Could be a difficult question-

Thanks for the support.

It's a blessing and a curse, but I'm a total Type A. Totally through and through. I didn't walk away from a house that was paid for, that I spent 12 years remodeling to my liking, 3 miles from the charter school my kids attend, to take on $300k in debt at 40 years old to buy my rennet. It was goats that brought me here-driven by an insane need to make sure my kids weren't raised on the SAD that's loaded with processed, GMO filled chemicals. And of course, a way to insulate my family from the modern world and learn and teach skills they will need when the gov't takes us back to 1906. I'm an autodidact; what I've learned has been here and through google. And I don't plan to stop with watching You Tube to learn to process a chicken!

What might be living in the gut of a baby goat that's living on my land, his mother fed with my standards, is far better than ANYTHING that would *ever* come off the shelf at a grocery store. How will I keep flies off of it? Not sure-mosquito netting? The instructions I've seen tell you how much to use and how to store it. It will be a learning process.

And slaughtering a baby goat won't be easy, but neither was killing a chicken. Not the same, I'm sure, but I truly believe that to be the best steward for the animal you must be able to handle all aspects of it's life. Kind of like that scene in Cold Mountain where the goat lady, who clearly cherished her animals, slaughtered one for meat. I've only killed roughly 50 birds so far, but before each one I've said a prayer of thanks for each life that nourishes my children. I won't skip that part when harvesting rennin from my buckling.

This is not something I take lightly. I do not see my animals as meaningless critters who do not deserve respect and love. I've been called a barbarian more than once since I've started living like this. I just chalk it up to people really not being able to see my POV-and that's okay. I don't always understand where other people are coming from, either.

I think it would be a good skill to have. I may give it a try, depending on how well you do with it.

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http://www.ehow.com/how_8577483_do-extract-rennet.html

I would like to learn to make rennet too. Let us know how it turns out! Good luck!

Good luck Shannon! Please let's us know how it turns out. While there is way too much on my plate to do something like that kudos to you for giving it a shot. I am way to new at cheese making to go that route. I don't think there is anything wrong with putting all the bucklings to use.

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Livin' the good life

I've experienced this same weird, twisted judgment from people since we started living this lifestyle as well. I used to get upset about it and lecture people on the living conditions of the meat THEY eat, but I never really got through to them. I quit trying.

Now when they say, "I can't BELIEVE you're going to eat <whatever animal is being discussed>!" I respond with, "OF COURSE I'm not going to eat her... but I'm gonna eat her babies!". Then I cackle maniacally and watch them run away.

Here's a really good tutorial on rennet making:
Rennet Preparation at home

Let us know how it turns out!

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April
Southeast Missouri
Nubians, Boers, Jersey cows and a whole lotta ticks