living real } maryjane’s farm
G ot Milk? Cow-panionship brings it to the table By Andrea Brown Ross
Photography courtesy of MaryJane Butters
A jersey cow is not necessarily the first animal that pops into someone’s mind when thinking of a family pet. Organic farmer and author MaryJane Butters, of Moscow, Idaho, however, believes differently and has published a book professing otherwise. “Milk Cow Kitchen”, Butters’ fifth book, promotes the pioneer spirit and simpler way of life that Butters enjoys, particularly her milk cow. “I wrote “Milk Cow Kitchen” to make the point that it wasn’t very long ago that most women had at least one milk cow they could see from their kitchen window. We’ve all seen the many photos of turn-of-the-century women 22 DeSoto
dressed in starched, white dresses posing with their cows-wanting and loving a milk cow is imbedded in our very DNA. We’ve slowly replaced cow pets with dogs and cats but a ‘cow’panion feeds you.” Growing up in Utah, Butters developed a love for the outdoors at an early age. As a young adult, she was one of the first three women hired as a wilderness ranger by the United States Forest Service in 1974. By the end of that decade, Butters had relocated to Idaho with her husband where they worked as ranch hands on a 30, 000 acre ranch. Children soon followed. In the following years,