It’s been quite some time since I have written a blog post, and I hope this finds all of you enjoying the unusually mild fall weather! I hope you enjoy these updates, some thoughts on the current political climate, social media, and if you don’t like those things, maybe you’ll appreciate the recipe?
We have several projects going on here on the farm, so without further ado, I’ll get you up-to-date!
We’ve purchased six new cows since I last wrote you all, which brings the herd total to 14! It’s no small thing that we found six cows that met all of our requirements, being healthy, and with confirmed A2A2 genetics.
Kandy, April, Morgan, Nickel, Easter and Bonita are all fitting in just fine. We don’t plan to ‘buy’ any more cows going forward. We’ll be raising our own replacements, and will eventually be raising and offering up select animals as family milk cows.
Our share has grown to a size that is about as large as we want to manage in terms of members and animals. This is a good place for us to be. We still are able to offer open shares here and there when folks leave for one reason or another too. So if you’re waiting for a spot, don’t lose heart!
Faith and Jared have moved home from Steven’s Point for an undetermined amount of time. With the real estate market and interest rates being what they are, they’ve decided to stay here a while and save up for their dream home until things calm down hopefully.
Until then, we’re in the process of creating a small barn-dominium out of Andy’s old shop, and I have to say, I’m kind of jealous of them LOL. Can you say, future on-farm VRBO? Maybe? Definitely a nice gathering space and guest area too, once they find what they are looking for, for themselves.
Likely the most exciting news I have to share is the addition to our current little milk barn. If the rain lets up…
If you want to read more about my little barn, here’s another post about that.
We’ve been really squished into my existing milk barn, especially with the addition of the six cows this year. We have only five stalls to milk in, and two bucket milkers, which means we have to switch the cows three times to get them all rotated through, milking only two at a time.
Added to the switching is the lugging around of the 40 lb.+ full Surge bucket milkers we currently use. They are wonderful machines, but looking forward, it’s not good for our bodies to be struggling under their weight for years to come. So, with this addition we will also upgrade to a pipeline milking system. This will also cut our milking time in half at least!
We update this project quite often on our social media, if you follow along on there.
Finally, some thoughts about worldly cares off-farm.
This election season was very stressful for a lot of folks. Following along on social media in our echo chambers doesn’t really do anything to improve our mood, empathy, tolerance for others, or stress levels either. If your candidate won, likely you are very relieved by the outcome. If your candidate lost, its possible that you are very fearful of what the future holds. Our country is so divided, and personally, I 100% blame social media and the mainstream news. We need to examine how these technology companies have changed over the years, and how they’ve changed how we relate to each other.
When I think back even to my high school years, circa mid 1990’s, we didn’t know everything about what went on all over the world immediately. We didn’t know what our neighbors and friends were doing every moment of the day, or what they thought about every societal or political subject that came up. Very few people even had a cell phone, let alone a computer, or internet. People didn’t really talk all that much about who they were voting for, except with very close friends.
And ALL of this has changed in only the last 30 years. Over the course of history, that is just barely a blink.
I remember watching OJ Simpson’s police chase, and the Oklahoma City bombing coverage, when news organizations just simply covered the news instead of inserting their political view into every broadcast. Suddenly everyone expects that their opinions need to be expressed immediately about everything in every moment. We engage in ‘conversations’ about things we never would bring up in person on these platforms, and in mostly disrespectful ‘tones.’ Keyboard warriors abound.
I encourage you to pray for each other, try and empathize with other’s points of view, be honest about what you believe and definitely test your theories against facts, not emotion, or what you see online. The sky really isn’t falling, it never was. No matter who is in office, God is in control. If you don’t believe in Him, then it probably IS really terrifying for you, and know, that I am praying for you anyway.
I have a very real understanding of how social media and marketing works to shape thought, and even so, I get sucked into it all the time. I take extended breaks from their platforms when I feel those awful feelings start to creep in. When you feel that too, take a break! Invite friends or family over, sit around the table and have real conversations. Talk to people face to face. Remember your humanity and theirs. We are ALL victims of these forces if we participate. And divided, we are soooo much more easily manipulated.
I still think social media can be used for good. Many of our followers/subscribers would not even know about our farm if it wasn’t for Facebook. I’ve learned tons about cooking, regenerative agriculture, livestock, gardening, other cultures, and all kinds of other interesting topics by following all kinds of accounts. Don’t follow accounts that don’t bring you happiness and peace. If they sew seeds of hate and division, don’t reward that with your ‘like’ or ‘follow.’ Don’t even comment, because doing that drives the post to the top of the algorithm. Ignore them completely.
And when I do share, I T.H.I.N.K. about what I’m about to say, and here is what that acronym stands for (not my creation):
- Is it TRUE?
- Is it HELPFUL?
- Does it IMPROVE upon the silence?
- Is it NECESSARY?
- Is it KIND?
And when all-else fails, shut everything off, light a candle, put on some relaxing music, and make Maple Cream Cinnamon Rolls in the peace of your own kitchen!!! Here’s the recipe for you :
Maple Cream Cinnamon Rolls
Equipment
- Stand mixer with dough hook and wisk attachments or mixing bowl and hand mixer
- Jelly Roll Pan
- Parchment paper or extra butter and flour to prepare the baking pan
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
Proof:
- 4.5 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp organic cane sugar
- 1/2 cup warm water just a bit warmer than body temp
Then Add:
- 2 cups warm whole milk
- 6 tbsp softened butter or coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 7.5 cups organic all purpose flour
Filling
- 6 tbsp butter Melted
- 2/3 cup real maple sugar or dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup omit if using brown sugar
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 8 tbsp butter
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 dash maple or vanilla extract optional
Instructions
- Add the proof ingredients to a large mixing bowl and allow to proof until bubbly, about five minutes.
- Add the milk, butter (or oil), eggs, white sugar and salt to the same bowl and mix for a minute or so.
- Mix in the flour, one cup at a time until the dough is slightly sticky, but not sticking to the bowl. I use the dough hooks on my Bosch mixer.
- Kneed the dough for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. (I do the first six minutes by mixer, and the last few by hand) If you poke the dough with your finger, it should bounce back, and be a little tacky, but not sticky. You should be able to kneed the dough without it sticking to your kneeding surface or hands, without extra flour.
- Oil a large mixing bowl and place the dough ball into it, turning to oil the surface of the dough. Allow to rise in a warm place about one hour. I cover the bowl with a piece of parchment paper to eliminate drafts.
- Preheat your oven to 350℉
- Prepare a standard size jelly roll pan by lining with parchment paper.
- Turn risen dough out onto a lightly floured board and gently roll out to approximately 18" x 24" rectangle. I try to preserve as many air pockets in the dough as I can.
- For the filling, melt 6 tbsp of butter and spread over the surface of the dough, almost to the edges.
- Sprinkle the maple sugar and cinnamon over the butter.
- Drizzle the maple syrup over the surface as well.
- Roll up the dough lengthwise, leaving a 2" unrolled end, then pick up the remaining 2 inches and pinch it up on top the dough roll to create a sealed seam. Then turn the whole dough roll so the seam is down.
- Cut the dough roll in half, and then cut each half into 10, 1.25" rolls, placing them onto the parchment paper lined pan about 1/2" apart, as you go.
- Allow the rolls to proof for about 30 minutes before placing into the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
- While the rolls are baking, prepare the frosting by mixing the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and extract (if desired) with a wisk attachment or hand mixer until fluffy.
- Frost the warm rolls about 10 minutes after they come out of the oven.
- Enjoy! And let us know what you think if you try them!
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