Happy Anniversary (yesterday)

Yesterday was our four month anniversary of milking three times a day. Time flies when you are working your rear off unfortunately mine is not literally off. Bummer. To me now it is a challenge to see how long we can keep this up. We do not have any regular hired help just Kurt and I. Kurt's dad shows up in the afternoons when it suits him. He likes to do field work and drive tractor so he will be here in another month or so when there is work to be done. Once a month we have a friend milk one milking for us which I really, really look forward too.



Back to the challenge of seeing how long we can do this, my friend Sara and her soon-to-be ex milked 3x for eight months. As I said before, Kurt and I are milking 3x to make more money and in turn pay down debt. Then the milk price when down, way down. Enjoy your cheap food (sorry, but I hope it does not last long). I noticed milk was down 1.10 a gallon at our store in town. Atleast the price at the store actually went down when our price did as well. Cheese curds were a dollar cheaper too. Do you know what a cheese curd is? I call it a waste product. Something extra they are getting out of the whey. Plus they make a killing on it. Try them they are good. I have to get Kurt a bag whenever I'm near a store or cheese factory.



Do you want to know what I do all day? No? Well I'll tell you anyway. I have a very fascinating life and I feel I need to share it : ) Haha : )

5:30-6:45am Milk the cows and clean the milkhouse (milking equipment)
6:45-7:15am Clean, feed, and bed three pens of heifers that are in the barn
During this Kurt feeds the cows their haylage, corn silage, grain, protein, and special powders (they are magical according to Kurt), throws hay to the heifers outside.
7:15-7:45am I go in and get Mac ready to go out to the end of the driveway to wait for the bus
7:45-8:30am Clean the barn (turn the barn cleaner on to empty the gutter that is full of poop) and bed the gutter. I scrape the straw into the gutter that is behind the cows. Fill up my heifer feed and bring it back near the pens so I have for their night feeding. Feed the heifers in the pens hay.
8:30-11:30am Free time (breakfast, errands, chores in the house, paperwork/business work, nap, whatever we want to do)
11:30-1:00pm Let the cows outside, bed the cows, feed the cows the same stuff from this am, and set up the milkhouse, fillup feed pails in the feed room, and let the cows back in.
1:00-2:15pm Milk the cows and clean milkhouse
2:15-3:00pm Feed the heifers outside hay, haylage, corn silage, feed mix and their magic powder. Kurt gets hay down to feed the cows it. Kurt also cleans out the heifer shed if it needs it.
This is where we change it up. The heifers in the pens need to be fed again. Sometimes I come back out between 5 and 6pm to do it or we do it after milking. Kurt also feeds the cows a third time which is sometimes after the last milking or around 5 and 6.

6:30-8:30 or 9pm is Free time.
9-10:30pm Milk, clean milkhouse, and give cows more haylage and heifers in pens more hay.
Just an FYI the cows always have feed in front of them to eat.
This is a typical day, but it gets changed up depending on what is going on. Yesterday we had a meeting at noon so we milked later and were out in the barn longer in the morning to have everything ready when we got home.



Now when field work and planting begins, I will probably be on my own a lot in the barn or I will be in the tractor and Kurt will be in the barn. I can't plant or plow, but I can disc and drag fields. It's kind of theraputic. Yawn. I think I need to nap before all of my "free" time is gone. Kurt is already asleep on the couch.

Menu Plan Monday

Here is what I'm planning on for the three of us to eat this week. It is another busy week. March is a busy month and it is every year so I'm prepared (I think).

Monday-Leftovers, exciting I know : )

Tuesday-Cheeseburger Meatloaf, potatoes, and carrots

Wednesday-Cheesy Tuna Noodle Casserole

Thursday-Leftovers, not sure

Friday-Broiled haddock, french fries, coleslaw

Saturday-I hope Godfather's pizza : )

Check out more menu plans over at OrgJunkie!

Tator Tot Casserole

Have you noticed a casserole theme? Sorry about that but I go through phases where I can not get enough of the stuff. Ten years ago, when I was living at home and my mom was taking care of my grandma, who was dying from cancer, three hours away I made supper for my dad and 17-year-old brother. I was only 18 and had a fascination with casseroles. My mom and her sisters would joke about my dad and brother getting stuck eating Meghan's creations again. I think my dad would go get takeout from some places when it was my mom's week to take care of grandma because he had had enough casseroles. Tator tot casserole was not in my arsenal yet.





Kurt thinks tator tot casserole is the best. I think Mac could go without because of all the vegetables, but she deals with it. Go check out some other probably non-casserole recipes at the Recipe Swap : )




Tator Tot Casserole


1-2 pounds cooked, seasoned ground beef or turkey
2-3 cans veggies (beans, carrots, corn)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of milk
Shredded cheese, optional
Bag of frozen tator tots



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the tator tots. Pour casserole in a 9x13 baking dish. Top with tator tots and bake until tots have reached desired crispyness. About 35-45 mins.

