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Alice in Dairyland Travel Journal Archive |
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Canadian Group Visiting Zimbal Minkery
Aug. 30, 2009
Today, I visited with the Zimbal family of Zimbal Minkery in Sheboygan County as they hosted two coach busses full of fur enthusiasts from Canada. Zimbal’s have the largest mink ranch in North America, so they had an open house for the tour group from Canada. After they saw the farms, the group met for lunch at the Zimbal’s fleshing plant. I met the group there, welcomed them to Wisconsin, and ate a delicious lunch with them. During lunch, Bob Zimbal asked me to say a few words about what I do as Alice and how I help promote the state’s mink industry. After lunch, the group was free to roam the fleshing plant and see the equipment the Zimbals use to prepare the fur for sale. Before the group boarded the bus, I handed out my Taste Wisconsin postcards to everyone. The group headed on the road, and I visited with the Zimbals, talking about an upcoming event I have with the Kettle Moraine Mink Breeders Association. Be sure to check back and read all about what it was!
Eagle River Area Festival of Flavors
Aug. 29, 2009
Over the summer, I have been lucky to be a part of a lot of first time events: first annual Hobart Ice Cream Social, first Tour of America’s Dairyland, and first Pierce County Breakfast on the Farm in ten years. Today, I helped out at another first time event: The Eagle River Area Festival of Flavors (FoF). The planning for this event began more than two years ago and had great support from the Eagle River Revitalization Program, the Department of Tourism, Discover Wisconsin, The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, and a whole bunch of other sponsors. The FoF is an event to celebrate Wisconsin 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. Amy Linnett and I ate our way through that tent sampling all the food and cheese; we did stop a couple times to do live radio interviews about the all the yummy food. One of my favorites was the “On Wisconsin” soup that had chicken, cranberries, and cherries all from Wisconsin in it; it was so good! And all the different soups were nice on the cold, damp day.
Throughout the morning, I also did presentations in the Discover Wisconsin Theater tent about the importance of buying local. Buying Wisconsin grown products helps support our local farmers, producers, communities, economies, and all Wisconsin agriculture. After my second presentation of the day, I got to help be a judge for the “Grilled Wisconsin Cheese Recipe Contest Cook-off.” There were four contestants that all came up with really delicious grilled cheese recipes that also included different meats, fruits, and vegetables. While the chefs were cooking, Stephanie Klett, the host of Discover Wisconsin, had some door prizes to give away to the crowd, so she did some Wisconsin trivia. She also invited me up to the stage, and we quizzed the audience with Alice in Dairyland trivia as well. Once the sandwiches were all made, the judges and I ate them and picked a winner. The winner was 14 year old Spencer Gander who made the Wisconsin Bacon, Apple, and Cheese Grilled Sandwich.
I was stuffed after that, but Ron and Cindy Meinholz, organizers of the event, insisted on taking me to lunch at Soda Pops, a local restaurant. I had a cup of their Creamy Potato with Bacon and Wisconsin Cheese Soup for lunch, and Ron had a surprise for me for dessert. 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 FOF, said thank you to everyone for all the hard work they did to prepare for the event. Then I got in the Flex Fuel Tahoe, filled up on E85, and headed south. The Festival of Flavors was a great event; thank you to all who planed the event and participated in it! I had a great time!
Learning about Pork
Aug. 28, 2009
The pork industry has been in the news a lot this past year in regards to the H1N1 virus that has the slang term of the “swine flu.” The virus got the slang term because the strain has characteristics of human, bird, and pig flu; not because it comes from pigs. There have been bans on pork products around the world; these actions are completely unnecessary. You do not get H1N1 from eating pork products; the virus is a respiratory disease. I wanted to learn more about pork production to help share insights into the misunderstanding about this virus.
I visited Jerry Meyers at his farm near Pittsville. Jerry has been raising pigs for about 35 years. About 15 years ago, Jerry started practicing segregated early weaning (SEW) where they move the piglets to another farm when they weaned off the sow at 18-21 days of age. This practice helps minimize the spread of disease from the sow to the young pig; the sow has built up an immunity to any diseases she might be carrying, but the piglet has not. The little pigs also grow faster when they are being fed by the farmer. Jerry and his group of other pork producers in the area grow the pigs until they are about 40 pounds. Those pigs are kept at a farm in Illinois. Jerry’s farm is home to about 500 sows, each weighing about 475 pounds. The sows are kept in pens in groups of six or seven. If any one sow gets sick or is thinner than the others, they are removed from the pen and kept in an individual pen until they are better. The sows are also kept in individual pens for breeding. Jerry artificially inseminates the majority of the sows. When the sow is near farrowing (give birth to piglets), she is moved into the farrowing barn. Each sow has her own raised deck bed. Jerry said they are averaging 13 piglets per liter. Piglets are only about three pounds when they are born. The pigs grow to about 13-14 pounds in just three weeks when they weaned off the sow and taken down to the farm in Illinois. Before they go, the piglets are vaccinated, tattooed, and their tails are docked. Tail docking helps keep the pigs healthy; if one pig chews on another’s tail, the open wound could get infected and make the pig sick.
