Milk's going mainstream.

Dairy products have always been a staple. However, over the last couple years I have noticed a growing trend away from milk and dairy products (especially those made from cow's milk).  And while I (kinda, sorta) understand the consumer's concerns, it saddens me when they make uninformed decisions.

So I was overjoyed to see that in both May 2013 issues of Canadian Living and Martha Stewart Living, milk was celebrated. Each articles was a very different perspectives on dairy and the dairy industry, but both shone a very positive light on the industry and product I am so proud to have a small part in producing every day.

According to Canadian Living, drinking milk regularly can reduce the risk of developing colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney stones. (Not to mention all the vitamin D, protein, and calcium it delivers too.)

And Martha Stewart featured a beautiful article entitled "Sacred Cows" profiling a small dairy farmer in Vermont who uses her Jersey's rich, flavourful milk to produce farm fresh butter. This was followed by some pretty yummy looking recipes featuring milk (milk braised pork loin is on my "to try" list.)

Thank you, Canadian Living and Martha Stewart Living for highlighting not only the extensive health benefits of milk, but the diversity and beauty of the life style of being a dairy producer.

Milk's going mainstream, and thats pretty wonderful.

City vs. Country

Last night I was flipping through a parenting magazine as I half watched a very educational television program (ok, probably more like some ridiculous reality tv show). Amongst the articles instructing me on how to parent my toddler (aka wrangling a orangutang with no fear and mood swings that would rival a 13 year old girl) and good looking recipes that I always think I should attempt but never do was a "debate" section. This month's topic was addressing whether it is better to raise children in the country or the city.

I have honestly never even thought of one being better than the other. I have the unique perspective of having been raised in the city (one of the largest in Canada) and now living, for the last 5 years, in the country. It's a no brainer as to what is better for me at this point in my life; I never felt at home in the city. During the toast to the bride on my wedding day my uncle summed it up perfectly. "She is a country girl that happened to be born in the city". I love my country lifestyle (while appreciating the fact that all the city amenities are only a couple hours away).

But what about T?

In my opinion, one is not better for raising children than the other. They are just different. Both offer unique opportunities and challenges. In the city, the sounds of passing vehicles, pedestrians and the occasional emergency vehicle lulled me to sleep. Street lamps were a constant glow outside my window. Out here in the country, it is quiet, and dark. (Except for the occasional bawling cow and the stars... So many stars.) In the city, we carpooled to school, and later on, we took public transit. Out here, T will take a school bus. The city offers many enrichment opportunities in the form of art galleries, museums, and exhibits (oh ya, and the shopping!) while the enrichment our farm offers is not something you could ever capture in a still life or static exhibit.

T gets to experience wide open spaces, livestock, and the pride that is turning hard work and dedication into food to feed these cities.

I am excited that T will get to experience the best of both worlds. I hope she embraces the multiculturalism the city has to offer when we visit her GeeGee while remembering her country roots. I hope she appreciates the sense of community there is amongst farmers and the quaintness of small town life. And I am grateful that I live in a part of the world where they are both so accessible.

Most of all I just want her to look back at her childhood with fond memories like I do.

Keeping her safe.

This week is the Canadian Agricultural Safety Week. (More information can be found here). Farming is a wonderful lifestyle, but not without it's hazards. In fact, farming is considered one of the top three most hazardous industries. This blew my mind. I mean, it is an active and physical job involving livestock (in our case) but I have never felt unsafe.

However, this Safety Week has made me more aware of potential hazards around me, and more importantly, my daughter. I grew up in a big city with a fenced in backyard. The largest piece of machinery I dealt with was my mom's SUV. Raising a kid on the farm is whole new ball game. J and I have had a lot of discussion surrounding T in the barn. We are striving to find a balance between allowing her to explore, learn and cultivate her toddler curiosities without risk. Now that she is walking, there are even more hazards to consider.

T is never let out of her stroller unless there is someone that can stay right by her side while she toddles around the barn. Usually this happens as chore time is winding down. We have explained to her not to stand right it front of the cows (especially the older, crotchety cows) because they can bunt pretty hard!  (Obviously at 16 months old she doesn't quite understand the concept, but one day she will).  She loves tractors and the cows, but is closely supervised when in close proximity to either.

Always close by...

She is a lucky kid. Cows in her backyard, tractors in the shed and wide open places to explore.

Here's to safe farming.

p.s. To learn more about farm safety, check out this website.

Fun away from the farm.

