Why You Should Drink Milk

Milk is delicious, healthy and yet it's been turned into an evil that it isn't.  This website is really fun and shows that a lot of the things we're taught about milk are simply false. Even though I grew up on a dairy farm and understood that whole milk is a better, healthier product than the 2% - skim milks, but I still thought it was fattening. Did you know that whole milk is only 3% fat? WHOLE milk. ...and I don't mean the whole milk they sell at the store. Much of that is altered and the fat is removed. This is a fact that I wasn't aware of until today when I checked out the 97 Milk website.
I am reminded of a simple the simple truth that we should ever stop learning... and also that we should never stop drinking whole milk. Don't believe the fads, don't believe the propaganda.

97 Milk Website

P.S. I am an advocate for raw milk which sadly this website doesn't promote. I guess you gotta take the good and leave the rest.

Elton

Every morning at a quarter to seven, the barn door slowly opens and in walks Elton. He'd had a friend make him a special walking cane that's handle looks just like a hand-held saw handle. He wears glasses, a ball cap (the type all farmers wear), leather boots, a buttoned & collared shirt with a stripped or plaid design and overalls. The coolest thing he wears however, is his smile and his enthusiasm for life. Though signs of age have grown on him you'd hardly be able to guess his age by his attitude.

I've been working at this dairy farm since last October and one thing that I can count on is seeing Elton every morning. I work for Ted and Corey, Elton's son and grandson and when I first got the job dealing with the grandfather wasn't something I'd expected to be part of my work routine. Getting used to the fast pace of their milking set up and learning the ins and outs was hard enough without having to visit with a stranger. I don't think Elton was too excited about me either. In spite of the "inconvenience" I always tried to be friendly and get to know him, and he tried to be nice and friendly with me. Don't get me wrong, he's the friendliest guy you'd ever want to meet.We'd greet each other, comment on the weather. He'd ask if Corey was around and I could usually tell he'd be disappointed to have me to talk to instead of his grandson. Then he'd say goodbye and leave the barn.

It was just hard to get anything more than the business of weather out of him. As the days turned into weeks, I realized that Elton wasn't going be an easy nut to crack and that it would take a little faithfulness on my part to get him to open up to me. I put in a little effort but it never seemed to make a huge difference. Every once in a while he'd come in and forget himself and tell me all about something exciting in his life. So eventually I came to look forward to him stopping by the barn each morning. I'd get to the point where I'd forget I was supposed to be milking the cows because I was chatting with Elton for a few minutes.

Last Fall, Elton and his wife celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. She'd been in the nursing home for 10 years with Alzheimer's and I'm not sure if she knew they'd made it to 60 years. It was a part of Elton's daily routine to go visit his wife. Talk about faithfulness. Well, she passed away a year ago, this past week. I was surprised at how well Elton took it, but I suppose she'd mentally been gone for a number of years already. One morning he asked me if I had any stocking caps, and by this I think he meant winter hats. It turned out he'd brought me a light blue winter hat with dark blue snowflake patterns. It had been his wife's hat. I felt like this was a huge honor that he would give me something that had been his beloved wife's.

After receiving this hat I decided I wanted to thank him in some way. His birthday came and he turned 88 years old. To do something special for him my mom, sister and I whipped up a little dish of lasagna for him (because I'd heard he was a fan of lasagna). He stopped in one morning, about a week after his birthday, and I snuck out and put the dish and a birthday card in his truck. Later that morning he returned to the barn (which is unusual) with a big grin on his face. He thanked me for the dish and it turned out he'd brought me another gift. It was some coats that had been his wife's! Almost a year after her death I suppose he'd decided it was time clean up the house. I felt extremely honored once again.

Yesterday morning, Elton came into the barn as always. We talked about the weather. As always I asked him if he had big plans for the day... to which he sort of grinned and said, "Oh no." He chatted with his grandson a bit about the latest small town gossip, crops, tractors, etc. Then before he left he let me know that he'd put a bag of clothes in my vehicle. Some more things that had been his wife's. I'm not sure why he's chosen to give some of her things to me and I don't dare ask. I take it as a huge honor. Though he's not my grandfather and I'm simply the milkmaid on the farm, it's a sort of sweet, unspoken friendship we have. It's these little, unexpected relationships in life that bring warmth to the long days and spontaneity to the rigid schedule. No words needed... just giving, sharing and being. The sort of person you never expect to meet and can't believe you'd missed out on knowing for so many years. It makes my heart full.

Experiencing The Harvest

Soybean byproducts are in everything. Our food, our cosmetic products, the feed for our animals. Early records show that soybeans were grown and used in Asian countries as early as 1,100 B.C. and these “Chinese Vetches”, as they were called, were first brought to the American Colonies in 1765. It took over a hundred years for farmers in America to really incorporate soybeans into their crop plan in the late 1800's.

For as common as soybean fields are now, did you know that soybeans haven't been a part of American agricultural for much more than three quarters of a century? Lance Gibson and Garren Benson of Iowa State University, Department of Agronomy, wrote, “Most of the early U.S. soybeans were used as a forage crop rather than harvested for seed. There were only 1.8 million acres in the United States in 1924 when the first official estimate became available. At that time, most of the crop was used for hay.” Which is totally crazy. I can't imagine using soybeans for a forage. Anyways, soybeans didn't become popularized in the United States until WWII created a need for alternative sources of protein and oil.

As this year draws to a close it is interesting to look back on the bountiful harvest. In many areas it was an exceptionally good year for growing crops. With plenty of rain and extended moderate temperatures many farms were eager to measure the season's success. Instead of driving past the fields and busy equipment this Fall, I had the pleasure of experiencing the fieldwork firsthand. I was able to ride along in the combine as my boss was harvesting what for him is a cash crop.

