Breeder Central Lifestyle Showpig News
When the Oldenberg family arrives at a livestock show, the first thing their travel crew decides is where to set up the kitchen. This decision is as essential as the tack and stalling location for them.
Dusty Oldenberg is the ultimate show mom chef. Her husband, Jeff, and their three children JaLeigh, 16, Callen, 11, and Lincoln, who is nine, all show different species and they travel with a group of friends to nearly every show from local jackpots to the North American International Livestock Exposition.
Jeff and JaLeigh manage the sheep, Callen is the pig showman and Lincoln is responsible for his goats. Inside their show family of friends the parents also divvy up responsibilities with some moms being in charge of check-in and weigh-in, others in charge of washing and blowing sheep and goats dry and still others managing younger kids or being sure the kids are dressed and on time to the show ring. Dusty’s focus is on two main things: cooking and taking photos.
Several years ago, Dusty purchased a pack-a-way camping kitchen from Cabela’s. This $120 investment has been one of the best because it offers an organized way to prepare and store food. The shelves are canvas and collapse for easy packing and there is a tray table that can be flipped upside down to make a tub sink. Dusty always carries two crockpots, one griddle and one waffle-maker. These four appliances are her staple items, and she never travels to a show without them.
Dusty’s eight years of show barn mom experience has also taught her how pack and store food, with her best lesson being how to keep cold food cold without it becoming soggy. Her answer to the ice chest issue is her crafted PVC pipe creation. She puts water in the short pipe, screws on the cap and freezes them. When she packs her three to four ice chests with food then she’ll put frozen PVC pipe down on the bottom, lay the frozen meat packages on top, then put cheese and potatoes as the top layer.
“If you’re not careful your cheese will get soggy because the water melts and gets in the package,” Dusty says. “The PVC pipe can be set up straight in the ice chest or you can lay them down when you’re ready to go. In Louisville, however, because of the long drive I’ll use dry ice instead. Dry ice doesn’t work for short trips like jackpots or Tulsa State Fair because it freezes the food too hard and it won’t be ready when I need it.”
Dusty packs her kitchen utensils into three big tool boxes that can go in the trailer. She typically budgets around $350 per show on food, knowing it saves her family and friends a lot of money in concession stand trips and restaurant bills. At the National Western Stock Show, Dusty cooks two meals a day, for three days for 30 people
Another staple item for Dusty is crockpot liners. She says they allows for easy clean-up. Her camping kitchen does offer a mini sink so after a show meal she heads to a bathroom, fills a bucket with hot water then hooks it up to her kitchen sink. The water travels through a spicket and after she’s finished it drains back down into the bucket, which she empties.
Dusty sets up and tears down by herself, since her family is busy unpacking the trailer, setting up pens and checking in stock.
“When we drive my kitchen folds up, goes into a bag and sets in the dressing room of the trailer,” Dusty says. “It can also go in the nose of the trailer.
Two weeks prior to the show, Dusty begins prepping her menu. Her food choices are based on what the kids enjoy. She cooks hearty meals with lots of meat. The menu typically centers on breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy, walking tacos, crockpot pizza, chili dog casserole and pulled pork. Dusty has such a good reputation for her menus and meals that she also manages a personal blog called theshowbarncook.blogspot.com, and she encourages other show moms to read it if they need food and cooking ideas.
Before the big show, Dusty cooks about 15 pounds of meat at home, both hamburger and ground pork to make her show day meal prep simpler.
“I like to do half and half on all my meats so I put in half beef and half pork,” Dusty says. “It gives everything a better flavor. I buy frozen potatoes. Cheese and eggs are my staple items. And depending on the show and how long we’ll be there, sometimes I’ll go grocery shopping in the city, like in Louisville where we spend two and a half weeks in the barn. I’ll buy eggs, bread and other delicate items in the show city.”
Of all her meals, the show day breakfast is a must. Her family and crew arrive at the barn super early, and as they feed and wash animals she prepares breakfast burritos. The night before she’ll fill her crockpots with layers of O’Brian potatoes, sausage and cheese. Then she mixes five dozen eggs, splits the mixture and uses her spatula to poke holes in the layers. She pours half the egg mixture over each of the crockpots and lets it seep down into the recipe. Before she leaves the barn, Dusty turns the crockpots on the warm setting so that on show day morning the eggs are cooked and not overdone.
On show morning, she fills tortillas with this crockpot mixture. Then she puts the burritos on the griddle to cook them a little more. Everyone can grab a breakfast burrito and carry it with them as they do chores, without using plates or utensils. Other mornings she’ll make biscuits and gravy and cinnamon rolls using the waffle maker and the crockpots.
Dusty says she began cooking at shows when their family traveled to a NAILE and noticed another family was cooking in the barn. They became friends and even had a friendly cook-off. Now Dusty’s menus are so well known that she plans to feed at least 30 people each show. She offers a tip jar and asks other show moms in their travel group to bring plates, utensils and napkins. Dusty handles the rest.
“We started doing this to save money as well,” Dusty says. “When it is the five of us at a show the meal times can really add up, plus we’re paying for hotel rooms too. It’s funny because Jeff will get the question at a show, ‘Is your wife here?’ then ‘What’s on the menu?’ I also don’t want other moms to feel guilty about not bringing food to the show. My group knows I’m bringing the kitchen and that I’ll handle it. In turn I don’t worry about the sheep, those mom’s go handle what they have to do.”
The only show she does not cook for is the Oklahoma Youth Expo, due to her job as an official show photographer and her fundraising duties at the show. It’s sorely missed, she says, as her kids complain of not having her scrumptious meals on and around show day.
Dusty grew up showing livestock in 4-H and FFA, and she gives big credit to those show moms who try to handle everything themselves. Showing is a lot of work, but she says while her family is obsessed with washing sheep in birthday order, Dusty’s job has become the kitchen. And it’s not work anymore to her, it’s just plain fun.
“Moms are welcome to look at the blog so they can see the ideas and the food spread,” Dusty says. “I lay it all out on the counter and take photos and post pictures too of how everything is packed in the tubs and the trailer. I’ve been asked to do a cookbook but I haven’t had time. I have enjoyed cooking so much because I’ve gained a lot of friends I would otherwise not have had. But they probably don’t know I don’t like to cook at home.”