To be perfectly honest, I hadn’t spent much time around pigs before today. My father had pigs on the farm when he was growing up, but he wanted to only maintain a dairy farm when he took over the operation. The pigs at Jerry’s farm were all very clean and pink. Their waste goes through some slots in the floor, then to a lagoon that a nearby farm maintains and uses the manure to fertilize his fields. The sows are fed a very healthy mix of grain including distillers’ grain, a by-product from making ethanol. Jerry and the employees of the farm spend lots of time with the pigs each day, know very quickly if something might be wrong with a pig, and care for them appropriately. Thank you, Jerry, for taking the time to show me your farm! I learned so much!
If you want to learn more about the H1N1 virus, visit http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/ah/agriculture/animals/disease/influenza_H1N1/index.jsp
Fish and Bees
Aug. 27, 2009
After a couple days off and a day in the office, I was ready to get back on the road! I started very early today in a rainy Madison, but as I drove north, the rain and clouds cleared. I made my first stop of the day at Quiet Springs Fish Farm near Arpin. Mike Kelm grew up on a dairy farm, and always wanted his own farm of some kind. After a son took an interest in wildlife conservation, Mike started doing research on fish. Mike and his wife, Barb, started fish farming in the basement of their home in Sheboygan before moving to central Wisconsin. Now, they raise yellow perch from eggs to market weight. Their farm is mostly an indoor operation. The Kelms purchase the yellow perch eggs from another fish farmer. The eggs all start together in a gelatinous ribbon. When the fish hatch in mid to late May, they are only 4-5 millimeters long. Then the fish are moved to an outdoor tank for much of the summer. They live in shallow tanks with a large surface area to allow for their food, plankton, to grow. Unfortunately, this cool and cloudy spring and summer didn’t allow for the plankton to grow well, so the Kelms didn’t have a great survival rate. The Kelms are trying to figure out a way to move this period indoors to have a control on the weather. Around the 4th of July, the fish are brought back indoors and fed a “perch grower” until they reach market weight of about ¼ to 1/3 of a pound. Today, the fish are still about 45 days from being market size. There were 1,500 yellow perch living in a 1,000 gallon tank. When looking in the tank, it was hard to see them because the water was dark. The dark color doesn’t mean the water is of poor quality. Perch actually like water to be dark. Kelms test the water frequently. The Kelms are looking to expand, possibly to an outdoor pond, but they do like the control they have with the tanks. They are also starting to add on a processing area to prepare the fish for customers. Aquaculture generates more than $14 million to Wisconsin’s economy.
I had some time between my tour at Quiet Springs Fish Farm and my afternoon visit, so I took some time to visit with a great friend of Alice in Dairyland, Bob Meyer. Bob works at WDLB in Marshfield and for the Brownfield Ag Network. I do a monthly radio interview with Bob, but this was the first time I had visited him at the radio station. In his radio booth, Bob has posters from every Alice in Dairyland dating back to 1998. I was so excited to sign a poster for Bob to add to his collection.
After visiting with Bob, I headed back south of Marshfield to Brian Prust’s Honey Farm. Brian is a full-time beekeeper, but also has his own hobby honey farm. Brian got into beekeeping 30 years ago when his family was growing cucumbers, and needed the bees to aid in pollination. Honey bees are Wisconsin official state insect and are very important to many of the state’s agricultural industries because of pollination. When I first got there, Brian asked me if I wanted to “dig into a hive.” I said sure, not exactly knowing what I was getting myself into. But, Brian took me over to a small hive that he was trying to grow just out behind his house. Brian brought a smoking can with to the small hive. Beekeepers use smoke to help calm the bees; if a bee smells the smoke, they will think the hive is on fire, so they burrow in and eat up the honey if they have to abandon the hive. When the bees eat the honey, it calms them. When we got to the small hive, Brian told me about the different kinds of bees. There is only one queen bee per hive who is the only mating female of the group. Almost all of the bees in the hive are female worker bees who forage for pollen. The other type of bee is the male drone that mates with the queen. The small hive we first visited was a small box that is home to a couple thousand bees. We suited up, and headed to the big hives that are home to anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 bees! We wore white denim suits and masks to protect us from the bees. We went just a little ways from Brian’s house where about eight of these large hives were kept just across the road from an apple orchard. We dug into the hive looking for the queen. We didn’t find her until the bottom of the box. We headed back to Brian’s house where he has a building to process the honey. It takes just 12 bees to produce one tablespoon of honey. To harvest the honey, a fume board is placed on the top box of the hive to drive the bees down so the beekeeper can take the boxes that are full of honey. The panels are pulled out and the wax is cut off with a hot knife on top of a screen. The panels are then placed in a large tank that spins the honey off the panels. The honey drips down and goes through a filter before being placed in a bottle. There are different varieties of honey that are based on the season and the types of flowers that are blooming. The wax that was cut off is melted together for bees wax that can be made into candles. When bees are going out to forage for nectar, they might travel up to 3 miles from the hive. During the winter, bees travel a lot more than that. Bees are tough to keep in Wisconsin’s cold climate. So, during the late fall, the bees are hauled down to Texas. In the late summer, they are taken to California to help pollinate the almond crop. Then they go back to Texas before returning to Wisconsin for the majority of the year.
