Santa On The Farm Today!

We have talked about it for days, set-up for months, and planned it for a year, and today is the day. 

We at Bremer Farms were bustling about as fast as Santa’s elves earlier this month. While the elves

were building toys at the North Pole, we were creating a Christmas extravaganza on our dairy farm.

Daughter Sara loves decorating our farm for holidays. Colorful blinking lights on our house synced to

music, inflatables bouncing in the breeze, cut-outs of familiar characters…you name it, and we have it! Sara decorates our farm for most holidays, but none surpasses what she creates for Christmas. We have 75+ inflatables inhabiting the farm. Santa, snowmen, forest creatures, even penguins don our yard. She hasn’t found a cow yet, but I know she is still looking.

Each summer Sara spends hours, and hours, sawing, painting, and constructing new plywood cut-outs of our favorite Christmas stories. There are gingerbread houses that look good enough to nibble! Of course our Christmas display would not be complete without the nativity, including the star shining above.

Four years ago we decided our holiday decorations would be a unique way to promote dairy, so for one night each December we open our farm to allow hundreds of cars to drive through our farm to view the decorations up close. This also means that visitors can view our cows up close, as they all line up to check out the traffic jam on Bremer Farms. A dozen or so 4’ square banners decorate the exterior walls of our barns announcing dairy facts such as how often we milk our cows, and how much, and how long it takes for each cow to milk, along with other cow facts. New for 2019, we will have a large movie screen showing what happens during the milking process in our barn, as it is happening!

What do Santa Claus and dairy farmers have in common? They both promote dairy. Santa and Mrs.

Claus, my son and daughter, (…shhh, don’t tell) greet our littlest holiday guests with farm coloring books and candy canes and our older visitors are gifted dairy recipes and insulated lunch bags. Santa’s elves will be handing out cheese curds and milk too! Santa and his lovely wife pose for many photos also. Our entire family is available to wish everyone happy holidays and also answer questions.

We also collect donations for our local food shelf, along with cash donations. We have an agreement

with our food shelf to use the cash donations to purchase milk, which is the most-requested, yet least

donated item. Did you know on average, clients receive the equivalent of less than 1 gallon per person per year? That’s because while folks are generous with canned and dry goods, many don’t think to donate milk because it is perishable. Collecting cash donations makes getting milk to those in need, simple and possible.

So tonight we are hoping for hundreds of visitors to our farm. Will we see you?

A HUGE Santa On The Farm Thank You

Thank you to everyone who supported our third annual Santa On The Farm event. If you were not able to visit, there is a video on this post for you to enjoy. Merry Christmas!

There were lots of cars filled with kids, moms and dads and grandparents too! There were lots of photos taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus...

and they weren't all photos with little ones either.

Thanks to everyone's generosity, Bremer Farms was able to deliver 97 pounds of food donations AND $773 dollars to be used to purchase milk for our local food shelf, Hastings Family Service.

We appreciate each of you for your donations, but also for your interest in seeing what happens on a dairy farm. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be back again next year on the second Saturday in December. They have already penciled us in on their calendar!

So where was Farmer John in all of these photos? In the barn milking cows, of course. ;)

And now, the video I promised you-

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Big Thanks From Santa

Holy cow! We were hoping for a great turn-out, but wow!

Our Santa On The Farm event last Saturday brought quite a crowd. 

Read on to see a video of our Christmas display too!

Kate loved Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Nearly 400 people visited Bremer Farms. Each car that drove through our holiday display brought food shelf donations or money to donate to the Great American Milk Drive. We received more food than Santa's toy sack can hold. Good thing he has a big sleigh!

Megan and Jack came to visit.

There were lots of photos taken with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Mrs. Claus gave everyone a cow coloring book, crayons, and "I heart Milk" stickers, and Santa made sure all the good little boys and girls, and the moms and dads too, went home with candy canes.

Porter and Maverick's aunties brought them to see Santa on the Farm.

Thank you to everyone who came to see how we celebrate Christmas on Bremer Farms and for all the generous donations! After only our second year of hosting "Santa on the Farm" it has quickly become one of our favorite holiday traditions!

Please enjoy our SANTA ON THE FARM VIDEO

Thanks to Santa and Mrs. Claus for visiting Bremer Farms! I only wish Sara and Michael could have been here to see them (wink-wink).

IT'S TIME FOR A GIFT GIVEAWAY!

"LIKE" My Barnyard View on Facebook and you will be entered to win a dairy goodness holiday package. This random drawing includes milk and cookies tree ornaments, 2 "Dairy Christmas" kitchen towels and The Dairy Good Cookbook! Good luck!

Santa On The Farm 2017

We at Bremer farms are bustling about as fast as Santa's Elves right now. While the Elves are building toys at the North Pole, we are creating a Christmas extravaganza on the farm, and we hope you will come for a visit. Santa and the lovely Mrs. Claus are taking time away from their busy schedule to be here to greet you!

Here's a sneak peek-

A few of our gingerbread houses.

There may not be gingerbread samples, but there will be goodie bags for the kids, and candy canes for all! We will also be collecting food donations for Hastings Family Service and cash donations for the Great American Milk Drive. On average, people served by food banks receive the equivalent of less than 1 gallon of milk per person per year.

Snoopy is helping too!

There will be thousands of lights, characters you will recognize, and be sure to tune your car radio to 88.9FM to watch the light show synced to music. This year's show features "The Christmas Without A Santa Claus."

We hope you can come!

