Alice in Dairyland Travel Journal by Cheryl O'Brien

Alice in Dairyland Travel Journal by Christine Lindner 2811 Agriculture Dr. PO Box 8911 Madison WI 53708-8911 Phone (608) 224-5080 DATCPAlice@wisconsin.gov

Monthly Radio Interview with Amber Gonske
Aug. 30, 2010

Today Amber Gonske of WJMC Radio and I connected for our August radio interview. I shared State Fair highlights as attendance at the 2010 premier summer showcase of agriculture was up 76,000 over last year allowing more than 876,000 fair-goers from small towns to large cities experience Wisconsin agriculture during the 11-day state fair. From seeing Wisconsin’s youth display their livestock projects in the show ring and at the Governor’s Red, White and Blue Livestock auction to seeing firsthand how dairy cows produce fresh milk at the milking parlor demonstrations to savoring a variety of Wisconsin foods from healthy grown potatoes to cherry ice cream sundae in the Wisconsin Products Pavilion, there was something for everyone. I also shared a preview of upcoming industry visits that will take me to operations around Wisconsin to learn more about our state’s diverse agriculture industry including: cranberries, potatoes, apples and more! Watch for videos as I share how Wisconsin foods are first grown or produced on a Wisconsin farm making its way from processing plant to your dinner tables. Thanks Amber for a great visit!

Learing about Garlic & Taste of Portage
Aug. 29, 2010

Today I had the privilege to tour a Wisconsin garlic farm in southern Wisconsin. Owned and operated by Mike and Karen along with their children grow more than 200 varieties of fresh Wisconsin garlic, yielding 30,000 bulbs on three-fourths of an acre on their farm in Arlington greeted me and shared how garlic is grown. Starting out as a hobby growing garlic for family and friends has blossomed into processing more than 700 orders annually shipping their farms garlic to every state except Hawaii. With the help of a garlic guru, Martin Longseth of Sun Prairie, Mike and Karen have been growing garlic for the last 10 years and enjoy how fresh garlic adds flavor to food. The garlic bulbs are planted in November to establish root systems over the winter with a cover crop to keep the bulbs insulted, with intense hand labor to weed from May through harvest which happens the first part of July. With more than 200 varieties of garlic grown on this Arlington farm, each garlic variety offers different flavors from mild to sweet to foods and varieties in flavor whether eaten raw or cooked and is suited for different foods from shrimp, mashed potatoes to meat loaf. Growing garlic is labor intense. First Mike and Karen map the field with steaks noting the different varieties of garlic. During harvest from during early July to mid July, family and friends come to help harvest the garlic from the fields as it is dug up, then rinsed as fertile soil sticks to the garlic bulbs, washed, all while keeping track of the different varieties is the most important or it can’t be sold by name and goes into unknown mix of garlic. They sell their garlic by the bulb with average selling price between $12 and $16 a pound, depending on the bulb sizes. To add value to their garlic crop they also harvest scapes, which is a long green stem which grows above the ground on the garlic bulbs. Scapes can used to add flavor to dips and stir fry’s. Their goal is to develop a market for scapes by giving away to develop consumers interest in scapes.

When a customer is looking for garlic, Mike and Karen will first ask what type of food you are looking to add it to and from there will offer garlic varieties and share recipes from their favorites as suggestions. Garlic varieties grown at Mike and Karen’s will store at peak freshness for 6, 9 or 12 months. It’s best to store garlic in dark spot and never put garlic in the fridge or it will begin to sprout!

Mike and Karen believe in educating the public and children about garlic. In fact, they invite each year the Morrisonville Elementary School in Arlington where Tristen, their daughter is a 2nd grader. The students come out the farm and see firsthand how garlic is grown, the hand labor and the drying shed along with the nearly 200 different varieties of garlic. They are truly innovative, entrepreneurs experimenting with producing their garlic into a powder through a commercially licensed kitchen in Mineral Point, the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen and sell throughout the United States in grocery stores and retail outlets.

