Thanks to our team members

 On my farm Facebook page I was going through a series of recognizing people who help us farm.  

There's no one more important than the people who are here every day - our team members. Some have been here longer than we've been here, some just a few years, one babysat me, I taught one to swim, and we're all neighbors! Thank you for farming with us. We appreciate you more than we could ever express.

Farmers and food pantries working together!

 

The United Dairy Industry of Michigan, which is funded by dairy farmers, gave away grants for coolers for food pantries. I asked for suggestions, contacted all the pantries I knew about, and the Roscommon Food Pantry wanted one! (Thank you to Elaine Palm for the suggestion.) Lynda Hogaboom is their delightful director who helped make it happen. Thanks to all involved parties for helping those in need! 

Ten year anniversary of Truth or Dairy

Oh my goodness...ten years ago I said to Kris, "I think I'm going to start a blog." He was supportive of me doing what I wanted, as long as he wasn't the subject. Blogs had been super popular for awhile, I read lots of them, but since I had a two-month-old baby, two three-year-old twins, and just one freelance writing job, I felt like I had some extra time on my hands.

Honestly, I just really wanted to share what was going on. We were three years into farming, and I wanted to share with my family and my community. It's turned into a large community! 

Ten years later, here I still am, and here we still are! I also post a lot on Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube, if you'd like to check those out.

In these ten years, we've built barns, increased our herd, poured a lot of cement for feed pads, built a lagoon, and also ... done a lot with agricultural organizations, boards, and other farmers. So much! Looking back, it's been a great decade. 

This year was terrible in so many ways, yet on the farm, everything plugged away like mostly-normal. We are so sad about all the awful things going on around us, so many people suffering, and so many businesses being forced to close by uneven policies. We really feel for our fellow business owners. I truly hope that people wake up in 2021. 

This morning I walked over to see the work on the barn project, and Kris was looking at it too. I wanted to take his picture, and he didn't want me to do it. Some things never change.

As always, thank you for reading.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TruthOrDairy

Instagram - @truthordairyfarm

More pictures

I'm splitting my personal and farm Instagram! If you like cow pictures, and I know you do, on Instagram I just started @truthordairyfarm.

New barn project!

We are so excited! 

Today we started a new project - we're adding a row of free stalls to the outside of the barn to make it 6 rows instead of 4. 

The advantage is to make more beds for cows without building a whole new barn. Our herd is bigger than when we built this barn 7 years ago, and they need more space!

It's rough living in Michigan right now, (ugh), so it's nice to have something to look forward to.

Eagle wings

We never used to have eagles when I was growing up, but now we see them every week. I was finishing a run by my house, and I stopped on the corner to see if a car was coming. There wasn't, but an eagle was! It was so quiet out, and it was flying so low, that when it flew right over my head, I could HEAR its wings flap. So cool to have them here on the farm!

I didn't have my phone on me, but here's a recent picture my mom (and neighbor) took of one.

December 2020

I started blogging in December of 2010. I started it because I liked sharing with people about what was going on here on our dairy farm.

Now TEN YEARS later, we've covered building up the farm, growing our herd, raising our kids, and doing dairy promotion.  

Today, something momentous happened ... I got left a present on our front porch. 

 The return address was McDonald's. I excitedly opened up the box and inside I found a bib, pop socket, and gift certificates for a free McRib!  

They asked if I would share my McRib experience on social media.

1. I have never eaten a McRib.

2. This marketing works and I'm totally going.

3. I thought all along I was talking about dairy, but maybe this time it's going to overflow into pig farming!

Michigan dairy farmers provide coolers for local food pantries

The United Dairy Industry of Michigan wrote a nice article about the grant that let dairy farmers provide coolers to local food pantries!

You can read it here: Michigan Dairy Farmers Provide Coolers for Local Food Pantries.

Jason Derulo launches 'Got Milk' campaign

Jason Derulo Launches 'got milk?' Campaign With New TikTok Dance

I can't help but like this! 

Happy National Farmers Day!

I love how there's a national day for everything. Grilled cheese day, milk day, ice cream day...pizza gets an entire week...and that's just dairy! 

Stephanie McCoy from WILZ Station 10 came out to do a video celebrating National Farmers Day! It's right here: Studio 10 Celebrates Farmers Day with Evergreen Dairy and Milk Means More.

