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New York State Dairy Tour

A weekend trip to enjoy a New York State Dairy Tour. We visiting a local farm, a processing plant and cooked with all things dairy. 

New York State Blogging Tour 2014

Back in October {before the craziness of Grenada} my best friend and I went up to the Finger Lakes portion of New York and hung out with the American Dairy Association for a weekend New York State Dairy Tour. We visited a dairy farm, a dairy processing plant and then topped the day off by taking a cooking class that highlighted all the wonderful things about {you guess it!} dairy.

New York State Blogging Tour 2014

The first day we arrived my best friend and I simply relaxed in our awesome hotel and then went and had a fancy dinner complete with flambéed bananas fosters to end the night. I was so stuffed by the time we got back to our room all I could do was take off my boots, change into my pj’s and lay on the bed.

The second day was fun and dairy filled. We started our morning with a light breakfast and then headed out for a day full of milk and cows. I don’t know if you know this – but I LOVE cows. It’s my dream to someday own 1 or 2. Just don’t tell my husband. He would never allow it.

We started by visiting the Cayuga Milk Ingredients factory and getting a good idea on how they take fresh milk and process it into milk protein concentrates, milk protein isolates, 42% butterfat cream, skim milk powder, and whole milk powder. It’s a really interesting process. So while you won’t see glass bottles of milk going through an assembly line here you do get an interesting look at how these other powdered dairy ingredients are made.

New York State Blogging Tour 2014

Plus if you go you get to wear some pretty cool looking hairnets and jackets. While I couldn’t take pictures inside the plant I was able to get a few of these beauty shots before we went into the plant. Also, one thing to note about this factory – 100% farmer owned. How cool is that!

After we took off our awesome tour clothing {if I wore a hairnet everyday I could totally get away with bad hair days. This must be looked into} we headed off for the farm. Now, it was a pretty dreary cold day so we made our visit to the cow barn short but we made up for that by spending an hour feeding baby cows from bottles. {Swoon!}

New York State Blogging Tour 2014

The visited Patterson Farm which is a sixth generation diary farm that has been in business sine 1832. They have over 1000 cows that produce some of the milk that is processed at the plant we had visited earlier in the day. We got to see their barn {the cows are able to walk around without being in stalls which made me happy} and where they are taken to get milked. I have always had a fascination with dairy farms because it’s a total labor of love. There are no days of when you are a dairy farmer. It’s cold and snowy? You have the milk the cows. It’s Christmas? Cows still need to be milk. It’s 100 degrees and all you want to do is lay in the sun and swim in the pool? Yeah, the cows still need to be milked. You can’t just go away for the weekend when you’re running a dairy farm.

New York State Blogging Tour 2014

After our visit through the barn and milking facility we headed off to see the baby cows! We also posed by some tractors because thats what city folks do. All you country readers are rolling your eyes at us…I get it. Not to sound totally gross but the coolest thing about baby cows is they have no teeth and they will try to suck your hands. I know it’s sounds weird but it’s sorta cool in that “I’m on the farm and it’s cool here but would be totally gross anywhere else” kind of way.

New York State Blogging Tour 2014

Once the baby cows were full on milk we headed back to the hotel for lunch and some rest {aka: take a shower cause it’s dirty on the farm!} time. Then we got ready to head to the New York Wine & Culinary Center where were going to be taking a cooking class {hi Chef Jeffory McLean!} using all things dairy.

New York State Blogging Tour 2014

My best friend and I got put on the station where we had to make bowls out of cheese. People. A bowl made out of cheese. Sweet baby J it was amazing! Then we filled it up with spiced chicken and topped it with a cool sour cream sauce. It was an awesome experience only made better by the fact that we all got to work together to create a delicious dinner complete with wine.

New York State Blogging Tour 2014

After dinner we went back to the hotel, rested up and went out for a night on the town. Lets not dig in too deep with that story. It was a good night that involved lots of beer and a few shots of apple pie moonshine.

Disclosure: This weekend was paid for by the American Dairy Association. All opinons are 100% my own. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this weekend above and beyond the hotel stay and activities. 
Brandy

About Brandy!

I am a food lover and recipe developer bringing you delicious recipes that taste great and are easy to make! My food is inspired by travels around the world and my love of flavorful food. A list of things that make me happy: cats, Coke Zero, houseplants, and travel. Read more...

Kate @ Diethood

Wednesday 21st of January 2015

Something tells me that you had so much fun!! :) AND you fed a baby cow! That's so awesome!

Rose | The Clean Dish

Wednesday 21st of January 2015

Oh my god!! The picture of you feeding the baby cow -- how cute is THAT?!? I'm glad you ladies had a blast, it looks like tons of fun!!

Lauren @ Healthy Delicious

Wednesday 21st of January 2015

That part of the state is so gorgeous. Looks like you had a fun trip!

Ginny McMeans

Tuesday 20th of January 2015

What a beautiful group of people and a beautiful farm. Thanks for all of your insight and all of your fun photos.

Stephanie @ Back for Seconds

Tuesday 20th of January 2015

Looks like a great time! Love those baby cows!!

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