Mary Ostergren is a high school sophomore in St. Paul, Minnesota. I’ve known her since the day my sister gave birth to her. When Mary was a little kid, her puppet-crazed auntie (me) gave her a cow puppet. Then Mary gave me a cow puppet. So we have matching cow puppets. Hers is Daisy. Mine is Butterfat. A number of years ago, my former student Jarrad asked me to give him a writing assignment. I told him to write a sonnet, and I would, too. I looked around the house for something to write a sonnet about, and I found Butterfat. I can’t express how proud I am of my niece, who, in addition to having a great voice, is a reader of challenging books, a hiker of trails, a connoisseur of both dresses and ice cream, an incredibly fast runner, a wrestler of complex ideas, and a fun person to have around, among many other things. We recorded her in our kitchen.
Mary Ostergren reading "Cow Puppet"
Herd register papers found in our barn for the dairy cow Becky, who once lived on the Farmette. My puppet is named after her paternal grand dam, Clearland Butterfat Charity.