- [Narrator] "tasteMAKERS" is brought to you with support from Global Foods Market and Midwest Dairy.

(bright gentle music) (bright upbeat music) - Hildebrand Farms Dairy has been going strong for four generations, thanks to its commitment to customer relationships, its focus on sustainability and its dedication to making the best quality product possible.

(bright upbeat music) I'm Cat Neville, and for the past two decades, I've been telling the story of local food.

In that time, American food culture has exploded in tiny towns and big cities from coast to coast.

In "tasteMAKERS," I explore the Maker Movement and take you along for the journey to meet the makers who define the flavor of American cuisine.

(bright upbeat music) Milk is in just about everyone's fridge but how often do you cook with it?

Well, after our trip out to Hildebrand Farms, we're gonna head back here to the kitchen, and I'm gonna show you how to make a creamy lasagna with homemade bechamel sauce.

See you back here in just a bit.

(bright upbeat music) - On our farm, we have two generations actively working together.

My 95 year old grandma is always here keeping her sons in line, and then me and my cousin.

And then I also have my kids that are oftentimes running around here.

So on an average day, there's four generations working side by side.

I really focus on the processing plant, the distribution, and the cows.

My dad and my uncle and my cousin, they're planting soybeans right now.

They're managing the crops, the fields, making sure that that feed is harvested at the perfect opportunity and time for the cows.

(bright upbeat music) The dairy process has to first and foremost start with these guys.

You know, this is the beginning of the story.

The love and attention that you give them will shine through the product.

The freestall barn is the perfect scenario for a cow.

They get the shade, the cover, a controlled clean area to eat.

They can walk about and go as they wish to water, to bedding.

It gives them free flow to kind of go and do what they want to do and be the cow they wanna be.

(bright upbeat music) (birds chirping) We let them out to pasture every day between milking specifically, so that they can just get a little break from the concrete and soak up that vitamin D. (bright upbeat music) (both laughing) So this is the fence that we're gonna take down.

- [Cat] You're just taking that down, and then you're gonna let the cows kind of go in and- - [Melissa] Exactly.

- And eat all this yummy stuff.

(bright upbeat music) Boy cows and girl cows are both born on the farm.

- Yep, we keep the boys, and they do have a life here.

I always call 'em our freezer friends.

So at some point they're going to end up at the meat side of things.

They just have a very different career path.

They're not nearly as high maintenance as our girls are.

(Cat laughs) - And the farm is about 2,000 acres, right?

- Yeah, so we have about 2,000 acres of farmland that we use to grow the crops to feed the girls.

And then that does give us excess crops to sell.

So we're able to take care of all of our needs plus some in a big way.

- And so as far as what you're feeding your cows, it's a really proprietary, very specific mix that is weighed very carefully.

It's not just hay that's being fed to the cows.

- We really think of their feed as their salad.

And that feed is the livelihood of our farm, because if the girls are getting adequate nutrition, they'll give really quality milk.

So on Monday we harvested our haylage, which is the first cutting of alfalfa that we took and put in a plastic bag.

And with that haylage, it's gonna ferment and kind of break that hay down.

It's similar to hay, but not nearly as dry.

It holds a lot more moisture.

Well, we're gonna test that for its quality, and every single batch is different.

It's all variable.

So if I took my formulation from four years ago and said, "Oh, we'll just run that," it wouldn't work, 'cause that's not the same haylage that I'm feeding now.

- [Cat] You wouldn't think that for something like hay, like, a grass that it would be different from year to year.

- Very different.

And because it's different, it houses different nutritional properties, and the different nutritional properties really can come through and shine, and how that cow is maintained and the health of that cow.

(bright upbeat music) - Cattle are ruminants.

They eat grass.

We have to remember, grass doesn't grow in the majority of the United States 365 days a year.

So year-round, dairy farmers have to manage that forage need.

And they do that through things like silage and good quality hay.

They feed alfalfa, but then they need things for energy as well.

So cattle are generally fed, especially lactating dairy cows, they're fed what's called a TMR, a total mixed ration, and that balances their needs.

(bright upbeat music) It's so popular to talk about humans eating locally and eating regionally.

Dairy farms are balancing, and their cows are eating local based upon the resources.

