Welcome to Wisconsin!

Hi, there! I’m Veggie Mom, the proprietress over here at Eat Your Veggies! Nice to meetcha! I started blogging back in June, at the behest of my BIL, Uncle Lynn. Lynn, also known as The Pop’r King, is a Wisconsin Legend in his Own Time. He makes Pop’rs, but that’s another story. Let’s just say he’s on a Quest, and it all revolves around his fun new product. If you have time after the tour, please drop by Uncle Lynn’s Great New Pop’rs Giveaway. You’ll be glad you did!

For those of you new to the Pop’r Family’s Story, let me introduce you. There’s Aunt Julie and Uncle Lynn, the Pop’r Queen and King, respectively, and their four boys: Big Bear, Shark Boy, College Boy and Soccer Boy. I’m Veggie, and I’m married to Aunt Julie’s bro, Uncle Mark. We call him Moker, and he’s our Guest Blogger today. That’s him in the photo above, tailgating at the famed Lambeau Field in Green Bay. We have two daughters: College Girl and The Wild One. The six kids together constitute the entirety of that Famous Northeast Wisconsin Gang, The Pop’rs Cousins.

Before we embark on our tour, we’d like to thank Debbie and all her friends at Blog Around the World, for this chance to showcase the Great State of Wisconsin! So sit back, relax, grab some snacks (the cheese curds are fresh!) and pay close attention, as Moker takes us on a tour of our Upper Midwest Home.

Moker, here, with all the news that's fit to print, and then some! Wisconsin has many mottos. Some of them, like "Forward,” “America’s Dairyland,” and the “Badger State,” are official, steeped in tradition and history. But most residents understand that the best descriptive slogan is “Eat Cheese or Die!”

Wisconsin, where one congressional district has more cows than people, is a national leader in the production of milk, butter and cheese, especially cheddar. Fans of the Green Bay Packers (12 NFL championships) are known as “Cheeseheads” and wear yellow foam rubber wedges on their heads. BTW, one of those foam cheeeseheads once helped prevent serious injury to a victim of a small plane crash!

Wisconsin also is famous for its beer and bratwurst, delicacies that celebrate the German and Polish immigrants who settled in Milwaukee. The Scandinavians–Norwegians, Swedes, Danes and Finns–who immigrated to the rest of the state brought along lefse, lutefisk and sandbakkels.

Living so close to two of the Great Lakes (Superior and Michigan), Wisconsin residents are hardy souls who enjoy delightful summers and falls and endure sometimes brutal winters. Only in Wisconsin can you have a White Christmas as well as a White Halloween and a White Easter all in the same year. No wonder the state leads the nation in per capita brandy consumption!

Wisconsin gets its name from an Indian word of various origins–the Algonquian word for "long river" or the Chippewa/Ojibwa Tribe word that means "grassy place" or "gathering of the waters." The towns of Oshkosh, Menomonie, Menomonee Falls, Oconomowoc, Aswaubenon, Kaukauna, Mukwonago, and Chippewa Falls, among others, are of American Indian origin.

Politically, Wisconsin is viewed as a progressive state that produced Gov. Robert M. “Fighting Bob” La Follette, maverick Sen. William Proxmire and Sen. Gaylord Nelson, the Father of Earth Day. Wisconsin also is the birthplace of the Republican Party (Ripon) and gave the country that infamous, disgraced “Commie Hunter” of the 1950s, Sen. Joe McCarthy.

Wisconsinites love their sports, especially the outdoor variety, including hunting, fishing (muskies), snowmobiling and skiing, and residents enjoy thousands of lakes, although they do grumble about the number of Illinois residents who head north and bag black and white Holsteins instead of deer every year!

Notable Wisconsin personalities include architect Frank Lloyd Wright, super computer inventor Seymour Cray Jr., pianist Liberace, actors Orson Wells and Spencer Tracy, astrologer Jean Dixon, and magician Harry Houdini, whose most famous trick may have been escaping from Appleton!

Well, that concludes our tour of The Badger State. Hope you enjoyed yourselves and Moker, our Guest Blogger! Please feel free to snag some more snacks (we’ve got plenty of lutefisk left!) on your way out, and Don’t Forget to Share the Comment Love Before You Leave. Pretty Please?