I’ve attended the Iowa State Fair for about 30 years, and I’m “amazing amused” to discover new sites on the grounds and new foods to try. (Side bar: The Smoked Brisket and Bacon Mac n’ Cheese gets my vote in the 2014 New Foods Contest although I found the Bauders Brownie Blitz to be a delectable, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.)

I’m also still learning life lessons. It may sound cliché that youth gain valuable skills as members of 4-H or the FFA, but now that I’m a 4-H mom, I realize that I’m gaining a whole new set of life skills! I was reminded of this fact yesterday when I found myself pacing as our daughter showed her meat goats.

It was Ellie’s first year in the big ring and a ring that size – filled with the top stock from across the state – can be intimidating. I need to appreciate the fact that it took a great deal of courage for my self-conscious girl to come to the state fair when she didn’t know another 4-H member in her project area. I also need to remember that many families in the ring have a show stock legacy, and competing is something they enjoy doing as a family.

Yesterday I found myself wanting my daughter to desire to create a legacy. I wasn’t content with having her just show up… I wanted her to show! I wanted her to show her goats with heart – the way I used to show my lambs at the state fair.

And I wanted her to desire to win a purple ribbon. That means she would need to really work with her goats, training them to lead with a collar instead of a halter and helping them develop their natural potential as performance stock. It’s like the difference between an athlete playing sports at the high school level verses the college level or even training for the Olympics. Raising show stock requires a different diet and an actual training regime.

Fact is, my daughter loves her goats… as pets. She has spent hours in their pen, playing with them and talking to them. Through her 4-H Goat Project, she’s learned to be responsible and do her chores daily. She understands the importance of good health and nutrition. She knows these wethers’ purpose in life is to become meat for someone’s table. We’ve had discussions that our job is to take the best possible care of them so they make high quality meat, but this doesn’t make the reality of the situation any better.

Now that the show is over, we must say goodbye to our beloved Immanuel and Cupid. They have the sweetest personalities, and we’ve had so many fun hours together. (I find myself holding back tears even as I write about them.) I believe it’s important for kids to know how food is grown, but I’ll confess that we aren’t going to put these goats in our freezer.

Next year we’ll probably just show does, or females, at our county fair. Then we’ll bring them home and add them to our tribe, or group of goats. Showing breeding goats at the county fair is a better fit for my daughter’s interests. Her real passion is showing horses. I’m going to accept that but… I still have hopes of her someday winning a purple ribbon at the Iowa State Fair with her new horse! After all, I’m a show mom. 🙂

In celebration of the Iowa State Fair, today I’m sharing another recipe from the Let’s Cook cookbook that features Iowa Girl Eats blogger Kristen Porter. You can get your own autographed copy tomorrow, Aug. 16, between 10 am and noon at the Iowa Food and Family Project exhibit, located inside the south atrium of the Varied Industries Building.

Traditionally, 20-year anniversaries are celebrated with China. Son-Bow Farms near Plum City, Wisconsin, recently celebrated its 20^th year of business with Chinet.

Approximately 2,000 people – from as far away as Green Bay and as nearby as Plum City – gathered for breakfast during Pierce County’s Dairy Breakfast. Guests enjoyed Dad’s Belgium Waffles topped with fresh, Real® butter and whipped cream plus sides of fresh fruit and sausage links.

Wagon tours were given of the 1,000-cow dairy. Guests learned that cows’ tails were docked to keep their udders clean, and the daily average milk production of this highly productive farm is 90 pounds per cow. The rolling herd average is 32,000+ pounds and the somatic cell count (SCC) is under 150,000.

A sprinkler system could be seen showering the cows with cool water for 3 minutes every 12 minutes; these 15-minute cycles help keep cows comfortable, and comfortable cows produce more milk. Comfortable cows were seen throughout the barn, chewing their cud as they lounged in the sand bedding.

Tents were set up like a trade show, featuring everything from a Rethink Your Drink presentation about hidden sugar sources in common sports drinks to a demonstration on Hands Only CPR by Latham Forage Products Manager Corey Catt and his emergency service colleagues.