I had so much fun today visiting the two very different farms and visiting with Bob! It’s great to be back on the road and learning more about Wisconsin’s $59.16 billion agriculture industry!
Class Reunion
Aug. 22, 2009
Today was a scheduled off day for me, but I was still talking about my job as Alice in Dairyland. I went back home for my five year high school class reunion. It was nice to see some people that I haven’t seen or talked with in a number of years. Some of them had never heard of Alice, so I was able to tell them what I do to promote Wisconsin’s $59.16 billion agriculture industry. Other people said they saw me on television, heard me on the radio, or read about me in the newspaper. We didn’t have a formal dinner for the reunion, but the class president did get a big tray of Wisconsin cheese for snacks! Thanks Prairie du Chien High School Class of 2004 for supporting our state’s dairy industry!
Meat & Potatoes
Aug. 20, 2009
As the title says, I had my meat & potatoes today; I started with potatoes. I traveled in the Flex Fuel Tahoe to Plover to visit Okray Family Farms to learn about potatoes. Okray’s farm began back in 1905 and continues to grow each year. The Okrays are best known for their potatoes, growing about 1,900 to 2,200 acres of potatoes each year ranking them in the top five potato producers in the state. But they also have about 6,000 other acres and nearly half of that is planted for sweet corn. Okrays also contract land for snap beans and peas. They also have an 80 acre cranberry marsh too! I got to see many of the acres of produce and the cranberry marsh when Mike Finnessy took me on a driving tour of the land. But I didn’t get to see anything being harvested. It had been raining much of the morning around Plover, so the ground was too wet for harvesting. Mike did show me some of the machinery they use. They have huge tractors that dig 4 rows of potatoes at one time. A harvester follows picking up 12 rows of the dug potatoes at once and can fill a truck with 30,000 pounds of potatoes every six minutes! They were able to harvest some potatoes before the heavy rain hit that morning, so I was able to see how they are processed.
Walter Sexton took me through the processing facility. A truck full of potatoes backs in to the building to start unloading the potatoes. They are rinsed with water, but not washed yet. All the potatoes are loaded into a huge tank to control the flow of potatoes. Even when the truck is empty and they bring another in, the processing continues smoothly. Once the potatoes come out of the tank, then they are washed with high power pressure washers to remove the dirt and then dried to prevent any bacteria from growing. The potatoes are sized a number of different ways to ensure the bags of potatoes you buy in the store are all about the same size. First, the smallest potatoes fall through a grate; those will likely go for canning or dehydrating. The remaining potatoes are all weighed and sorted. Once they are sorted, they are packaged in a variety of bags, sacks, or boxes. Okray’s do have some of their own bags/boxes to package potatoes in, but they also work with some major food stores/companies and use that companies bags as well.
Potatoes are an important and nutritious crop. Wisconsin ranks third in the nation in potato production growing more than six percent of the nation’s potatoes. That’s pretty impressive considering potatoes can be grown on every state in the U.S. Naturally, potatoes are a fat free, cholesterol free, and sodium free food. They are also an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, carbohydrates, and dietary fiber.
I enjoyed a baked potato along with sweet corn and steak for dinner tonight when I went to the Rock County Beef Producers Cook-out. After my tour in Plover, I traveled to the Rock County Fairgrounds in Janesville for the cook-out. Upon arrival, I met the host family, Jim and Fran Huisheere, who have a beef cattle farm near Clinton. Jim told me they raise about 60 head of cattle every year growing calves before they go to the feed lots. During the cook-out, I visited with those who attended talking to them about beef production here in Wisconsin. The number of farms with beef animals has been rising even though the number of animals has decreased. Wisconsin ranks fifth in the nation in the number of cattle harvested for meat each year. I also talked with many people about the 63rd Alice in Dairyland Finals being held in Rock County May 20-22, 2010!