To see firsthand a beehive and learn directly from Mike and Karen, a Wisconsin farm family growing fresh garlic, click on the video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwNQAn9Ylkw

After learning about garlic grown on Wisconsin farms, I headed north to Portage to join a weekend celebration hosted by the Portage Chamber of Commerce. It was an exciting visit as a year ago on this day my husband and I were married in Portage! Even Father Murphy who married us stopped by to say hello! As community members were taking in the sunshine, I presented Taste Wisconsin to showcase the diversity of Wisconsin agriculture that comes from our farms and is then found on our grocery store shelves and farmer’s markets around the state. I would read them clues, and as they guess the correct agriculture product we could stick the product on the appropriate spot on the board. I left attendees with a postcard to commemorate our day together! Thanks Brad for your commitment to celebrate local foods at the Taste of Portage!

Savoring the Festival of Flavors in Eagle River
Aug. 28, 2010

Today I woke up in Eagle River for the Festival of Flavors, an event that celebrates Wisconsin products from award winning Wisconsin cheeses, wines and local artisans from area restaurants. The planning for this event began more than three years ago and had great support from the Eagle River Revitalization Program, the Department of Tourism, Discover Wisconsin, The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, and many supportive sponsors who are passionate in connecting consumers to local products. In the Tasting Tent, there were many different Wisconsin cheeses and wines for sampling. There were also a lot of area restaurants that brought samples of items on their menus that include Wisconsin foods.

Throughout the morning, I did presentations in the Discover Wisconsin Theater tent with Stephanie Klett, the host of Discover Wisconsin, about the importance of buying local and tasting Wisconsin sharing with attendees about the diverse agriculture products grown on Wisconsin farms to making their way to local grocery stores and farmers markets. After my second presentation of the day, I served as a judge for the Wisconsin Church Basement Supper Contest. There were four church’s as contestants that all came up with delicious meals from salads, breads, main dishes to desserts that featured many Wisconsin products including Sargento Cheeses, cranberries, butter, maple syrup and meats of the area. The judges and I ate the full course meals and picked a winner. The winner was the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church of Eagle River as the “Heavenly Hostesses” cooked up a delicious bacon-spinach salad, Sargento Cheddar muffins, special Swiss and chicken potluck and heavenly maple apple crisp topped off with a maple syrup whipping cream! The winning church receives a Vollrath Portable Hot Serving Buffet, valued at over $2,000. Congratulations to all the churches cooking delicious meals with Wisconsin products!

I was full after that, but Ron and Cindy Meinholz, organizers of the event, insisted on taking me to Soda Pops, a local restaurant owned and operated by their son, Jason Meinholz. It’s a nostalgic restaurant featuring an old fashion soda fountain with more than 150 glass-bottled sodas available. The Meinholz’s had a big surprise. On the menu at Soda Pops is the Eagle River Waterfall, a huge bowl of eight flavors of Wisconsin’s Chocolate Shoppe ice cream, marshmallow sauce, whip cream, and a cherry on top. I’m a big ice cream fan, and if I hadn’t been eating all day already, I might have been able to finish it off, but today, I could only fit a few bites in my tummy. Ron told me not to worry, that it wouldn’t go to waste.

After lunch, I headed back to the Festival of Flavors to conduct a television interview with WJFW of Rhinelander sharing how the event showcases award winning Wisconsin products from cheeses to wines and when buying local products you are supporting Wisconsin agriculture, local producers, communities and economies. I will savor this experience from the warm north woods hospitality, the people I met connecting them to Wisconsin agriculture and it's importance to our daily lives and of course the delicious Wisconsin products from award winning cheeses to the Soda Pops original Eagle River Waterfall!

Learning Firsthand about Wisconsin Honey
Aug. 27, 2010

Today I started out on Wake Up Wisconsin with Cami Mountain at WAOW in Wausau to share ways for viewers to heat up the grill with entrée’s using Wisconsin Cheese!

Later in the afternoon I toured Paul Goosen’s honey operation in Rhinelander. I was excited to have two television stations WAOW of Wausau and WJFW of Rheinlander join me to learn firsthand from Paul, a beekeeper, how honey is produced. We also learned how bees and honey benefit the environment, local community and economy. Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honeybees from the nectar of flowers and is used as baking ingredient, beauty ingredient and natural throat soother! In addition, honey’s unique blend of natural sweeteners gives it the ability to provide quick energy as an energy booster!