Enjoy your day tomorrow - what national day is it? I looked it up, and you have your choice:

- National Train Your Brain Day

- National Yorkshire Pudding Day

- National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day

- National No Bra Day

So ... a variety of choices. They're hitting all sorts of demographics here.

Thank you, Studio 10 and Milk Means More!

Want to know more about the farm?  Like the page on Facebook, on Twitter @carlashelley, or sign up to get the blog by email - the form is on the right side of the page.

Hoard's Dairyman Intel

Once again, I'm going to talk about how excited I am to be writing for Hoard's Dairyman Intel! It is SO interesting to me, so fun to write about, and so very relevant to my everyday life and business. The only subject more relevant would be about living with teenage and pre-teen boys.

You can subscribe here: https://hoards.com/articles.sec-27-1-hoards-dairyman-intel.html - On my computer there is a little blue button on the right that says Subscribe/Opt in. On my phone I have to scroll to the bottom of the page to see that button.

Some of my family members said they didn't get it, and others said it went in their junk mail. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.  Did I mention it's free?

Here are some of the latest articles if you're into dairy.  If you're not, then here's a seasonal picture of my boys on a different farm - Uncle John's Cider Mill! 

Latest articles:

Farm fatalities

Going vegan

Meals at home support dairy retail

Work on methane 

The West may not miss a beat

Happy reading!

MSU Broad Art Museum - Acts of Care

I'm no artist, but the MSU Broad Art Museum has an exhibit called Acts of Care, and they invited people to submit a statement of gratitude to people you appreciate especially during the pandemic. They used my submission, and yesterday Julie and I went to see it! 

(Kris and the boys didn't know anything about it until yesterday, because who doesn't love a surprise? Or...because they would have said not to submit it. : )

Thanks to all the people who work every day to keep us going. 

Hoard's Dairyman Intel!

I am so, so excited to be a part of the Hoard's Dairyman Intel team!

I've been writing articles for Hoard's Dairyman magazine since the beginning of the year, but this national dairy magazine was founded way back in 1885.

Last week they contacted me to see if I was interested in writing for their online newsletter, too. Of course! 

The newsletter is published on Tuesday and Thursdays each week, and I'll have articles in both.

If you'd like to sign up for more dairy news, you can here:

https://hoards.com/articles.sec-27-1-hoards-dairyman-intel.html

Raise the roof. Or, fix it.

Remember when our roof was torn off in that wind storm? We're having it repaired by Wirth & Fedewa today!

Agent Tom French of Michigan Farm Bureau Insurance was here within hours of the storm, and Wirth & Fedewa put a temporary fix on it before coming to do the replacement.

We're so fortunate to have so many people that help us farm. I'm documenting them all on my TruthOrDairy Facebook page, if you'd like to go there.

***

We're heading into corn chopping, the cows are withstanding the heat, we're having tons of calves, and everything has been going on like a normal summer.  The biggest difference this year is that our sons work mostly every day! It's great. They are so helpful. 

They're starting school up in September (HOPEFULLY, MY GOODNESS) and it will be much easier for them than being in the work force!

Tour our farm ... on video!

Tour our farm!

My friend Ashley Foster put on a Cub Scout virtual day camp with a farming theme. She asked me to do a virtual tour, recorded it, edited it, and showed it to her scouts. And ... here it is now for everyone!

Check out - cute calves, a cow being milked, our feed piles, the free stall barn, and even the manure lagoon. This is essentially the same tour I give everyone who visits, and I'm so glad Ashley asked me to do it. Thanks to her, and enjoy!

See the farm tour!

Summer of COVID

Everything seems so normal here ...

We're milking and feeding and harvesting as always
The boys are playing baseball
I just finished teaching 91 students in swimming lessons
My brother, sister, cousins, aunt, uncle just visited from various states

However ...

There's an executive order to wear masks
There's a question about in-person school in the fall
The news is filled with horrible headlines

It all, really, just seems so far away.  Our lives, as much as we can control them, are the same.

The cows don't care - they're still getting milked.  The boys are still doing calf chores.  Our wonderful team - plus all the vets, nutritionists, hoof trimmer, custom harvest guys - are all working just like normal.  There's never been a time they didn't.