“What a great day!” said Jay Richardson, who along with his wife, Kristi, started Son-Bow Farms in 1994 as a 50-cow tie stall dairy operation. The dairy enterprise was attractive to the young couple, who was interested in adding value to their crops by feeding them to livestock.

Three years later, the Richardson’s expanded to a 120-cow free-stall barn and remodeled to a flat barn parlor. Also that year, they hired John Freund to manage the cows and Jeff Coss to manage the crops. Freund and Coss have become partners in the business. Gabe Weix, who became Agronomy Manager last year, also is a partner. Kristi puts her banking degree to work by doing payroll and bookkeeping for the operation. An accountant by trade, Jay keeps a close watch on the financials.

“Our mission is to be the premier employer of people, cows and agronomic practices,” adds Jay. “Our employees are dedicated day in and day out, embodying this mission statement. We’re also grateful for the support we’ve received from members of the community and local businesses throughout the years.”

When the Richardsons aren’t at work, you’re likely to find them at the track. Kristi has work in the pit office for more than 20 years. Jay started racing when he was 16 years old and continues to make circles with his Dirt Modified. Their 16-year-old son, Jason, is in his third year of racing Dirt Midwest Modified, lower-class primarily at the Red Cedar Speedway in Menomonie and at Eagle Valley Speedway in Jim Falls. Their 19-year-old son, Jacob, enjoys helping at the track when he can and loves music.

Whether they’re on the track or at a family gathering, the Richardsons are promoting Wisconsin’s dairy industry. Today they’re sharing a family favorite recipe for Cheesy Potatoes, which are perfect for holiday gatherings and potlucks.

What comes to mind when you hear someone say, “Fourth of July celebration”? My mind automatically thinks about boating at the lake (more like wishful thinking on my part!), potlucks with friends, campfires, and big fireworks that fill the night sky.

The Fourth of July is certainly a time for Americans to relax, unwind and celebrate all of the joys of summer. But, we would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to reflect upon our nation’s history and to remember those who preserve our freedoms. My heart goes out to all of my friends who have family members deployed this holiday. How selfless they are to put our country first!

Did you know that 40% of our service men and women come from rural America, yet only 16% of the U.S. population lives in rural America?

Perhaps more “farm kids” volunteer to serve our great country because they were active in 4-H, pledging their hands to larger service for their community and their world. Perhaps they learned to recite the FFA creed, believing that it’s more honorable to serve the public interest than one’s own self-interest. Both youth organizations emphasize community service.

Perhaps nurturing livestock or caring for crops helps develop a worth ethic and compassion, so more rural residents feel compelled to enter the military.  After all, “if you grow up in rural America, you know you just can’t take from the land. You have to give something back.” — Keeping it Real through the Lens of Farm Girl

Whatever their reasons, we owe the men and women in uniform a great deal of thanks. Their service allows us to enjoy freedoms including “choice.” For the most part, we can farm the way we want. American farmers can choose the seeds they want to plant, and they can choose to farm with Big Red Power or take a ride in a Big Green Tractor.

This holiday weekend, as we picnic with family and friends, I’ll #thankafarmer for the many food choices available! I’m looking forward to preparing – and tasting – Sweet & Spicy Hog Wild Baked Beans. What can be more “all American” than a recipe that combines apple pie filling and pork? I’ve been intrigued by this recipe ever since Franklin County farmer Val Plagge told me about it.

It’s not uncommon for a dairy farmer to begin milking at 5 AM and then again at 5 PM, but Beth Ingli of Spring Valley, Wisconsin, isn’t your typical dairy farmer. She rises at 5 AM to take care of calves and dry cows. Once the chores are done, she gets ready to work as Store Supervisor and Advertising Director for the Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery. After work, she heads back to the barn for evening chores.