(bright upbeat music) - So you grow the food for your cattle here on the farm, and then you take their manure, and then you put it back into your fields.

I mean, that's a very sustainable way to kind of operate the farm, 'cause it's all kind of feeding into itself.

- We call the manure liquid gold around here.

It's a huge part of our farm, and we consider it one of our best byproducts' resources, 'cause it does.

It provides so much nutrients to the ground and the soil, and we make sure that it's done diligently.

So we actually have a computer app that monitors how much each field is receiving so that we know that we're putting adequate levels at each place.

- Huh.

- And utilizing it to our its full potential.

- How interesting.

- Well, it's all giving back to the earth that gives to us, right?

It's just creating that full circle of, you know, stewardship to the land.

And you know, I have to make sure this land, as beautiful and amazing as it is, can give those same nutrients to my cows in another 50 years.

(bright gentle music) When I think of sustainability, it really breaks into three categories for me.

I think about my cows.

You know, how can I best take care of them?

I think about the land that God's given me, and how can I preserve that for my kids someday?

And then I think about the farm in general, and how can I make sure that this business is sustainable for years to come?

And so those three aspects go into every decision we have, whether it's monitoring our water supply, and make sure we're not using excess water where we can avoid it.

New LED lighting, more energy-efficient fan options, and the irrigation we use for our crops and putting that through a fuel base that's more sustainable.

All of that is critical to just our everyday operation.

- [Cat] Your great-grandfather came to this country, and he started the farming tradition in your family.

- [Melissa] Yep.

- [Cat] So how is what he did different from what you are doing today?

- We're not milking cows by hand, and we're using a machine system.

We also know so much more about nutrition now.

While of course, the technology and innovations are a huge part of our business, I feel like the principles haven't changed.

You know, the principles that my great-grandfather had of taking care of the land, and taking care of his family and putting, you know, land, family and cows as priority with your faith, I feel like that hasn't changed.

And so when you kind of hold tight to that, everything else just falls into place.

It's pretty neat, because great-grandpa was delivering milk in glass door to door in Junction City.

And here we are selling milk in Junction City in glass bottles.

- Not very many dairies have their own bottling line, but Hildebrand Farms Dairy does and they take pride in handling their product from start to finish.

(bright upbeat music) - We milk about 125 to 150 cows, give or take, which, you know, years ago was considered a mid-sized dairy, but by today's standards is pretty much on the smaller side.

Economically, a dairy of our size can usually support about one family.

So most families to be able to support themselves, or even potentially more families coming on, are looking at growing and expanding their herd size to be able to make that happen.

Back in the '80s, we had some really dry, dry years.

That kind of compromised our water and well supply.

And so we knew that for us at this location, we couldn't just have as many cows as we wanted without issue.

So that kind of forced us to think outside the box.

We were trying to think in terms of how can our farm be sustainable for future generations?

And that's where the onsite processing plant came in.

(bright upbeat music) - I think there's something very special about the Hildebrands, in that a generation came back and started on-farm processing, and that's very unusual in Kansas.

To have a generation come in and have the rest of the family kind of give their vote a confidence, you know, and a young woman who has the capacity to stand up that type of business enterprise is really remarkable.

(machinery whirring) (equipment ticking) - Creating an onsite processing facility was a big undertaking, and not something that happened overnight.

It took years and years of planning, thinking, looking at other processing plants, dreaming, and we did it with the customer always at the forefront of each decision.

(bright playful music) Our product line includes whole milk, 2%, skim, chocolate, strawberry, root beer.

Root beer's a fun flavor that our customer base just loves.

One that's really unique to us is our cream line milk.

Cream line is pasteurized, but it's not homogenized, so that cream is gonna rise to the top.

We also do a heavy whipping cream that is very popular among our restaurants and coffee shops, as well as butter.

So we make butters and different ice cream mixes as well.

(bright uplifting music) All of that is done on our onsite processing facility, and all of it is packaged in glass.

We find that it really preserves the flavor and the integrity in the milk.

And so for us, glass was always a quick decision.

As a dairy farmer, I know the nutrition that comes from dairy and the quality of nutrition that you're getting from this simple one ingredient product.

