Guest post by Darcy Maulsby

Not many people take up cooking at age 80, but it made perfect sense for Marvin Meyer. There’s just one problem, says this retired farmer, community leader and innovator who lives on the same Sheffield-area farm where he was born in 1925.

“While I like figuring things out, I’d also like to get a good night’s sleep and not always be dreaming about ways to innovate!” said Meyer, 90, who lives in the house he built in 1951 on his family’s Century Farm east of Sheffield.

The ability to figure things out has long defined Meyer, who worked at Sukup Manufacturing in Sheffield for 17 years. “When I started fixing my own meals about 10 years ago, I could hardly boil water,” said Meyer, who began developing his culinary skills after his wife, Anna Mae, moved to a local care center. “I’ve really surprised myself by learning to do all this cooking, which I enjoy.”

Working smarter, not harder
Meyer also enjoys reminiscing when he’s not cooking, tending his garden or baking his famous Chocolate Crinkle Cookies that he takes to the care center when he visits Anna Mae.

“I was always been interested in making things and finding a better way to get jobs done,” said Meyer, who farmed with his older brother, Paul, after graduating from Sheffield High School in 1942.

Years ago Meyer rigged up a small motor, crank, sewing machine belt and tricycle wheel to churn butter. Then there was the time in the mid-1940s when he saw a welder for sale in Popular Mechanics magazine.

“My dad helped me order my own welder, which was shipped by rail to the Sheffield elevator,” recalled Meyer, who used the welder to fix things for the neighbors. “I still have that welder back in the shed. “

Dad traded 60 sheep for a tractor
Innovation is a trait that runs in the family, said Meyer, who recalled how his father, George, purchased a WC Allis Chalmers in 1937, complete with a power lift to raise and lower implements. The tractor, cultivator and plow cost about $1,000 from a local implement dealer, who took in 60 sheep on trade from George to help pay the bill.

A progressive farmer, George was one of the first in his neighborhood to have a single-row corn picker pulled by horses, added Meyer, who can remember when Sheffield boasted an Allis Chalmers dealership, an International Harvester implement store, four filling stations, three banks, four grocery stores, a shoe repair shop, jewelry store and department store.

It was a great day when electricity came to the farm in 1938, Meyer noted. “Some of the first things we got were an electric milking machine, an electric washing machine and an electric motor on the cream separator. Electricity cost $3.50 for 40 kilowatts, and Dad said he didn’t want us to use any more than that.”

Don’t think too small
Through all the changes he’s seen, Meyer remains connected to the community he’s called home for 90 years.

He served on the board of the ag cooperative in Sheffield for 17 years, including seven years as board president. A few years ago he served as the co-chair of Relay for Life in Sheffield. “I’ve survived colon cancer twice, along with a double bypass,” said Meyer, who has had high blood pressure since he was in high school. “I just keep bouncing back.”

What’s his secret? Don’t think too small, advised Meyer, who continues to dream big and challenge himself. “Life is just plain good.”

“Dish This!” is a competition held annually during the Franklin County Fair in which 4-H members showcase Iowa-grown food products. Contest categories include: Appetizer / Snack, Salad / Side Dish, Main Dish, Bread and Desserts.

One might think a member of the county’s Kitchen Krew 4-H specialty club would have an advantage of the competition, but don’t be so quick to assume! Ben Reinke, a second year member of the Outdoor Adventures 4-H Club, swept yesterday’s “Dish This!” competition at the Franklin County (Iowa) Fair. He won a purple ribbon in each category he entered: Desserts, Entrée and Breads. He earned a fourth purple ribbon for Best Overall Dish in the Junior division with his ham balls. 

In addition to ham balls, Ben made Apple Cinnamon Rolls and Peach Ice Cream. “I thought of what my favorite meals were and then picked dishes based on that had the most Iowa grown products,” he said.

The peach ice cream, appropriately enough, came from a Ben & Jerry’s® cookbook. Not many people associate Iowa with peaches, so this recipe helps draw attention to the fact that are peaches grow here. However, Ben explained he had to use Georgia peaches for this competition because Iowa peaches are not yet ready. His peach ice cream recipe also incorporates the Iowa food products of cream, milk and eggs. In fact, Ben raises his own farm-fresh eggs.

Not only is this dessert recipe delicious, but all the ingredients are easy to find. You can treat an entire family to homemade ice cream for a total cost of $5.25, which Ben calculated is just $0.65 per serving. Today Ben has allowed us to share his favorite ice cream recipe on TheFieldPosition.

This was the first year Ben took any 4-H projects to the fair, and he spent countless hours preparing them. His efforts were rewarded when his educational poster about Farm Fresh Chicken Eggs was selected for the Iowa State Fair. His Wheat poster/exhibit project was considered for state fair. He also won blue ribbons for a patch quilt that his grandma helped him make from blue jeans and for a welded garden art flower.

