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