Time to be thankful

Welcome to November. I love fall in general. It’s finally starting to get cooler, and the days are getting shorter. Fall movies and football are just part of what makes fall such a magical time. But the best part of November is Thanksgiving, a time when we can be grateful for all that we have been given in the past year. 

This year, I have been grateful for the experiences I have had on my family’s dairy farm, the opportunity to serve all of you and share your stories, and all the events that I have been able to attend so far.

In October, I attended two events. The first was at Colony Court Senior Living Solutions in Waseca, Minnesota. I enjoyed this event. I did a virtual farm tour with the residents, which can be found on the Midwest Dairy website. They were interested in the robotic milking system and mechanical advancements in dairy production. It was exciting that most of the residents had grown up on farms and had lots of experiences in agriculture. They told me about what they did on their farms and how those experiences impacted them. It was also fun to compare their experiences with my own and see how much agriculture has advanced in the last 50 years. I also brought in four kinds of cheese for them to try. Some of the cheeses were more popular than others. They were interested in the Gouda because they had never tried it before. By far, my favorite part was hearing their stories. It just shows how the experiences that we have in agriculture will always be with us.

The other event was a Halloween event at Chick-fil-A in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Five years ago, a dairy farm family from Princeton, Minnesota, came to the event. One of their children was given a cow stuffed animal, and from there, the idea was born. From that point on, the family has been bringing a calf to the event to share about dairy farming. I am honored to be the fourth Princess Kay to attend the event. It was amazing to see how many people got so excited to see the calf. Some people even came just to see the calf. There were lots of kids and adults, and even dogs, who came to visit, pet the calf and take pictures. I was excited to see how people had so many great questions about the calf and dairy farming in general. I also had the amazing opportunity to talk with the dairy farmer who provided the calf. I loved hearing about his dairy farm and story of how the event came to be. This will definitely be one of the highlights of my year.

November is also a time when my family has fun traditions, most of them revolving around food — apple picking, pie baking, carving pumpkins and, of course, harvest. My family has a lot of recipes that we make every fall, and dairy products are the central ingredient in many of these recipes. Every year, the day before Thanksgiving, my mom and I bake 10 pies and a cheesecake to bring to our family’s Thanksgiving. However, one year as we were leaving to go to my grandma’s house, my dad was carrying out the cheesecake and dropped it on the floor. That was a sad day for the whole family.

As we celebrate with our families this year, let’s remember the farmers who have worked hard to produce the food on our tables all year long. Happy Thanksgiving!

Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Emma Kuball, serves as the Minnesota dairy community’s goodwill ambassador. Emma grew up in Waterville, Minnesota working on her family’s 6th generation dairy farm assisting with cow milking, cow care, and calf feeding. She attends University of Wisconsin-River Falls, studying agriculture education, and looks forward to also becoming an FFA advisor. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crocheting and baking. Her parents are Nate and Shannon Kuball.

Princess Kay is very active doing school visits, representing dairy farmers, and sharing the importance of dairy farming and dairy foods at appearances across Minnesota.