MaryJane Butters

"Milk Cow Kitchen" begins with milk, dairy products, and recipes and expands to almost everything that can be associated with dairy cows: milking, housing, fencing, feed, pest control, breeding, veterinary care, cows as pets, business, farm equipment, and cow decor.
The information provided tends to be straight forward, yet detailed enough to be useful. Recommendations for equipment includes brand names and a vendor to purchase it through.
Some advice can be used immediately, such as what kind of yogurt incubator to consider. Other information should be verified with other sources, such as the claim that consuming homogenized milk results in arterial plaque build-up. Laws that prohibit the sale of raw milk are designed to protect people from deadly pathogens.
Overall, this is a helpful book as a starting point that should be supplemented with additional information.… (mehr)

Milk Cow Kitchen is a book packed with information. The first half of the book has over 70 recipes to make and use milk products, (cream, butter, and cheeses). The second half of the book covers cow care. Things like milking, feeding, housing, breeding and so much more. It answers questions about farm equipment, vet care, fencing, and selling milk.
At the end of the book there are a couple of chapters that cover cow decor and cowgirl fashion. All the information in this book serves as a good introduction to raising a backyard cow for your own use or even going into the business of dairy farming.… (mehr)

Like all of MaryJane's books this one is beautifully accented with amazing photos, filled with dream-like recipes and romantic notions. Also like all of MaryJane's books this one is better for looking and recreational reading than it is for actually USING.

The recipes section contains milk and cheese related recipes which are graphically beautiful to look at. They leave a little to be desired in the actual making and success of the recipe though. If you just want to read them you will be fine. If you want to have a successful recipe, keep looking.

Also included are animal husbandry tips for keeping cows and bulls. Again, looks like a beautiful dream from the pages but in actuality you need a lot more information to take on such a task as having your own dairy cow. Plus, it isn't as glamorous as it looks in the book.

So, book is great for arm-chair reading and dream - just get yourself some real information before attempting cheese making and cow ownership.… (mehr)