all the pretty milk cows

princess and hemlock. they are our jersey milkers. princess calved just recently and so is producing the most magnificent gallons of creamy milk. milking has become my favorite time of the farm day. 7 in the brilliant fall morning and 7 in the chilled and damp night.

to be that close to a cow. to a sweet large animal like princess or hemlock. to breathe in their mud grass sweet scent with your head resting on their side. to get odd and large muscles in your once delicate hands. to give the first spots of milk to the farm kitten. to sit there and milk and talk and sing with girlfriends you feel like you've known forever. to return to the milk house with gallons of fresh warm milk. to turn that into butter and yogurt and ricotta and mozzarella. all with your own hands. this is the beautiful side of farming. the part that gets me out of bed at 6h while the sun is making her way across the berkshires. all to start the day not with coffee or tea or the paper but with these two gorgeous cows.