It's National Cookie Day!

Christmas baking has always been a big part of our family holiday traditions. When Sara and Michael were very young, I was asked if I would be interested in selling home-baked Christmas cookies to my sister-in-laws co-workers. Making some extra holiday shopping dollars while doing something I enjoy seemed like a great opportunity. It became a whole-family activity. Sara became the expert at Russian Tea Cakes. Michael rolled the balls for the sugar cookies. John always helped with the date balls. My mom and I spent a day rolling the dough for the gingerbread people! The first year of cookie sales, we sold 79 dozen cookies, enough profit to buy a new front door for our house. Fifteen years later, we topped off our sales at 652 dozen (that's 7,824 cookies)! We no longer have our cookie business, but we will always have the "sweet" memories.

One of our favorite's is M&M Cookies. I use this recipe for many holidays, choosing the appropriate color M&M's to match the holiday. Thanks to Julie, a past co-worker for this recipe.

M&M Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 cups flour
2 cups M&M's ( reserve 1/2 cup)

Mix all ingredients. Add M&M's last. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet. Top each cookie with M&M. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. Makes 8 dozen.

Another favorite Christmas cookie recipe can be found on my June 10, 2012 post. I top them with red and green sugar for Christmas.

A Tiny Purple Jersey

"Hi, Flat Aggie here in Minnesota. If you read the previous post you know that I am visiting from California. I'm staying with Jan and her family, learning all about their family dairy farm so that when I return to California, I can share what I learned with Miss Sarah and her class of first graders. Please read on to see what I've learned so far."

"The family has a 120 cow dairy farm, just 20 minutes from St. Paul, Minnesota's capital city. The farm is right across the road from a golf course too! Jan farms with her husband John, daughter Sara, son Michael, and John's parents Roy and Karen. Jan, Sara, and Michael also have jobs away from the farm, so everyone has specific farm chores at different times of the day, but I'll talk more about that next time."

"Since today is Sunday their schedule is a little different. After morning milking and feeding, and attending church, it was family time. As you can see in this picture the family loves their Vikings football. Jan even made me a tiny Vikings football jersey! The family invited some of their family to watch the game too. We had lots to eat while cheering on the Vikings. I really liked the hot ham and cheese sandwiches, and the cheese curds, and the ice cream cake! Jan reminded me that we have the cows to thank for the milk they give us so we can have these yummy dairy foods."

"After the game, we all went to do our chores. I got to help feed calves and milk the cows. I'll send pictures soon. The family said they have to take care of the cows and calves everyday, even Sundays and holidays! The family works everyday, and they still love what they do!"

Flat Aggie From California

Perhaps you have heard the story of Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. Stanley is a young man who wakes up one morning to discover he has been flattened while he was sleeping. Yes flat...as a pancake (only thinner, like paper.) Imagine the adventures you could have if you were small enough to stow away in an envelope to see the world. Stanley did just that! Now think about what a great way this would be to learn about agriculture around the United States. Sarah's blog, House Ag Built along with her first grade students, constructed Flat Aggie (Agriculture, cute, huh?) to visit farms to learn every thing they can through the eyes of Aggie. I invited Flat Aggie to visit our dairy farm in Minnesota. Here is the first of our adventures that I am sharing with Sarah and her first graders.

Flat Aggie went to the Midwest Dairy Expo with John and I. This is one place farmers can go to learn more about being a great farmer and about the newest farm machinery and supplies. Flat Aggie really liked this big plastic cow at the Dairy Farmers of America booth. Aggie learned that the milk from our farm is sold to Kemps, which makes it into yummy ice cream. 

After a tasty ice cream snack, we visited the Midwest Dairy booth. Barb, Jodi, and Sami explained to Flat Aggie that dairy farmers get paid to sell their cows milk and a little money each month goes to Midwest Dairy to advertise how important it is to have dairy foods every day to keep our teeth and bones strong and healthy. Midwest Dairy also teaches people how dairy farmers, like us, care for our animals and our land.

After a busy day, Flat Aggie was getting pretty worn out. His tired little feet couldn't hardly walk another step, but wow, you should have seen him perk up when he saw the sparkly crown on Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Christine Reitsma. She spends many days traveling around Minnesota, representing Minnesota Dairy farmers, to help share our story about how much we love what we do to make delicious milk for everyone to enjoy! (I think Flat Aggie would have liked a little kiss from Princess Kay, but he was too shy to ask.)

Flat Aggie was so sleepy from our long day, he slept all the way home. But he is so excited to help with calf feeding and cow milking tomorrow! Stay tuned!