It was exciting riding in such a big machine. Clipping along at such a laid-back pace but requiring so much precision from the operator. 

Even more incredible, was the ability to contrast the modern equipment and technology with the technology farmers were using when soybeans first came onto the scene. It was like stepping back in time because a large plot of land adjoining my family's farm was recently bought by an Amish family. The Amish planted and harvested the soybean crop with horses, old style equipment and lots of manual labor. In fact, one day I drove past and noticed 6 or 7 men and boys going down the rows, pulling the weeds by hand. This was after the soybean plants grew to tall to use a cultivator.

My Dad's Farm Blog

Hey, everyone! Go check out my Dad's farm blog, Udder Nonsense: trying to make cents of it all. I guess it's more like the family farm blog, but it'll be mostly Dad's blog... things of interest to him... etc. I just put in an hour updating it today and editing the style. We were kind of locked out of it for quite a while because we couldn't remember the password. Yikes. It's good now, so go visit and follow and enjoy!

www.milkingforallitsworth.blogspot.com

The Summer Solstice

And so the longest day of the year has arrived.



I've had the what's-your-favorite-season conversation with a lot friends. Usually I hear Summer or Fall. Spring is the best, I say. Everything's growing... the length of day, the tree leaves, the grass, the warm air. From now on out it's downhill, at least as far as daylight is concerned.

Oh well, I don't mind. Summer is long and luxurious... and Fall isn't too terrible either.

Yesterday, I went out with Mr. Isaac to a wheat field and a plot of oats for a photo-shoot. Mostly because the wheat was whimsical and the oats were cheerful. And also because the evening was slow and warm and we desired to go for a walk. Walks are always better when there seems to be a purpose to them. At one point Isaac took the camera from me and said I should be in some pictures, too. He has a pretty good eye.

Oh, did you know that tonight is the "strawberry moon"?? Pretty much it's simple the full moon occurring at the same time as the Summer solstice. I popped outside to capture a picture. Yep... it looks just like the other moons. I have noticed, though, that often it's cloudy on the night of the full moon so it's only every few months that you get to behold the moon in it's exact fullness.

Anyway, it's neat because a strawberry moon hasn't happen in 30 years. If it wasn't Monday I'd call up some friends and have them over for a bonfire. Then we'd watch the moon rise into the indigo sky and take a midnight walk down the gravel, country roads. Instead I shall go to bed since the farmers are haying and I'm supposed to wake up extra early for milking.

When Your Neighbor's Barn Burns Down

Well, it's been crazy. Not just the usual kind but the wacko kind of crazy. Our neighbor's barn burnt down. 

We could see the huge cloud of smoke from our house.
Here's a picture I took from my bedroom window:

We rushed over there to offer them our farm facilities since they'd be needing somewhere to milk their 130 cows and we have 130 empty stalls. Ever since last Friday it's been a constant buzz of vehicles going up and down our driveway now that there's a huge herd of someone else's cows being milked on our farm. Holsteins, nonetheless. ;) We've had to change a few things in our parlor to make it fit the bigger cow breed, but otherwise it seems to be working out. 
Here's a picture of the other farm's employees milking.... I was helping out, showing them how to operate our parlor set-up.

Today the concrete company my dad works for came and they poured some concrete walls in the parlor. They'll hold the big Holsteins in better than the old, metal railings we had in place before. 

 Hopefully this cement wall will hold the cows in better. ;) Anyways, I thought I'd share this poem I wrote back in 2010. It seems to fit well with the circumstances right now.

The Farmer
 
the farmer labors harder and harder each day
he can't go on vacation when there are bills to be paid
the weather it seems just ain't on his side
when the corn needs rain the ground is dry

the house wife continues hard at her work
sweeping the floors and moping up dirt
her mind is always thinking and planning ahead
working out problems and fighting off stress

with the bank at their heel's and over-due bills
there's always that feeling of climbing up hills
there's never rest nor enough time to relax
just a glass of wine to get by or a power nap

reliable help is seldom to be found
and the few hired-hands are rarely around
they have their own lives and don't understand
the drive for the farmer to hold onto his land

holidays are simply icing on the cake
a bit of cheer to disguise the chances they take
a time to forget the problems outside
and visit with the family be it December or July

winter it seems is constantly hard
things never start up but instead fall apart
the farmer sees the sun coming up at dawn
and knowing it'll be 30 below, puts more layers on

every day he just keeps on moving forward
with his wife by his side and his kids for support
and through the moments of good and times of bad
the farmer cultivates the dreams that he's always had

A Wonderful Week With Courtney

We went to Isaac's secret swimming hole.

Had to trek over some RR tracks....

  Climb down a steep bank....

...and enjoy an some exciting swimming!

....with a stop at Culver's for some food.

I roped Courtney into milking with me a few times. She's a pro.

We had a girls day out on the town!

KayLee, Sandy, Courtney and I. 

Courtney made us some delicious cookies.

Cookies and rag curls!

Random trips to Caribou.... and random dudes who stop to give us prophetic words of encouragement. A bit weird.... totally sketched us out.

Court hated the rag curl look. 

I didn't think it looked that bad but I admit the hair style looked a bit like a 1700's wig. lol

 Random trips to McDonalds!

Jo and Jo!!

We went hunting for herbs... like, seriously we had to really search hard!

Tried our chances at the lottery. ....and lost.

Making an herbal tincture.

Sandy and Courtney and Josie helped me with chores one evening.

Channing and I drove Courtney home 8 days after see arrived. 

It was a wonderful time!