Fair Enough!

By Sarah Correll

It’s county fair season here in Indiana, and a lot of our friends have been having fun at theirs!

Jeanette shares memories of her 4-H fashion review days, and of her kids’ fair week, complete with a Hog Wrestling Contest.

Jent keeps her sense of humor as her kids show their beef cattle at their county fair and watches a tractor pull here.

Lindsay shares photos and memories of a fair filled with livestock shows that involved people of all ages.

Nancy shares about their day at the county fair, complete with ice cream and Ferris wheels!

Sarah’s daughters showed calves and pigs in the open class of their fair. Find the stories here!

What is your favorite thing to do at the fair?

Summer Fun and Eating the Dairy Way!

By Michelle Plummer of Winners Drink Milk

Spring Break may have given you a taste of summer….not weather wise, but how to keep the little ones occupied when school is out!  Summer camps are fun, exciting and encourage children to hydrate and eat on regular schedules…but what about when kids are just ‘messing around’ in their own neighborhoods, are they making the right choices.  Here are few ways to be sure you can keep the kids hydrated, making good nutrition choices and those choices! 

• Pack a picnic for them- not in a lunch box- (that is too much like school) but a neat old box, a basket, something creative that will hold a variety of foods.  Pack cheese sticks, lunch and go boxes, fruit that travels well and veggie sticks.Your little ones can go off for the day and still have lots of options for snacking until they return with their stories of adventure!
• Who does not love a lemonade stand? What about a smoothie stand instead?! This does need a bit more adult supervision, but well worth the outcome to be sure your neighborhood is getting their 3 servings of dairy a day!  This would be the perfect time to develop your smoothie making skills for a possible contest coming to the State Fair in August?  Milk, yogurt, fruit, ice along with a few cups and a blender! 
  
• Rainy days can be extra challenging!  Grilled cheese cut into the best shape contest!  Have the kids make their own sandwiches and have a variety of cookie cutters on the table, cut their sandwiches into the selected shape and grill.  What to do with the leftovers?  Cut into cubes (bread and all), grill, skewer with veggies- these are sure to be a hit!
• Personal Pan Pizzas- English muffins, tortilla, and pita bread- any and all make a great base for quick and easy snacks or dinner pizzas.  Cover the table with a disposable cloth, arrange the sauce, cheese, vegetable toppings, turkey pepperoni, pineapple, mandarin oranges and let the kids go crazy with their own artist flair!  Top with cheese, bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes and a creation Monet would cherish!
•  Dips for Dunks-   Enjoy calcium one other way!  Make dips for dunking!   Using yogurt is a great substitute for sour cream.  Use some your favorite seasonings or a dip/salad dressing mix to blend into a container of Greek yogurt.  Leave bags of cut up veggies in the refrigerator so the little ones can make their own decision and a measuring cup on the counter as a scoop!

Summer time is a great time to add nutrition, calcium and hydration from Milk and other great tasting dairy products in a variety of ways.  Be sure your kids are getting their 3-Every-day of Dairy.

Food Safety for Leftovers

By Denise Derrer of Indiana State Board of Animal Health

Grandma is bringing over her famous green bean casserole and Aunt Betty can’t call it Thanksgiving without sweet potatoes smothered in mini marshmallows.  Oh, the variety of food is endless at the holidays.  

Unfortunately, the size of our stomachs and pants is not.  At the end of the feasting you survey what remains.  You just can’t fathom throwing away the extra food from those yummy dishes so you divide them into various storage containers and go about your holiday. 

Fast forward a few days and you’re staring at your bulging refrigerator trying to decide if it’s safe to eat Grammy’s leftover green bean casserole.  Remember, leftovers can be kept for 3 to 5 days, so you think you’re safe.  But wait.  Now you can’t remember which foods were eaten at which get-together—and they spanned the entire weekend. 

This problem can be solved easily and quickly.  Simply take the time to write the date on the outside of all your storage containers. 

The hustle and bustle of preparing for the Thanksgiving feast does not leave any time to sit down, let alone create labels.  Take this time to get your kids involved.  While the adults are busy preparing food over a hot stove, ask the youngsters to make leftovers labels.  HolidayFoodSafety.org has printable labels and the “consume by” date can be written in the blank space.   