You're Never Too Old To Learn

 
Earlier this week John and I attended the Midwest Dairy Expo in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The expo is a great atmosphere for farmers to learn of the latest in their industry. Each of the three days there were exhibits to explore; to drool over the newest dairy equipment, to sit in a shiny, new combine, or to discuss finance and marketing strategies with the experts. 

There were also many seminar topics to choose from; managing employees, feeding strategies, cow management, and telling the dairy story through social media. Social media? Like blogging and Facebook and Twitter? That's right!  I was a panelist for the social media session on how we as farmers can share our farming story. I was joined by Seena, another Minnesota dairy mom, and Sami from Midwest Dairy who served as the moderator. We shared what we have done to tell our story; to educate and inform with a little entertainment along the way. Hopefully we inspired our audience to someday share their experiences of "life on the farm."

Seena, Sami and I after our Social Media presentation

And we can't go to a farm event without visiting with other farm folks who took some time away from the farm to make farming even better!

Ashley and Nikki are on Facebook (2farmgirlz)

The Skinny On Skim

While sitting around the Thanksgiving Table with my extremely supportive family, my blog came up in the conversation. Family members were giving me suggestions for topics that they would like discussed.  Some of the family wanted questions answered, while others wanted me to inform consumers about different topics. So Katie, this post is thanks to your suggestion.

How do we get skim milk?

Let's start from the beginning. The milk that comes directly from the cow is called whole milk.  Whole milk contains 3.5% fat by weight.

2% or 1% milk, which is also called reduced-fat or low-fat milk, has its fat and therefore its calories reduced. This milk has either 1% or 2% fat by weight, which is how it gets its name. Clever, huh?

Fat-free or skim milk has no more than 0.2% milk fat. This is the lowest in calories.

But how does the fat percentage get reduced? Milk goes through a centrifugal cream separator which separates the cream from the milk, therefore reducing the amount of fat in your milk. This is done at the milk plant where our milk is delivered fresh for packaging, so that it can be in your grocery store within two days of leaving our farm.

Here's more good news...All milk, no matter what the fat content, has the same nutrients as whole milk.  So you get to choose what fits your dietary needs AND your taste buds! Cheers!

Giving Thanks

  

I am thankful for my family; for my husband that loves my quirks, and my children that accept that I may embarrass  them once in a while. I am thankful for my friends, who put up with my crabby days as well as my silly days. I am thankful for my comfortable home, messy bathrooms and all. I am thankful for our farm and our animals, even when machinery needs repairing and a cow needs help giving birth in the middle of the night. Thank you God for my many Barnyard Blessings.

 

What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?

This Thanksgiving wooden plaque, which I love, is available at etsy.com 

(Patti's Primitives Tomorrow's Treasures)

Wishing all of you a peaceful, blessed Thanksgiving.

No "Pie Gene" From Me

My family takes turns hosting the holidays, and it's my sister that gets the honor this year. Since my sister is the hostess, she assigns what each of us brings to the table. This year I bring hot vegetables and a pie. If you read Santa Lives In Our Neighborhood (posted August 9, 2012) you know we have the vegetable taken care of, now on to the pie. I have accumulated a pretty vast collection of cookbooks and I chose a recipe from The Hershey's Homemade cookbook. Since my family did not aquire the "I like pie gene" from me, most pies were out of the question, but anything chocolate is a hit with my gang.

Chocolate Marble Cheesepie

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
• 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk), divided
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
• 4 packages (3 oz. each) cream cheese, softened, divided
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
•   CHOCOLATE CRUMB CRUST (recipe follows)
•   Chocolate curls (optional)

1. Stir together cocoa and 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk in small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and very thick. Remove from heat; stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
2. Beat 2 packages cream cheese in small bowl until fluffy; add cocoa mixture, beating until well blended. Cool thoroughly.
   
3. Beat remaining 2 packages cream cheese in medium bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in remaining sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and remaining 2 teaspoons vanilla. Alternately spoon vanilla and chocolate mixtures into prepared pie crust; gently swirl with knife or spatula for marbled effect. Refrigerate 8 hours or until firm. Garnish with chocolate curls, if desired. 6 to 8 servings.
   
   CHOCOLATE CRUMB CRUST: Stir together 1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa and 1/4 cup sugar in medium bowl. Stir in 6 tablespoons melted butter or margarine. Press mixture firmly on bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie plate; refrigerate about 2 hours before filling.