That's what we do ... not only do we do it because it's our job, we do it because we all need to eat. 

Looking around at the farm, you would never know anything was different.  Let's hope we all get back to that soon.

Sunroof?

We went to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone - a trip I've been planning for the five of us for a very long time - and we stayed with my cousin Carrie and her family, and my cousin Cindy and her family!

Carrie and Cindy are two of the nine children of my Uncle Dave (my dad's brother) and my Aunt Robin - also in the picture.  

Uncle Dave grew up on the farm just like my dad, and since he was the oldest, he started working with my grandpa at an early age.  He was in the first graduating class at the Air Force Academy, followed then by my brother, Gage!

When we took this picture of Cindy, Barney and family, Cindy said, "Is this going to show up on Truth or Dairy?" Ha!  

To offset the beauty, I included a picture of the barn roof.  There was a wind storm while we were flying, and we landed to this news - the barn roof peeled off, there were eight utility poles ripped out and lying in the road, and there wasn't any power.  It's a great way to kick off a vacation!  There were two other kind-of-emergencies while we were gone, and I don't know when I'm going to be able to shoehorn Kris away again ... but it was totally worth it to see these gorgeous places.  

Ours is pretty gorgeous too.  Between fireflies, cattle on the pasture, berries, flowers ... I love coming back home as much as I love going away.

Milk Cooler Won for Beacon of Hope Family Care Center

Director of Beacon of Hope, Karen Leif

Michigan Dairy Farmers Give Milk Cooler to Beacon of Hope Family Care Center 

United Dairy Industry of Michigan delivers refrigeration units to 18 food pantries across the state.

ST JOHNS, Mich. [May 29, 2020] – Beacon of Hope has been awarded a dairy cooler as part of a United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) pilot grant program. The program provides local food pantries with a refrigeration unit to help store milk and dairy foods at proper temperatures.

Carla and Kris Wardin nominated Beacon of Hope Family Care Center in St Johns to receive the milk cooler, along with funds for the food pantry to fill the cooler with milk at delivery. 

“The cooler and funds are a tremendous blessing,” said Karen Leif, Director of Beacon of Hope.  “Our numbers have increased greatly due to the fallout from the pandemic:  job loss, loss of work hours, and children out of school.  We are grateful to the United Dairy Industry of Michigan for helping us to provide much needed dairy supplies to those in need in our community.”

In Michigan, one in six people and one in five children are food insecure. Especially now, food pantries play an essential role in helping to bridge this hunger gap as families navigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our Michigan dairy farmers understand how important it is to get nutritious dairy foods into the hands of people who need them most, especially now at a time when food insecurity is high,” said Sharon Toth, CEO of UDIM. “This milk cooler pilot program ensures dairy foods maintain peak freshness while increasing dairy’s availability to families in the community.” 

To learn more about healthy dairy foods, delicious recipes, dairy nutrition and other UDIM programs, visit milkmeansmore.org. 

About the United Dairy Industry of Michigan

The United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) is dedicated to serving Michigan’s hard-working dairy farm families and promoting Michigan’s locally produced dairy products. UDIM is the umbrella organization for the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council of Michigan. These non-profit organizations provide dairy product promotion and nutrition education services on behalf of their funding members.

Can you drink milk after the sell-by date? Yes, and here's a guide!

People ask me about the milk sell-by date - including my own kids. I always tell them that it's a sell-by date, not a drink-by date ... and that the only way you can really tell if milk is sour is by the smell.

Now they don't have to listen just to me, but I can point them to this lovely guide from MilkMeansMore.org.

It even has a section on how to 'use up' milk which does not happen here, but I can totally see how it would in a house that doesn't have five really hungry people. : )

May, May, May...it stop raining?

                                                

On May 7, we got our first fields of corn planted!  Now as of May 18, it rained all yesterday and rained all today.  The creek is high, the ground is saturated, and I'm hopeful the little corn kernels are tucked away, ready to poke out later this week.

One benefit of the boys being home is that they help Kris on the farm a lot.  (I'm trying to look on the bright side of the economic crisis brought on by overreaction and mass hysteria.  How am I doing?)  Really, it's great for Kris, and it's great for them, because they have real responsibilities.  My dad and Cole also got a quad (or 4-wheeler, depending on where you live) running, so they drive it around to do jobs.  Every job is better when you can drive a quad!