I mean, it's just such a pure natural product in its state, that why opt for anything else?

(bright playful music) - Here at 1900 Barker, every ingredient counts, especially the milk and the cream.

(bright uplifting music) - We try to have a really close relationship with all the folks that we work with, both customers and the suppliers that we have, one of which is Hildebrand Farms.

Working with Melissa is amazing.

We've sourced her milk for our shop since 2015.

She's just a go-getter, and working with her makes it exciting for us to try new things.

And so one of those things downtown, is that we have her milk on tap.

(bright uplifting music) - Taylor at 1900 is just one of those rare entrepreneurs that just fills you up with just so much joy and passion.

So we're doing a special project right now that we're both really excited about, and bringing that milk to tap.

There's something to be said about just having it in a constant continual chill where it's keeping that temperature the entire time, and it's coming out crisp and cold.

(bright gentle music) - It's easier and less expensive, I would assume, to just have bottles of milk.

- Certainly.

The easy, cheap option is to just buy milk from the store, set it in the fridge.

We chose to do it this way, because practically speaking, it makes it so much faster for us to move from one end of the bar to the other and have all the milk right at our fingertips to fill the pitchers with as we need.

We have a cooler in the basement, and there's a a pump attached to a jug of Hildebrand milk down there.

Runs about 18 feet through a tube that's glycol-chilled up to the tap.

And that whole loop sort of stays cool and refrigerated via the glycol.

That's how we're able to keep a clean, sanitary system even though the milk is far away from us.

- You're serious about your milk.

- Very serious about our milk.

(bright upbeat music) Hildebrand's milk goes in all of our espresso options.

Hildebrand's cream goes into our eggs that we use in our breakfast sandwich.

We take Hildebrand's milk and make our own ricotta, which gets featured on a toast.

(bright upbeat music) Hildebrand's milk is rich, and the taste is so much different, and that stands out in the sweetness and the fat.

If the milk's not great, why bother?

- Clearly one of the world's best inventions is ice cream.

And so now we're gonna go meet up with Alison who is making small batch ice cream that connects her to community.

(bright uplifting music) - We are inside the courtyard building on Main Street in Lindsborg, Kansas, and this building used to be a movie theater, and then an artist bought it and created this really neat European street feel on the inside of the building.

This is my 20th year as a school counselor, and it was just time for a change.

I kind of needed to grow.

So I decided to open an ice cream shop.

(chuckles) Being a school counselor, community is really important to me.

So it was really important to have a space that everybody felt welcome.

(bright upbeat music) Using local ingredients is really important because of that community focus.

It's really important to me that we know where our products come from, whether it's the local farmer's market or Hildebrand Dairy.

- Alison has a heart for her community, and that just resonates with her passion for her business.

She wanted to create a unifying place and put her focus on quality as well.

And when you have a small entrepreneur that has those passions, how can you not partner with that?

Those are the things that are just so fun and such a blessing for me that I get to work with people like Alison.

- I start my ice cream from scratch with milk and sugar and cream.

Some of them have egg yolks in them, and I don't put any preservatives or stabilizers in them.

It just is all real stuff.

I figure that's the kind of thing that I want to serve my family and friends.

So that's what I'm gonna serve here at Indigo Moo'd.

- This is my favorite part.

Now we get to taste the ice cream.

We've learned all about it, but the best part is eating it.

- [Alison] This is the fresh mint.

- It really smells like mint.

- [Alison] (laughs) It comes from my garden, yeah.

- Wow.

(bright whimsical music) There's, like, the essence of mint.

- (laughs) It's a different taste than something that would use extract.

So- - [Cat] Yeah.

- It's the real thing.

- That's really good.

- Thanks.

Blacksmith Cold Brew.

- Okay, so this is from the coffee roaster right across the street.

- Right across the street.

- That's delicious.

So you really use a cold brew method- - Mm-hmm.

- But instead of water, you're steeping the coffee grounds in milk.

- Yes.

That's my secret.

(bright whimsical music) - Now, I looked at the menu, and I saw that there was something on there called the Kitchen Sink.

And of course I asked, "What is the Kitchen Sink?"

And it turns out it's a little bit of everything, which sounds like it's right up my alley.

