Snow day!

On December 12, I was just running down the road and a FedEx Ground guy handed me a water out his window. Best surprise!!!

I was so delighted, and I snapped this picture as he drove away.

Today, on this super cold day, I was getting ready to go running outside, and an unfamiliar pickup truck drove into our driveway.  The guy in the passenger seat started up toward the door, and I opened it to meet him.

"Hi, is your farm open today?"  he asked.

I thought this was a charming question, because almost everything IS closed today.  Libraries, schools, state government - even the mail in Michigan was suspended today, because it was cold.  (This cracks me up.  Most of us walk just from our cars into buildings, so why were these things closed?  But we were definitely open, just like lots of other places.  I digress.)

"Yes," I said.  "What can I help you with?"

"Hey!" he said.  "You're the girl I gave the water to!"

I then noticed he was wearing a FedEx coat, and I recognized him from before.  I introduced myself, he said his name was Steve, and I thanked him for the water.  My boys had come on the porch to see who it was, and they met him, too.

He told me his FedEx truck was stuck on the road in the snow about a mile away, and he wondered if we had something that we could use to pull him out.  He'd gotten a ride from someone who had happened to drive by, and then they drove over to our farm to see if there was anyone around to help.  I called one of our team members who said he could do it.  Steve thanked me and went back to his stuck truck.

I started down the road on my run and before I even got a half a mile, the guy in the pickup truck came back, alone.  He told me that the road commission had happened by and was getting the FedEx truck out.  I cancelled the distress call. 

At the next mile, the FedEx truck flew past me, with Steve (we're on a first name basis now) smiling and waving. 

So we ARE open, but then the team went back to dealing with a flat tire, staying warm while working outside in the cold temperatures (it's -13 now), trying to keep the waterers from freezing up, and dealing with all the things that happen when it's cold outside.  Kris got ski goggles for the guys operating equipment.  Your face does get really cold in this wind. Update: It's 3:30 a.m., and Kris has not been to bed yet because he's working on a machine that won't work. Oh, the cold...

So - thanks to neighbors, thanks to our team members, and thanks to random FedEx guys for making our days bright.  It's so nice when we all work together.

On a side note, the kids have been off school all week.  We did the fun 'throw boiling water and watch it freeze' experiment in the cold.  It turned out great.  This is take two.  On take one I splashed some of it onto my foot and burnt it so bad it blistered.  Ridiculous mistake.  Where was Steve with that bottle of water then?!   

Team Chocolate Milk!

Saturday Team Chocolate Milk was at the Portland Winter Run. Matt and I came in second in our age groups, and Kris won first place for the first time! It snowed the whole time - check out our frozen eyelashes.

Wearing my Team Chocolate Milk gear is so fun.  People always yell at me and cheer me on.  I did drink chocolate milk I brought myself afterward - they also had homemade chili, hot chocolate, and cookies.  I love races, and it's even more fun when people go and do them with you!  Go team! 

My plan is to run a race every month this year.  I'm pretty sure this will be the coldest one, but we shall see ... My next one is on Super Bowl Sunday in Okemos if anyone wants to join me in a chocolate milk toast!   

A beautiful sight - with explanation

Our manure lagoon has to be pumped out so we can use it to fertilize our fields. We rent a magical manure boat to churn it up since it's chunky and frozen and has sand in it. The weather behaved perfectly for us to almost empty it.

Isn't it great that cows produce something we need to then GROW their own food?! What a perfect system.

Ah...it may be ugly to you, but it's all part of the process to bring you good-looking food.

Michigan Dairy Cattle News

My Michigan Dairy Cattle News articles - Non-profit Dairy Discovery gets a start in 2019, and butter in your coffee resurges in popularity! 

Read your issue here: Michigan Dairy Cattle News

A new year!

Happy new year, everyone!  How long can we keep saying that?  At least a month?  I'm rolling with it.

My longtime friend Andrew Jenkins asked me to speak at his St Johns Rotary Club meeting.  I spoke about modern farming practices, and the community members there were great and asked fun questions.  

That morning, I'd asked my kids what I should be sure to share with them.  My youngest told me to tell people the difference between calves, heifers, and cows, because everyone calls them cows - even the boys!  I did mention that, and a woman spoke up and said, "You can tell your son I didn't know the difference," and she pointed to a woman sitting next to her - "And she didn't either!"  

It was fun, and it made me feel very fortunate I live in such a nice community.

Everything here on the farm is in winter mode.  The cows - and calves, and heifers! - get milked and fed every day, but there's not a whole lot of extras going on.  Instead, it's meeting after meeting.  This week we have Michigan Milk Producers Association meetings.

As for new things ... something new happened here that I'd never seen before.  We were outside - the boys were jumping on the trampoline and I was doing yard work because it was about 50 degrees, and it made me feel yard-worky - and Ty pointed out that there was a rainbow in the middle of the sky!  We have never seen this before.  I'll take it as a sign that 2019 is going to be AWESOME!  Of course, I'd have thought that even if I never saw it.

If you're a podcast person, there are lots of new ones up on the Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT site.  There's even one where I talk with the program director Elaine Bristol, who is my favorite sheep farmer.  Enjoy listening!

Happy new year ... hope it's all sunshine and rainbows.   

Wrapping up 2018

End of the year!  Let's reflect on what's happened with a list of firsts ...

1 - We added a new bulk tank.  First time in the history of the farm we've had TWO bulk tanks.  Now we have more milk in more tanks.  This means we're milking more cows, and they're giving more milk, and we have storage if the milk trucks ever aren't able to come. 

2 - First time we've been farming where the milk prices are this low for this long.  We're optimistic for 2019!  Really and truly!

3 - Hosted a podcast interviewing farmers.  Podcasts - remember when you didn't even know this term?  Me neither.

4 - We put in an awesome sprinkler system to keep the cattle cool while they're waiting to get milked.  We were rewarded with a super hot summer, which is usually the opposite of what happens when you do a project like this!

5 - Our boys drove various vehicles around the farm, including the wheel loader, tractor, go-kart, and who knows what else.  They will be so ready for drivers ed in four years. 

That's it for memorable firsts.  We're thankful for another year on the farm with my parents, our fantastic team members, and our wonderful herd. 

Just today I had a text from a friend who lives out of state.  She sent, "I have a milk question and I knew you were the best person to ask."  That warmed my heart, because I'm happy to answer anything, which is part of the reason I started this blog way back in December of 2010.  Thank you for reading, thanks for your questions, and here's to another year of happy firsts!     

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Modern farming

Well, November really flew by in a hurry.

Not only did Kris and I have a delegate meeting for our milk co-op, but we also had our annual meeting for Farm Bureau.  We had our first snow on November 9, which I thought was really early, but I looked back to last year and it ALSO snowed on November 9th!

I've been hosting a lot of podcasts and been sharing them.  I've learned a lot of interesting information about farms and people in general!  For instance, when I was talking to Christmas tree farmer Tony Stefani, he told me that if you broke the needles of a certain tree, it smells like citrus.  Then when we went to get our tree, our lovely neighbors Scott and Wendy told us the same thing!  (Go ahead.  We have a white pine.  Try yours now!)

On the farm, we're moving into winter mode.  The harvest is done, so it's mainly milking and (still) calving.

Kris says the best news about November was that it was so routine and good ... that nothing really stands out.  Hooray!  Let's hope the winter is just as regular!