Dani's Dirt

I know Christmas was two weeks ago, but I wanted to share with y’all a secret santa type group I participated in called Christmas in the Country. While Christmas in the Country is in it’s second year, this was my first to partake.

It basically works the same as secret Santa, but with ag bloggers. The fun part about it (or at least in my case) is the people you are sending and receiving your Christmas box are people you’ve never interacted with before.

I drew Darleen, the Guernsey Dairy Mama. Darleen lives in Oregon and is the mother of two little boys. For her box I put a few food items that represented Kentucky. I purchased them from a store literally named “Taste of Kentucky.” She mentioned one of her favorite things about the holiday is collecting Christmas ornaments from states she has visited, so in went a little wooden Kentucky ornament. Since she is a boy mom, I thought Darleen deserved something fun and girly, so I found some cute boot socks to add. Finally, I made her a little box of all the Christmas treats I had made for our neighbors. Thinking back though, I now remember she said she strongly dislikes white chocolate …and part of that box had white chocolate. MAJOR FAIL on my part.

You can check out Darleen’s Facebook page here, and her blog here.

On the other end, my secret santa turned out to be Kathy of the blog Hasekamps of Tulip and H&K Farms Facebook page. Before I say anything else, I want to say Kathy was a wonderful secret santa. The amount of thought that went into the box she sent me blew my mind. I felt thoroughly internet stalked by the time I finished her letter. 

Not only do Kathy and I share the same last name initial, we also share a few parallel life moments. Looking through my posts about our #pimpmytrailer remodel she said it looked like the same floor plan as when her and her husband first started out. Judging by the time frame she mentioned and the date of creation of our trailer I would say it more than likely IS the same floor plan. 😉

When I opened my box, I squealed. No joke, squealed. Laying at the top were two tea towels. Not only do I freaking love tea towels, these had COWS on them. Not just the standard Holstein look stores stick on things they want to represent cows, these were beef cows. Red and black beef cows. JUST like our pretty ladies I can see from my window right now. Kathy made the cows on the towels (that rhymes *giggle*), which makes them even more special.

Wanting to incorporate both the beef and poultry part of our farm, Kathy enclosed this adorable chicken wire. It’s so cute I’m afraid to use it. I’m foreseeing a wreath DIY project in my future… As I mentioned, Kathy and I have the same last name initial, she added a little metal “H” to play on that. The one “H” I had, that was used in our engagement pictures was broken in the terrible “I can’t find the light switch in the dark” incident of April 2014, so finally having another decorated “H” in my life couldn’t have been more perfect. 

Mary Kay Pomegranate soap was another item in our box. You can never go wrong with giving hand soap to a livestock farmer. We go through a lot of it around here. The Pomegranate smells heavenly, I’m keeping it in a safe place until summer. Yeah… I’m the girl who coordinates her soap smells for seasons. 

Kathy read my post on learning to can, and picked up on me missing life West of the Mississippi. To play on this she included some hot peppers she had canned herself, as well as BBQ sauce and mustard local to her area. Yay for spicy!The final item in my box was peanut brittle. You won’t find a picture below because I ate it… Quickly. And, what was left, I determined HAD TO GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, so I put it on a dessert plate and brought it to my husband’s family’s Christmas party.

…and then when I few people raved about what addicting peanut brittle it was, I had to admit I had nothing to do with making it. Thank you Amish community near Kathy’s home for your incredible peanut brittle making skills, my jeans are a little bit tighter for it.

THANK YOU Kathy for totally spoiling me! You were a wonderful first Christmas in the Country partner. I am excited to have you on my blog stalking radar now.

If you want to read Kathy’s full letter to me, you can view it here