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!

2017 Top Five

2017 Top Five Most Viewed Blog Posts

My Barnyard View

Click on the blog post titles and you can read what you missed.

5. Harvest17 Is In The Books Like every job, there are good days and bad days. I love driving the combine, but some days can be a bit trying. Read about our successful harvest and the bumps along the way.

4. Flavor Of The Fair Each year you get to help decide what the new malt flavor is at the Minnesota State Fair. In this blog post, I got to be one of the first to taste and see the unveiling of the top three flavors. Dill pickles in a malt?

3. I Won! Even though my parents, all of my grandparents, and all of my aunts and uncles were dairy farmers (yes, everyone of them were farmers) we also have a commitment to being involved in our communities. Read about my latest involvement off the farm.

2. Super Bowl and Super School Breakfast Dairy farming, sharing my dairy story, and my love for football are all combined in this blog post as I had the opportunity to visit a local school. See what dairy farming and the Super Bowl have to do with each other. And yes, with the Big Game only a few weeks away, I am still praying the Minnesota Vikings will be playing that day!

1. Santa On Bremer Farms Our first attempt at a Christmas event at Bremer Farms was a huge success. This blog post recaps our first Santa on the Farm in 2016. It went well, but 2017 Santa on the Farm grew by leaps and bounds! With 2017's Santa On The Farm already in the books, we have been discussing what new things 2018's event will bring. Watching cows being milked from the warmth of your car... a new light show synced to music...

Thank you for joining my family and I as we continue our journey as proud and passionate dairy farmers. Let me know if you have questions or a topic you want to know about.

AND

Have you "liked" My Barnyard View on Facebook? I'm always sharing something, including photos from the farm, when my latest blog post is up, and even giveaways!

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!

Santa On Bremer Farms

Kate, our littlest visitor to see Santa at Bremer Farms.

The weather was not very cooperative so we had to reschedule, but Santa on the Farm was a huge success!

This year, for the first time, we played host to Santa and Mrs. Claus at our farm. We invited folks to visit with this popular couple, 

view our Christmas decorations, 

and bring along a donation for our local food shelf, or a cash donation for The Great American Milk Drive. We got LOTS of donations including nearly $300 for the milk drive. 

So what is The Great American Milk Drive?

Milk is one of the most-requested, yet least-donated items.

On average, clients receive the equivalent of less than 1 gallon per person per year. That’s because while Americans are generous with canned and dry goods, many don’t think to donate milk because it’s perishable. Your small donation will deliver a gallon of milk to a family in need in your local community.

 Even though Santa and Mrs. Claus have returned home to the North Pole, you can easily donate online. Click here- The Great American Milk Drive.

We were thrilled by the response to our first "Santa on the Farm" and Santa and his lovely bride, Mrs. Claus have agreed to visit again next December, so it's official, "Santa on the Farm" will be an annual event at Bremer Farms!

Here's a peek of what you missed-