It is almost Valentine’s Day.
As you read
that declarative statement you fell into one of two population groups. You either renewed your status as a card
carrying Cupid fan club member or you were reminded that those really cute
conversation hearts give you hives…
Or maybe you
were just like me and wavered between the two until you realized…you have
kids. Kids who will have school parties
that will need candy and cards to give to their friends on the bus, in their
Sunday school and in their school classroom.
You grudgingly renewed your fan club membership.
For the past
seven years, I have experienced some stress about Valentines. We have sent some to school that were well
planned (Pinterest worthy) and some that just happened. I have been pleasantly surprised to see the
valentines from classmates have come home and were treated with a child’s
respect every year. My daughter has regularly
commented that one friend or another’s Valentine treat or card really looks
like her or him. Last year, we went to the local store to look for Valentines
to give and both of my kids looked at me and asked if they could do something
else.
I readily
agreed, because the cards that were locally available aren’t things my kids
really identified with and some of the attitude in the phases went beyond sassy
to snarky. We printed some cute sayings found on Pinterest on mailing labels and
stuck them to candy bags last year. It
was okay, but it wasn’t spot on.
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| I didn't have time to snap a photo from our cow herd and honestly in January the lot isn't very pretty so I used this shot from Flickr. Make sure you pay attention to use rights and copyright that are noted on images when you are using stock photos or from shared use websites. Consider taking photos of your own operation to add to the public domain to increase quality images of agriculture. |
My kids are
farm kids from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet and even the
Pinterest Valentines weren’t really them.
My kids want to be recognized for who they feel they are right now. They want to share the skills they have
mastered through 4-H projects, working alongside their dad and me and those
from my husband’s family that are involved in our Century Farm in Hardin
County, Iowa.
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| The Mini Farmer's mom is grateful to her college friend Laura, who lives and farms with her husband Dave by Conrad, Iowa. They put up a new bin in 2014 and she shared a picture for this project. |
So, this
year my kids will have Ag-tines for Valentine’s Day festivities. My daughter has discovered a love for cattle
and enjoys checking pasture with her dad.
She showed her first breeding heifer at the local fair and showed us
that she knows her limits and has a heart for the heifers in our herd. Her Ag-Tine features a cow head that asks
“Will MOO be my Valentine?” She’s at that age where she wants to be different
but not weird so she elected to not include information about our cow calf herd
or beef production in Iowa. I've included a hard core Ag-tine as one of the images here. Our son’s
Ag-tine says “I’ve got a bin full of friendship for you Valentine!” A red heart
on a grain bin ties into the holiday theme and we included a small note about a
safety feature on the bin photo we choose and how farmers use grain bins in
Iowa.
I have to
admit that our Ag-tines are really low tech (we are talking less than 20 minutes each to produce) and would make a design maven ill
to release, but they achieve what we wanted them to. Our farm kids have another platform to talk
with their classmates and friends about our farm and how we produce safe
agricultural products in terms they are comfortable with. I realized that we
are raising some great agvocates. They have a captive audience to share a
snapshot story of our family farm and they aren't afraid to do it.
I encourage
you to allow your Valentines to be a message that is personally relevant to
your kids, family or business. In
today’s digital world it is simple to use a postcard template and import a
photo from your camera or phone. If you use a local copy shop to copy them, you
are even supporting your local economy just as much as if you had bought them
at a local store.
Now for my
favorite part of Valentine’s Day… The recipes that just must be a part of the
day! I’m including my favorite Lazy Lasagna Bake today and next week I’ll post
my chocolate raspberry cake roll that is also freezer friendly.
Lazy Lasagna
The
Groceries:
1 - 16 oz
package of Barilla Campanelle Noodles, boiled to al dente and well drained
1 C Sour
Cream
2 C Low Fat
Cottage Cheese
4 Cups fine
shred Mozzarella Cheese (1 ½ cups and 2 ½ cups)
5 Cups or two Cans of
Spaghetti sauce (I use home-canned from our garden, but Ragu or Hunts works just fine,
too)
1 pound of
ground beef browned and well drained, use two pounds if you want a heartier sauce
1 small
onion
1 clove of
garlic, minced
The Process:
Brown and
drain the meat. Add the onion and garlic
and sauté with the meat until the onions soften just a little. Add the spaghetti sauce and let simmer.
Drain the
noodles and toss with the sour cream, cottage cheese and 1 ½ cups of the
mozzarella cheese.
Grease a
9x13 pan. Ladle 2 cups of the spaghetti
sauce in the bottom of the pan. Pour the
noodle mixture into the pan and spread evenly.
Top with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the 2 ½ cups cheese over the
top. Bake covered at 350 for 1 hour or
until heated through.
Freezes
well, just don’t top with cheese and bake uncovered for one hour then top with
cheese and foil and bake until bubbly through. Mmmm…Pasta.
This is a
great Iowa dish. Barilla pasta is made
in Ames. Iowa dairy and beef producers supply the milk for all that great
dairy and awesome beef for the proteins that are included.
NOTE: Please feel free to copy the images below and use our Ag-tines, but don't remove the photo credit on the calf photo. If you feel they are worth what you might have spent on store bought Valentines consider a gift to your local food pantry or the AgChat Foundation .
