1. 7A
INDEPENDENT-MARSHALL,MINN.
THURSDAY,JUNE 10,2010AG/EXTENSION
By Katy Palmer
kpalmer@marshallindependent.com
MINNEOTA — When the Dairy
Princess Kay judges called Brittany
Moorse, of Minneota, as one of 12 final-
ists, she was moved to tears of excitement
and honor.
Moorse grew up on her family’s dairy
farm, maintained through three genera-
tions, just outside Minneota and was the
only dairy kid when she joined 4-H, about
15 years ago. Now, thanks to her family’s
leadership and encouragement, her local 4-
H has grown to about 30 dairy students
with about 60 dairy cows entered.
“My brothers have been fantastic role
models,” said Moorse. She said her family
really tried to encourage others to join
dairy at 4-H.
“To represent and mentor them (4-H
students) is such an honor,” Moorse said.
Moorse, along with the other 11
Princess Kay finalists, will promote the
Princess Kay competition and ideals this
summer through school promotions, radio
ads, grocery store visits, 4-H programs,
and Operation: Military Kids Camp.
The finalists will attend workshops
with the Midwest Dairy Association at the
current Princess Kay’s home in
Hutchinson to train for and promote the
title. Moorse is excited to meet other dairy
princesses and appear on the KARE 11
and WCCO news. She is crossing her fin-
gers to promote at a Twins game as well.
Moorse was young when she became
interested in the dairy princess process and
tagged along to her aunt’s dairy princess
training. When she was little, her grandma
would say, “This could be you someday.”
And she knew her grandpa hoped to
have a granddaughter become a dairy
princess. Moorse only dreamed of it com-
ing true.
However, the honor did not just fall
into Moorse’s lap. Her family lives by the
rule that “the calves need to eat and the
cows need to be milked before you can
eat.” Hard work and dedication, along
with confidence and determination, are
what propelled Moorse through the com-
petition.
At the luncheon where the finalists
were announced, Moorse was over-
whelmed with excitement, honor, and
humility. All she thought of when she was
up on stage was her family, her cows, and
all the supporters in her life, including her
“amazing” 4-H kids.
Moorse said that when she called her
grandpa, he “was so excited he could bare-
ly talk.”
“My dad said he didn’t cry, but,”
Moorse said, remembering looking into
the audience, “he was crying.”
In order to become a finalist, she had to
apply for entry before a training session,
deliver a prepared speech, conduct a mock
radio interview, and hold a personal inter-
view, each with three judges.
The radio interviews, Moorse said,
were usually basic questions like, “What
does being a dairy princess mean to you?”
But this year, they asked more controver-
sial questions such as, “Is a small or a
large farm more beneficial?” said Moorse.
She said the best way to answer is posi-
tively and completely, including the pros
and cons to support your claim.
The importance of this title left Moorse
at a loss for words.
“It means the world to me to be able to
represent something I’m passionate
about.”
Lyon County has not seen a dairy
princess in a while. “We’re a very small
dairy county,” Moorse said, “and now to
be at the state level; there are no words.”
Moorse said everyone she has spoken
with around town is excited for her and
excited to see their town name on the
plaque of Moorse’s congratulatory butter
head, carved out of a 90-pound block of
butter.
Moorse gets to take the butterhead
home, as well as all the leftover butter.
She is considering having a butter carving
contest at the Lyon County Fair.
The Dairy Princess Kay winner will be
announced the Wednesday night before the
Minnesota State Fair at a formal corona-
tion ceremony.
SMALL-TOWN ROYALTY
THE FASCINATING DIGGER BEE
I like watching the
insects that come to our
various gardens during the
summer.
Sure, we do have to deal
with mosquitoes but it is
always breezy or down
right windy all of the time
that they can not seem to
be able to land on you-not
very often anyway.
This past week the boys
and I discovered much to
our delight (mostly theirs,
to be honest) that the dill
was covered in Parsley
swallowtail caterpillars.
These sort of look like
Monarch butterfly caterpil-
lars but if you hold one of
each in your hand, you can
see they are different. For
one, Monarchs usually do
not feed on dill and prefer
the milkweed plants that
we allowed to grow up in
the gardens over the dill.
The boys think they are
cool because they feel rub-
bery. They handle them
ever so carefully
and after they
have checked
them over, the
place them back
on the dill so they
can catch them
again the next day.
This past week,
however, has
brought us a new
insect to our gar-
den that is even
more fascinating,
digging bees.
Since we all know
the story or plight
(?) of the honey
bees, bees of any
kind in the garden
tend to catch our interest
right away. We used to
have a company that
placed bee hives just down
the road from us but they
didn’t come this year.
So, now we
have many, many
bumblebees and
now these curious
little digging bees.
They fly very
closely to the
ground near our
corn and pumpkin
patch and while
watering the gar-
den, they have
made for great
entertainment and
also some wonder.
What kind are these
and why are they
digging? I have
never seen bees
actually digging in
the soil and it is rather
comical to watch these tiny
backhoes digging around,
seeing the dirt fly up after
them, before they fly away,
zig-zagging here and there,
landing, and then starting
the whole process over
again.
Generally, insects are
not named some simple
name, just the Latin name
alone will tongue tie you
but these bees are simply
called Digger Bees or
Burrowing Bees.
They are also known as
Flower bees. They like to
make their nests in sand or
clay banks which could be
the very case in our bees’
lives. The vegetable garden
from which they seem to
be doing rather well is near
an old cattle pond.
So, I would guess that
their home in part of this
area. They like to collect
nectar and pollen from
many different kinds of
flowers in garden and
meadows (something that
we have plenty of). In the
soil around the garden,
especially since I have
been taking extra care to
water, these tiny chimney
like structures are being
built and if you care to get
down on your knees and
look inside, you will find a
bee in there doing their bee
kind of things.
Actually what it is that
they are doing is making
sure that they eggs that are
deposited inside are doing
OK; they will lay one egg
per chamber or brood cell.
They place honey and
pollen in each cell to pro-
vide food for the new little
one after the egg hatches.
The larvae over winter in
the brood cell, pupate and
emerge as an adult in late
spring.
It is really great either
which way to be able to
watch them and to think
about all of the plants that
they are busy pollinating. It
should be a bumper crop of
pumpkins, gourds and win-
ter squash this year!
For more information
on gardening, you can
reach me at
stephanie@starpoint.net
Photo by
Katy Palmer
Brittany
Moorse,
Dairy Princess
Kay finalist of
Minneota,
visits with
one of her
favorite calves
on her fami-
ly’s dairy
farm.
■ Minneota’s Brittany Moorse is still catching her breath after learning
she was named one of 12 Princess Kay finalists in Minnesota
STEPHANIE
BETHKE-
DEJAEGHERE
MASTER GARDENER
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