Since its winter time, it gives J and I a chance to get away from the farm a little more easily than in the summer when the responsibilities of planting, hay and harvesting keep us pretty close to home. (We are also VERY fortunate to have wonderful babysitters in T's grandparents). For the last 5 years J has attended the National Farm Machinery Show in Kentucky (because what else would a farmer do on vacation?!) in the middle of February. It's his big get away for the year and I'm pretty sure he started counting down the days for next year as soon as we got home.  I took a hiatus last year (having a baby sort of took priority at that point) but was able to attend this year.

Besides it being the largest indoor farm show in North America, it also hosts the Championship Tractor Pull.  Tractor pulling is J's thing. He LOVES it. He knows the ins and outs of each class, competitor, tractor, you name it. He travels all over the States to watch some of the biggest pulls. And when he can't watch it live, he is watching it on You Tube.

While its not my passion, the more I learn, the more I appreciate all the workmanship and skill that goes into these tractors. And I am just so glad he has a 'thing'. I think it is so important to have a passion for something in life, may it be horses, tractors, soccer, dance, whatever. One of my biggest hopes for T is that she finds herself a 'thing' that she can call her own (secretly I hope its horses... ok, maybe not so secretly.)

Source

I (stupidly) forgot my camera but please check out this site to see more amazing images from the 2013 Championship Tractor Pull.

One of the other things that was great to see at the farm show was Protect the Harvest. It's no secret that there are very mixed views on farming out there. There are many organizations that aim to destroy the publics perception of farming by presenting completely false information. I'm not going to say much more than that because this is something that really gets my blood boiling but I will say this; if you ever have any questions regarding where your food comes from, go straight to the source. Farmers, may they be dairy, beef, poultry, pork, or grain, are very proud of the hard work and dedication it takes to feed the world. Farmers wouldn't do what they do 24/7 if they weren't animal lovers. Please, ask a farmer before believing some ridiculous, radical animal rights group. Protect the Harvest's goal is to counteract these groups in the United States. Another great advocate for us farmers is Farm & Food Care, the Canadian equivalent. A well designed site with lots of resources... you can even check out a virtual farm tour!

Alright, off my soapbox (for now).

Winter Wonderland

Wintertime on the farm can be pretty taxing. The extreme cold we experience can wreak havoc on water lines, the milk house and equipment in general. Tractors, skid steers and feed carts have to be plugged in every night if we have any hope of them starting the next morning. Electric heaters are set up to keep the milk house thawed and everything running as it should. Fluctuating temperatures can put a huge strain on our calves immune systems and we are on high alert for the first signs of pneumonia.

Everything just seems to take longer. And requires more layers.

But on those cool crisp mornings, when the sun is coming up and glistening over the snowy yard, and the wooly dry cows breath are making small clouds of warmth in the frosty morning air, I am reminded of how lucky I am.

Regardless of the fact that I can't feel my fingers or toes.

To the farmer in all of us.

It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight...and not cut corners. Somebody to seed and weed, feed and breed...and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk. Somebody to replenish the self feeder and then finish a hard days work with a five mile drive to church. Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who'd laugh and then sigh...and then respond with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life "doing what dad does". So, God made a farmer!

~ Excerpt from Paul Harvey's poem  "So God Made a Farmer"

These words are what its all about. These words are my husband. And why we do what we do. And why we are proud farmers.

I, like millions of others, watched the Superbowl last night. As always, it was a great game (regardless of who won or what teams were playing... it would have been better if the Packers were in it though.)

There is one moment of Superbowl XLVII that stands out above the rest. And it wasn't the power outage, a touch down, an amazing play, or even the moment when the Ravens won. It was a commercial.

2 minutes.

2 minutes that honoured and recognized farmers around the world with some of the most poignant images and words. 2 minutes of pride for us that work day in and day out in agriculture. And 2 minutes that brought us back to earth (literally) amongst the over saturated, technicolor production that is the Superbowl.

Dodge, you really got it right.

So even if you are not a Dodge fan, please take 2 minutes out of your day to watch this video.

To the farmer in all of us.

We deserve 2 minutes.

How I Roll.

When I was pregnant, I avidly read every book, magazine and blog I could get my hands on about pregnancy, birth and beyond. It was like an addiction. An overwhelming addiction. And beyond learning what fruit size my baby was at each week of pregnancy (there is something a little bit weird about comparing your growing fetus to a cantaloupe), I can't honestly remember anything I read.

There are so many parenting styles and philosophy's out there. So many choices to make as a new parent. Co- sleeping, breast feeding, baby wearing, baby led weaning, sleep training... and the list goes on, and on and ON. There are even choices to make about the whole birth process; natural or epidural, OB or midwife, hospital, birthing center or at home... It's absolutely terrifying.  And as a first time parent, I didn't want to make the wrong choice. Heaven forbid I choose purees over baby led weaning and screw her chances to get into a good university right?!

