Four Generations on Harvest Duty, Farmhand to Farmer, Historic Barn to Modern Farm and Making Artisan Cheese

A fall harvest story to preserving history and dairy farmers setting goals, today's episode highlights many stories found in the latest issue of the Dairy Star. First, a conversation about family dynamics with first-time dad Ken Bekius finishing this year's corn silage in Minnesota. He and his wife welcomed their new son in September and seven days later their newborn had his first tractor ride. There were four generations on the farm helping with this year's harvest. In Wisconsin, Terisa Schmidt was studying to be a nurse when her career path took an unexpected turn. With no prior dairy experience, she took a part-time job milking cows. She highlights her timeline of becoming a farmer and what it took to be where she is at today. Another story found in today's episode is how a restored Iowa dairy barn is powering raw milk production and a farm store. Tenley Farms and Greg's MilkHouse Market is owned by Tanner and Lakaya Tenley, who have been operation the storefront since June, but selling raw milk since 2023. The two applied for a grant to fix the barn and applied for the Iowa Barn Foundation's Award of Distinction. This program recognizes historic barns that have been restored by their owners. Today's last conversation is with Katie Bonow. At 15 years old, she started making goat milk cheese, using the extra milk from her herd. From her beginnings experimenting using recipes from 4-H friends and books she ordered about cheese, she ahs gone on to work on cheese-making dairies in Italy. And for the past nine years, she has operated her own micro-creamery, Capra Nera Creamery LLC. New episodes are released Mondays after the newspaper is published, sharing the many conversations from the dairy community! Send story ideas and your comments to [email protected]. Subscribe to the podcast for reminders of episodes - next episode is released October 27 - about the dairy community and leave a review! We look forward to bringing you this brand-new way to consume Dairy Star. This is Dairy Delivery. All dairy, all the time. This episode is sponsored by Heartland Interpretation and Translation. Stay connected with Dairy Star: - www.dairystar.com - Get the Milk Break Newsletter: www.dairystar.com/milk-break-newsletter-signup/ - Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DairyStar - Follow us on X: www.x.com/dairystar_ - Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/dairy_star_newspaper - Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/dairy-star TIME STAMPS 4:29-9:00 - Bekius family harvest 10:10-14:23 - Terisa Schmidt, first time farmer 15:26-21:38 - Lakaya Tenley and Greg's MilkHouse Market 22:10-27:34 - Katie Bonow and artisan cheese making