I meant to show y’all what the raw milk looks like when we get it. (Sorry for the bad picture!) This is a half-gallon jug, and most of the time there’s at least twice as much cream. But we ordered a bunch of milk, and got some of the lower fat stuff in addition to the higher-fat. The reason the pic is of the lower-fat? Because I made butter out of the other before I thought to get out my camera! 
I do know that this time I got a quart of cream and a pint of half-and-half from 1.5 gallons of milk.
Anyway, this is what it looks like, and this is the half-size ladle we got to remove the cream. I’ve tried using a turkey baster–too slow, and it stirs up the milk, un-separating the cream. I’ve tried pouring off the cream, and, well, you can guess that wouldn’t work. This ladle works perfectly. I dip gently, letting the cream fill the bowl. Then I scoop off as much cream as I can get cleanly (with no milk mixed in), and set that aside for butter. After that I scoop off the rest with whatever milk comes along, and use that for half-and-half.
Tweaking the Butter
It’s not very scientific to change several variables at once, but I did. Last week, my butter didn’t last well on the counter in our French butter crock. So I wondered if…
- I should have washed it better,
- Salting it would have helped, and
- Maybe it would last longer if it were cultured.
So, like the not-scientist that I am, I did all three. We shall see what happens.
Culturing the Butter
I am happy to report that the culturing worked nicely. I put the cream on top of the fridge with a tablespoon or so of Nancy’s yogurt. Next day it smelled delightful. I think I could have left it another 12 hours, really. But the butter was definitely more flavorful!
I’ll let you know how it lasts.
It’s easy to make peanut butter from scratch that your kids will like. You don’t need anything weird, just peanuts, honey and salt. 
Yay! I found a new source for raw milk. Yesterday, I got my first two gallons, and that included a quart of rich cream. (There was more, but that was all I could easily ladle off. I got another pint of half-and-half, besides.) So, I decided to make butter. 