There was once a sweet family who lived in a big city; a mom and a dad and a little girl and a little boy.
One day, they went to the farmers market as this is where families who live in a big city can find fresh fruit and veggies. The farmers market was full of red nectarines, juicy cherries and pretty white cauliflowers. But the thing that caught the little girl's attention, was the wholesome, sweet smell of freshly baked bread. She was delighted when her dad said she could choose whichever loaf she wanted.
'Oh!' she exclaimed happily, 'when we get home we can have warm bread and butter for lunch.' She smiled broadly as fresh bread and butter was one of her favourite treats.
Alas, when the family arrived home and unpacked the warm bread for lunch, the mommy realised that she had forgotten to buy butter from the supermarket the day before.
The little girl began to cry. 'But I waaaaaaaaaant bread and butter!' she lamented.
'Don't cry' said her clever mom. 'Butter doesn't only come from the supermarket' she explained. She knew this because when she was a little girl, she had lived on a dairy farm, and she could remember how her granny had made butter from fresh cream. Luckily the mom had not forgotten to get cream from the supermarket the day before and knew that there was a fresh jar in the fridge.
'I'll teach you how to make butter from cream, just like my granny taught me', the mommy told her daughter.
This is what they did. They collected a clean jar with a lid, two clean marbles and the fresh cream from the fridge.
The little girl put the cream and then the two marbles into the jar and the mommy closed the lid tightly.
Then they took turns shaking the jar. This was hard work but the mommy told the little girl that their hard work would be worth the delicious butter. At first the marbles made a clanking sound as they were shaken with the cream.
But then the cream thickened and the little girl could no longer hear the sound of the marbles. 'This is a good sign' her mother told her. 'It means that our cream is becoming butter. When you hear the marbles again, it will mean that our cream has turned to butter.' The little girl shook the jar diligently and listened for the sound of the marbles.
Suddenly she heard them. The unmistakable 'clank, clank' as they hit against the side of the jar. And, looking at the jar, she saw that the cream had separated into yellow butter and while buttermilk.
'It's butter!' she cried.
The mom smiled as she poured the buttermilk into a glass and then spooned the freshly made butter into a dish.
She was sure not to forget to extract the two marbles from the butter as she wouldn't want one of her precious children to swallow them!
Then she took the glass of buttermilk and shared it between the four of them. It was the little boy who liked it the best.
In fact, it was the best drink he had ever tasted and he drank the whole glass clean.
The mom spread their freshly made butter onto their fresh bread and passed it around her family for lunch.
The little girl was so very happy and ate 4 slices!
'Yum!' she said. 'So, butter doesn't come from the supermarket, it comes from cream!' she sang and her mother smiled. However, her mother's smile faulted a little when she heard her daughter continue, 'and cream comes from the supermarket!'
Blessings and magic.
+July+10.jpg)
