A Merry Band of Bloggers

My sister lives in Colorado, where the sun always shines and the air is always fresh and the temperature is always just right. So when she visited recently and stepped out of her car, she about fell into a small heap in our driveway because breathing humid Missouri summer air is not for the faint of heart.

Or the faint of hair.

So let's hear it for all the food bloggers and dietitians who willingly volunteered to visit the dairy on a hot, humid Saturday morning, knowing full well what it would do to their hair. I mean, hearts. I mean, heat. It was hot.

Ok. C'mon, guys. Just clap.



(And while you're at it, please give a gentle, quiet "Hooray!" -- we don't want to startle them after all -- for the cows, who start feeling heat stress in about January and don't get a break from it until the following December. Well, not quite. But let's just say they love water misters and fans in the summer as much as kids love a good water park. More maybe.)

Thanks to our friends at Midwest Dairy,  we were able to host these brave blogging souls on a warm day in June, giving them a chance to see where their food comes from up close and personal. Like, so personal a calf could suck on their fingers personal. (Sorry for my white legs. My spiritual gift is getting sunburned without tanning. Clearly.)



Our merry band of bloggers got to see baby calves, only a couple of hours old, and hear from my farmer how we care for the littlest animals on the farm. Between the calves and our multitude of kittens, everybody would have been fine being done at that point.

BUT WE PERSEVERED.

And by that I mean that we kindly nudged them on to meet some of the older heifers and the mama cows who took time out of their lunch to pose for photographs.

#2780 showing off her best side.

(Let's face it: Every girl has a best side.)

 

We rounded out the tour with a trip through the commodity shed to see what our cows eat, explain how our nutritionist tweaks the ration, talk about what silage is and discover why it's an important part of a cow's diet.

After that, we headed back to the shop to guzzle a bathtub full of water (Did you know that's about how much water a cow drinks in a day? Almost 35 gallons! And here you thought your eight glasses of water were good . . . ) and enjoy a meal together, surrounded by silage choppers and wrenches and flies because that's what life is like on a real dairy.

Lauren Lane, one of our favorite food bloggers, even made us brownies for dessert, and I'm not saying that I maybe basically skipped lunch and just went straight for the chocolate, but I CAN say that there was one extra pulled pork wrap left over because, well, I maybe basically skipped lunch and just went straight for the chocolate.

Side note: Brownies taste even more fudgy when enjoyed with milk. And because milk is healthy and so wonderfully good for you, you can even have a second brownie if you want. They basically balance each other out.

This is why you need farmers in your life. We can be helpful when you're trying to make important life choices like this. 

 

We're thankful for our social media influencer friends -- whether they're Instagrammers or bloggers or Facebookers or all of the above -- not just because they took time to come to the farm and see how their food is made, but because as farmers, we're busy . . . you know . . . FARMING. And that means we don't always have a lot of free time to chat with every person in the grocery store or on the street about why dairy is such an affordable, healthy food option.

But people like Cara of Streetsmart Nutrition and Lauren of Lauren Lane Culinarian do. They have the gift of story telling, photography, research and knowing their followers so that they can share information with them in a helpful and winsome way.

 So when a Lauren or a Cara or a Steph of KC Cheeses or Shanna from Wellness for the Win want to know or be reminded of see for themselves where their food comes from, and when, seeing how we care for our animals and land and each other, they believe as strongly as we do about milk and butter and cream and eggs, they help us tell our story in really fun ways.

And we are -- and remain -- grateful for that.


Photos courtesy Wheat Photography

All I Want for Christmas Is . . . Dairy

Anyone else meal planning for the week of Christmas in a semi-frantic state because you just realized that it's Thursday and Christmas is Wednesday and WHAT ARE WE FEEDING ALL THE PEOPLE?

My family always ate chili and oyster stew on Christmas Eve. 

And by "my family," I mean that my mom made oyster stew and my grandparents ate it and thankfully no one asked me to take a bite because there FOR SURE would have been coal in my stocking when I gagged it right back up. 

Oyster stew. Pffff.

Thankfully, Lauren Lane did not serve oyster stew when we gathered at her home a few nights ago. I mean, she probably could have made it and it probably would have even tasted good but let's not take chances, people. I can live dangerously but not like that.  

 

Instead, she set a beautiful table, kept our wine and water glasses filled, and welcomed us into her home and kitchen with kindness and grace. 

She stirred, and we ate. She plated things, and we dug right in. She cooked, and we felt cared for.

We were quite the crew -- from food bloggers and chefs to dietitians and TV show hosts (and me . . . the farmer . . . except for the part where I just keep the real farmer fed, caffeinated and never lacking for clean work jeans) -- and Lauren kept us all fed, laughing, and oohing and ahhing over her menu, which featured dairy in every course.

 

Yes. You read that correctly. 

Every. 

Course. 

From a gorgonzola souffle . . . 

 

to ricotta gnocchi with tomato butter sauce and milk-braised pork with herbs . . . 

to a vanilla bean panna cotta with berries, which, to be fair, I would have eaten for every course.

Speaking of meal plans, I've added that panna cotta to our Christmas Day dessert menu because I'm not Scrooge and you won't catch me withholding that deliciousness from anybody.

