After spending the last six months visiting Icelandic dairy farms, I’ve begun to notice many of the characteristics inherent to the lifestyle. They have coffee before and after every trip to the barn, they own an overly enthusiastic border collie and, without fail, wear blue coveralls called gallis.

“Ice cream should be in your life, too. What’s more, it’s not even a bad or unhealthy food,” says Dr. Oz. quoted in Time Magazine. From myself and all the other chubby farm kids: We salute you, Dr. Oz. Finally, I have someone who supports my eating habits. Who is this person who supports me? He is a doctor and a wizard.

Conservation planning is based on science and art. As readers of this column know, I often write about deductive reasoning based upon what is already known and inductive thought based upon what is not known but rather intuitive. Recently at a planners meeting, we discussed the lengthy topic of how to identify a resource concern. Yes, we have charts and forms and helpful flowcharts to help us.

I have been in New York for nearly two months. The bulk of my work includes meeting landowners and evaluating their performance at meeting water quality standards. These are called annual status reviews. One in particular is memorable. The landowner is just a few years older than me. He is the middle generation of three. His father is now home from an extended hospital stay – and being home includes a daily visit with a nurse.

About half of those receiving this issue of the magazine will be reading Progressive Dairyman for the first time. We welcome you to our family!Our magazine is published by a family-owned business that has been producing dairy-focused content for more than 25 years.

Many significant things have occurred in the dairy industry during my lifetime. High on top of my list is the phenomenal increase in U.S. cheese consumption. In 1950, per-capita cheese consumption was 7.7 pounds. In 2012, the most recent data available, per-capita consumption of cheese was about 33.5 pounds. A person today, compared to 62 years ago, is eating 25 pounds more cheese per year.

Our farm sits in the bottom of a valley. Because of it, we can’t get any reception. When I did have a cell phone, I had to climb to the top of the hill to use it. On winter nights talking to friends, I’d stomp around corn stalks to keep warm. Most conversations ended not because I ran out of things to say, but because my fingers went numb.

When I was growing up, back in the Ice Age, moral stories were common and children understood them. The “Three Little Pigs” was not just a story about three pigs building houses in the forest. It was a moral story about work ethic and the blessings of building things to last.

As I write this editorial, I’m in Albuquerque, New Mexico, attending my second year of the Holstein Foundation’s Young Dairy Leaders Institute Class Eight. Last year, I met more than 40 mostly new faces from across North America as we participated in leadership and media training.