 

But in all honesty, this post isn't about whether than one is better than the other. I have no interest in debating any of that... your baby, your choice. But I did want to share a little about how I roll as a parent. And while I am a relative rookie in this whole adventure that is parenting, so far so good ( I think...)

I guess my style could best be described as "go with the flow". When T was teeny tiny, we let her dictate when she ate and slept. I did breastfeed (I am an advocate of feeding your baby, whether it be formula or breastfeeding. I was lucky that I was able to breastfeed successfully for 9 months but I know its not that easy for everyone... the first 2 weeks were REALLY hard). I tried to "wear" her in a Beco carrier but in all honesty, she wasn't the biggest fan (I loved the carrier, she just didn't like being that close to me). I started feeding her solids around 6 months and I did start her on cereal and purees, but she's such an independent little thing, we moved pretty quickly on to finger foods. We never co-slept. She moves way too much in her sleep for either of us to be comfortable. And I did sleep train her around 7 months. We used The Baby Sleep Solution and it worked really well for us.

For the first year of her life, I let my daughter lead the way.  And she taught me everything I needed to know about parenting that first year.

Looking towards the future, I hope I can maintain a relaxed attitude towards parenting. I know that toddlers are challenging,  3 year olds are down right terrifying and I don't even want to think about the teenage years. And while I will continue to go with the flow, there are a few things that's I feel it's my duty to instill in her as a parent.

1. Respect - for her family, her elders, her classmates and friends, the environment and the farm animals that are our livelihood. Most importantly, respect for herself.

2. Ambition - for whatever she chooses in life. May it be school work, a hobby, farming or her career. Whatever direction she chooses in life, I hope she lives it passionately and with ambition.

3. Love and Laughter - Recently, T and I were hanging out with my Mom and sister. While watching my Mom and T play and giggle together, my sister said "we were raised with a lot of laughter". This has resonated with me ever since. Its true. We were raised in a household full of love and laughter and I only hope I can do the same.

Raising a farm kid presents a whole new set of challenges, and opportunities. I am totally cool with my kid getting dirty. Heck, she already does! I know the farm allows for all sorts of exploration and learning opportunities. And with these opportunities comes challenges. She will need to learn that while cows are docile and sweet animals, they are animals. And animals are unpredictable. She will need to learn that tractors are not toys, and the manure pit is never a place she should be. But above all, I hope she learns how lucky she is to have a dairy farm in her backyard.

So Miss T, thanks for teaching me more than I could ever learn from a book over the last 13+ months.

Fingers crossed we can muddle through toddlerhood with relative success!

Proud to be a Dairy Farmer.

As the new year is upon us (how the heck is it almost 2013?) I have been reflecting a lot on where I am at in my life and where I want to be. To be completely honest, I have no idea where life will take us in the next year, let alone 5 years, but I do know that I am really, truly happy with where I am in life today. 

Lately, I have been making a conscious effort to live totally in the present and not stress about the things I can't control. I'm trying not to sweat the small stuff (easier said than done.) 

A big part of this is soaking in the wonderful lifestyle I am privileged to have. I am beyond lucky that I get to wake up every day and hang out and care for wonderful animals. There is something so satisfying about getting up bright and early and heading to the barn. 

Before I went to university and met J, I really had very little understanding as to what went into making a litre of milk. Its far more then just milking cows twice (or in some cases, three) times a day. Milking is the easy part, and the most predictable. So much revolves around the delicate balance that is managing a dairy. Everything from feed, field work, breeding, calf raising, bedding and round the clock care goes into that litre of milk. 

Happy cows make milk. It is our job to ensure that our cows are as happy and comfortable as possible. And it such a satisfying job. 

Dairy farmers are some of the most passionate people when it comes to their jobs. You have to be. Our job is 24 hours a day, 7 days a year. 

Its hard for me to put into words the pride I feel to be able to call myself a dairy farmer. And I realize this post probably didn't do a very good job of it. I learn something new everyday, and am so excited that T will have an amazing understanding about where her food comes from. I only wish everyone could have this understanding. 

And as an added bonus, I am surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. 

So here's to today, and the life I lead. But mostly, here's to the cows I milk. 

PS. If you live in Canada, please PLEASE support Canadian dairy farmers and look for this symbol on all your dairy products

A picture is worth a 1000 words.

A couple weeks ago, a very dear and talented friend of mine made the trek out to the farm to capture some pictures of T and our little family, one year later (almost).

They are magic.

Bronwyn Coombs is a genius. And I will cherish these images forever.

These are the essence of us. Thank you, Bronwyn, for capturing it so beautifully.