Store your leftovers in shallow containers.  That will allow the food to cool quicker, so it gets to a safe storing temperature faster.  And don’t over-load your fridge.  The cool air needs room to circulate around the food.    

When you initially pick your foods, choose those that sit well at room temperature.  Be sure to put the remaining provisions back in the refrigerator within two hours after dinner is served.  Don’t forget, the danger zone for prepared foods is between 40 ˚F and 140 ˚F.  Keeping your fridge at or below 40 ˚F inhibits the growth of potentially harmful bacteria.

Sit back and rest easy this holiday knowing that chilling and storing food properly is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of food borne illness.  

Fall Harvest and Family: Meet the Mahans

By Sarah Mahan of This Farm Family's Life and Real Farmwives of America and Friends

Harvest is in full swing in southeastern Indiana.  The wet weather we experienced this spring resulted in a late planting season.   Harvest is a little behind schedule compared to the last three years in which we have managed to finish by Halloween.  However, I vividly remember several years when it was Thanksgiving or after before we finished.  We can’t control Mother Nature!

We farm roughly 900 acres of beans and 1000 acres of corn.  We are finished with bean harvest and are about halfway finished with corn.  My husband is the fifth generation to live and work on our family farm.  The family farm makes up about 350 of the 1900 acres. The corn is fairly wet this year so we have to dry it before we can take it to the grain elevator.

 Farmers put in long days around harvest season. My husband works about 16 hour days which means we don’t see him very much.  Sometimes that is hard when the kids are little, but we make it work.  I deliver lunch to the field every day.  Our youngest is always up for a little field work.

She likes to help Daddy as much as she can…

Our oldest daughter is now in school.  When she gets home sometimes we head out to the field once again and visit everyone.

She even gets to sneak in a combine ride with Grandma…

while her sister gets to ride in the tractor with Papaw…

and I get to go home and fold laundry in peace!!!

I hope you all are having a great harvest season!

Make Your Own Ice Cream in a Bag!

By Amy of Real Farmwives of America and Friends and 2 Maids A Milking

Celebrate National Ice Cream Month!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!

What a great way to celebrate summer – ice cream sundaes, ice cream cones, milk shakes, and especially homemade ice cream! We do our fair share of consuming ice cream ALL year round but July is actually National Ice Cream Month! In 1984, President Ronald Reagan made this designation because he loved ice cream so much. In fact, the third Sunday of the month is even National Ice Cream Day – which happens to be on Sunday, July 17th this year.

If you’ve ever wanted to make homemade ice cream but don’t have an ice cream maker, you are in luck! Here is a simple, easy, and super tasty treat that you can make with ingredients that you probably already have at home. This one is always a winner with kids too because they can get involved and make their own!

Being a dairy farm family, we love to find ways to enjoy our dairy products and this one was a huge hit with a group of kids at our farm during a summer cow camp! We hope you enjoy!

Ice Cream in a Bag

Ingredients

1 T. sugar

½ C. whole milk or half & half

¼ t. vanilla extract

6 T. rock salt

1 pint-size Ziploc plastic bag

1 gallon-size Ziploc plastic bag

Ice

How To Make It

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal again carefully.
4. Shake until mixture is ice cream, 5-10 minutes.
5. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy.
6. Feel free to add chocolate syrup, nuts, strawberries or any other ice cream topping!

Envelope Easter Bunny

Hello everyone!  This is Sarah at This Farm Family’s Life.  I was asked to share a kids’ Easter craft with you.  Today we will be making envelope Easter bunnies.

You will need:

1 white envelope

Pink and white construction paper

2 wiggle eyes

Pink pom-pom

Cotton ball

Grey and pink markers

1. Seal the envelope.

2. Cut two large ovals from the white construction paper.(ears)

3. Cut two smaller ovals from the pink construction paper.(ears)

4. Cut two small ovals from the white construction paper. (paws)

To make the ears, glue the pink oval inside the white oval.  Glue them both to the back of the envelope.

Glue the wiggly eyes to the front of the envelope. (If you don’t have wiggly eyes, you can use black and white construction paper.)

Glue the paws at the bottom of the envelope so they hang over about halfway.

Glue the pom-pom nose to the front. (If you don’t have a pink pom-pom, you can color it with a pink marker.)

Glue the cotton ball tail to the back.

Using the pink marker, draw the nose.

Using the grey marker, draw the whiskers and the pads on the paw.

Have fun being crafty!