Follow-Up Friday 2

This week on Bremer Farms...

 

This week our kitchen turned into a television studio as Sara and Mike filmed the first three episodes of daughter Sara's new show for Hastings Community TV, Aprons Optional. We have been enjoying many yummy samples! Apron's Optional premieres in early October.

The hollyhocks are in full bloom near our calf barn. 

Grandpa Roy says they are his favorite flower and they remind him of the farm he grew up on.

Sara is gearing up for her biggest Holiday Outdoor display in the history of Bremer Farms. I'm thinking UPS and Fed-Ex is looking to the amount of packages Sara is receiving as their job security.
Santa's reindeer stable arrived this week.

We pride ourselves on keeping our farm neat and organized. This week our  metal recycler paid us a visit. We have been working on many projects; replacing our feeding system (blogging about that next week) re-purposing a shed (blogging about that when it's complete) and replacing gates and water tanks. We are all about recycling, not only because we like our farm neat, but we care about the environment. Reduce, reuse, recycle... priorities every day here.

It's sweet corn season on the farm, and although we do not grow sweet corn, we get a lot from a very generous neighbor. 15 quarts are already in the freezer with more to come. I shared my recipe on my blog post 

Santa Lives In Our Neighborhood

We made our first visit to the Minnesota State Fair on Wednesday night.

We were greeted by Fairchild, our state fair mascot, as John, Sara, and I attended the coronation of the 61st Princess Kay of the Milky Way. Our neighbor Gabriella Sorg was one of the 12 finalists. You can learn more about her, and the princess program by clicking on her name.

Gabriella (in the pink) was selected as Miss Congeniality. That was no surprise to us, as she is one of the friendliest and sweetest girls you will ever meet! One of these 12 "milkmaids" will be crowned Princess Kay and will represent Minnesota Farmers and the dairy industry for the next year. 

And the winner is...

Jeni Haler

Congratulations Jen!

The Princess Kay program is sponsored by Midwest Dairy

Gone, But Not Forgotten

2012 may be gone, but it's not forgotten. Here are the

Top Ten Most Viewed Posts 

on My Barnyard View.

10. Santa Lives in Our Neighborhood (8/9/12)- The story of a wonderful neighbor that makes regular deliveries in the summer, and a recipe for the gift he delivers.

9. Moma Mia, It's Pizza (10/2/12)- "94% of Americans eat pizza at least once each month." Who knew?

8. I Want My Mummy! (10/31/12)- Mummy and the kids in the kitchen.

7. Food For Thought (11/17/12)- Will you be the big cheese at this Dairy Trivia?

6. Real Deal (11/4/12)- "I demand good tastings, good quality dairy foods. Don't you?"

5. Frostbite Fever (10/23/12)- I made this discovery in St. Louis while at a blogging conference.

4. Farming 101-1 Cow Milking (5/28/12)- Every morning and every evening, that's how we do it!

3. What's In A Name? (5/12/12)- I am proud to announce the birth of my blog!

2. Our Pat on the Back (6/7/12)- "Farming can be a rewarding, as well as challenging occupation."

1. Competition For Norman Rockwell (11/15/12)- We shared a meal, stories, and laughs. See what I shared in this post that got the MOST views.

Thanks for your support and comments on my inaugural year of My Barnyard View. What else would you like to learn about? Share your farm or dairy questions in the comments. I would be happy to address them.

I am blessed to work with my family, doing what we love. I'm loving life, on and off the farm! Happy New Year. Cheers!

To learn more about dairy farming go to Midwest Dairy. Check out the delicious dairy recipes too!

The Secret Ingredient

"My fudge recipe includes Velveeta Cheese," my friend Barb said. "I'll have to try that," I said. Who was she kidding? You don't put cheese in fudge. Who was I kidding? I had no intentions of trying a fudge recipe that included a cheese product. Well, never say never! My curiosity won out and I went to the Kraft Foods web site to seek out the recipe. My first batch was shared with family and coworkers, and my "secret ingredient fudge" was a hit. It is very smooth and creamy, and delicious. 

It's no secret that cheese is versatile, but using it as a fudge ingredient was a surprise. Click here for the Velveeta Fudge recipe.

PS- Santa emptied the milk in the refrigerator too. You've got good taste Santa!

Santa Lives In Our Neighborhood

Santa lives in our neighborhood! He has traded in his sleigh for a Honda 4 wheeler, replaced his red suit with a plaid shirt and jeans, and even shaved off his beard, but I know he is Santa Claus. Just like children, we eagerly await his arrival in August. August? Yes, our Santa is named Bob and he delivers his home-grown sweet corn to family and friends. He grows it "for fun" to share with all of us. After many meals of fresh buttery corn on the cob, the remainder of our gift is frozen to enjoy year round.

12 dozen ready to be made into Buttery Frozen Corn

 Buttery Frozen Corn

10 cups corn (about 20 ears)

1/2 cup butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Cut corn from cob. Do not 

blanche. Add butter, salt and sugar. Boil 3 minutes. Cool and package for freezer.




I read a tip in a magazine many years ago. It read to stand the ear of corn in the center cone of an angel food pan to easily cut off the kernels which then fall into the pan. I tweaked it slightly by standing the angel food "cone" in a large bowl, which is large enough to accommodate the 10 cups needed for this recipe. Do you have any kitchen tips to share? Please add them to the comments, for all of us to enjoy.



Sara and I added 15 quarts of corn to the freezer this morning. Guess what Santa Bob brought this afternoon? It's yellow and tasty...