Menu Plan Monday June 28th

Monday- Cheesy hamburger noodle bake...basically homemade mac 'n cheese with hamburger

Tuesday- Chicken breasts, plain homemade mac 'n cheese, salad, and green beans

Wednesday- Sloppy joes, beans, chips, and corn

Thursday- Pork chops, stuffing, salad, and green beans

Friday- Unsure because Mac has a birthday party and we'll probably be busy putting in our second crop haylage so the simpler the better...maybe chicken from the grocery store's deli (it's good stuff) or their perch (good too)

Saturday- Brats, hamburgers, and hot dogs, chips, and bars (we'll probably be unloading hay this day so if the weather cooperates I will have a few boys to feed and boy can they eat!)

More menu idea's at OrgJunkie

Mac 'n Cheese Mania

I have only posted one recipe for June Dairy month which is quite pathetic. Now I have more reason than ever to be a June Dairy month advocate because I am one. I was recently recruited to become part of our counties dairy promotion board. This board's largest job is to pull of the annual Breakfast of the Farm. Party coordinators? Hmm, I have thrown two, count them TWO successful surprise birthday parties. I'm think this could be a little more work but I'm all for it since I love my cows and I love Wisconsin dairy farms. With that being said here is my second and probably last recipe for June Dairy month.

30 Days 30 Ways of Macaroni and Cheese

and there are actually more than 30 recipes. Please check out so many awesome recipes!

June is Dairy Month Recipe 1

from allrecipes.com

Since we are already 12 days into June, I am going to kick it into high gear with some very dairy recipes. When I was growing up, I remember getting ice cream at the coop and cheese and crackers at the banks to celebrate June Dairy month. Our 4-H club would pass out cheese at the grocery store and I think they later moved to ice cream cones. A lot of counties in Wisconsin also host Breakfast on Farms at designated farms throughout the state. The breakfasts take a lot of preparation usually include petty zoo, kids games, antique cars or tractors, live music (usually polka bands), church services (since most are held on Sundays), and of course some type of breakfast is served (ours is eggs, hashbrowns, cinnamon rolls, cheese, milk, and sometime ice cream. I wonder if other states have other ways of celebrating June Dairy month? Have you all heard of June Dairy month.

The radio station we listen to in the barn is a country station and they have not mentioned that it is June Dairy month once. They also did not last year because I was out in the barn every morning milking by myself so it was just me, the girls, and a radio. Now there is another country radio station that is going to a different dairy farm each day of June. I think that is awesome! A lot of farmers have the radios in their barns on the station we have so I'm wondering if any of them have noticed as well.

Here is my first recipe Blueberry Cream Muffins

How I Decorate

Some people I know wrinkle their noses at me when I mention rummage sales or Goodwill. If they only know what they were missing, I have been able to add to my cow collection for as little as ten cents! I also receive cow items for my birthday or Christmas. The above cow head I got for Christmas a few years ago. I didn't immediately like it but now I'd have to say it is one of my favorites.

Paid $1 for this at a rummage sale about six years ago. It hangs over the large doorway going into the living room from the dining room. 99% of my cows are in the kitchen/dining room area.

This is a cow themed windchime. It has a miniature tire around the cow on the top that says Welcome. The bottom chime area are milk bottles. I couldn't pass this up this spring at a rummage sale for a $1.

Sometimes I find cute items that match the colors in the room and no one would ever think I got it at a rummage sale again for a dollar. The opposite walls are blue and the saying is pretty cute on this little print.

I found the picture on the left at a rummage sale of a friends. I really liked it but it seemed like the perfect spot for this picture would be in a bathroom or laundry room in my opinion. Then when I painted the kitchen the flowers from the painting really popped out and with the frame coordinating with the opposite dining room walls it fit. For a dollar, I could not go wrong either way.

I was so glad we stopped at the rummage sale I found this wall hanging. For ten cents, I was able to replace the ugly cut out cow that was hung indefinetly in it's spot. Seriously, any non-rummagers believers yet???!!!

On this wall I got a snowman in the shape of a star that was hanging here for Christmas. As it got warmer I desperately needed to change the decor. My mother-in-law had a tow rack on this wall. I'm not sure why anyone would hang a towel bar above a stove but there was one there. I took it down when I painted and never planned to reinstall it. So there are large screw holes where I have the bottom hanging attached to the wall. I also paid a dollar for the birdhouse hanging. The tin star above it I found a few years ago and I paid no more than 50 cents.

This is linked to WFMW.

If only this came with autopilot

It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about but lack of energy, ambition, and being down right tired have kept me off the computer. I have wrote blog posts in my head while out in the barn working, but the worst time for me to post is after my husband has made me grumpy. When I'm tired, it usually doesn't take too long to make me grumpy.

