Fools Rush In: How to create a debacle with yogurt

I was awfully tempted not to write this post, but a recent bible study on humility along with the hope that my fumble could save someone else the trouble prompted me to plunge ahead.  So, remember the Mother's Day yogurt tasting party?  Well, don't tell anyone who ate it, but by the next day most of the yogurt was pretty nasty.  I went to reculture it with raw milk, and the smell 'bout knocked me over.  The best way to describe it was "very yeasty."  Yogurt has a rather distinctive odor, that I've come to enjoy over the years.  This was not it.  Walking the fine line between bravery and stupidity, I took a small taste of the viili, and it reminded me alot of Fun Dip.  This was not at all the smooth taste of the day before, what had gone wrong?

The first misstep I took was veering off my normal path of researching something to death before embarking upon it.  I saw a post with some information about yogurt, jumped to the website it mentioned, and bought the pack with the most variety.  What was I thinking!  Then, as I found out when I was attempting to diagnose my yogurt issue, I found out that this particular website had very poor customer service.  The next day, I came across the Cultures for Heath website which was positively chock full of helpful information and suggestions.  I will definitely be purchasing here next time!  They even had videos, which seem to be my best learning tool.

After much research, I found that ALL the cultures I had were pretty much destroyed and I had wasted quite a bit of precious Raw milk.  My kids are now on short rations (much to their dismay as they have become avid milk drinkers since we switched to Raw) to get us through until our next cowshare pickup. 

How did I end up in this place?  A lack of research and a whole lot of hurry.  I wanted to get them all cultured because they would spoil if I waited.  I wanted to have it done in time for Sunday.  I tried to do too much at once. 

What am I going to do differently?  Baby steps!  Baby steps to the dairy...  Baby steps to my first reusable yogurt culture...  Baby steps to buttermilk culture...  Maybe even baby steps to kefir or kombucha! (don't you just love "What About Bob?")

Here's to accountability!

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm publishing my first pictures on this blog.  Sorry they're not very appetizing :(.