Quick update

Posted on November 3, 2010 by wagfarms

Things have been crazy around here. We finished harvest! Yay! Cows are on the way home as we speak, Halloween is over, parent-teacher conferences are done, Grandma’s house is now empty (a story I’ll have to share sometime…it’s a doozy!) and I’m getting ready to leave tomorrow for a fall Farm Bureau YF&R meeting in St. Louis. Yeah, and that is just the last 4 days!

Good news: Measure 2 was defeated – yay! I’d like to think that I helped educate a few people and had a small role in that.

Mediocre news: There will be lots of changes in the future for ND. We now are sending 2 new members to Congress. Good? Bad? We’ll see. Whatever happens, here’s to hoping that agriculture is at the forefront of their minds when voting. We will all need to be vigilant and loud when moving forward.

Bad news: Eh, why dwell on the bad. Lets skip it.

So, my next post will be in St. Louis (if the hotel has wireless…any suggestions on a carrier for traveling? Some of those are way spendy!). We’ll keep you posted!

Bright future indeed

Posted on October 26, 2010 by wagfarms

Last week I attended the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. Let me tell you, it was AMAZING! To see that many young people interested and active in an ag organization is encouraging and inspiring, to say the least.

I was there in a “professional” capacity. My husband and I serve on the Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher committee, and on that committee, I serve on the Promotions Subcommittee. One of the great privileges I had was the chance to attend the FFA Convention. We spent hours talking to kids, giving out prizes, conducting our quiz bowl and having a blast!

(Read more about the convention from Will Gilmer’s point of view here: http://www.fb.org/blog/index.php/2010/10/23/ffa_contestants_set_a_great_example )

Since returning home, I’ve been thinking about the future of agriculture. To tell you the truth, I think about it a lot. Lets say that some drastic piece of legislation is passed, and somehow our way of life is deemed obsolete. Or rules are enacted by the EPA that makes our farm too great of a liability. What would we do? Where would we go?

The only way we can guarantee these things don’t happen is by educating those that aren’t here with us on the farm. Show them what we do, why we do it and why our operations are important to their future. The good news is, that with more than 50,000 people attending the National FFA Convention last week, we have the opportunity to have a LOT of voices out there!

No, it won’t be easy, but we have the tools available…and the resources are all around us. Preparing the next generation to continue what we’ve started is key. I can’t wait to see where they take us!

Going out on a limb

Posted on September 13, 2010 by wagfarms

They said it couldn’t be done…they said it wouldn’t matter…they said we had to keep doing things the way we had in the past. Well, guess what, we didn’t…

The Dickey County Farm Bureau (of which, I am a board member), decided to hold its annual meeting a little differently this year. We called it “Pigs, Pits and Pistols.”

We roasted a whole pig (as in the whole thing, directly in a “pit”), had inflatable games for kids, had shooting sports for the bigger kids, had a Marksmen Quadrathlon and an archery demonstration. There were laser shooting games for kids of all ages, a keg of root beer and ice cream on the deck, sodas for all and room for about 150. Oh, and it was all free…well, except for the Quadrathlon, but the two top scorers took home all the cash.

Guess what? We ran out of room.

That’s right…we had an annual meeting (of which our yearly attendance averages right at 30) and we served over 160 at supper. We planned for 150, but figured it was a pipe dream. It was amazing! We had to open up the other section of the lodge…we had to have people eat outside!

We had teenage boys there on a Saturday afternoon! And they were having fun! At an annual meeting!

I didn’t include video of the meeting part, but the grassroots movement is definitely alive and well. And we were able to initiate some interest and excitement about becoming more involved in our organization. What more could we possibly ask for?

I don’t know how we’ll top this next year…but we better start planning now! 😉 Hmmm…wonder if Siegfried and Roy would come out of retirement…