One of the great catalysts for conversation is the Milk House.  There were rhythms to each group of eight sweet Jersey girls who would come into the milking parlor, astonishingly almost every morning and night in the same order of about 50 cows in my uncle’s modest operation.  There are steps that you cycle through with each group in a sequence; entry, washing, attaching milkers, washing the other four, changing the milkers, dipping the teats and then, finishing the other set of four with the same series before exit.  There were down times while you waited for the udders to divest themselves of that precious white commodity that we were after. 

Those down times made for great comradery and chunks of conversation.  If you were in tandem with those given to work hard, it made it all the more fun.  Great conversations would break out about life and everything else. 

The “company” title, “Wilt Dairy,” is actually a ruse.  We laughed about it all one night of milking and celebrated it the next day.  In Clark County, Ohio, the home of “Wilt Dairy,” there is a celebrated Jersey cow farm that is still going that is a retail gold mine.  Someday you must visit Young’s Jersey Dairy (https://youngsdairy.com/).  It is a little north of Yellow Springs, Ohio and not far from Cedarville University.  The Youngs folks are the big operators.  For several generations Jerseys have been milked on that farm.  But the herd is more show and fat for their ice cream, than it is for commercial sales of milk.  They are working toward a Disney tiered theme park these days more than a working Jersey Dairy farm, although it is at least that.  I was in school with the Young boys. Mrs. Young taught my mom in high school and coached her in sports and was still teaching when I went to the local high school (Greenon). 

The Young farm was a part of the largest concentration of Jersey dairy herds in one county than in any other county in the nation at one time.  But those days are long gone.  Corporate farming has taken the mom-and-pop farms out of the market.  After a hundred years, the Jersey cows left Uncle Dick’s family farm in 1997.  But, Young’s survived in the retail world of selling an experience of ice cream and a visit to the farm, or the batting cage, or the golf range, or the carousel, or the restaurant, or feeding the goats, or the….  In my day, Young’s was the big player in the dairy world, still is; albeit now, the only player. 

So, one night milking we imagined launching our “brand”.   We dubbed it “Wilt Dairy,” using the patriarch’s last name.  We spun off imaginations of the future under this grand newly established entity that we had just made up.  It was funny because of its absurdity.  We were small, a David.  Young’s was the resident Goliath.  We argued that our branding would have cool calligraphy, “WD”.  We laughed and it made for what seemed like a very short shift.  Joy and mutual cooperation go a long way in making a good work experience. 

In 1937 Disney released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  She was at home cleaning the Dwarfs cottage that she had ran across singing, “Whistle While You Work.”  That was met by the Dwarfs coming home from the diamond mine singing “Heigh-Ho”, which is often misremembered about a song of going to work, rather than one of coming home from work.  Both songs celebrated the value of hard work and the joy of comradery.  Snow White’s song was helping us recover from the Great Depression and was a symbol of overcoming hardship through hard work and optimism.  They represent joyful songs in the midst of work.

You put together a spirit of cooperation, affection, and earnest effort in a work group and you will end up with a whole lot of good work being done and a happy and satisfied work force going home each day.  Many dread their work which lacks these three essential qualities.  We can take joy in the most mundane task in our work when we realize that we were made for work (Adam was given tasks to tend Paradise before sin ever entered.  Work did not come with the fall…our work just got harder with the curse…that sweat on the brow to make ends meet).  Hard work, with enthusiastic others, is a unique joy in life.  So, whistle on and sing coming home, grateful to have work and grateful for what was accomplished in that new day.  Proverbs 17:22 says that a merry heart does good like medicine.  Take some medicine to work this week.  Enjoy your workmates.  Pray for the difficult ones.  Accomplish things together…and keep whistling and singing.

The next night in the milk house I walked in with my hat I had made the last evening.  It was an orange ball hat now emblazoned with the white letters sewn into the header, “WD.”  That night, even Dutchess’ kicks as I put on her milker could not make us stop laughing and enjoying the time together.  Make it a good day at work today!  Cheer on the ranks…you’ll have more joy and get more done…and the time will pass quickly.  You’ll go home singing!  That’s a good day!