• Yesterday was my parents 31st wedding anniversary. They went out for lobster and steak which is their usual celebration. My anniversary was two weeks from yesterday, and this has me hungry for lobster. I haven't had lobster in a couple years so we should probably go for it right! We have a gift certificate and a coupon from my Entertainment book that is buy one get one free (or up to $8 off). Which I don't think any of their meals at this place are less than 8. Fifteen dollars is probably the average there and their food is so good. I could make a meal out of the salad bar.
• Kurt proposed to me three years ago today. I asked him if he remember what today was and he started talking about how it was the day his life was over, etc, etc. Instead I told him it was the last day of school.
• Maclayne had to go to school today until 1:20 and then they are dismissed until September 1. She will actually start summer school on Monday and that runs for three weeks. Summer school is very popular here believe it or not. Mac is signed up for Spanish, art, and playground games. Kind of nice because she is in a routine for three weeks and then we start another routine for swimming lessons. Swimming lessons run all through the summer in two week sessions. This year I decided to decrease my running around with her and hopefully only leave the house once a day.
• We cut our hay going on a month this coming Monday. Ideally a farmer would like to be able to cut their hay every four weeks. Hopefully this will happen for us because then hopefully we will be able to get more crops of hay off this year. A good year of hay is four crops, but an exceptional year would be five. We could really use four crops of hay this year. So when it's humid and hot and then we get some rain you'll know that is good for hay and it's really good for the corn. I hate the humidity but it helps make good feed for our cows and we need a lot of feed made this year. We have had to buy a lot of hay and almost had to buy corn silage.
• A week from tomorrow it is tentatively planned that our milk will be going to Red Barn Family Farms. I hope we start making money right away. Our financial situation is no better than we were last year. We are still waiting to hear if we have gotten a loan which really stinks because if we get the loan that would open up our checkbook so we could start paying off items. That would be such a wonderful thing.
• I'm getting sleepy now. Five hours of sleep at night doesn't do a body good. Last week I took naps two days in a row where I slept for four hours. My body must think it's going to bed so I am out when I lay down. I will be back sooner rather than later this time. I have plenty to blog about specifically June is Dairy Month!

Menu Plan Monday

It's really stinky hot here for May. It was 90 degrees here today which was a record but thankfully it is very breezy. We are working of filling our silo with chopped hay which we call haylage once it is in the silo. Our barn is hotter than you know what too. The cows have been going back outside at night which they love and that breeze feels so good. Our barn would be cooler but it has tunnel ventilation and we are getting a south wind. Our fans pull air through the barn at the south end so the wind is working against the fans. Anyway which leads me to feeling not too ambitious in the cooking area.

Monday- Hamburger helper, green beans

need to use up milk that expires soon and I have a lot in the fridge to drink...3 gallons well 4 including the ones I'm trying to use up asap

Tuesday- Crockpot Beef Roast, carrots, and potatoes

will be using this throughout the week for supper and lunches

Wednesday- Hot beef sandwiches, beans, jello, and chips

I'm going to the zoo with my daughter's class still suppose to be warm...hoping for a breeze!

Thursday- Crispy Ranch Chicken, salad, potatoes, and green beans

Friday- Turkey and Beef Meatballs-I'm not sure how or what I'll serve them with...they may go in the crockpot

Saturday- Smoked sausage with homemade baked beans and veggies

Check out OrgJunkie for more menu ideas!

Just Another Day

Last Monday's weather was perfect. The rest of the week was rainy and cloudy. Monday the COO of a Green Bay hospital came to our place to film a segment that goes on the hospital's intranet for the employees to watch. The segment was about Red Barn Family Farms of course. In the photo from left to right is my husband, my boss who is also a veterinarian, the COO, the cameraman, and my boss's son.

After getting some shots from outside of the electric fence, the cameraman and others headed in between the lines to get up-close and personal with our cows. We have friendly and curious cows like Ireland who even licked my other boss's hair. Which didn't freak her out because she did grow up on a farm. It was a good laugh.

More of our girls checking out the hospital's girls. Good thing these two girls also grew up on farms, but I'm not sure what the one was thinking wearing a skirt. She held the cue cards for what the COO had to say into the camera.

Here I caught Dynasty so he could hold her while he filmed a portion of his segment. In the background is Paula my boss, the COO's assistant, and Kurt. The cameraman was standing to my left along with the lady in the skirt. Can you tell the COO was slightly uncomfortable? Dynasty is a huge cow but she is very gentle. After we got the cows in the barn and started milking, they filmed another segment of him milking Dynasty. When I get the footage from the day, I am hoping to be able to post it here. Hopefully it will be ready for viewing soon and you can see a someone candid view of Lime-Acres.