“Dairying is in my blood,” says Beth, who has been living on a dairy farm for 49 years. For the past 29 of those years, she’s been working alongside her husband, Craig. The couple is the second generation to live on the family farm, which was purchased in 1957 by Beth’s father-in-law.

Beth and Craig’s four children – Kay, Celia, Rick and Erin – were active in 4-H. Beth credits that youth organization for helping her kids learn the value of keeping records and setting goals. She has served as a 4-H leader in Pierce County for the past 28 years. She started as a Foods project leader with the Olivet Otters 4-H club, which is the same 4-H club to which she belonged as a youth. Beth then became the club’s general leader. She’s currently serving on the Adult Advisor Council.

“I know from experience that 4-H teaches youth and families how to work together,” says Beth. “The county fair serves as a deadline to get projects, which you’ve been thinking about doing, actually completed. Kids learn to set goals and make a plan to achieve them. Plus, living on a farm teaches work ethic. You have to make sure the animals and crop are taken care of, and that’s a huge responsibility.”

At one time, the Ingli family had 250 entries at the Pierce County Fair! They showed cattle and hogs, as well as exhibited items like foods, photography, field crops, and ceramics. This year Beth is celebrating her 40^th year as an exhibitor by “cutting back” to about 10-15 food and photography exhibits.

Beth started showing cattle in 1974. Now her 4-year-old nephew is taking over the Raleigh show box and showing a calf in the “Little Dairyman” class this fall. She also has been bringing the same brownie recipe to the fair for the past 40 years. She has yet to receive a Champion ribbon on the brownies, but all of her children have! Guess Beth can take great pride in being a good teacher. J

In her “free time,” you’ll find Beth whipping up blue-ribbon recipes using dairy products. She’s created many of the recipes featured on the Ellsworth Creamery’s website. (SIDE BAR: My husband’s favorite appetizer is Bacon Wrapped Curds. Give them a try and let me know what you think! Be sure to also check out this recipe for Cheese Curd Apple Pie, which sounds perfectly patriotic and fitting for a Fourth of July picnic.)

Last fall Beth developed an apple turnover, which she says is just too good not to share! She’s sharing that recipe with us today on The Field Position. She’s also sharing links to a few summer picnic ideas, which she recently demonstrated during a television interview on Twin Cities Live:

• Grilled Chicken Taco Salad with Seared Cheese Curds
• Couscous and Mandarin Orange Salad with Havarti Cheese

Super Bowl Sunday is a little more than a week away, but already good-natured ribbing and game day speculations are underway.  Whether you’re planning to watch the big game (or just the commercials) with family and friends at their house or yours, the Rasmussens from Burt in North Central Iowa offer some tried and true hosting tips.

“Our approach is really to keep it simple.  We do much of the food prep ahead of time, so we can enjoy more time with our friends and family when they arrive,” says Cindy, who works part-time off the farm for an attorney and also helps with field work during the spring and fall.

Scott, the other half of this husband-wife team, is quick to share one of their secrets.  While I’m talking with Cindy, he walks over to the freezer and pulls out a Ziploc® freezer bag filled with Rye Bread Appetizers.  Now that’s my idea of “fast food”!

Keeping food on hand that can be fixed quickly when company drops in unexpectedly makes entertaining fun and easy.  Now that their three children have graduated college and are living on their own, Scott and Cindy look forward to their visits and also relish time reconnecting with their friends.

“All of our kids were very active in high school with sports and extracurricular activities like 4-H,” says Scott, who served as 4-H club leader for 11 years and coached their AAU basketball teams.  Cindy was a Sunday School teacher and Scott served as a trustee.  They both served as T-ball coaches when their kids were younger.

Adds Cindy, “It took some planning, especially during spring and fall, but we really wanted them to experience life outside of farming, choose their own paths, and earn a four-year degree.”  That being said, now our kids come home during spring and fall to help during the busy season.  They truly understand what a great life farming is and that it is the perfect setting for raising a family.”

