We'll know by Thursday whether or not Wisconsin's state legislature will go ahead and name Lactococus lactis the state microbe. Representative Gary Hebl, one of the lead authors of Assembly Bill 556, said when he was first approached about adding the microbe to the state's officially sanctioned symbols, his first reaction was, "Uh...why would we do that?"
Uh, because, Gary, without L. lactis, (that's the little charmer shown here) there would be no cheese, and without cheese, the market for those hats that cheeseheads wear to football games, backyard picnics, Sunday school and funerals would just totally fall apart. We can't have that. Not in Wisconsin.
  Actually, the Badger (official wild animal) State has reason to boost the cheese business, and agriculture as a whole. The Honeybee (official insect) State has as its official domestic animal the Holstein cow, and the Trilobite (official fossil) State even has a state soil, which is Antigo silt-loam. The Red Granite (official rock) State, also known as the Galena (official mineral) State, has thousands of jobs, millions of dollars worth of infrastructure and $18 billion in sales every year coming in from cheese.
  So let's give a cheer and raise a glass of the Polka (official dance) State's other favorite beverage (courtesy of Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in a toast (courtesy of GE) to everything cheese in Wisconsin.
  And actually, I have a suggestion for the Assemblymen the next time America's Dairyland (official license plate slogan) is looking for a symbol. My suggestion is...the holes in Swiss cheese. They could call it Wisconsin's Official Nothing.


     Speaking of which (Wisconsin cheese, not "nothing"), our food and family features editor, Anne Harnish, included The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin in a roundup of suggestions for the farmer's bookshelf in our current edition. There are books about canning, cooking, gardening, gophers and a whole tome devoted to Ice Cream U, which, if you have to ask where that is, we're not about to tell you. Buy the book. You'll find Anne's suggestions, just in time for Christmas, in our current edition.


     If Santa likes cute, he's going to bring this little guy whatever he wants. http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/i-m-yours-by-jason-mraz/5x7hh2f