Have you ever seen one of those commercials for an all-American heavy-duty truck, with an all-American cowboy or farmer?  They’re usually off-loading dirty-but-not-too-dirty hay into a field, parked on a majestic mesa, with the sun shining about. There’s not a lot of sweat, and perfectly-placed dirt on all the faces.  No dirt on the cows, either.  It’s lovely and stirs the patriotic soul.  But the glories that can be achieved with a model, perfect lighting and a 20-person crew are not the reality of what actually happens on a farm.  It’s dirty.  It’s difficult.  And it’s really, really hard work with really long hours, seven days a week. Sometimes you meet people who are the epitome of all that, without the aid of the makeup girl or the continuity department.  You know them when you see them, and they don’t usually talk much about it, they just do it.  They built our agricultural production system in this country.  Today, we have an impromptu tailgate conversation with one of those people. Jeremy Michaud, from East Hardwick, Vermont is the head of the Michaud family, Kingdom Creamery, and Clair-A-Den Farm.  He is a no-nonsense man, with a strong love of family and the commitment it takes to raise a human being with solid values.  He is a perfect example of the best characteristics of the multipurpose American Milking Devon Cattle breed, because he gets right down to business, and does as much as he can to move forward in good times and bad.   (Though we do have to say that in our 90-degree weather last weekend, we did wish we had a 20-person crew and an air-conditioned star trailer). Links: http://milkingdevons.org/index.html https://www.kingdomcreameryofvermont.org/ http://afs.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/milkingdevon/index.html/ https://www.vtfarmtoplate.com/organization/kingdom-creamery-of-vermont Support the show