 

It was such a treat to meet people who not only eat dairy, but who create recipes that include it, cook with it, encourage others to benefit from its nutritional value, and love it as much as we do.

Look at all that joy right there. It's all from dairy!

Ok, it's really from Lauren's cooking but it included dairy so it's basically the same.

(Good job, cows!)

Frantically meal planning? Take a breath. Our cows have you covered. Step away from the oven. Put down the baking mitts. Lauren's taken care of you for at least one meal with a post on how to host a wine and cheese party perfect for any night of the upcoming 12 days of Christmas.

And while you're pouring that glass of wine and slicing up some delicious cheese, know how grateful we are that you love to drink milk, lick the bottom of your ice cream bowl, and spoon granola over your yogurt.

You're the best.

(Well, actually Lauren's panna cotta is the best, but you're a really close second.)

 

Merry Christmas! 

from cow to table

Someone recently asked: How long does it take for milk to get from the cow to the jug?

Short answer: About 48 hours!

Long answer: Our cows are milked three times a day. The milk leaves the cow and is immediately held in a tank where it's cooled to below 45 degrees as well as tested.

Milk trucks arrive at the farm each day. They transport the milk to Kansas City where it's tested again, pasteurized, homogenized and bottled. 

Then it makes another trip: to the grocery store! By the time it arrives on your grocer's shelves, it's left the cow fewer than 48 hours prior. 

So when it comes to the milk in your refrigerator or that your Cheerios are swimming in as you read this, you can bet the farm on the fact that it's pretty darn fresh! 

PS Check out this video. It'll show you milk's journey from the cow to your table in 48 seconds. Ready, set, go! 

day 13 of farmacology: celebration

One of the things you may not know about farm folks is that

we celebrate. 

Today my father-inlaw, Paul Heins, received the Governor's Award for Agricultural Achievement. 

And that's worth celebrating!

"Missouri's economy depends on the innovation, dedication and resilience of our farm families, who work each and every day to strengthen their communities and feed, fuel and clothe the world," Gov. Nixon said. "Thanks to producers like Paul Heins and Brent Sanddige, Missouri agriculture continues to lead the way." 

Missouri's Director of Agriculture, Richard Fordyce, presented the award on behalf of the governor and made time for a tour of the farm, some good old-fashioned ag chat and even a bite of cheese. 

What does that award mean? That farmers still know how to combine faith, business, family, farming, fun and a lot of hard work. 

And sometimes, just sometimes, other people notice and value it also. 

And that's worth celebrating too! 

So tonight, we're lifting a glass of milk to you, Paul. Thanks to you -- and to all the cows! -- for putting the good stuff on our kitchen tables and in our cereal bowls every morning.

(Ok, and in secret ice cream stashes too.) 

Want to learn more about the award? Click here. 

cookbook giveaway winner

Lil Miss 2665 is so grateful to each one of you who entered the Dairy Good cookbook giveaway, she kicked up her heels and shoved her tongue up her nose for good measure. 

She's good like that.  

While she also wishes she could give all 30+ of you your own copy of Dairy Good, the good news is that you can order one for yourself (or all your friends...neighbors...coworkers...enemies...random strangers) right here. 

So without further ado, the winner is . . .

Terry, please shoot me (I mean, Miss 2665) an email at adrianeheins@gmail.com and the cookbook will be on its way! 

Many thanks to Midwest Dairy for hosting . . . and to all the farmers who helped compile the cookbook. And, if I might be so bold, you definitely, DEFINITELY want to check out the enchilada recipe. It had me at sour cream. 

Happy cooking!

how to set up a farm tour

June is National Dairy Month, and there's no better way to celebrate cows, dairy and farming than to visit a farm! 

If you'd like to take a tour of a working farm--and it doesn't have to be a dairy farm!--to discover how turkeys are raised, what milking cows looks like and how much pigs love laying under misters, here are a few pointers to get you started. 

48 seconds and 48 hours

Some foods are only grown in certain areas of the country, but dairy is local and based in all 50 states. In fact, milk's journey from the farm to the grocery store takes only about two days! Not only is this journey fast and efficient, it enhances milk safety and quality. Take 48 seconds to watch the journey your milk makes in 48 hours. Ready, set, go!

are you hungry yet?

I am a big fan of the meal plan. Without sitting down and plotting out what my farmer and I will be eating each week, he'd probably end up chewing on raw noodles while I ate Fruit Loops. 

It wouldn't be a pretty picture. 

If you're in the same boat as me, you're in luck. 

Enter The Dairy Good Cookbook.

"call the calves" contest

It doesn't matter how big or how little a child is, how much they love animals or if they're terrified of them. Every kiddo that visits the dairy, somewhere between the calves and the mamas, asks the question: "Do the cows have names?"

They do. 

It's just that their name is actually a number. 

And sometimes those numbers show up in church bulletins and cause quite a bit of confusion for farmers who can't remember if they're supposed to be looking up a hymn or remembering how many pounds of milk that cow gives.

#farmerproblems

But every now and then a pig or a cow comes along, with special markings or a unique personality, one that--if you'll pardon the expression--stands out from the herd, just begging to be named.