One gallon. One overnight strain. More whey than I knew what to do with.
This started as my husband's idea — as so many of our adventures do. He provides the impetus and I get swept up in the actual doing of the "thing." A simple statement — "we should get some raw milk" — turned into making our own Greek yogurt, which left us with 64 ounces of whey I didn't really know what to do with, which sent me down a research rabbit hole, which led me to discover the actual difference between vinegar pickling and lacto-fermentation, which led to me lacto-fermenting watermelon radishes I grew in my own garden.
It's a long story. Buckle up — I can't promise dazzled, but I can probably manage at least a little entertained.
The Beginning
The beginning of everything: one gallon of raw, grass-fed, A2 Guernsey milk from Red Bell Farms.
I've been vegan since 2019, but I've spent the last few years really learning — like, to my core — about food and using food as medicine. I remember discussing raw milk in my NTP class and thinking I would never drink it... because, you know, vegan. As class went on and I learned more, I grew genuinely curious about it and its uses beyond just pouring it over cereal. So when my husband suggested buying a gallon, I was all for it.
Honestly? It tastes incredible — and knowing exactly where it comes from changes everything about how I feel about it.
The milk came to us through my neighbor and local legend, Valerie — she runs Oak Hollow Market and the drop point for Red Bell Farms out of southwest Missouri. If you're homesteading, hobby farming, or just trying to figure out where to start, her Homestead Helpdesk offers one-on-one mentorship and consulting that is genuinely invaluable — she's the person you want in your corner.
Red Bell is a fifth-generation family farm — purchased in 1928 by great-grandparents John and Helene Bell and still run on that same land nearly a century later. Today it's Roxanne and her daughter Emily keeping the legacy alive, milking a small herd of Guernsey cows they clearly adore. Roxanne flash-chills every batch and rotates her paddocks to make sure her girls get first pick of the grass. This is not a factory. This is a farm with a story, and you can taste it.
We had the milk in the fridge for a few days, using it for coffee and frothing it up for afternoon Dirty Chai Lattes. (Frothed raw milk is something else entirely, y'all.)
Random statement number 2 from my beloved: "We should make our own yogurt." Well. Obviously. Fantastic idea.
By this point in my life, I am firmly vegan-adjacent — meaning at home, when I know exactly where the food came from, I eat some dairy and eggs. Greek yogurt is my staple breakfast pretty much every morning, so yes — making our own was a fabulous idea. And I happened to have a very good organic yogurt on hand to use as a starter.
The Starter Sidebar
The starter: Nancy's Organic Probiotic Greek Yogurt. Best live culture lineup I could find — and yes, I know, it's nonfat. There's a story…because isn't there always?
My husband called me from the store to let me know they were out of my usual brand and asked if Nancy's was okay. He got home, looked a little more closely at the label, and promptly apologized to me for buying nonfat. Unprompted. Turns out, he really has been listening closely to me when I wax philosophical about the evils of so-called "nonfat" products.
For the uninitiated: I do not typically buy nonfat anything. "Nonfat" almost always means the fat has been removed and replaced with additives, thickeners, or fillers to mimic the mouthfeel and flavor that fat naturally provides. Not a trade worth making.
But here's why Nancy's gets a pass: I'm not eating it. I'm borrowing its bacteria. A couple of spoonfuls as a starter culture is all I need, and every bit of fat in this yogurt is coming from the full-fat Guernsey milk. Nancy's is just bringing the microbes to the party — and its live culture lineup is genuinely one of the best you'll find in a store-bought yogurt.
Making the Yogurt
We have a Ninja Instant Pot — had it for years. I'd always noticed it has a Yogurt function but, honestly y'all, it felt a little intimidating. I am here to tell you: it is the easiest thing you will ever do in your kitchen. Literally. Ever. Especially with an Instant Pot. Pour in the milk, add a spoonful of existing yogurt, press the right buttons, walk away. Hours later: yogurt.
Want it thick and high in protein? Strain it. Cheesecloth, fine mesh strainer, refrigerator, 6–8 hours. What you're left with is incredible yogurt and what I can only describe as liquid gold — whey.
I genuinely did not know whey was a tangible, real, pourable byproduct of milk. This is what 6–8 hours of patience looks like. Worth every single minute.
What's Actually in Raw Milk (And Why It Matters)
Milk straight from the cow — before it's touched by heat — is a fundamentally different product than what's sitting in a plastic jug at your grocery store. And I don't mean that in a fear-mongering way. I mean it literally, at a biological level.
Pasteurization was introduced in the early 20th century for genuinely important reasons. Tuberculosis, typhoid, brucellosis — these were real, serious threats when dairy hygiene was completely unregulated. The science made sense for the time. What's changed is sourcing transparency, farming practices, and our understanding of what we're actually destroying in that process alongside the pathogens.
Because here's what pasteurization also takes out: naturally occurring enzymes — including lactase (which helps your body digest lactose) and lipase (which helps digest fat) — beneficial bacteria native to the milk, and some heat-sensitive vitamins. It also significantly reduces lactoferrin, lysozyme, and immunoglobulins — compounds that are antimicrobial and immune-supporting.
Red Bell Farms' milk is also A2 — which refers to the type of beta-casein protein the milk contains. Most commercial dairy in the US comes from cows that produce A1 protein, which some people find harder to digest. Guernsey cows naturally produce A2, which tends to be much gentler on the gut. This is actually one of the reasons people who think they're "dairy intolerant" sometimes find they tolerate raw, grass-fed milk from A2 cows just fine.
Important note: raw milk is not appropriate for everyone. If you are immunocompromised, pregnant, elderly, or have young children in the household, please talk to your healthcare provider before consuming raw milk products. Source quality matters enormously, and this is a personal decision that deserves informed consideration.
Homemade Yogurt vs. What You Buy at the Store
By law, commercial yogurt only has to contain two bacterial strains to be called yogurt: Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. That's the legal minimum. Some brands add more — Nancy's, which I used as my starter, has an impressive lineup of additional probiotic strains. That's actually why I chose it.
But here's the thing — I started with those strains AND raw milk that has its own native microbial community. The bacteria naturally living in that milk, from those specific cows, on that specific farm, contributed to the final yogurt in ways you simply cannot replicate starting from a pasteurized blank slate. Think of it a little like sourdough — your ingredients, your environment, your specific starting materials all shape what you end up with.
Then there's the straining. When you strain yogurt through cheesecloth for 6–8 hours, the liquid that drips out — the whey — takes lactose with it. What you're left with is more concentrated protein, less sugar, and a yogurt that a lot of people who normally struggle with dairy find much easier to tolerate.
What we made is thicker, richer, more complex, and genuinely more alive than what comes in a plastic tub. And honestly? It tastes like it.
And Then There Was Whey
Three jars of yogurt. One very large jar of whey. And the beginning of a rabbit hole I was not prepared for.
If you follow my blog, you know I'm a zero waste kind of person. So here we have 64 ounces of what the internet calls pure gold — and I have absolutely no idea what to do with it.
I started learning about fermentation — like, really learning. What started as "what do I do with all this whey" turned into a deep dive into the actual science of lacto-fermentation, the difference between vinegar pickling and live-culture fermentation, and ultimately — a jar of watermelon radishes from my own garden, sitting on my counter, doing something remarkable.
We had the yogurt for breakfast this morning. It was incredible.
But the whey? The whey became something even better. That story is coming next.