What's new? How's it going?

Almost every night for the past six weeks, Glen has asked the question: "What's new?"

Since Daphne was born, Glen has been taking care of the cows (with help from his dad and brother) and I have been holding down the fort, so to speak, taking care of the kids. It's almost like we're living in two separate worlds, so Glen's question is his way of catching up on what's happening in my world.

Some days, I don't have much to report. Some days, I think I should make a list so I don't forget. Because I forget more often than I remember. At least we have caller ID on our phone to keep track of who calls.

So, what's new?

In short, lots. But here are a few highlights:

• Obviously, Daphne's arrival is the biggest news around here. It's hard to believe she's already six weeks old. Everyone is adjusting well to life as a family of five. Dan and Monika adore their little sister and have been very helpful — at least 97% of the time they have.

• After Christmas break, Dan started an accelerated reading (AR) program at school. I am absolutely astounded that he's reading in kindergarten. I'm also super proud. And even though the AR program means he now has homework every night, I enjoy helping him with his reading.

• With caring for Daphne and helping Dan with homework, I was starting to feel like Monika wasn't getting enough parental attention, so we started what she calls "music time". We sit down at the piano, I play and Monika sings while pretending to play. And we both smile.

• For me, meetings and events are starting to fill up the calendar. Yesterday, Daphne and I participated in Minnesota Milk's Dairy Day at the Capitol. And planning has started for this year's Stearns County Breakfast on the Farm.

• Glen finally dried up enough extra cows to quit switching for awhile. He also turned two walkways in the barn into two extra stalls so the barn now has room for 60 cows.

The funny thing is, we started talking about those two extra stalls quite awhile ago and Glen picked up the materials to construct them last month, but he forgot to tell me that he actually finished the project until a couple days ago. So, I've started asking him, "What's new outside?" That way I can try to keep up with what's happening with the cows, especially now that cows are calving again.

The other question I've been hearing quite often is, "How's it going?" Glen asks that question via text message at least a couple times a day; it's his way of checking in on the chaos in the house. Other people who ask are usually inquiring about life with a newborn or about how we're handling the challenges of winter weather farming.

So, how's it going?

All in all, it's going good.

An unbelievable honor

Late last month, we were graced with an honor that, to us, is still pretty unbelievable. Our family farm was named 2012 Producer of the Year by the Minnesota Milk Producers Association.

To be honest, we thought awards like this were only given to larger, well-established farms. My first reaction when we were told was actually, "Are you kidding me?"

But, disbelief aside, we are honored to represent the dairy farmers of Minnesota and hope that this award is proof that every Minnesota dairy farm — regardless of size — and every dairy farmer — regardless of age — is important to our state's dairy industry.

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Here's the video of our farm that was used during the presentation of the award at Midwest Dairy Expo in St. Cloud:



(If the video doesn't work, try this link.)

Our story was also featured in several publications:

• The Dairy Star

• The Country Today

• Agri-News


Finally, here's one last photo of our family before Little Frericks #3 arrives.

Butter Crunch Lemon-Cheese Bars

New life for old cottage cheese

I hate throwing food away. For that matter, I hate wasting anything. But it really bothers me to see food go to waste, so I try hard to gauge our grocery needs and purchase accordingly. I also try to minimize leftovers (for fear they'll get lost in the back of the fridge) and find ways to use up fresh foods that are past their prime.

This anti-waste philosophy of mine is what led to the discovery of Butter Crunch Lemon-Cheese Bars.

A buttery, crunchy crust topped with a tangy, lemon filling.

When we got home from our trip to Hawaii last January, I found an outdated container of cottage cheese in the back of the fridge. Oops. Even though it was outdated, it still looked and smelled like normal cottage cheese, so I decided it was still edible. I was not, however, willing to eat it without cooking it. So, I turned to the Internet for ideas on how to use it up.

After scanning several potential recipes, I settled on this recipe from myrecipes.com. Not only did the recipe use ingredients I already had on hand, it was originally published in Cooking Light, a magazine known for its more health-conscious recipes.

There was only one problem with the recipe: it was designed to fill an 8 x 8 baking pan. In my opinion, there's no point in making a pan of bars that small. If I'm going to put in the effort to make a pan of bars from scratch, there might as well be enough of the finished product to last at least a day. Plus, I needed to use up more than one cup of cottage cheese, which is what the original recipe called for. So, I did some tweaking and ended up making the bars this way.

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Butter Crunch Lemon-Cheese Bars

Crust:

2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger*
2 cups whole wheat flour

Filling:

2 cups cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon ground ginger**
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice***
1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with parchment paper and coat with cooking spray. (I use the nifty non-stick Pan Lining Paper from Reynolds Wrap.) If you use a glass pan without parchment paper, you might need to reduce the cooking time for the crust.