Wisconsin Grocer’s Association Board Meeting
Aug. 19, 2009
I started my day in the office, but was soon back on the road! Today, Nicole Breunig and I headed east on I-94 back to Milwaukee. We were heading to the Wisconsin Grocer’s Association Board Meeting. We brought Jeanne Carpenter, a self-proclaimed cheese geek, with us to talk to the board members about the growing trends of specialty cheese production and consumption here in Wisconsin. As I mentioned back in June, Wisconsin specialty cheese rose this past year by another seven percent. Wisconsin now produces more than 400 million pounds of specialty cheese. Along with that, consumption of cheese is also on the rise. Across the nation, consumers eat an average of 33 pounds of cheese per year. That is projected to rise to more than 35 pounds a year over the next 8 years. We provided a cheese tasting for the board members as part of their meeting. First, I introduced myself to the group. I told them that during the 11 days of the Wisconsin State Fair, I told people about the diverse products in Wisconsin agriculture and that buying Wisconsin grown helps support our local farmers, producers, communities, economies, and all Wisconsin agriculture. I also told the board that I reminded consumers to look for Wisconsin products in their grocery stores, so hopefully they will see shoppers doing that. Then Jeanne took the board members through a sampling of four delicious Wisconsin artisan cheeses: Marieke Foenugreek Gouda, Marieke Aged Gouda, LaClare Farm Evalon, and Bohemian Blue. Jeanne shared the stories of all the cheeses, the type of farm they came from, and about the cheese makers. I helped pass out the delicious cheeses and sampled them too.
I also enjoyed meeting the board members. I will be working with them from time to time throughout my year as Alice. I will be seeing them all again soon back in Milwaukee for the Wisconsin Grocer’s Association Innovation Expo.
Working with Jeanne was fun too. She has such an amazing knowledge about Wisconsin cheese and Wisconsin cheese makers. Jeanne is putting on the First Annual Wisconsin Originals Cheese Festival. Visit http://www.wicheesefest.com/ for more info about the event and for tickets (I hear they are going fast).
Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Contest Video!
Aug. 18, 2009
On August 13, I faced off against a massive cream puff in the 2009 Wisconsin State Fair Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Contest. And now, you get to see it for yourself! YouTube has a ten minute time limit, but I couldn’t edit it down to just ten minutes, so the video is in two parts. In part one, you’ll meet the contestants and see our reaction to hearing the news that the cream puffs are a little bigger this year. In part two, you’ll see us eat our hearts out for the title.
Enjoy!
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ev8sIyGwCw
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P4EG4IBTfE
WI State Fair: Day 11
Aug. 16, 2009
On the final day of the 2009 Wisconsin State Fair, I spent much of my day talking about Wisconsin’s largest agriculture industry: the dairy industry. I narrated three milking demonstrations for fair go-ers wanting to learn about the milking process. It was also a great time to talk about all of Wisconsin’s $26.5 billion dairy industry including all our great award-winning Wisconsin cheese. I also visited the show ring today for the open dairy show for all the dairy breeds. I visited the dairy goat show ring too. Wisconsin leads that nation in goat milk production with about 33,000 does living in Wisconsin. The show had a great turnout of exhibitors too! I gave my final Taste Wisconsin presentation of the State Fair too. I’ll be giving many more of those throughout the year since it is also the display I will be using during the school year.
I can’t believe the State Fair is over already! It went by so fast with all the speeches, shows, presentations and interviews. Thank you to all the show superintendents for allowing me to greet all the guests and help teach them about how important agriculture is in our state. Thank you to everyone who sat in on my Taste Wisconsin presentations. Thank you to all the producers who supplied products for me to talk to the various radio interviews every day. Thank you to KISS RM, 102.9 The Hog, WKLH, and WSSP for allowing me to visit throughout the fair and talk about Wisconsin agriculture on the air. Thank you to WISN, WITI, WTMJ, WDJT, and Drew Wagner of OnMilwaukee.com for the interviews during the fair. Thank you to the horticulture staff for making me a beautiful corsage every day. Thank you to all the exhibitors for your time and effort in bringing your exhibits to the fair and for promoting your industry. Thank you to the agriculture staff, the fair staff, and the fair board members for all your hard work preparing for and during the fair. Thank you to Melissa Ploeckelman, the Fairest of the Fairs, for being my partner in agriculture promotion; it was a pleasure working with you at the fair. Thank you to all my friends and family who helped me out on various days of the fair. There are so many people to thank! Thank you to everyone who made my time at the State Fair so amazing!
WI State Fair: Day 10
Aug. 15, 2009
I started my morning in the Wisconsin Products Pavilion giving another Taste Wisconsin demonstration. The Products Pavilion is a great place for giving the demonstration because of all the great Wisconsin products that are up and down all the aisles. I’ve really enjoyed giving this demonstration to help encourage people to buy Wisconsin products. Buying Wisconsin products helps support our local farmers, producers, communities, economies, and all Wisconsin agriculture. After the presentation, I visited the poultry stand and made a couple omelets along with the Fairest of the Fair Melissa Ploeckelman. Wisconsin produces 1.4 billion eggs each year; that’s enough for every Wisconsinite to have one egg every other day. I also visited the coliseum for the beef show before heading to a unique event.
