Competition For Norman Rockwell

As a child, my family always celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad's family. Dad had four brothers, all farmers, all living within 5 miles of each other. Even though we saw each other often, it was special to come together on Thanksgiving. The moms kept themselves busy in the kitchen, complete with aprons to protect their holiday dresses. The dad's waited anxiously for the feast, while discussing farming and football. And the cousins played, and played until we were coaxed to the dinner table to join in the table prayer. We shared a wonderful meal, shared stories, and shared lots of laughs. As late afternoon rolled around, we all headed home to feed and milk the cows, thinking about our "Norman Rockwell" Thanksgiving celebration.


This mashed potato recipe often finds its way to our holiday table. I love that it can be made ahead and even frozen so every day can seem like a holiday.

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
5 pounds potatoes
8 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup low-fat sour cream

4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Put potatoes in pot and fill with cold water. Cook 25 minutes until fork tender. Drain potatoes and keep them in hot pot. Add all other ingredients. Mash all together. Place in freezer containers to freeze. Thaw in refrigerator for 2 days. Spray interior of slow cooker and add potatoes. Brush the top with 1 tablespoon butter and sprinkle with paprika. Cook on low 2-4 hours. If preferred, bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

For other Dairy Mom favorite recipes, check out Dairy Makes Sense

Show and Tell

One of the best things about traveling is meeting new people. Many of you know that in October I attended the Show Me the Blog Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.  I have been posting about some of my experiences, but in this post, Janice Person does the show and tell for me! Janice is a wonderful new friend and blogger telling her story at Janice Person - A Colorful Adventure. While in St. Louis, Janice asked me about dairy farming and I am excited to share this video with you that Janice posted on her blog.

Click here to view the video  "From a Minnesota Dairy Farm to a St. Louis Bloggers Conference"

Thanks Janice, for helping me share my Barnyard News and Views about my life down on the farm. The video is wonderful and I love that you gave me the opportunity to share about my dairy life that I am proud to be a part of.

It's Sundae Sunday

How appropriate that National Sundae Day is on a Sunday. 

Cousins Dara, Sara and Michael

My family has a long Sundae history. We have always been huge supporters of dairy farming and dairy foods. Along with my family, all of my mom and dad's siblings were dairy farmers, and many of my cousins too. You can bet there is always milk and ice cream at our family gatherings.

My mom and dad took their love of Sundaes to another level. My parents own and operate the "Dairy Diner," or what I like to call "Driving Miss Dairy." Miss Dairy served her tasty treats to fair-goers, auction buyers, and festival friends. Every delicious treat served was our way of promoting dairy and showing the pride we have as dairy farmers.  Besides Sundaes, malts, ice cream cones, and ice cold milk, Mom and dad also served other treats, but everything served included dairy. But with age comes change, and the Dairy Diner is now in semi-retirement. Miss Dairy, however, is a frequent guest at family events. Family reunion picnics, my mom and dad's 60th wedding anniversary and Sara's butterhead party held after she was named a Princess Kay finalist, have all played host to the Dairy Diner.

Ice cream Sundaes, I salute you. You are like a member of our family, and always will be! 

So what's your favorite Sundae topping? Leave a comment.

Time To Change The Sheets

It's time to change the sheets. No it's not laundry day. I'm talking about our cows bedding. Our goal is to "change their sheets" frequently so our cows are clean and dry, which helps keep them healthy. We provide our animals with comfortable beds to encourage resting so they can concentrate on producing that milk we love! 

Each bale is about 4 feet tall and weighs about 500 pounds.

Besides using straw (the stalk of the oat plant) for bedding, we also use corn stalks. This is what is left in the field after the corn is removed. The stalks do well at absorbing moisture and they are readily available. Even after baling the corn stalks, this process still leaves behind plenty of crop residue in the fields to protect and enhance the soil. The residue provides cover which aides in preventing erosion and adds to the soil's organic matter. And when the "sheets" get soiled, the mix of stalks and manure is again returned to the field, to enrich the soil for the next crop. 

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Sara poses among some of the 900 stalk bales ready for bedding.

To see what else farmers do to utilize our resources, visit Dairy Farming Today 

The Real Deal

As a child, I spent a lot of time at my friend Kay's house. Her family had a metal insulated box by their back door that collected their fresh milk delivery. How great was that? Since I was a farm kid, we did not have such a delivery service. We did however get Schwans products delivered to our door. "The ice cream man is here!" my mom called. That was back in the 1960's. 

Fast forward to 2012. Jeremy, our Schwans driver, came last week with his delivery truck filled with delicious products, including ice cream. He and I got into a big discussion about real whipped cream vs non-dairy topping, and I am happy to announce that Schwan products proudly wear the REAL® Seal.

The Real Seal is a great tool in the fight against imitation dairy products. Only products made in America with real dairy ingredients are eligible to use it on their packaging. The REAL® Seal logo on dairy products serves as a promise to consumers and food producers that its contents have undergone a rigorous certification process. 

Jeremy delivers the REAL goods!

Shopping at home, or at the grocery store, I always look for the REAL® Seal. I demand good tasting, good quality dairy foods. Don't you?

PS- Schwans was started by a Minnesota dairy farmer!

Whoooo Goes There?

Milky Way, Milk Duds, Cow Tails, these are some of my favorite candy treats. (Notice the dairy theme here?) Wash them down with a cold glass of milk. Yummy!

Since we live in the country, there are not many Trick-Or-Treaters that haunt our house. But the few that visited were too cute not to share their photos.

You butter believe Sara and Michael love Halloween!

Cooper, the cowardly lion, brought mom and dad.

Alex and Scott, as Boba Fett and Mario, say cheese!

I Want My Mummy!

 

Halloween at our house has always been a family celebration. This simple spook-tacular recipe (found on Pinterest) is a perfect way to have your little goblins help prepare a meal.

Happy Halloween!

These Fun Halloween Ingredients
 English muffins
Pizza sauce
Black olives
Scallions
Red or green pepper
Cheese sticks or slices
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 350º F. For each mummy, spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto half of an English muffin (toast it first, if you like).
2. Set olive slices in place for eyes and add round slices of green onion or bits of red or green pepper for pupils.
3. Lay strips of cheese (we used a pulled-apart cheese stick) across the muffin for the mummy's wrappings.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty.