Holiday Memories Sprinkled With Love

A couple of weeks ago my oven suddenly developed an F-5 error message that required a house call from the oven specialist. It was a feeling of desperation when the repairman announced it would be eleven days before he would return for the final repair. The silver lining to this eleven day cloud was the fact that it didn't happen on Thanksgiving morning or during the holiday season!

As a temporary solution for baking our lunch, I decided to drive down the road to my son's house to borrow his oven. Cody lives in the house where his grandparents lived for sixty-five years. Just opening the back door and stepping into the house brought a flood of memories of special holidays and time spent together as a dairy farm family. As I turned on the oven and placed the smoked pork chops into the oven to bake, my thoughts turned to the sweet memories of the meals prepared in this kitchen by my mother-in-law. It didn't matter if it was the bowl of spicy chili served late after chores on a cold,snowy night or the largest spread of food at Thanksgiving, every recipe had a sprinkling of love and was prepared with the intent to nourish your body and soul.

Even though we will be milking and caring for our cows everyday through the holiday season on the dairy farm, I look forward to preparing the special family recipes that are holiday traditions for my family. Holiday memories will continue to be made on our dairy farm with a sprinkle of love from the cook!