I stopped by the Cousin’s Amphitheater for the Moola Palooza mooing contest! Having grown up on a dairy farm, I’ve heard lots of cows moo. At the contest, I heard lots of people moo! There were about 80 contestants of all ages. There were a lot of them that sounded like actual cows! The winner, Tony, sounded so much like a cow, it was unbelievable!
Tonight, I was back around some real cows for the Wisconsin Holstein Futurity. This special show helps encourage Holstein enthusiasts to continue breeding outstanding dairy cows. The event always catches the attention of fair go-ers not familiar with the show because the exhibitors dress in more formal attire. Congrats to all those who participated!
WI State Fair: Day 9
Aug. 14, 2009
This morning, I spent a little time away from State Fair Park to be a part of the Wisconsin Soy Biobased Products Seminar. I helped welcome all those in attendance who came to learn more about soy based products to help keep our air clean. Even though they were there learning about soy, they did have some questions for me about the E85 Flex Fuel Chevy Tahoe that I drive for the year.
After welcoming the group, I went back to the fair. There were new exhibitors that came in last night and this morning for both the open dairy and beef shows, so I spent some time walking through the barns visiting with the exhibitors. Then I went all the way down to the Expo Building to give a speech there about what Alice does for the year. Then I went all the way to the other side of the grounds to the Youth Center to visit with the kids who came to Fair Camp. They learned a lot about agriculture at the fair, and I was happy to tell them what I’ve been up to at the fair as Alice. I also visited the Belgian and Percheron Show. I helped welcome all those who packed the coliseum to see the horse teams parade around the show ring.
Each day of the fair, the Fairest of the Fairs Melissa Ploeckelman and I have taken a picture together. I didn’t see Melissa until the horse show, so we were still able to keep up our fair tradition.
WI State Fair: Day 8
Aug. 13, 2009
I have been looking forward to this day ever since the first day of the State Fair. Today was Golden Guernsey Day and that means it was Cream Puff Eating Contest Day! Back on Opening Day, I toured the Original Cream Puff Pavilion to learn all about the fair’s world famous cream puff. The cream puff started in 1924 as a way to celebrate the state’s prominent wheat and dairy industries. The tradition continues today supporting many Wisconsin agriculture industries. In 2008, the Wisconsin Bakers Association used the equivalent of 250,000 Grade A Wisconsin eggs, 600 pounds of Wisconsin whole milk, 400 pounds of Wisconsin Grade A unsalted butter, and 16,500 gallons of Golden Guernsey whipping cream. They sold a new record of 381,926 cream puffs last year.
It all starts with mixing the dough for the shell of the puff. The batter is placed in a hopper that places the perfect amount on a baking pan. There are five ovens in the State Fair bakery where the shell is cooked for 25 minutes. The shell cools for about 30-45 minutes before it is hand cut because the shell is very delicate. The cut shells are ready to be filled. The cream is pre-mixed, it just has to be whipped. They have machines that fluff the cream as it goes into the shell. The top is placed back on, and a layer of powdered sugar is shaken on top. Even though I got a behind the scenes view of the how the cream puff is made, this is all visible to visitors at the State Fair because of glass windows that show all the areas of the bakery. The line always looks long in the Original Cream Puff Pavilion, but it goes quickly because 52 cream puffs are served every minute at State Fair. That number could even be higher this year since there are now two Cream Puff Express locations so fair go-ers can grab a six-pack on their way home!
After starting my day with another interview with Gus Gnorski from Fox 6 and doing another Taste Wisconsin presentation in the Products Pavilion, I was off to the Central Mall for the Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Contest. Fairest of the Fair Melissa Ploeckelman, defending champion Brian Gotter of TMJ-4 in Milwaukee, many local radio and television personalities from the area all participated in the contest. I welcomed the crowd with a speech with some fun facts about cream puffs, like how more than 16,000 gallons of whipping cream are used during the fair for the cream puffs. I think they used 16,000 gallons alone in the cream puffs for the contest. Dave Schmidt, the executive director of the WI Bakers Association, announced that someone complained that the cream puffs for the contest last year not being big enough… so they made them a little bigger for us this year. Members of Team Cream Puff brought out FIVE POUND CREAM PUFFS! I don’t think any of us were expecting that! For the contest, the participants can't use their hands, so you have to put your whole face in the cream puff to eat it. I didn’t win, but I do think I succeeded at getting the most cream on my face. I had so much fun!
After the contest, I spent some time helping support our state’s nation leading dairy goat industry. My father is a goat cheese maker, and he was at the fair today working that the Wisconsin Goat Producers booth. I stopped by and helped sample some goat milk ice cream and some goat cheese. I also took goat cheese products with me for my round of radio interviews today.
