Alice in Dairyland Travel Journal by Cheryl O'Brien

Welcome to my Alice in Dairyland Travel Journal! 2811 Agriculture Dr. PO Box 8911 Madison WI 53708-8911 Phone (608) 224-5127 DATCPAlice@wisconsin.gov

Racine County School Visits
Mar. 05, 2010

Today, I ventured down to Racine County to visit a couple of schools. I met up with Harold and Norma Ranke at the first school, Raymond Elementary. Harold and Norma are members of the Racine County Dairy Promoters, and they love helping the area students learn about Wisconsin too. At Raymond Elementary, I started my day by meeting with all the third and fourth graders in the school. Then at North Cape Elementary, I met with the fourth and fifth graders. For both presentations, we played the Taste Wisconsin game, and everyone had a great time. I really think all the students enjoy some of the extra fun facts I tell them about pork products. Pork meat is the answer to the clues I gave yesterday. One thing that is really fun to tell them is about how the Green Bay Packers were named after the meat packing industry in our state. When the team was first starting, they were looking for a company to help sponsor them to buy uniforms and a field. Well, a meat packing company in Green Bay said they would help, and in honor of that, the team was named the Packers. Its fun to think that agriculture is so important in our state that even one of our state’s sports teams was named after it! And we wear cheese on our heads to support the Packers too! I also like talking to the students about “Swine Flu.” I don’t like using that term, because it is really unfair to our state’s pigs. They didn’t even start the virus. Even if the pigs did get sick from getting the virus from a farmer, their meat would still be ok to eat. The virus doesn’t affect the muscles on the pig. It’s important to make sure we are buying those pork products because the farmers could use our help. Buying locally helps support our local farmers, producers, communities, economies, and all Wisconsin agriculture.

Thanks Jane Losee from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for scheduling such a fun week for me! In total, I helped more than 900 students learn about how important agriculture is to them and to all of us here in Wisconsin.

Waukesha County Week Day 4: Waukesha
Mar. 04, 2010

Today was my last day in the City of Waukesha, and it was a very good, busy day. I stopped by four schools to help teach more than 230 students about the different food products that come from our Wisconsin farms. Even for the students who live in the city, they are connected to farms because all the food they eat comes from farms whether it’s fruits, vegetables, dairy products, or meat. That leads me to today’s clue: this is the meat that comes from the more than 400,000 animals here in Wisconsin. This meat is a good source of vitamins and proteins for our muscles. Cuts of this type of meat can be ham or bacon or chops or sausage. What meat is it? Find out the answer tomorrow! Thank you Waukesha students for another fun day helping you all learn about our state!

Waukesha County Week Day 3: Waukesha
Mar. 03, 2010

What type of cheese has eyes? If you said Swiss cheese, you are right! I’ve been really glad to hear a lot of students get Swiss cheese on the first try. But if they don’t, it is great to hear that they know some different kinds of cheese. We do have over 600 different ones after all. I also like telling the students about how anyone who likes science and food could be a cheesemaker. And the students and teachers seem pretty impressed to know that Wisconsin is home to the only Master Cheesemaker program in the nation. We have some really smart cheesemakers in the state too. Today was a very busy day as I visited four different schools in Waukesha and helped teach about 250 students about our great state!

Waukesha County Week Day 2: Waukesha
Mar. 02, 2010

I headed to the City of Waukesha today to visit two schools: Lowell Elementary and Summit View Elementary. The students have already been studying Wisconsin and know a lot about it. But it is fun helping teach them even more about Wisconsin, specifically about our state’s $59.16 billion agriculture industry. One thing that we talk a lot about is our state’s dairy industry that accounts for about $26.5 billion in our state’s economy. And we talk a lot about cheese since our state makes more cheese than any other state and is home to more cheese makers than any other state. I give them clues about a few different kinds of cheese like the cheese that has eyes. Which cheese is that? I will tell you tomorrow. More than 150 students today learned what type of cheese it is along with all the other fun facts of the Taste Wisconsin game!

