Wednesday's One-Dish Meal

Christmas in January is what we're celebrating tomorrow night when my church friends (my sons call us the "Blue Hairs") gather at my house for supper and Bible study. We usually just have dessert but since we canceled our annual potluck Christmas dinner in December, I'm hosting and preparing the main dish tonight. I find that I enjoy making Chicken Tetrazzini for my family or guests because it is simple,can be prepared in advance, and is a great dish to share with others.  It is also an easy recipe that can be prepared and frozen.

Chicken Tetrazzini

12 oz spaghetti,uncooked
4 Tablespoons butter
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
5 Tablespoons water
1 cup + 3 Tablespoons sharp cheddar cheese,shredded
1/2 to 3/4 cup pepper-jack cheese, shredded
4 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite size pieces

Cook spaghetti until tender,drain and mix with one tablespoon melted butter.
Place spaghetti in bottom of greased 13x9 inch baking pan. In skillet, melt 3 tablespoons butter; add soup and water. Stir until smooth. Reserve 3 tablespoons cheddar cheese. Add all other cheese into soup and cook over low heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Fold in chicken. Pour soup and chicken mixture over spaghetti; sprinke with reserved cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly.

                  When I add a tossed green salad and homemade rolls--I'll call this the Blue Hair Special!

Truck Lovin' Dairy Farmer

Because we depend on our farm trucks every day to assist us in caring for our  dairy cattle and land, we tend to have special relationships with our trucks. The first truck I remember when I started dating the dairy farmer was "Brownie". She was a brown,flat bed Ford truck equipped with big tires that made her very tall and a good mud slinger, a large muffler with deafening noise on acceleration, a radio that played only country music and some type of hay spear on the back. In the beginning of my farming experience, when Brownie's name was mentioned, I thought there was another woman on the farm!

As I watched my son,Cody, feeding hay to the  dairy cows in the dry pasture, I thought about the efficiency of hay feeding with the truck and the importance of this farmer tool to our work on the farm. With the special hay feeding Deweze bed on our truck, two large round bales of hay can be picked up and brought to the pasture for the cattle. One farmer can efficiently feed alot of cattle in one day with this special hay feeding equipment.

Brownie is long gone from the farm but now that I've been on the  dairy farm for twenty seven years, I understand and appreciate the farmer's special relationship with his truck. From daylight to dusk, the truck is considered a member of the farm family--always ready and waiting to assist the farmer in caring for the cattle and land.  I can't imagine a day without our farm truck or the truck lovin' dairy farmer!

What Do You Learn from Selling Girl Scout Cookies?

The announcement on the radio about the arrival of Girl Scout Cookies  in our community brought a smile on my face and a flood of memories of my own Girl Scout experience. Troop 150 formed when we were in the second grade.  Our Troop leaders mentored us from the second grade until we graduated in 1973. I cherish the memories of our Girl Scout years and I'm grateful for the many lessons we were taught about making our world a better place by caring for each other and our community.  Here are the Girl Scout Laws as we knew them in 1963:

1. A Girl Scout's honor is to be trusted.
2. A Girl Scout is loyal.
3. A Girl Scout's duty is to be useful and to help others.
4. A Girl Scout is a friend to all and a sister to every other Girl Scout.
5. A Girl Scout is courteous.
6. A Girl Scout is a friend to animals.
7. A Girl Scout obeys orders.
8. A Girl Scout is cheerful.
9. A Girl Scout is thrifty.
10. A Girl Scout is clean in thought,word, and deed.

Money made from cookie sales is used to support troop activiites. Even though it's been forty years since I sold my last box of Girl Scout cookies, the skills that I learned are still part of my daily life on the dairy farm--goal setting,decision making,money management, people skills, and business ethics.
You can find more information about Girl Scouts at http://www.girlscouts.org/.

I hope you'll join me in supporting the Girl Scouts this year by buying cookies. I'll be having milk with my cookies.  How about you?

Dairymom's Thankful Thursday

Today I met with a group of  dairy friends to plan events for the Four State Dairy Days  that is held in our county during June Dairy Month.  I'm thankful for all the 4-H leaders and dairy friends that have worked together for many years  to promote dairy, provide a fun educational experience for kids and the great family memories made at Dairy Days.

Rural Meets Urban On the Farm

Rural met urban tonight at a Benton County Quorum Court meeting. It's neither the first nor the last time for situations to occur in our rapidly growing county that will have a great impact on our agricultural community. Tonight's issue is the small farming community of Hiwassee fighting against the proposed annexation of their community into the larger city of Bella Vista.  This annexation would take in approximately 6000 acres of agricultural land.

As I listened to a member of our Benton County Farm Bureau Board present reasons we oppose this annexation for this agricultural community, I thought about the rich agricultural history of Benton County. In the 1920's, we  were listed as the number one apple growing county in the nation. When the apple industry declined, the poultry industry began with a farmwife raising a backyard chicken. Today Benton County is second in the state in poultry production and Arkansas ranks second nationally in poultry production.

More than 100 farm families make their living from raising poultry and cattle in this proposed area of annexation. After reviewing the proposed annexation, Arkansas Farm Bureau states that it believes the new regulations placed on this small agricultural community by the city would be detrimental and quite possibly devastating to their ability to maintain or expand their current farm while potentially decreasing the value of their land. Landowners and farmers will also be faced with additional costs to improve their land because of a more restrictive and expensive permitting process.

It's my hope that the citizens of Bella Vista will consider the importance of this agricultural community to our county and the long range plan of food production for our nation. The question  for all of us--rural and urban--where will our food be produced?

Food and Drug Safety

Even though we've been having the most beautiful,not too cold January weather, we have had a couple of calves become very sick with pneumonia in the last few days. Young calves require daily consistent monitoring because they are susceptible to respiratory illness when we have erratic or unusual shifts in temperatures or changes in humidity.

Our commitment to providing high-quality milk begins with taking good care of each dairy calf that is born and raised on our farm.  Each dairy heifer calf is a future milk producing cow on our farm.  As each animal grows and matures, we are providing a nutritious diet,good medical care and healthy conditions.When a calf  develops a respiratory illness, we treat them with an  antibiotic that is prescribed by our veterinarian. The list of medications that are approved for use in food animals is provided by the Food and Drug Administration.  Every drug has its own particular dosage rates,  number of treatment days  and specific instructions for its use. We follow directions for treating a calf  with an antibiotic just as you would treat  your self or your child.

I'm very grateful for the science that provides medications to treat illness in humans and animals.  I can't imagine living in the days of no penicillin or aspirin!  On the farm, we count on using sound science and best management practices in providing the safest,most affordable food for consumers. Responsible use of any medication used for treating illness in food animals is an important key to providing safe food.