Celebrating June Dairy Month With the Pennsylvania Dairy Princesses

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we welcomed in royalty.

Pennsylvania Dairy Princess Alexis “Lexi” Butler and state alternate dairy princesses Emily Wright and Mackenzie Thomas joined us on the podcast to celebrate June Dairy Month.

“We have a great message to get out, and that message is milk is good for you and drinking milk supports the awesome people in the dairy industry,” Mackenzie said.

To become a dairy princess at the state level in Pennsylvania, you have to be between the ages of 16-24 and first win at a county level.

Lexi, who grew up on a crop farm in Schuylkill County, turned 17 not long before the state pageant, and used her skit of singing a parody of “Don’t Stop Believing” as her own personal mantra throughout the competition, and even now during her reign.

“I really tried to hone into the fact to not stop believing in yourself,” Lexi said. “My biggest piece of advice to any person that might be listening is do not let your age define you.”

Lexi initially got into dairy promotion at a young age, but then took a break from the program until she was 15. She didn’t quite expect her journey in dairy promotion to lead to a state title.

“It definitely led to the greatest year of my life,” Lexi said. “I never really planned on really running for a state title. I just kind of put ‘yes’ on the paper and thought, you know, if it’s the plan for me to be on the team, that’s the plan. I just did my best and here we are.”

For Mackenzie, who works on a dairy farm in Lebanon County, promoting dairy has been a passion of hers for a few years now.

The state alternate dairy princess title has certainly helped grow her confidence in representing the industry, and has also led to plenty of interesting conversations about dairy.

“I’ll even approach someone in the dairy case,” Mackenzie said. “I think just engaging people at the local level and having a friendly conversation with them is huge.”

Emily, a current college student, grew up on a dairy farm in Crawford County. While the farm no longer milks cows, she still shows dairy cattle and got involved in the princess program to keep a hand in the dairy industry.

She finds her dairy princess training coming out in all aspects of her life, especially her education.

“I had a public speaking class, for example, and I wrote a speech about why drinking real milk is good for you,” Emily said. “It was just a great way for me to spread the word. I really like to do that on my campus more than anything. I just feel like college students, they’re our future, so we need to hit that spot the hardest.”

Emily is studying education, and while she isn’t planning on working directly in agriculture after college, she said being a dairy princess and being a teacher go hand in hand.

“We’re always educating,” Emily said. “That’s the skills I’ve learned — to better educate — through my school studies and through dairy princess.”

Being a state dairy princess means these three young women serve as the face of the Pennsylvania dairy industry, a responsibility that each of them take seriously.

“I just feel like the impact that women have in agriculture is becoming so great as time goes on,” Lexi said. “And to think that I have the wonderful opportunity to be one of those, it’s just honor, the word I would use for it.”

Listen here:

Dairy Princesses' Favorite Dairy Recipes

Cannoli Dip

• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Beat ricotta cheese and cream cheese together. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until sugar is completely dissolved. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 10 minutes. Serve with pizzelle cookies, waffle cone pieces, graham crackers, or chocolate chip cookies.

Pennsylvania Dairy Princess Lexi Butler

Mac and Cheese

• 1 lb. dried elbow pasta
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 1/2 cups half and half
• 4 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese (divided)
• 2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (divided)
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 3 quart baking dish. Boil pasta, cook 1 minute less than package directions. Shred cheeses and toss together to mix, then divide into three piles. Approximately 3 cups for the sauce, 1 1/2 cups for the inner layer, and 1 1/2 cups for the topping. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook for approximately 1 minute, whisking often. Slowly pour in about 2 cups of the half and half, while whisking constantly, until smooth. Slowly pour in the remaining half and half and the whole milk, while whisking constantly, until combined and smooth. Continue to heat over medium heat, whisking very often, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in spices and 1 1/2 cups of the cheeses, stirring to melt and combine. Stir in another 1 1/2 cups of cheese, and stir until completely melted and smooth. In a large mixing bowl, combine drained pasta with cheese sauce. Pour half of the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheeses, and then top that with the remaining pasta mixture. Sprinkle the top with the last 1 1/2 cups of cheese and bake for 15 minutes, until cheesy is bubbly and lightly golden brown.

My family likes to use a combination of different cheeses. We enjoy doing cheddar and American cheeses, but any cheese that you have will make a delicious dish. 

Pennsylvania alternate Dairy Princess Mackenzie Thomas

Pumpkin Mousse