you so much for wanting to do this. It is a joyful task for me and you can watch your own trees grow on these pages. I have a lovely local tree nursery, you and I will visit it today in my break and start to make some choices.
Have a lovely day.
love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
59 responses to “Milk bottle from Missouri”
Good morning Celi nice wood I have more than i can cleanup of red and white oak, popular, ash and some i don’t even know what it is ? in an out of trees im gonna have to climb them! to get the widow makers out have a blessed day SAINTS
You will be busy too, What are widow makers? c
Please plant a tree for me too — thanks
Of course i will Vesta, I will put you on the list! c
What a wonderful share today Cecilia… love it…
Morning honey.. hope you were not too chilly at smoko time this morning! c
All that lovely, lovely winter heat, all bundled up in tree-form! If the weather holds today, we’re going to start gathering the big branches that are down all over, and deciding what is useful like it is (fencing, bean tepees, Little Girl Toys) and what goes on the chipper pile…That will be used to mulch the paths, and make more compost. Wish there were some willing teenagers around to help!
It is a chore and noisy to run the chipper but getting a big pile of chips is great! I look forward to seeing teepees~ c
I am so happy you can get some of that wood and use it. Otherwise,what a waste. I know what you mean about being resourceful. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota and we did all that to conserve, plus we had little money so it was the only way to get it. We burned corn cobs also for heat and cooking on the old blck kitchen stove. I never felt poor or deprived. It was a great way to grow up.
I would LOVE to have an old black kitchen stove to cook on, Such an efficient thing, but I still cannot find one, and i refuse to pay thousands for a new one.. that is if i could find one of those either! c
hi celi! what a great bottle. i don’t think i ever saw one of these before. glad to see the wood is at least going to good use! joyce
It is a very cool bottle, easy to get the cream off for your butter churn now! c
Chopping your own firewood warms you TWICE . . . 😉
Cool bottle.
yes it does nancy, we were lucky that this wood came in while it is still cool.. gathering firewood in the heat is a torture.. c
I’m glad you get to use some of the wood. Great bottle too 😉
would love a tree planted for me too. my landlord cut down my two beauties here 😦
How sad to lose your trees, I shall certainly plant one for you.. I think maybe a pear for you.. what do you think.. c
Where in MIssouri where they? (Missouri being my home state and all….) 🙂
Over close to Lebanon.. Johns brother has a dairy farm down there! morning miss t c
I would love a tree planted for me, too, but I’m afraid you’re getting too many requests now. I would feel like I have my very own piece of the farmy. Just a teeny one would do, any kind.
So Sad that those beautiful bottles are being replaced with non-biodegradable plastic crap ..(sigh).
Hope the Easter Bunny left you an egg or two in that woodpile … for sustenance while working:). Laura
Please plant a tree for me too.
Of course equus darling.. and any time you feel like coming on down to water it you are most welcome!
What a beautiful bottle! I hope your arms aren’t too tired from hauling and chopping to be able to post tomorrow! (even if you use the machine, I KNOW there is a lot of hauling involved…)
There is and I have popped in for a rest, I will do a little bit every day until it is done!.. c
Sorry you spent your Easter on the wood pile but it had to be done if you’re to have a warm Winter this year. A few of those bottles certainly would make it easier for you to separate the cream in Daisy’s milk. I’ll look around at the 2nd hand stores to see if they have any that aren’t being sold as antiques. I’m off to the bakery and pet shop. Have a great day, Celi!
Ah the bakery, that makes me feel hungry! c