During the tour Paul showed us his two bee hives. Paul became interested in beekeeping when a customer introduced him to bees by giving him two beehives in 1957 and has been in the beekeeping business ever since. Paul and his wife have lived in Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Iowa where we was president of their state honey association and had 150 bee hives as a commercial beekeeper with each hive producing at peak 100 to 175 pounds of honey per hive. He labeled and sold honey under a brand name he created The Noble Bee brand and sold to grocery stores throughout Iowa. Paul moved to Wisconsin 8 years ago to be near his family and now has two beehives each containing 60,000 to 70,000 bees per hive producing in 2010 apprx. 40 pounds of honey that is used by his family and sold to friends. In the spring time, the bees give nectarine first part of spring, and produce the most honey during June and July when pollination of flowers are at their highest peak. In August, prepare for cold Wisconsin winters. Bees best like the temperature 90 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit. When extracting the honey during June and July harvest, honey producers like Paul use proper safety and handling of equipment to ensure a safe, high quality product. To harvest the honey, Paul uses an extract machine that acts as a centrifuge that spins the honey to the bottom.
Interesting honey facts:
• One bee produces 1/12 of a teaspoon.
• For a bee to produce one pound of honey it must make 11 trips from New York to San Francisco equating to 25,000 miles!
• For a bee to survive it must pollinate 12 to 15 million flowers.
• On average one beehive will produce 75 to more than 100 pounds per hive annually. Paul’s beehives produce 40 lbs as he mentioned hives in the south produce more honey.
• Benefits of honey: Natural sweetener that does not sit as a fat around your heart, immediately available, compound of good sugars/natural sugar.
• Foods – stay fresher longer – popular items using honey include honey nut cereals, honey nut bread, dressings, honey glazed ham – thousands of foods that contain honey.
• Beauty Products: facial cleansers, soaps, lip balms
• Wax used to make candles
• 30% of our foods are bee pollinated including fruits, apples and vegetables to alfalfa for cows.
• Wisconsin produced 4 million pounds of honey during last year’s harvest.

To see firsthand a beehive and learn directly from Paul, a Wisconsin Beekeeper, click on the video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROW7oluABak

Monthly Radio Interview with Bob Meyer
Aug. 26, 2010

Today Bob Meyer of Brownfield Radio and I connected for our August radio interview. I shared State Fair highlights as attendance at the 2010 premier summer showcase of agriculture was up 76,000 over last year allowing more than 876,000 fair-goers to experience Wisconsin agriculture from the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Cheese and Butter Auction to the Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Contest. I also shared a preview of upcoming industry visits that will take me to operations around Wisconsin to learn more about our state’s diverse agriculture industry including: cranberries, potatoes, apples and more! Bob, I look forward to connecting with you in-studio soon!

Shorehaven Health and Rehabilitation Center
Aug. 25, 2010

Today I traveled to Oconomowoc to celebrate Wisconsin with Shorehaven Health and Rehabilitation Center residents. They hosted a weeklong celebration of Wisconsin. Cheryl Magsamen, Activities Coordinator brought back many memories for residents, as most grew up on farms through the petting zoo set up outside the building. The day’s theme a “State Fair” allowed residents to savor the special foods of fairs as well! I then presented Taste Wisconsin to showcase the diversity of Wisconsin agriculture that comes from our farms and is then found on our grocery store shelves and farmer’s markets around the state. I would read them clues, and as they guess the correct agriculture product we could stick the product on the appropriate spot on the board. I left the residents with a postcard to commemorate our day together! I also had the privilege to meet Bill, a resident who has met the last 30 women who have been in the role of Alice in Dairyland!