The Rasmussen’s oldest son, Noah, graduated from Algona High School in 2000.  He earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University and works for John Deere in Urbandale.  His wife, Rachel, also graduated from ISU with a master’s in public administration.  She works in human relations.  The couple has three daughters ages 8, 4, and 3 months.

The Rasmussen’s second son, Drew, graduated from high school in 2005.  He earned a degree in Industrial Systems Technology (Ag Systems Technology) from Iowa State University and is a shift foreman at the biodiesel plant in Algona.  He also helps Scott and Cindy farm and is looking forward to farming on his own someday.  Drew and his fiancée, Sierra, are planning an August wedding.

Daughter, Chelsie, graduated from high school in 2007.  She earned a degree in psychology from the University of Iowa.  She and her husband, Tom, make their home near Britt.  They both work full time plus Chelsie is taking classes through North Iowa Community College (NIACC) to become a physical therapy assistant.  They’re expecting their first child in June.

While their children were growing up, the Rasmussens had a farrow to finish operation in addition to their cropping operation.  In 2000, hog prices went to $8, so Scott was determined to find a way to make up for lost income.  With margins on the hog operation going from tight to negative, Scott went to work at Aluma Trailers in Bancroft.  He appreciated that company’s flexibility, so he could work around his farming schedule.  After a year of working at Aluma, Scott’s dad retired from farming.   Scott was able to continue working part-time and farm additional acres.  Then in 2008, they converted the barn into a heated shop where Scott enjoys maintaining his line of farm equipment and woodworking especially during the winter months.

“I really enjoyed working at Aluma and my boss was really good to me,” says Scott.  “He was one person who really helped make a difference. Cindy and I have really been blessed by the people who have helped us along the way.”  They mention the respect they have for the farm manager of the Stockwell Memorial Farm, who helped them start farming on their own, and for an elderly neighbor, who also chose Scott to farm his land when he decided to retire.

“We’ve learned to surround ourselves with good people, and that’s one of the reasons we enjoy working with Latham Seeds,” says Scott.  “The company is filled with good people.  I know that I can call the office and be connected with someone who has the answer to my question. I really enjoy Latham’s personal service, plus Latham® products really perform well.”

In their spare time, the Rasmussens enjoy fishing, boating, spending time with family and friends, and spoiling their grandchildren.  The couple also enjoys antiquing, refinishing and repurposing furniture.  They had a cabinet built into a buffet to camouflage a dorm-sized refrigerator.  They also put locking wheels on an island in their kitchen, which readily converts into a snack table for grandkids or extends their kitchen counter space if they want to set up a buffet line.  Both items make entertaining easy.

So that you can spend more time with friends and less time in the kitchen, today the Rasmussens are sharing two of their favorite recipes on TheFieldPosition.  Take it to the house next Sunday with Rye Bread Appetizers and Party Pretzels!

RELATED POSTS:

• Super Foods for a Super Weekend 
• Game Day Grub
  
• Kicking Off Souper Bowl Sunday
  
• Game Day Soup & Sandwiches
  
• Something Delicious is Stirring

As a young girl growing up in rural North Dakota, Val Wagner dreamed of becoming a big-shot lawyer and living in a metropolis.  Then she met a farmer (aka “Boss Man” on her Wag’n Tales blog) at the county fair, and well, her dreams changed.

Val and her husband, Mark, make their home in very rural southeast North Dakota on the land that has been in her husband’s family for more than 50 years.  Together, they’re caring for the land and livestock, raising their four sons and ensuring that farming will be their legacy.

“These four boys are the reasons I do what I do,” says Val, while addressing a group of seed company executives Thursday during the 25^th anniversary of the Independent Professional Seed Association (IPSA).  “Their opportunity to farm this land isn’t going to be lost on my watch.”

Val saw how times were changing. Ag literacy is a real concern, so she started Wag’n Tales to help create a better understanding of modern agriculture.  Her blog has allowed her to virtually “open the farm to everyone.”  She believes the most important things she does is answer questions that non-farmers have like: What are cows fed? How are cattle taken care of during the winter? What is it like when a calf is born?

