Scripture Sunday - Prayer

Philippians 4:4-7

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

     I love these verses!! They are hard for me to follow, but I need to remember these in the hard times. I am a very anxious person, and I worry easily, always forgetting to pray about the situation. I am going to try harder to remember these verses, and go to God first, before my worry gets to me. This is my passage for this month, I'm going to post it somewhere to remind me to read it every day. Peace is something I seek, and without prayer and petition it is impossible to get. So pick a passage with me, and meditate on it this month.

One Eyed Monster Cakes

One Eyed Monster Cakes

  This week, the set of cakes and cupcakes were for a 1st birthday party. 

The first cake was a small 6 inch smash cake for the birthday boy.

The second cake was a 12 inch round 2 layer cake, with a small round monster cake on top.

I also made a dozen chocolate one eyed cupcakes.

Next time, I will try to remember to take pictures throughout the process, and do a blog about the process of making and constructing the cakes.

Sweet Treat Saturday - Fireman Cake

Fireman Cake

This is a birthday cake and cupcakes I made a few years ago. I have found that fondant is like working with play dough. I can make pretty much anything with it.

Tutorial Thursday - Dachshund Cupcake Cake

Dachshund Cupcake Cake

This cupcake cake was easy to make. The first step, is lining up the cupcakes in the shape you want.

Then make the fondant pieces of the dog (legs, tail, head).

Next frost the cupcakes, and add the rear legs and tail.

After that add the head of the dog, and the front legs.

Happy Birthday Addie!!

Wordless Wednesday - Sunset

Wordless Wednesday - Sunset

Sweet Treat Saturday - Wizard of Oz Cake

This was one of my favorite and most challenging birthday cakes I made.

Wizard of Oz Birthday Cake

Antibiotics and Milk

Antibiotics and Milk

     As a dairy farm, we understand the significance of antibiotics in milk. We also understand, that their can be no antibiotic residue in our milk, or we will be penalized. By that I mean, we wouldn’t get paid for the milk we ship that day (2 days worth of milk), and we would also have to buy the other milk on the truck with ours. That adds up to tens of thousands of dollars in loss!! So there are a few things we have to do to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Withdrawal time

    All antibiotics have a withdrawal time. That means there is a certain length of time that the antibiotic residue is in the milk, and that milk cannot be shipped out until that time passes. Usually it is anywhere from 2-4 days. During that time the cows milk is milked into a bucket and dumped, so it doesn’t contaminate the rest of the milk.

Process of milking a Cow that has been treated with an antibiotic

     So basically it’s the same as it is for mother’s breastfeeding babies. We have to pump and dump. We hook the milker up to a bucket to keep the milk seperate. Once it is done, we dump the milk and wash everything. If the equipment isn’t washed out properly, that little bit of milk can contaminate the entire bulk tank. If there is concern that this has happened, we have a special machine we can use to test a sample of milk to make sure it is not contaminated. If that test were to ever come back positive, we would have to dump the entire tank down the drain and sanitize the inside of the tank. Which is expensive, but cheaper than buying the whole truck load.

What happens if you ship milk with antibiotic residue in it?

     When the milk truck driver arrives at a farm, he takes a milk sample. He does this at each individual farm. When he arrives at the milk plant, they take a sample from the truck. If that sample comes back positive for antibiotics, they test all of the farm samples to find out which farm caused the contamination. That farm is then responsible for buying the milk of all the other farms on that route. That gets very expensive!!

     No farm wants to lose a large amount of money, so very strict precautions are taken so that doesn’t happen. We have to make sure the cow that has been treated is clearly marked, their milk is put into a bucket and dumped, and everything is washed after. milkfacts.info is a good website, with a lot of information. Click on Microbiology to see more about regulations of antibiotics and bacteria in milk.