To prepare crust, combine butter, brown sugar, salt and ginger in a mixing bowl and beat with a mixer until smooth. Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup, level with a knife and add to butter mixture. Beat at low speed until mixture looks like large crumbs. Firmly press crumbs into baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

To prepare filling, place cottage cheese in large food processor. Process on high for two minutes, scraping sides of bowl half-way through. Add granulated sugar and remaining ingredients; process until well blended. Pour filling over crust. Bake at 350° for about 40 minutes. I start checking at 35 minutes and bake until filling in center of pan is firm and edges are lightly browned. Cool bars and chill for several hours before serving. Once cool, I lift the whole bar out of the pan, remove the parchment paper and set the bar back in the pan to cut. Cut the bars small; they're very rich.

*The original recipe calls for ground mace or nutmeg. I think you could also use cardamom, allspice or no spice at all.

**Original recipe uses grated lemon rind. I've also used raspberry extract.

***Original recipe calls for fresh lemon juice. I think they turn out fine with bottled juice.

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After taking his first bite, Glen, who serves as my main recipe critic, said, "You can make these again!" He also wouldn't let me give any of them away.

I agree that these bars are super delicious. I also like that the recipe is very flexible. I've made these a couple times now and, each time, I've tried something new. For the last batch, I used three cups of cottage cheese and increased the other ingredients accordingly. I also keep reducing the amount of sugar, to try to obtain a less-sweet bar.

If you give these a try, let me know how they turn out for you. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

P.S. You'll need a large glass of milk to wash these down!

One combine, two happy kids...

...and a happy farmer

It's hard for farm boys to keep up with their farming after they start school. Dan was pretty bummed about missing out on chopping corn silage and earlage this year, since all the chopping was finished before he got home from school. So, when it was clear that we'd still be combining corn into the early evening, Glen asked Erv if there would be room in the combine for a little boy. Erv said there would be room.

Right after we finished our after-school snack, Erv pulled into the yard with the combine. I asked Dan if wanted to go ride in the combine. No, he said, he wanted to play. I told him this was the last harvest work of the year, so it was his last opportunity to ride along. He still said no. I asked Monika if she wanted to go and she jumped up and yelled, "Yes!" As I was bringing Monika out to the combine, Dan decided that he wanted to go, after all.

I asked Erv if there was room in the combine for two little people and he said he thought so. We all climbed up and I helped Erv get Dan and Monika buckled in. As they drove out of the yard, their smiles were mile-wide.

I can only imagine the chatter inside the cab of the combine while the last of this year's corn was gleaned from the field for one last semi-load. But, by the time the combine pulled up to dump the last bushels, everyone was still smiling — including one happy farmer.

For Glen, the corn harvest always comes with anxiety. Between starting a day ahead of schedule, coordinating the combine and the trucks, and deciding how to market the corn we didn't have contracted, Glen was overwhelmed. He said he was more than relieved to be done.

All in all, the harvest went well. We don't have the last scale ticket yet, but it looks like our yield was less than we had calculated. The moisture levels and test weights on the first loads looked good, though, so we should do okay.

From the big picture stand-point, we did great. Given the growing conditions this year, we could have easily been left with no corn to combine.

And that would have made for one very disappointed farmer and one very disappointed little boy.


Thank you, God, for timely rains and for another safe harvest.

Before Christine was Princess Kay

I'm not sure words can adequately describe how I excited I became when Mary Zahurones, the 58th Princess Kay of the Milky Way, placed the crown atop Christine Reitsma's curls at the coronation held Wednesday, August 22 at the Minnesota State Fair Bandshell.

I was excited for several reasons.

First, Christine is from Stearns County. I may not be a Stearns County native, but Stearns County is my home now.

Second, Christine is the first Princess Kay from Stearns County in 59 years. Stearns County has sent dozens of well-qualified candidates to the contest in the past, but has never had one of its own crowned.

Third, Christine is the first Princess Kay I've had a chance to see in action promoting agriculture before she was Princess Kay. Through her FFA Chapter, Christine has been helping with the Stearns County Breakfast on the Farm for several years. This year she helped with the breakfast as a county dairy princess. Each of those years, she helped with the educational exhibits — the part of the breakfast I help coordinate. In the photo below, from the 2009 Stearns County Breakfast on the Farm, she was asking a small boy if he wanted to pet the piglet.

And that leads to the final, and most important, reason I was so excited when Christine was crowned: I know Christine will do an excellent job representing Minnesota's dairy farmers. Christine's enthusiasm for promoting agriculture is so evident, it's contagious.

I can't wait to see Christine at the 2013 Stearns County Breakfast on the Farm as Princess Kay of the Milky Way. This time, we'll be sure to get a photo of Christine with a dairy cow or calf.

Christine at the 2010 Stearns County Breakfast on the Farm