Waukesha County Week Day 1: Mukwonago
Mar. 01, 2010

Today started my second week in a row of school visits in southeast Wisconsin. I started my week in Mukwonago in Waukesha County. I visited two elementary schools in the city. The first school I visited was Clarendon Avenue School, and I learned something new when I was there. Margaret ‘McGuire’ Blott, the very first Alice in Dairyland, was a teacher at Clarendon Avenue School! As the students have been studying Wisconsin, they learned a bit about Alice in Dairyland because they have that history with their school. We talked a little more about the history of Alice, how it started in 1948, and some of the changes that have happened with Alice over the years. Past Alices would travel the world, but now Alice travels primarily in the state of Wisconsin. Alice didn’t have much technology when they selected the first Alice, but now I don’t travel anywhere without my blackberry and laptop, and the Flex Fuel Tahoe comes equipped with a GPS to help me get where I’m going. After spending the morning at that school, I headed across town to Rolling Hills Elementary. Because Rolling Hills is on the edge of town, there were a couple students that do live on farms! It was a great start to my week visiting these two schools and helping teach nearly 150 fourth graders about Wisconsin agriculture!

Interviews at WTMJ
Feb. 28, 2010

I headed back to Milwaukee today for interviews at WTMJ Radio and Television. I first met with Erik Bilstad of Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News on WTMJ Radio. We talked a lot about what I do as Alice, traveling all over Wisconsin to promote our state’s $59.16 billion agriculture industry. Erik was really impressed with everything that Alice does in a year. After spending some time on the radio, I headed down the hall to the studio for Live at Daybreak on TMJ 4. I was interviewed by anchor Melissa McCrady about the Taste Wisconsin game I’ll be using to help teach fourth graders in Waukesha County this week. I gave Melissa a couple of the clues, and she got them both right. Hopefully all the kids I meet with this week will get them right too and learn a lot about Wisconsin agriculture. Thanks to producer Jeff Gallagher for letting me stop by your show!

Milwaukee County Week Day 5
Feb. 26, 2010

Today was my last day of visiting schools in Milwaukee County, and I was all over the place! I started my morning visiting two schools in Cudahy. Then I headed to the north side of the county to visit a school just barely in the city of Milwaukee and ended my week at a school in Shorewood. All my classes were ready for the weekend, but they were really excited to have me visit. The school in Shorewood, Lake Bluff Elementary, had a “no homework day” today. I was nervous they were going to be mad at me when I gave them the Taste Wisconsin worksheet to take home to show their parents what they learned today, but they didn’t seem to mind. They were pretty excited about the posters and cheese that I brought with me too.

In total, I visited 17 schools this week and helped teach 965 students about Wisconsin agriculture! What a week! Thank you to Mary Andrae from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for setting up such a great week for me!

Did you figure out the clues from Wednesday? If you said wheat, you are right! Wisconsin farmers still grow about 20 million bushels of wheat each year. When I work with the students, they have usually heard of the term “bushel,” but don’t really know how big it is. A bushel is about the same size as a small round clothes basket. They have fun imagining what 20 million clothes baskets looks like!

And a special shout out to Mrs. Oneby’s 4th graders at River Trail Elementary in Milwaukee! They were reading my blog before my visit today, and I hope they are reading it now!

Milwaukee County Week Day 4
Feb. 25, 2010

I was traveling in the Flex Fuel Tahoe across southern Milwaukee County today visiting schools in Franklin and Oak Creek as part of my week teaching fourth graders about Wisconsin agriculture. The students were all really great today and so eager to learn about what I do as Alice and about all the things that come from our state’s many farms. One school that I visited today, Southwood Glen in Franklin, really made me feel welcome. They made a sign for me welcoming me to their school! One of the students even wrote me a letter saying how excited she was for me to visit their class. It was so sweet! And the students all wore hats too, many of them with different seed company logos on them. That was a great tool to help talk about the different businesses that work with farmers. Agriculture isn’t only about farming. There are jobs all over Wisconsin that relate to agriculture; some of those jobs are even in the cities across our state. The students were amazed to learn how much money agriculture contributes to our state’s economy – nearly $60 billion dollars. The teachers were impressed by this too. And they said they were inspired to incorporate more agricultural lessons into their classes! That’s just what I love to hear!

Still looking for the answer to yesterday’s clue? I’ll give that to you in tomorrow’s blog!

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Contact the Alice In Dairyland Program at:
2811 Agriculture Dr. PO Box 8911
Madison WI 53708-8911
Phone (608) 224-5127