Menu Plan Monday (Tuesday)

I had my plan done in my head as of yesterday, but no time to put it on here. We had an appointment in the afternoon with our farm instructor through the tech college, one this morning to pick out a picture for our church directory, the insurance guy is coming tomorrow morning, and Thursday afternoon our crop specialist is coming over. Too bad we don't have a "conference room" because we could sure use on on weeks like this. I have been working at getting pictures of our dining room/the conference room up since Friday. Check here and hopefully they will be up shortly. At least I have to make sure the house is clean which is nice because sometimes items start to take over areas like the kitchen table...not fun. After looking through the Sunday paper, is it just me or are the stores not running any great deals? There is nothing I need to go running to town for this week. Piggly Wiggly has been have the best stock-up deals. Saturday I bought about 12 cans of cream of chicken, celery, and potato soups and five pounds of cheese for $10. We should be good for awhile unless something comes on sale from the Pig. That is what I have been up to and here is what we plan on eating this week.

Monday-Kurt's choice Tator tot casserole

Tuesday-Pork chops, box potatoes (scalloped) or stuffing, and corn

Wednesday-Ash Wednesday I can eat meat this day (and Friday because I'm a Lutheran and that is how I grew up) but I thought I might make Cheesy Tuna Noodle Casserole or Crockpot Beef Roast because we might go to church that night. Either way it's something simple.

Thursday-Cheeseburger Meatloaf or Taco Casserole (this is the week of casseroles hopefully no one gets tired of them : ) )

Friday- I think I'm going to go "meatless" again and make Haddock with baked potatoes and a veggie.

Saturday-Leftovers or pizza

Other menu ideas can be found HERE

Dining Room

Before I moved into Kurt's house, his parents had to get the rest of their stuff out (they moved to town seven years earlier). Then I wanted to make the house feel more homey. The feeling I got when I came in the house was dark, cluttered, and not at all feeling like a home. Maybe because it was so cluttered it just drove me nuts. Because we are renting, the only thing I could do was paint and put my own window treatments. The flooring is old, worn, and definetly needs to be replaced but I can live with it unless we decide to buy this place. Then out with the old (and gross) and in with the new, dust free flooring : )










Here is the before.






Here is the after. I "HEART" the color which is a cream and the curtains my mom made. My cookbooks, family pictures, a plaque from the Holstein Association, and the intercom occupy the counter area. Some of my cows are the shelf and then some serving pieces above. The door on the left is the pantry which is the length of the wall. Along the right side only my sewing machine is there sitting on the floor unlike the other pic where there is a lot of stuff.

Here is a dark picture. See all of the stuff on the walls on either side of the window. Yuck.

Ta-da. I prefer this. : )

Do you like it? It was the best I could do. I'm not a magician.

Puppy Chow

This is an addicting snack. I'm just warning you. You will have to make it over and over and over again if you have chocoholics like I do in your house. I don't mind except I'm on the last box of cereal. I'm not sure why this is called puppy chow. Maybe it is to make it sound less appetizing? If you watch Jon & Kate Plus 8, they make this too and they call it Monkey Munch. This is my recipe for the Recipe Swap. Go check it out.






Puppy Chow




In a large microwave-safe bowl combine. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Continue doing that until the mixture is smooth and combined.


1 stick of butter (margarine would be fine)
1-1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 to 3/4 cup peanut butter (I eyeball it)





Pour a 12 oz box of Crispix or Chex cereal into the bowl. Stir gently to make sure all of the cereal has been coated. In an ice cream pail, put one cup of powdered sugar in the bottom. Pour coated cereal over the top. Dump remaining powdered sugar on top. Put lid on pail and shake. You may have to move cereal around with spoon and shake again. You can spread this out on wax paper to cool, but I normally don't.



12 oz box of Crispix or Chex
2-1/2 cups powdered sugar





You can freeze this if you like.




Check out what's going on at Married to the Cows hopefully I will have a new post shortly.

Menu Plan Monday

I am not planning on heading to the store until Saturday so I will be making meals from our stash and leftovers. I have been kind of lazy and have a few items that need my attention in the fridge ASAP. Leftover spiral sliced ham, spaghetti, meat sauce, broccoli, and lettuce (before it turns nasty on me). I also need to make Kurt's chocolate chip cookies this week. I'm going to do a quadruple batch but I have to do it in two separate bowls. I made some puppy chow today to take care of the need for sweets. Kurt has told me he needs cookie or candy bars at all times in the house. You don't need to worry about Kurt's need for sweets. He works hard and is a lean 175 pounds. He'll be fine, it's me who needs to stay away from the sweets. Here is our plan for the week and to find more inspiring recipes check out OrgJunkie.







Monday-It's up in the air. We have a Classification party(going to check out a friends cows that were scored today, there is food and lots to drink out in the barn) to go to so might just eat a little before we go incase there isn't food. There is usually lots of food but you never know.





Tuesday-Chicken parmigiana with the leftover meat sauce and spaghetti





Wednesday- Ham and scalloped potatoes





Thursday-Pork chops with shake 'n bake, potatoes, and veggies





Friday-Out to eat in Green Bay, we are going to the Toby Keith concert.





Saturday-Chicken noodle dumpling soup