WI State Fair: Day 7
Aug. 12, 2009
I’ve been getting a bit of my voice back each day, so I took advantage of that. I was busy again today giving more speeches and talking to people about agriculture. I visited the swine show, beef show, goat show, and sheep show to support all the youth exhibitors. I know these exhibitors have worked hard all summer preparing for the fairs, so I was happy to cheer them on and to encourage them to help me promote their industry. The youth are the future of agriculture here in Wisconsin.
I have gotten to do a lot of things so far as Alice that I have never done before. And today, I added to that list. I stopped by the Wisconsin Auctioneers Championship. It was amazing seeing and hearing all the auctioneers from around the state. I got up on stage to say a few words, and before I knew it, I was an auctioneer too! I helped auction off an item. I had so much fun!
I spent more time with some auctioneers tonight too. Tonight was the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Livestock Auction. Governor Jim Doyle and Secretary of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Rod Nilsestuen were there for the whole event. We all helped encourage the buyers to bid higher to support the youth. I really enjoyed being a part of the auction and seeing all the exhibitors with their prize winning animals.
WI State Fair: Day 6
Aug. 11, 2009
My first event this morning was very special to me. When I was just seven years old, my family was honored with a Century Farm Award for keeping our farm in our family for 100 years. This morning, I got to be a part of that breakfast again and help lots of families from all across Wisconsin celebrate agriculture in their family’s history for 100 or 150 years. Farms have changed a lot in those time periods. Agriculture is a business like any other, and it needs to modernize and innovate to remain profitable and competitive. The families honored today have done that to keep farming. Governor Jim Doyle was in attendance this morning to help congratulate the families.
I visited a number of shows today like the llama and alpaca show. I had never seen llamas being shown before, so I was surprised to see an obstacle course set-up in the show ring. It was really neat to see. I visited the kids who attended Fair Camp again today too. They all learned so much, and had a lot of fun.
When I was a member of the 4-H Youth Leader Council when I was in high school, I helped out at the Governor’s Sweepstakes Meat Products Auction. This auction helps raise funds for the 4-H Foundation. I was happy to again be involved in this auction. 4-H is a great organization to introduce youth from all across the nation to agriculture and many other activities. And it was great to see all the award winning meat processors from across the state like Al and Janet Feucht. I toured their facility, Brandon Meats and Sausage, Inc., back in July. It was great to see them and that five foot long sausage they donate to the auction to help raise money for the youth.
WI State Fair: Day 5
Aug. 10, 2009
Today was a really fun, but kind of rough day for me. I didn’t have much of a voice today. That made it a little more difficult to promote Wisconsin’s $59.16 billion agriculture industry, but I still found a way despite a slightly squeaky voice.
I started my day with a whole group of amazing young women. Today was the Fairest of the Fairs reunion at State Fair. There were representatives from many of the Wisconsin counties with a Fairest of the Fair. I enjoyed meeting many of them, and seeing some of the Fairests that I’ve met at the fairs I’ve attended. I enjoy working with the Fairests as partners in agriculture promotion.
I spent some time with Wisconsin Honey Queen Amy Roden today as well. Every afternoon, I do a round of interviews with some of the radio stations that broadcast live at State Fair. Today, Amy helped me out during the interviews since I didn’t have much of a voice. It was fun having her spend some time her and helping promote Wisconsin’s honey industry.
I attended a really neat event tonight as well: The Champions Challenge. 4-H horse exhibitors from around the state were competing in speed events like pole bending and barrel racing. These events have taken place previous years throughout the history of the WI State Fair. It was great to see this event make a comeback and to see a big crowd in the coliseum to cheer on the youth!
WI State Fair: Day 4
Aug. 09, 2009
Unfortunately, the weather was a big challenge today. The morning started off hot and muggy. But I still had fun with the live interviews with WISN-TV. Kidd O’Shea and I raced veggies like kids can in the Ag Oasis. Kidd’s sweet corn car won, but I had fun showing the parents the ways kids can have fun and learn about Wisconsin’s $59.16 billion agriculture industry.
I also visited the sheep barn and the swine barn today for the selection of the Supreme Champion animals of the open show. Supreme Champion and Reserve Supreme Champion are selected from all the Grand Champions of the respected breeds.
Today, I had the opportunity to teach people about how our state’s dairy farmers collect those 2.1 billion pounds of milk from our Wisconsin cows every month. Having grown up on a dairy farm, I have milked many cows. But today for the milking demonstrations, I just had to narrate. Milking demos happen at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. daily at the milking parlor. I just wrapped up the final milking demonstration before a round of pretty hefty thunderstorms rolled in. It didn’t take too long for the storms to clear, and the people to hit the streets again at State Fair.
