High Grove Farm Journal – November 2025

Dec 01, 2025 (Westby, WI)

Hi! I am Jessica. Welcome to our monthly farm journal I write for the Creamery to share a closer look of life on a Wisconsin dairy farm. My husband Drew and our four children Carter, Caleb, Laney and Tulsie and myself, have all been trying to adjust to working and being in the cold again! And with the first big snow storm already having hit our area, our family hasn’t had much time to slow down.

The snow storm that started December truly put behind any feelings of autumn that November had left. We had a wonderful time with Drew’s family for Thanksgiving and deer hunting was a success. One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving lately is that we get all the grandkids together to take a picture with great grandma. Looking back at these pictures and seeing how they grow each year is very special. Since then, the girls and I have been decorating the house and farm for Christmas. The weeks between Thanksgiving day and Christmas day are some of our favorites.

One of my last tasks of fall – leaf duty! I was determined to do them all in one day, and I did, which is pretty good for this big yard!

November brought temperamental weather. The month began with flurries and sleet, and just a few days later a storm caused a large power outage in our area that lasted through the second half of our evening milking. Heavy snow coated everything outside and turned things icy, but we finally hooked up our generator—one we had never needed to use before—and finished the rest of our chores with the 4440 John Deere tractor running the generator to power all of the equipment in the barn and milk house.

November also brought the most beautiful northern lights I’ve ever seen and many amazing sunrises and sunsets. And while the list of things to do before winter hits never seems to get completely done, I feel like we really finished almost all of it this year before the weather turned.

We ended the month by whitewashing the barn and completing our state inspection of the milk house for our Grade A milk license. We had several calves born in November and are looking forward to a few Christmas calves soon.

Farm life has been an adjustment, as it always is this time of year. Changing up chores to establish new cold-weather routines takes time and patience, but getting ready for Christmas, baking goodies and making the house as cozy as can be brings us a lot of joy too. There’s something extra special about coming into a warm and festive home after cold barn chores—and it has been extra cold lately.

Thank you for visiting the farm.

-Jessica

Jessica Rogers is a Westby Creamery farmer-owner who is sharing glimpses of farm life with us.