Enjoy some of the best foods from the county fair at home. July is National Ice Cream month after all! Ben’s peach ice cream is featured below. Click here for more ice cream dessert recipes:

• Buster Bar Dessert
• Rice Krispies Ice Cream Dessert
• Ritz Cracker Ice Cream Dessert

Time-Saving Tip… Scroll to the very end of each post above to find the featured recipe.

Most seniors spend their last year of college, polishing their interview skills and pressing their suits. But Jennifer Holle and her husband, Andrew, spent their senior year meeting with financial analysts, bankers and architects as they pursued their dream of owning a dairy farm.

“We were trying to decide whether to expand the 125-milk cow facility to support two families or to build a brand-new one,” says Jennifer. “During that process, our banker called and asked if we’d be interested in looking at a foreclosed dairy farm that was about 45 miles away from the family dairy in New Salem. So we loaded up the pickup and took a ‘tour.’ The foreclosed dairy farm was basically an empty-shell of a facility, but its 36-stall rotary parlor was a huge upside. We then shifted gears and decided to move my husband’s 4th generation dairy farm to Mandan and expand to 600 milk cows.”

So how does a self-described “city-girl” with bachelor’s degree in Equine Industries Management fit into a dairy operation? Jennifer grew up in a North Dakota town of about 1,800 people where her father was a Lutheran minister. Most of her friends lived on farms where they raised beef cattle and row crops, so she had spent a great deal of her childhood on farms. Plus, she spent many weekends helping at the Holle family dairy throughout her college years.

“I started dating my husband early into our freshman year at University Of Minnesota-Crookston,” says Jennifer. “I knew from Day 1 that he was going to move back to his family’s generational dairy farm and farm with his father. Farming is in his blood, and it’s his ultimate dream in life. On the weekends, we would make the 5-hour drive back to his farm. I would spend the weekend helping Andrew. If he was cleaning barns, I would open the gates so he didn’t have to get out of the bobcat. If he was milking, I would help him milk or bring in the cows for him.”

When Andrew and Jennifer bought Northern Lights Dairy in 2003, she says she continued being his “helper.” Then she climbed up the ladder of responsibility to parts-runner. When they moved into the new facility, she started working in the milking parlor full-time because they were milking three times daily. She says she even kept milking full-time with a baby on her back.

“I did every job on the farm that you can imagine. I climbed the responsibility ladder before falling into my niche,” says Jennifer. “When the calf barn was experiencing death loss that was higher than we wanted to accept about 4 years ago, my husband basically asked me to manage the calf program. It’s a natural position for me because a baby is a baby whether it is a horse or a cow.  And as a mom, I have a sixth sense for animals that are not feeling well or just need a little extra attention.”

Jennifer oversees all calves from newborn to breeding. In addition to serving as calf manager, Jennifer serves as office manager. She handles the farm’s daily paperwork, keeps daily records for cows and calves, plus handles employee training. The one duty that takes more time than Jennifer imagined is serving as the family dairy’s public relations specialist. She gives group tours, grants media interviews, writes blogs/articles, and plans their bi-annual “Breakfast on the Farm.” In addition, Jennifer still runs for parts or does whatever else is needed on any given day like sorting heifers.

“When I sit back and think about what I really love about living on a dairy farm, it’s the fact that I always dreamed of being a wife and a mom. Being a farmer allows me to work with my family, and I get to watch them grow and thrive every single day! My husband and I are basically inseparable, and I absolutely LOVE that!  We all eat, sleep, work, play, breathe, and grow together side-by-side.”

She says, “We really believe in letting children experience life so from a very young age, so they have helped us do all aspects of the dairy.” From the time they were babies, they were bouncing on the floor of the tractor in their baby seats. They help vaccinate the cows, and they know how to move heifers safely. They help calves be born. They all have their stethoscopes on to help Andrew ‘ping’ a cow to evaluate a DA.” (A displaced abomasum is when one of the cow’s four stomachs twists. To diagnose it, you thump on the side of the cow. If you hear a “ping” through the stethoscope, then the stomach has twisted and surgery is needed to fix it.)

“There is no better place than a farm for kids to learn life’s lessons,” adds Jennifer. “They learn to value and respect life. They learn how to accept loss when a crop fails or their favorite dog dies. They learn to appreciate teamwork and to respect employees because we all depend on each other. They learn the circle of life and all its aspects.  There is so much value in growing up on a farm that it is really hard to put it into words, but there is no place I would rather be than raising my family on the farm.”

