This year’s visit by granddaughter Eden wasn’t quite as ambitious as a year ago. We had two places we wanted to visit: a farm and a fair.
Just outside of Madison, the folks at Sassy Cow Creamery offer tours of a real, working, modern, dairy farm.
The farm is operated by the Baerwolf Family. Sassy Cow dairy products can be found in local groceries and are for sale on site. Tickets are $4, and include a free pint of milk (white or chocolate).
Farmer Jim (Baerwolf) shows a short video and gives some statistics as he introduces the farm tour.
You can see the milking parlor from the lecture room. Cows are milked twice a day: 4am and 4pm.
The lecture room offers signage which explains a lot of background information on dairy herd management. Such as, each cow wears a Fitbit on its ear.
Plus there are basic facts that everyone should know about milk goodness.
Cow breeds are also explained. When my brothers and I lived on the family farm, our cows were the Milking Shorthorns.
Soon Eden got to meet some real dairy cows.
The cows seems unimpressed.
Eden also got to help with the hay harvest. Well, at least sit in a tractor for awhile.
Eden, Dad Drew, and I repaired to the Sassy Cow Dairy store to pick up our milk pints and check out their ice cream.
Final stop, back at the milking parlor to observe the 4pm milking. Cows on the right, empty. Cows on the left, being milked. Ten gallons a day per cow.
Madison’s annual Art Fair on the Square features some amazing art, including photos like these.
Sculpture may not be quite as common as photography but creativity abounds. The artist on the right is producing intricate mosaic images on prosaic objects, such as dial phones, transistor radios, vending machines, etc.
The Art Fair also offers the opportunity to meet and talk with the artists, such as my friend Art Paul Schlosser, who gave me an impromptu one-song concert on-the-spot (“I Left My Phone In My Car”) and then sold me his CD.
Artists use amazing technology these days, and sometimes something as simple as a pencil.
We guessed that this display might be Eden’s Uncle Brian’s favorite.
If you’re looking for a Palm Tree or a cactus, you can find that at the Art Fair also.
The adjacent Art Fair Off the Square features Wisconsin artists, including an impromptu poet.
When you’re looking at art, it’s always great to have two perspectives (with Uncle Sam).
We capped off the weekend with a trip to the pool at Uncle Jim’s house, the perfect place for a hot summer afternoon.
Cousins would play in the pool together all day, if they could.
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