As 2010 Comes to a Close

As 2010 comes to an end, so does the approach of the one year anniversary of The Wife of a Dairyman.  I truly appreciate and thank you for following along with me on this journey.  I've learned a lot in 2010.  I've met so many wonderful, inspirational people that I now call friends and reconnected with old ones through blogging and I feel blessed by that. I look forward to experiencing another year in this journey to who knows where.  I hope you will come along as well.

For fun, {and because, isn't this what one is supposed to do at year's end?} I chose some of the posts that I've enjoyed and made me laugh the most from 2010.....

                                       The Bull                       Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

                                                        Where the green grass grows

                             Learning to drive                  Meeting new friends in person in SLO

                        Magnets can save a cow's life                  Farmers on vacation

Cousin Vic

In January I introduced you to our Hoof Trimmer, Joe and shared when the Buck Stopped Here on the dairy.

In February I demonstrated one reason that Bulls Terrify Me and that sometimes you may find Cows on the Loose at a dairy.

March was a month of the Big Moove for our beef.  I learned what in the world a Killdeer was on my very own egg hunt and I also jotted down some Dairy Myths vs. Dairy Facts.

April was a thrilling month, mainly because I was able to have lunch with and meet Temple Grandin in person, thanks to our friends, the Taylors.  Dominic demonstrated just how he shoots a magnet into a cow's tummy and learned How a Magnet can Save a Cow's Life. and that green grass doesn't only grow from the ground.

In May, I brought the kids to their first Portuguese Festa to learn a little about what I experienced growing up, being raised as a 1st generation Portuguese American within my family.  Another demonstration by Dominic showed us how a cow can become pregnant by A.I.

In June I found out just how much trust Dominic has in my tractor driving abilities......and how brave he is!
Paige also discovered just how a good hand sucking feels, dairy style.  And I can't forget about the baby barn owls in the calf barn in the woods....definitely a highlight!

July was a month of friends, food and discovering farmers can only relax when on vacation away from the ranch....even if they do wear boots to the beach.

In August I learned all about the sea of jellyfish we discovered at a favorite beach spot.  And with my cousin's visit, just what goes into Bolashas De Espece.  I also talked about  how we test our milk and why.

September was a month of discovering what Farmers, Facebook, Twitter and Blogging have in common with my trip to Chicago. And also sharing a link on how to know where your milk is from.

October I faced a fear I've had for a lifetime....public speaking at the Cal Poly Dairy Symposium and then relaxing at the SLO bar scene afterwords....Phew!

In November, I was properly taught how to drive a tractor by a very patient Dominic.  I also got to experience my first Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco....eat, eat, eat!

And here we are in December.  A month of parties, such as the Dairy Women's Christmas Luncheon.
And how I caught Santa for the very first time!

Oh and I can't finish without including one of the most viewed recipes {and one of my favorites} from 2010... Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.  And the post that generated the most comments, Organic vs. Conventional Dairy Farms.

What is one of your most memorable occasions of 2010??  Any big plans for 2011??
I wish you and your family a very healthy and happy 2011.  Cheers!


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Cal Poly Dairy Classic Sale and the SLO Bar Scene

Another portion of our San Luis Obispo trip included the annual Cal Poly Dairy Classic Show and Sale.  This was held on Friday night at the Cal Poly Dairy and is a fundraiser for the Cal Poly Dairy Science Department. World class dairy cows, heifers and calves are up for auction.

As soon as we arrived, kids in tow, we found out Bryce and Paige's little cousins had just left to go back to their house {which is only 4 minutes away}.  Rich, their dad and Dominic's cousin is the dairy manager at Cal Poly.  You might remember Rich in one of my previous posts, 'Farmers on Summer Vacation'.  Anyway, Bryce and Paige were invited to go over to the house to play with their cousins and were VERY excited to do so.

Rich welcomes everyone to the sale and gets the show on the road.

It's always fun to visit Cal Poly because we get to say hi to our home town kids that happen to be attending Cal Poly at the time.   Here's Lianne walking up this beautiful red Holstein up for auction.