WI State Fair: Day 3
Aug. 08, 2009
Today, I started and finished my day in the Wisconsin Products Pavilion. I think you can eat your way through State Fair and around Wisconsin without leaving that building. You can find all sorts of great Wisconsin food products there. I get to talk about all of the different food products when I do the Taste Wisconsin presentation, which I did twice today. After I give the clues for the different Wisconsin food products and the audience guesses them, I point out where they can find those foods in the Products Pavilion. Doing the presentation is also a great way to remind the fair go-ers to look for Wisconsin products every day in their local grocery stores. Buying Wisconsin grown helps support our state’s farmers, producers, communities, economies, and all Wisconsin agriculture.
I was also back in the coliseum today for the Governor’s Dairyland Youth Celebration. This program recognizes all the youth dairy exhibitors. There is a silent auction and a live auction to raise money for the youth exhibitors. The live auction includes the Golden Gallon from each the Supreme Champion and Reserve Supreme Champion Dairy Cow. Congratulations to all the youth dairy exhibitors on another great show at the Wisconsin State Fair!
WI State Fair: Day 2
Aug. 07, 2009
Even after a long, busy first day, I was ready for Day 2. I started my morning with a couple interviews with Gus Gnorski from Fox 6 in Milwaukee. Gus was one of the emcees at the 62nd Alice in Dairyland Finals in Burlington, so he was very familiar with Alice. The interviews and most of my morning were very dairy with the junior dairy show happening this morning. The WI State Fair is home to the largest youth dairy show. I also had an interview with WISN in Milwaukee; they were doing a story about milk prices.
I visited lots of show rings today including the rabbit show, the sheep show, and the Clydesdale show. It was really neat for me getting to spend some time at the shows I hadn’t spent much time at before. And it was great cheering on all the exhibitors who have worked so hard to bring their animals to the fair.
I also got to spend time today with the kids who came to Fair Camp. They spent the day touring the fair and learning all about agriculture here in Wisconsin. They had some fun too getting to see the pig races and enjoy an ice cream sundae at the end of their time at Fair Camp.
Opening Day!
Aug. 06, 2009
All I can say was the first day of the 2009 Wisconsin State Fair was amazing! I’ve spent many opening days at State Fair as a junior dairy exhibitor. But I got to see and do so much today; it was truly incredible! I started out this morning with some of the media as they were broadcasting live from the fairgrounds. I introduced CBS 58 reporter Stephanie Brown to a Brown Swiss calf; she had never pet a dairy animal before and was very excited to do so on live air early this morning.
I was also very honored to be at the Opening Ceremonies held at WE Energies Energy Park. Governor Jim Doyle, First Lady Doyle, many local officials, and Wisconsin State Fair Board Members were all in attendance as well as many fair go-ers. After the ceremony, I spent time in the Ag Oasis like I will every day from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. I signed postcards and talked with many of those who stopped by. I also stopped by the dairy show ring, the rabbit show, the swine show, and the Clydesdale show where I even got to go for a victory lap on the winning entry’s carriage. During the day, I also stopped by some of the radio stations who were broadcasting live from the park to encourage fair visitors to buy Wisconsin products while at the fair and all year-round. Buying Wisconsin products helps support our farmers, producers, communities, economies, and all Wisconsin agriculture.
Opening night was also really fun because of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Cheese & Butter Contest Auction. Back in June, I stopped by the judging for the contest. The winners are on display in the Wisconsin Products Pavilion. The auction helps raise money for the Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Promotion Board who run the Real Wisconsin Cheese Grill and the Wisconsin House of Moo at State Fair. They also offer scholarships for students. The auction is also when they announce the Grand Master Cheesemaker. Mike Matucheski from Sartori Foods in Plymouth took home the title with his Pastoral Blend, from the Sheep & Mixed Milk category. Congratulations to all the cheese and butter makers for their winning entries. And thank you to all the buyers who supported the State Fair Dairy Promotion Board.
I had so much fun here on Day 1. I can’t wait to see everything on Days 2-11!
Heading to State Fair Park!
Aug. 05, 2009
I spent more time in the office this morning finalizing some details before heading to West Allis. I printed out each day’s schedule; these next 11 days of the Wisconsin State Fair sure are going to be busy! But I know I am going to have a great time promoting Wisconsin agriculture at the fair. And I know I’m going to enjoy telling all the State Fair visitors that agriculture is making an even bigger impact here in Wisconsin! The University of Wisconsin – Extension just completed their study of data of agriculture in 2007. Wisconsin agriculture now contributes $59.16 billion to our state’s economy each year!
I made my way to State Fair Park and met with Nicole Breunig for a quick tour around the park before it will be packed with people on opening day tomorrow. We made a swing past the Original Cream Puff Pavilion to see how Team Cream Puff was gearing up for the fair. We found a huge stack of boxes; each of those boxes ready to be filled with six cream puffs for fair go-ers to take home after a great day at the fair, or to maybe pick up on the way to work at the drive-thru at the park. Last year, a record 381, 926 cream puffs were sold. I can’t wait to learn all about how cream puffs are made, to enjoy one, and to see how many are sold at this year’s State Fair which starts tomorrow!
