One year in Madison: time for cows!

It's hard to believe that I've lived in Madison for a little over a year. I have a great job, fabulous friends, and I just bought a beautiful condo in the Atwood neighborhood.

When I was new to Madison last year, I wrote my third-ever blog post about Cows On The Concourse, which gave me the opportunity to mingle with cows downtown.

This year, I returned to the event (now in its 33rd year) with my friend, Kat. We petted a fuzzy baby calf and then I got my picture taken with Apple Cider, the Milking Shorthorn:

Apple Cider and her farmer friend were happy to pose for the photo.

Once we had our daily dose of cows, Kat and I went to Mirch Masala for a delicious Indian buffet. When I went to college in Cincinnati, I lived on a street with three Indian restaurants. Since then, it's been my favorite food, and Mirch Masala lived up to the hype.

My dairy dessert: rice pudding and a milk ball.

While downtown, I picked up some organic strawberries at the Farmers' Market:

Look at those beauties!

What can I say? My first year in Wisconsin has been exciting, educational, and memorable. Here's to many more!

Got Milk? My visit to the 32nd annual "Cows on the Concourse."

I have lived in Wisconsin for eight days and I have already developed a love for the Dane County Farmers' Market. Through their website, I learned about the 32nd annual Cows on the Concourse. I should preface this post by saying that I love barnyard animals. When I was 16, I spent two months of summer camp in New Hampshire taking care of three goats whom I grew quite fond of, which fostered a love of any living thing with hoofs and horns.

Back to the cows. As a new resident in downtown Madison, I have already become quite fond of walking around Capitol Square and exploring the weekly farmers' market and local shops. I was quite shocked to discover that every June, local cows and dairy farmers come hang out downtown to meet and greet people. The cows hang out downtown. How fabulous is that concept?


I picked up my map of downtown and made my way over to Main Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. I knew I was in the right place when I was greeted by this:

I followed the sign and made my way over to the Purple Cow Gift Shop, the official shop of the World Dairy Expo. I then found myself bombarded by an abundance of adorable stuffed cows:

This is my kind of street festival. Who doesn't love a good smiling milk carton and the opportunity to mimic milking a cow every once and awhile?

I then arrived at my final destination: THE COWS! I arrived at a tent filled with cows and very friendly local farmers, where I got to meet and greet local cattle.

Holstein cow

Jersey cow

After telling one of the farmers about my blog, I was invited into the makeshift barn area to get my picture taken with Bucky. She's a 1400-pound Holstein cow who enjoys being petted and didn't mind socializing with me:

The dairy farmers were incredibly friendly and knowledgeable. They taught me all sorts of fun facts about cows, my favorite being that the average cow drinks a bathtub full of water a day!

Special thanks to today's friendly farmers who were so welcoming to me.