“The blessings of living this life are so many that I have an extremely hard time putting them into words or even writing them down so that people can understand.  How do you express how it feels the very first time you catch a calf as she’s being born?  How do you put into words what it feels like to as you’re fighting to keep a sick animal alive for hours – and everything you do is futile because you see the life fade from its eyes?  How do you talk about the overwhelming sense of pride you feel when watching your son learn to drive a tractor and a smile is beaming across his face?  How can you explain the overwhelming heartbreak when so much snow accumulated on the barn roof during a blizzard that beams started breaking and one-fourth of your barn falls down?”

“This farm is not just job. This is our livelihood. This is our dream. This is our heart and soul poured into every aspect of it. It has our blood, our sweat, and many of our tears wrapped around our laughter, our cheers, and our immeasurable joy!  To say that it is all worth it is a complete understatement… instead I will say, this is what I born to do.”

To be continued…

Be sure to check out Part II of this story Monday on TheFieldPosition.com!

In the meantime, check out this delicious dairy recipe from Northern Lights Dairy.

Just as the expression “to sail the seven seas” signified nautical skill in ancient time, the 7 Cs Dairy in South Central Minnesota has charted its own course.

“A 4-H project gone wild!” is how Christina (Tina) Vinkemeier describes her family’s dairy operation in Norwood Young America. Her husband, Jeff, grew up on his family’s dairy farm that was homesteaded in 1860. Fast forward nearly 20 years and now the operation has nearly doubled as their six children have become involved with 4-H and the family dairy.

Here’s a breakdown of everyone’s involvement:

• Oldest daughter, 24-year-old Courtney, has her own hobby farm where she raises horses and fainting goats. She and her fiancé have a 5-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son.
• Daughter Carley 18, helps Jeff do the evening milkings. They milk 125 cows in a double 4 step up parlor. She’s also responsible for registering all the cattle. (Side bar: Carley just graduated high school. This fall she will attend Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar for Dairy Science and Ag Business­, so 7 Cs is looking to hire a full-time milker.)
• Sixteen-year-old twins, Collin and Caleb, are relief milkers when Carley or Jeff needs to be gone. They both work for neighboring dairies, plus they help Jeff with breeding cows and doing field work.
• Canton, 12, is the first one to check on the newborn calves. He enjoys feeding the calves and also helps milk when his older brothers aren’t available.
• Cadee, 11, likes to help Carley milk and feed calves.

Jeff was milking grade Holsteins when he and Tina moved onto the home place in 1997. Now their herd includes mostly crossbreds along with registered cows of several breeds including Brown Swiss, Jersey, Guernsey, Milking Shorthorn and Ayrshire. Because their children have developed preferences for certain dairy breeds, the family had farm shirts made that read, “Add some color to your barn.”

Carley and Cadee have Jersey cattle. Caleb has his own Ayrshire cows. Collin likes the Brown Swiss, Milking Shorthorn, Jersey and Guernsey. Canton enjoys showing all breeds, but he owns Ayrshire. Cadee also enjoys showing. She showed her first spring calf when she was just 3 and couldn’t wait to join the Benton Hilltoppers 4-H Club with her siblings.

When I asked them what they enjoyed most about 4-H, the Vinkemeier children told me showing cattle and dairy judging. Last year Carley, Collin & Caleb were on a 4-H dairy judging team with Jeni Haler, who is currently serving as Princess Kay of the Milky Way. With Jeff as their coach, they placed second in the state in 2014 and earned a national trip to Harrisburg where they placed third.

“We hope at least one of our kids will want to continue this legacy,” says Tina. “Regardless of what they decide to do in the future, they’ve learned life-long lessons working on our family dairy.”

Tina said that although she grew up in town, she really enjoys raising her family in the country. She says her children learn how to prioritize at a young age. They’ve developed a strong work ethic. They’ve learned how to work together, and they’ve learned how to answer questions about how food is produced.

So what do these dairy farmers wish consumers understood about milk production? Carley, one of 12 finalists for 2015 Minnesota Princess Kay of the Milky Way, was the first to respond by saying, “I really wish they understood how well we treat our animals.”

Jeff added, “My dad always said, ‘You take care of the cows and they’ll take care of you’.”

Tina said, “There are so many misconceptions about hormones in milk, the use of antibiotics and GMOs. BST is a naturally occurring hormone in milk. We only use antibiotics when our animals are sick, and the milk from animals under treatment does not get consumed. There are 17 milk tests, so there’s no chance of antibiotics being in milk that gets sold in a store.”

Got questions about milk? Talk directly to dairy farmers like the Vinkemeiers. You can reach out to other farmers across the U.S. by finding Common Ground. In addition, Best Food Facts provides answers from experts to the most frequently asked questions. There are many resources available to help you get the “Real” facts on dairy products, so you can feel comfortable making dairy a part of your family’s diet.

Today the Vinkemeiers are sharing a few of their family’s favorite recipes with us.