Where, Oh Where Has My Little Blog Gone?

And I thought June was crazy busy! The month of June brought me to my computer everyday as each day I shared a dairy topic in honor of June Dairy Month. Whew! A blog post each day can be fun, exhilarating, and exhausting. There will never be a month as busy as June, I heard myself saying. 

Wrong!

Nearly 2 weeks (yes, I have failed you, and I apologize) 

have passed since writing, so it is time to catch up on 

what's been happening on, and off, Bremer Farms.

Farmer John and daughter Sara both celebrate their birthdays in July. Farmer John got his gift early as you may remember his automatic gate opener was installed as soon as it arrived. You can see it in action here. When I asked Sara what was on her birthday wish list, her response was plywood! If you know Sara you may already realize her thoughts can be a bit out-of-the-box, so this came as no surprise. She has plans for an even bigger, HUGE Christmas display on the farm this coming December and plywood will help to make it happen. John and I presented her with a Menard's gift card to get her a step closer to seeing her dream come true. You can bet her masterpiece will be featured on my blog later this year.

 

July is also our city's annual festival "Rivertown Days." Since Hastings sits on the banks of the Mississippi River, we celebrate the Mighty Mississippi  and its beauty for four days each summer. The celebration culminates on Sunday with the grand day parade. Our family creates the float for son Michael's workplace, Hastings Community Television. This year Michael's boss chose to highlight Michael's show Take A Hike, Mike. After sewing 28 yards of skirting for the float, and outfitting 20 wanna-be-hikers with plaid shirts and bindle sticks (Mike's signature attire), it was time to roll down the parade route.

 Even our farm truck got washed and decorated for a day off the farm to pull the float.

Sara also got her very own float as Hastings Teacher of the Year!

I know it looks like I'm just taking a milk break, but I'm also showing off a thank you gift from Midwest Dairy. This month I was asked to make a little video on why I share my dairy story. Why do I think it's important to be a Champion for Dairy? Take a look...

 Bremer Farms was also recently visited by our 

County Commissioner, Mike Slavik.

 Mike's goal is to visit farms in his district to talk to farmers about issues that affect all of us. Mike understands the importance of  farming and "goes to the source" to get farmer's perspective.

 Farmer John shows County Commissioner Mike Slavik our calf barn while discussing current issues that affect farming.

I can't think of a better way to end the hectic month of July than with freshly made cheese curds. These ridiculously good cheese curds come from Redhead Creamery. You may remember their name from reading Say Cheese, Please. Congratulations to Alise and Lucas for achieving their dream of starting an on-farm, ecologically friendly, cheese plant.

I'll be back in a few days to share a few more July tidbits. Did I mention I also taught Summer school this month? And what about the root beer floats...and  our two building projects on the farm...and the crops we have been harvesting...and...

The end of July also brought the end of National Ice Cream Month, but that doesn't mean the end of eating ice cream! Oh no it doesn't!

This And That Thursday -11

A little bit of this and a little bit of that- here's what we've been up to. 

Jan, Toby Gerhart, Sara, Michael, John

This past Tuesday was our visit from Minnesota Viking football player Toby Gerhart. You can read about it on my post, It's Toby Day!  Our day was well covered by lots of media including television, radio, magazines and newspapers. I have listed several links here if you would like to learn more about Toby's day at Bremer Farms.

Hoard's Dairyman- NFL player visits Minnesota dairy farm

Minneapolis StarTribune- Meet Toby Gerhart...Dairy Farmer?

KSTP-5 TV- Toby Gerhart Visits Dairy Farm

Minnesota Farm Network- Bremer Farms, Hastings Enjoy Visit by Minnesota Viking Toby Gerhart

The Viking Age- Toby Gerhart Becomes A Dairy Farmer For a Day  
ESPN- Around The Horns- Gerhart's Day At The Farm

StarTribune/Video- Toby Gerhart Feeds Calves On A Dairy Farm

Besides Toby Gerhart, Tuesday also brought my rewards from Redhead Creamery, the on-farm cheese factory that I supported on KickStarter. I'm all about supporting new businesses, and when that new business includes dairy, I'm doubly excited. Thanks for my t-shirt, apron and cutting board, Alise and Lucas, I can't wait to taste the cheese next Spring! You can learn more about Redhead Creamery here.

Visit Dairy Makes Sense  

to learn more about dairy farming and the importance of dairy in your day.

Say Cheese, Please

"Cheese" is a frequently heard word at our house. You can bet cheese can always be found in our refrigerator, often times found on our sandwiches, and usually found in daily cooking. And each night as I walk to our barn for evening milking, I'm snacking on a piece of string cheese. Yes, we have a close relationship with cheese at our house. So it was no surprise to my family when I wanted to attend the Minnesota Cheese Festival and daughter Sara happily came along.

Our adventure began with a workshop featuring Patrick Moore, The Cheese Guy. This cheesy guy shared with us how to Perfect Your Cheese Plate. One thing I learned was that I will need about 1/4 pound of each variety of cheese for each of my guests. I also learned that "What grows together, goes together." In other words, foods grown in the same area where the cheese was produced, are delicious compliments to that cheese.

Then it was off to sample the best cheeses that Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa have to offer as well as wine and beer from local producers. Yummy! Here are some of our favorites-

 
Sara with Brett from Castle Rock Organic Farms.

Sara chose Castle Rock as her favorite Smoked Sharp Cheddar.

Pasture Pride Cheese is a cheesemaker which produces fine cheeses made from milk produced by small Amish Dairies.

 

Sara and I fell in love with Pasture Pride's Juusto, which is served warm.

 Of course we sampled the famous Ellsworth  White Cheddar Cheese Curds, even though they are always in our fridge at home! Ama-ZING!

We dairy farmers went out of our comfort zone and sampled, loved, and purchased goats' milk cheese from Stickney Hill Dairy Farms.

I was excited to see Alise and Lucas, and Alise's sister Maggie from Redhead Creamery.

Alise and Lucas, along with Alise's parents Linda and  Jerry, are just breaking into the cheesemaker scene. They plan to break ground this fall on their cheese plant right on their dairy farm in Brooten, Minnesota. You can support them on Kickstarter, like Sara and I have done, to achieve their goal of making "ridiculously good" cheese while also caring for the earth with their go-green attitude. Please hurry, there's only a few days left to reach their goal!

Redhead Creamery's "ridiculously good" cheese curds.

Visit  Dairy Makes Sense  to learn more about the power of cheese.