From North to South Experiencing Our State's Ag
Aug. 24, 2010

Today I started out on the morning show of WJFW in Rhinelander to share ways for viewers to heat up the grill with entrée’s using Wisconsin Cheese! After the television interview I stopped by to visit Bill Mitchell of WHDG radio in Rhinelander. For an hour Bill allowed me to join him during the morning show. A highlight of the show was a trivia question asking listeners who invented the potato chip? Answer: George Crum, of Saratoga Springs, New York in 1853 after one dinner guest found Crum's French fries too thick for his liking and rejected the order. The guest was ecstatic over the browned, paper-thin potatoes, and other diners began requesting Crum's potato chips. Today, Wisconsin ranks 3rd in the nation growing more than 40,000 acres of potatoes in the central sands and north woods of Antigo. I shared with listeners how Lay’s Potato Chips found on our grocery store shelves are made from potatoes grown on Heartland Farms in Hancock, processed into potato chips at the Frito Lay plant in Beloit and are then found fresh on local grocery store for us to enjoy. This farm to you connection helps consumers be aware of brands, like Lay’s Potato Chips found on grocery store shelves first start on Wisconsin farms. Thanks Bill allowing us to share with listeners how Wisconsin agriculture shapes our daily lives.

I then traveled down to Madison to brainstorm on my upcoming October Specialty Meats Campaign that will promote Wisconsin’s meat processors who add value to meat products by smoking and curing meats, like hams and bratwursts. In addition, plans are moving forward for the Something Special from Wisconsin Holiday campaign that kicks off at the end of November. Great holiday gifts from Wisconsin!

After the meetings, I jumped in the Tahoe and headed to Belmont to meet Chris McGuire, owner operator of Two Onion Farm to learn how Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer and learn firsthand how food is grown on a Wisconsin farm. A CSA offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (membership) and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

Community Supported Agriculture is one way Wisconsinites can experience first hand how their food is grown and produced and offers these advantages:
• Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor while benefiting Wisconsin agriculture, local producers, communities and economies.
• Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking.
• Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season to learn how food first comes from a Wisconsin farm.
• Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows your food and learn more about how food is grown.

Meet Chris, owner of Two Onion Farm and experience a CSA firsthand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKji-Tx3drg

Waushara County Fair
Aug. 21, 2010

Today I visited the Waushara County Fair to celebrate Wisconsin’s $59 billion with fair-goers. When arriving I was greeted by Ken Williams, Waushara County Agriculture Agent who showed me to a highly visible spot on grounds to park the E-85 Flex-Fuel Tahoe outside of the Meat Animal Sale. This allowed me to use the vehicle to promote the benefits of ethanol, a home grown renewable fuel that is cleaner burning and made from Wisconsin corn. To learn if your vehicle can run on E-85 look if the gas cover is yellow, which means your vehicle can run on E-85. Fueling your vehicle with E-85 supports Wisconsin agriculture, growers, local communities and economies.

At noon I greeted buyers to the 4-H and FFA youth meat animal sale luncheon and encouraged bidders before the kick off of the sale to remember what we are celebrating two Wisconsin treasures – agriculture and youth by showing their support for our youth who have been preparing many months their fair project animals. As an FFA member, I can recall how rewarding the experience to showcase my dairy beef steers and have the privilege to sell the animal in meat animal sale, which was an investment in my college education to pursue a career in agriculture.

I had a full afternoon going from the meat animal sale to the horse pull to bossy bingo, a fundraiser by a local civic organization that sold tickets to holders hoping a dairy heifer would fertilize the lawn in their bingo spot. I also visited with Carla Gunst of the Wisconsin State Farmer about the importance of county fairs as they bring rural and urban families together to celebrate Wisconsin agriculture. While speaking at the Farm Bureau tent, I noticed a banner hung on the tent that said “Alice is Coming” which is true as Waushara County will be hosting the 64th Alice in Dairyland finals next May! I also visited with WAUH radio "The Bug" of Berlin who was broadcasting live at the fair. I look forward to more visits with The Bug! It was also wonderful to see many committee members and their enthusiasm for the upcoming 64th Alice in Dairyland finals Waushara County will host in May. Thank you Ken and Sara for showing me the “biggest little county fair in Wisconsin.”

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Contact the Alice In Dairyland Program at:
2811 Agriculture Dr. PO Box 8911
Madison WI 53708-8911
Phone (608) 224-5080