“I usually don’t travel an hour past my farm yet my blog has been read around the world,” says Val.  Readers live in all 50 states plus 163 countries.  She literally has a world-wide platform to discuss topics ranging from “the Science behind Crop Technology” to “School Lunch Rules” and “Corporate Farming.”  Her tongue-and-cheek blog post about “How to Spend 10 Years Married to a Farmer” went viral with more than 10,000 hits on Facebook.

“I have a story to tell, and my story is unique to me,” she says.  “But like my fellow North Dakota prairie farm wife Jenny Dewey Rohrich says, ‘Your story may seem ordinary to you, but it’s extraordinary to someone else’.  The same is true for everyone else. Tell your story and become an advocate for agriculture!“

Recipes are another way Val connects with non-farm moms and others on her blog.  In honor of January Soup Month and as a tribute to the German-Russian Country in which her family resides, today she’s sharing a recipe for Knephla Soup.

Like many farmers, Lori Maurer of Royal in western Iowa repurposed old equipment and household items before #DIY was a trend on Pinterest.  Stepping into her warm kitchen is like walking down memory lane.

Windows salvaged from an old hog barn have become window pane photo frames, showcasing some of Lori’s favorite memories while her own three children were young.  The large bowl her grandma used to make homemade bread hangs on the wall next to the photo pane.  Nearby, an old wooden ladder from her parents’ farm has found new life as a decoration.

“I’ve always enjoyed finding new uses for old items.  It’s a fun way to preserve memories plus it can help decorate on a dime,” says Lori, who’s the youngest of 10 children.

Being resourceful is something Lori grew up doing and it’s something she and her husband, Jeff, have passed along to her children.  They’re the proud parents of three: Kevin, 26, who graduated from Iowa State University and recently joined the family farming operation; Mandy, 23, who also graduated from ISU where she met her husband Cole Danner; and Mitch, 19, who’s a sophomore at Iowa State where he’s majoring in Ag Studies with a minor in Agronomy.

This year the Maurer’s are literally “making Christmas.”  Now that their children are either married or have significant others, they decided to eliminate some of the stress and expense from everyone buying something for eight other family members.  Instead they drew names and will make a gift for that person.  Jeff is making something so special for Mandy that she’s sure to treasure it for a lifetime, and Lori’s gift for Cole is extremely thoughtful.

Providing experiences is a Maurer holiday tradition.  One year they gave their children a puppy named Pepper, who still makes her home on the farm although she prefers to stay on the porch rather than run with the younger dogs.  Another year Santa left a Kitty Cat in their living room; the Maurer kids couldn’t imagine how Santa got down the chimney with that!

“Our kids had so much fun riding their little snowmobile through wide, open spaces,” recalls Lori.  “The freedom to explore on their own is one of the best things about raising kids in the country.  Living on a farm with livestock also teaches them responsibility and life lessons.”

The Maurer’s also credit 4-H for helping their kids develop life skills.  All three showed club calves.  They were responsible for doing chores, balancing a budget and marketing their show stock.  Showing cattle helped them develop communication skills and allowed them to meet other youth with like interests from around the state.

“There’s always something to be done on our farm, but there’s always someone help,” says Lori, whose family raised hogs and crops when she was growing up.  She and Jeff feel blessed to be farming with two of their children, and Mitch comes home from college to help whenever he can.  He’s hoping to join the family farming operation in a few more years.

When everyone gathers together, Lori likes to whip up hearty, stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal that’s perfect during fall harvest or a cold, winter’s night.  Today she’s sharing one of her family’s favorite casseroles on TheFieldPosition.com.

P.S.  If you’d like to try making homemade gifts for the holidays, we’ve created a Pinterest board with several fun ideas.  Below are a few links to ideas for family activities.  Even if you don’t get them made before Dec. 25, you could make them over Winter Break and treasure them in years to come:

• Building snowmen for breakfast
• Ornaments you can make with your kids
• How to make burlap wreaths