Two Pallets of Milk Donated!

 
If you don't ask the question, you won't get the answer. That's my philosophy about wanting more information, and I'm sure glad I asked the question! My question was, "Tell me about The Giving Cow program."

Let me explain. Last month I was invited to speak at the corporate offices of Cub Foods at a meeting for their Dairy Department managers. Why me? Well, who better to talk about where dairy begins than a dairy farmer? I shared information about my family farm, what we do, and also our community involvement. The milk from our farm is sold to DFA (Dairy Farmers of America) who own Kemps so I ended with this quote from the Kemps website which perfectly sums up our goal here at Bremer Farms.

"... we've always been there for each other. It's in our DNA - work hard, love your family and take care of your neighbors. It's a commitment to do the right thing. It's a way of life we live by every day supporting local programs that nourish families, build communities, and work to leave our world in better shape than we found it."

So this led me to my question, "What can we do for the community and what is The Giving Cow program all about?" And here is Kemps answer- "Milk is one of the most requested items from food shelves, but unfortunately, it's rarely donated. So we've created Kemps Giving Cow Milk. Every time you buy Kemps milk, we donate Giving Cow milk to kids-in-need."

A week later I received a phone call from Christina of Kemps announcing that Kemps and Cub Foods would like to donate TWO PALLETS of milk to our local food shelf, Hastings Family Service. That's over 6,000 cartons of milk! I'll admit it, I was so excited that I cried while on the phone.

One of two pallets of Giving Cow milk!

So last week representatives from Kemps, Cub Foods, and myself, presented the milk to Hastings Family Service.

Amy (HFS), Christina (Kemps), Jayme (Kemps), Tara (Cub Foods), Janet (Bremer Farms), Amy and Deana (HFS)

As  a DFA/Kemps dairy farmer I am proud to say that our farm is a part of making this donation happen. Bremer Farms appreciates the support that Kemps and Cub Foods gives to communities like ours.

The Giving Cow milk is ultra pasteurized which means it is shelf stable and requires no refrigeration. This is important to food pantries which typically do not have adequate refrigeration space.

L Is For Local

Did you know milk is local? In just 48 hours milk travels from the farm to the milk plant and then it's off to your grocery store. Our milk goes to Dean's Foods (Land O' Lakes) in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Take a look at the journey milk goes on to get to you and your family-

Did you ever wonder what milk plant your milk comes from?
Each milk jug is stamped with the "use by" date and a 4 or 5 digit code which identifies what milk plant that jug was packaged in. It looks like this...

 You can go to the website Where Is My Milk From and type in this code, and you will find where this milk is bottled. I typed in 27-168. Mine came from the Kemps Plant in Minneapolis, only 20.4 miles from our farm!

See you tomorrow!

Minnesota's Newest Farm Hand

Hannah Holstein at the Minnesota State Fair

Day 3

Today Hannah Holstein became a "Little Farm Hand", probably the littlest Farm Hand! Our first destination at the Minnesota State Fair was the "Little Farm Hands" exhibit sponsored by Kemps. This interactive display walks "Little Farm Hands" and their families through the farming process beginning with purchasing the seed. Come along as Hannah experiences education and entertainment rolled into one exciting journey through the eyes of a farmer.

After buying seeds, Hannah drove her pedal tractor to plant them.

Hannah waited her turn to milk the cow.

After milking the cow, collecting eggs, picking apples and harvesting the garden, it was time for a rest with Farmer Charlie Brown. The last stop was the grocery store where we could spend some of our farm income. 

This entire experience is so much fun for the Little Farm Hands and all along the route there are kid friendly farm facts that even the moms and dads can learn from.

The best part of this exhibit is how much the families are learning about farming. The amount of knowledge farmers need and their dedication to their land and animals is very clear throughout the display. Thank you Kemps for giving the city folks a little taste of the country life!

Hannah wanted her picture taken with the Kemps State Fair cow.