The quad also has no brakes, so you really have to learn quickly on how to slow down.  Safety first, boys.

We got our garden in this weekend, too.  Farming at a very small scale.

The weather is funny.  Winter coats for chores in the morning, hot during the day, and back to coats at night around the fire.

I'm so excited for life to get back to normal, especially for businesses to open back up, to see more people, and to go more places.  Until then, it's just work as usual - plus a quad.

Top Farm Blogs

Charles Sipe of Top Farming Blogs contacted me to let me know that Truth or Dairy is one of the top 25, and it's in the featured blogs this week.  If you like reading my blog, check out:

https://www.rankedblogs.com/farming#featured

to see our feature, plus more farm blogs!

Farming during a pandemic - Lansing State Journal

The Lansing State Journal was looking for a viewpoint of farming during a pandemic, and Michigan Farm Bureau connected us.  Here's my op-ed in today's paper:

Wardin: Pandemic doesn't stop St Johns farming

What's going on now...

A few people have asked about milk …

Despite the panic buying of milk, the closing of restaurants and schools, plus the disruption of exports, means that we have lost a huge percentage of our market. (Approximately 45% of cheese sold in the U.S. goes through restaurants, and approximately 7% of fluid milk goes through schools.)

Fluid milk is perishable, so it can’t be stored. Milk powder can be stored, but warehouses are full. Milk processing plants are running at the highest level, but it’s impossible for them to keep up with the excess.

The price farmers get for milk is predicted to fall over 30% this spring. This isn’t going to change until restaurants reopen, schools resume, and our export markets stabilize.

All businesses are suffering. April can’t go fast enough. I want things back to normal as soon as possible.

If you would like to donate fresh milk to people in need in your community, you can go here: https://milklife.com/give/donate

WILX News 10 visited the farm today

WILX News 10 came out to the farm today to talk about essential businesses during shelter in place!

Thanks to reporter Christiana Ford and everyone hitting up the dairy aisle.

We are just one of many.  Thanks to all of you!

Video here.

Article here.

Essential business

As Michigan prepares to shelter in place, our essential business will continue filling the shelves with milk, cheese, and all the ice cream you can eat.

Thank you for your support, thank you for eating and drinking dairy, and let's hope this gets over with soon!

(Did you know our cattle (and most) have been vaccinated against coronavirus for years? It's not the same strain or anything, but interesting!)

And just like that ...

Just this morning!

In one week, the whole world has turned upside down.  No Big Ten Tournament, then no NCAA Tournament, then no school, no play, no musical and art performances, no restaurants ... the stock market crashed, people are scared and hoarding, and everyone is pretty upset in general.
   
I'm also worried about everyone's extreme reactions.  It was like there was a competition to see who could cancel the farthest out.  Tonight California's governor told all 40 million residents to stay home ... except those who are doing essential business, like producing food.

I am so sorry for the people (10,048 worldwide, 160 in U.S.) who have died. 

Since I have no control over anything, I'm trying to think of the things I'm thankful for:

- Our team is wonderful.  If we didn't have food, can you imagine the panic then?!

- Our milk truck drivers come.  Some work just can't be done from home. 

- People are comforted by milk.  I've never seen milk fly off the shelves like I have this week.  I am glad we can provide that staple comfort!

Let's hope this all is over with soon.

Farms still open, cows still being milked!  Thanks team.

National Dairy Quality Awards

I am so proud of Kris and our team members for winning a national milk quality award!

Our farm was named a Platinum Level winner of the National Dairy Quality Awards - one of six in the country.

Thanks to Britti Tucker of MMPA for helping with the long application process, our vets, our team, to the NMC for the competition, and congrats to all the winners!

The Hoard's Dairyman article above isn't online yet, but a link to a Michigan Farm News article is here:  Michigan Dairy Producers Dominate in National Dairy Quality Awards Recognition

This week we went to Orlando, Florida to the NMC meeting to receive the award.  They had a really nice ceremony, and it was great talking with all the other farmers, sponsors, and conference attendees.  It is really such an honor, and we feel so fortunate to have such a great team and wonderful support.