(bright whimsical music) - Here you go.

- Ah, Alison, thank you.

This is truly probably the best kind of kitchen sink, and I'm just gonna sit over here and devour it all on my own.

(bright playful music) (birds chirping) (cow moos) (bright gentle music) - We love sharing our farm.

It's not just providing a great product and sharing the story behind it.

It's sharing the process, like, every detail.

It is an open book.

You're gonna see it all, you know, whether it's beautiful or not.

And some days it's amazing and some days it's hard.

(bright gentle music) - The thing about dairy farms that truly is unique is they produce and have to do something with a perishable product every single day.

Harvest is 365 days a year.

So when somebody can be successful at trying to build and find a market for their product, other people notice that, and they celebrate the successes of dairy farmers.

(bright upbeat music) - Customers are more interested than ever in learning about their food, where it comes from, the story behind that food, but also a real authentic view of that.

We really welcome that to share our experience, and hopefully see other dairies kind of take that on and allow their farm to grow through the next generation.

(bright upbeat music) How can we take care of this land, take care of what God's given us, to be able to have that last beyond today?

(bright uplifting music) (cow moos) (birds chirping) - And now we're back in the kitchen, and I am going to make a decadent lasagna made with Mornay sauce, which is bechamel infused with Gruyere cheese.

Bechamel is one of the mother sauces, one of the foundational sauces in traditionally French cooking.

It's also known as a white sauce, and it starts by making a roux with just equal parts flour and butter.

So I'm gonna go ahead and melt this butter and then stir in my flour.

(bright upbeat music) Okay, I think we're ready to stream in the milk.

I have four cups of whole milk, and you really want the whole milk, 'cause you want that wonderful creaminess of the fat.

And then I'm going to flavor it with a little bit of salt and then a little bit of nutmeg.

Really, the idea is to just make this wonderfully creamy rich base.

And bechamel is used in so many things.

If you can make this very simple sauce, you can make your own mac and cheese, you can use it to make queso.

There are so many different ways to use bechamel.

It's cooled down just a little bit.

I have a cup of shredded Gruyere.

It's, like, creamy, cheesy.

Just gonna sprinkle this in.

(bright gentle music) I am going to chiffonade some basil.

This is one pound of fresh ricotta.

I'm stirring in my basil.

(bright upbeat music) This is a 9X12 pan.

The first layer of my lasagna is just a nice even coating of marinara sauce.

Now I'm gonna lay in three lasagna noodles.

(bright upbeat music) And now you just start building.

This is Italian sausage that I've just browned off.

Now I'm going to do sauteed spinach with some garlic, salt and pepper.

Next we have roasted red pepper.

(bright upbeat music) Okay, got the ricotta.

Now some of that Gruyere bechamel.

(bright upbeat music) A little bit of Parmesan.

And now we're just gonna do it again.

(bright upbeat music) I have my top layer of noodles.

Now I'm going to put on another generous amount of this amazing cheese sauce.

And then I'm going to top that with some marinara, some Parmesan cheese, and we're just gonna cover it and bake it.

(bright upbeat music) The lasagna's been out of the oven for a good 30 minutes.

In each episode, I am pairing the dishes with American wine varietals that you might not be terribly familiar with.

And for the lasagna, I am pairing a Chardonel that grows predominantly in the Midwest.

This is a hybrid grape that take the characteristics, the aroma, the flavor of European varieties, and they cross them with hearty American varieties to withstand our kind of fluctuating weather.

So the Chardonel has that wonderful, buttery kind of, like, oak-y nose to it.

It's gonna go beautifully with this decadent, cheesy, bechamel-laden lasagna.

(bright upbeat music) So when you get beautiful ingredients like the milk and butter that we found at the Hildebrand Farm, you wanna make sure that you really highlight it, and this dish has that in spades.

And if you're looking for this recipe, it is on our website along with more information on Chardonel if you wanna learn more about that grape.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey, and I will see you next time.

(bright upbeat music) Connect with us online at wearetastemakers.com or through social media on these handles.

(bright uplifting music) (bright uplifting music continues) - [Narrator] "tasteMAKERS" is brought to you with support from Global Foods Market and Midwest Dairy.

(bright uplifting music)