State Fair Prep & Peck’s Farm Market
Aug. 04, 2009
It’s hard to believe that the State Fair is almost here; I think the summer has just flown by! I spent some time in the office preparing my 11 day run at the Wisconsin State Fair. I also did two radio interviews today. The first was an early morning one with Scott Thompson at WEKZ in Monroe. We chat every couple weeks during his early morning farm show. I also had an interview with Norb Aschom at WQPC/WPRE in Prairie du Chien, the city I went to high school in. It’s really fun doing regular interviews with these stations and Amber Gonske at WJMC in Rice Lake to keep listeners up to date on what I do as Alice in Dairyland.
I also prepared for State Fair out of the office too. I visited with Brad Peck at Peck’s Farm Market on the west side of Spring Green to learn about a famous fair food item: sweet corn. Peck’s has been around since 1889 when Brad’s great-grandfather started the produce farm with apples and bees for honey. Today, Brad farms 400 acres containing sweet corn, pumpkins, squash, watermelon, and other fruits and vegetables. There is another Peck’s Farm Market on the east side of Spring Green, and that is farmed independently by Brad’s brother. Brad plants about 150 acres of sweet corn each year. One hundred of those acres are contracted to a canning company, and the other 50 acres are for fresh market sweet corn. I visited the farm when they were in the busy harvest time, and I am very grateful that they took time out of the busy day to show me around. We stopped by one of the corn fields that was being harvested. That morning, 2,000 dozen ears of corn had been harvest in just 3.5 hours. That’s 114 ears a minute being picked by a two row machine harvester. They typically harvest every day from July 3rd until September 10th going through about 1,000 dozen ears of corn a day. The corn is loaded into a wagon that is taken back to the farm market to be processed. The ears that are good are graded and ready for market or canning. The ears that aren’t ripe or may have been picked at by birds go into another wagon that will be taken to a local beef farmer to use as feed.
I also learned about many of their other products as we toured the farmland. I saw the squash harvest in action with the equipment the Pecks modified themselves to make the harvest quicker, easier, and safer. They created a conveyor belt system so when the picker picks a squash, there is a basket not too far off the ground that the squash goes into. When the basket is full, it gets pushed back onto the conveyor that goes to a wagon. Another worker pulls the basket to an open area on the wagon until the wagon is full on baskets. This a great example of how farmers are innovative and how they modernize their business of agriculture to remain profitable and competitive, just like other businesses do. The harvesting area is also covered by a canopy keeping the workers safe from the harsh sunlight. It was so neat seeing the equipment and all the fruits and vegetables growing in the different fields across Peck’s farmland. I also enjoyed seeing their zoo of goats and guinea pigs as well as a new mini-golf course. Peck’s Farm Market is a great stop for agri-tainment! Thanks to Brad and his whole family for the amazing tour!
Rock County Fair: Day 2
Aug. 01, 2009
It’s the start of my third month as the 62nd Alice in Dairyland. And I’m starting the month in the place that I will pass on the tradition of Alice to the 63rd Alice in Dairyland at the finals May 20-22 in Rock County. Today, I headed back to Janesville to the Rock County 4-H Fair. It didn’t feel like August when I stepped out of the Flex Fuel Tahoe and on the fairgrounds. It was a cool morning, just about 60 degrees was all. I was glad I had a long sleeve Got Milk? shirt with me in the Tahoe to keep me warm. I started my day with Stan Milam and WLCO radio. Stan was broadcasting live from the fair, and we had a great time talking about all the diverse agriculture that is being showcased during the fair. It was a great interview to start my day. Then I headed over to the Fur & Feather Auction that raises money for all the youth exhibitors similar to the Meat Animal Auction I attended yesterday. And I stopped by the dairy show ring just in time to see the selection of Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion Registered Holstein Females. After watching a bit of the show, I headed back over to the Agribusiness tent to set-up my Taste Wisconsin display. There was a great crowd that came through the tent, and I enjoyed giving out my posters to kids of all ages who helped me fill out my display board with all the different food products that come from Wisconsin farms. The morning went by quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to pack up the display, and head to the grandstand. I had the great honor to speak to the crowd listening to the UW Marching Band Concert. The band marched to the grandstand from the other side of the grounds, and the audience was really fired up to hear them. They played a couple songs, and then it was time for me to speak. It was great telling them about the $51.5 billion economic impact Wisconsin’s agriculture industry has on our state each year. There were even some people clapping after I said that. But the whole audience clapped when I told them about Rock County hosting the 63rd Alice in Dairyland Finals! If their enthusiasm was any indication about the excitement there is in the county being the host, I can tell this is going to be a great place to pass on the tradition of Alice to the young woman selected as the 63rd Alice in Dairyland. Mark your calendar for May 20-22, 2010 and plan to be in Janesville for the selection the night of May 22!
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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