 Hi Lianne!

We also said hi to Sam,

and Kellie, both of whom were on the Petaluma FFA Dairy Judging ChampionshipTeam that Dominic coaches.

We stayed at the sale for an hour or so.

Before the sale begins, they have a BBQ dinner for everyone.  Here I am with my blogging buddy, the Dairy Goddess who was also at the sale.

After one last look at the dairy cows, we headed over to pick up the kids.  But when we arrived at the house, the kids were having SO much fun with their cousins, they didn't want to leave and begged to spend the night.  Well, they got the okay from us.

Sooo, what's a couple of parents to do with an overnight babysitter {thank you Heather!}, staying in a college town?  Yep, hit the downtown bar scene.  Off to Bull's Tavern, a bar that was frequented by Dominic and his friends when he attended Cal Poly many years ago......always good to relive fun memories, right?

 OH, and look who we ran into!  The Dairy Goddess and Kris!

And I learned something from my blogging buddy on this outing to Bull's......

That Madras are GOOD!

Talk about feeling, shall we say mature.  The mid range age of bar hoppers in this college town {or any college town}  is 23 or so.  But it was fun just the same. 

Good times in SLO!

We also ran into Jim and Jen, whom Dominic went to Cal Poly with and happened to be out and about on this Cal Poly Classic weekend.  Fun to catch up with them.

After Bull's, we walked a couple blocks to Marston's where we met Rich and friends.

Another crowded hang-out. 

And lastly, on our walk back, we walked past the infamous, Gumball Ally.  Quite colorful don't you think?   This entire ally way is covered in gum and has been this way since way before Dominic attended Cal Poly.....ahh the good memories just keep popping up.

Happy Monday!

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My Experience in San Luis Obispo

As most of you know, this past August I was fortunate enough to attend the AgChat Foundation inaugural social media conference in Chicago with the sponsorship of Dairy Farmers of America and Dairy Management Incorporated.   This conference was held with the purpose in helping 50-80 farmers, nationwide learn skills on how to better utilize social media {aka Facebook, Twitter and blogging} to tell our farm stories.

This past weekend I was asked by Dairy Farmers of America, who is also our cooperative for the dairy, to sit in on a panel along with Barbara Martin, aka Dairy Goddess, to share with California DFA Young Cooperators how and why we began our blogging journeys. This DFA, two day classroom session was part of the Cal Poly Dairy Symposium and Cal Poly Classic Sale in San Luis Obispo - DFA was one of the sponsors for this dairy event.

We began our four hour drive down to San Luis Obispo on Thursday afternoon, with farmers still hard at work along the way.  I thought these photos turned out pretty good while driving at 70 mph. {Dominic was driving}.

 Loved this windmill with the beautiful clouds surrounding it.

So Barbara's and my presentation was held in one of the meeting rooms at Embassy Suites on Friday morning.  Around 35 or so people attended.  Here's Barbara telling her story....

Bryce and Paige tagged along also.  They did very well as they sat in on the a.m. part of the meeting.

As I mentioned in Thursday's post, I felt a little nervous about speaking in front of group.....this is more Dominic's expertise....I just take photos, blog about things and converse with people online.  I was really anticipating feeling a lot like this guy....

But, I actually kind of liked it!  Who knew?   And I didn't throw up or pass out from holding my breath like I thought I might do....phew!

 
A great, new experience for me.  I love sharing blogging information with these young dairy farmers. And one of the bonuses to this meeting was being able to meet Barbara in person.  We follow each other online and feel like we know each other pretty well, but have never met in person.  It's always great to make that in-person connection.  And the Dairy Goddess is a ton of fun to party with, but more on that later.
 

Monica, from DFA was another super sweet person that I was able to meet her in person as well.  Monica had to leave Friday afternoon to fly back home so we only had a little time to chat, but I'm sure we'll meet again in the future sometime and I look forward to it :)

Update:  my Blogger photo uploader is back on track....finally!

Happy Saturday!

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