It is a long day... to come home from work, do barn chores and continue to do house chores and complete other commitments.  It would be easy to sit and watch T.V. after a long day, but then my dogs are left energetic and anxious and I am left a few pounds heavier as the months go by! Every day, rain or shine or snowstorm, I walk my dogs through the fields because it makes them happy.  There are days that I would rather not go, but it is good for me and it is good for them! 

I always begin by going down the laneway by our barn.  I am generally followed by a goose and cat for the first 100  metres, and then they begin to realize that we are not turning around so they wonder off to do their own cat and goose things, as I continue with the dogs into the back of the property.  We make sure to stop and say hello to the cows, where I often get a  whiff  of manure as we walk by and the dogs do a little cattle dog chase until I unreasonably yell at them to stop.       

Often times, I stop mid-walk with my dogs and lay down in the field.  It defeats the purpose of my exercise, but I remember my childhood where laying in the grass (or the snow!) was exciting and so I try to remember the joy of looking up at the sky and imagining what the shapes of the clouds could be.  My dogs then wonder why I am lying on the ground and if I am indeed ok.  So, they run back over to me, letting me know that I have interrupted them  from their sniffing and snooping, to check that I am  alive.  Sometimes I get a paw in the face or a dog laying on top of me, but it is comforting to spend just a few minutes looking up,  because  we spend so much of our lives looking ahead or looking back and sometimes even looking down, but never up!  My dogs bring me back to reality with a few licks to the face and I am beckoned to get up and continue on the journey around the fields.    

This simple pleasure was taken for granted for so long, as I have grown up always being able to walk through fields with my dogs.  I have come to appreciate this luxury, as many people do not have the opportunity to lie in the middle of a field or walk their dogs freely in pastures.  I think it would be frowned upon to lie down in the grass and talk to myself (I mean talk to the dogs!)  in a public park, but in  a field with only the dogs listening (and maybe a nosy  neighbour  at the fence row), it doesn't matter! 

Lucky me!  I had the pleasure of attending the Canadian Young Farmers Forum held in Ottawa this year.  The conference moves across the country annually, but I walked away from this one with a very bittersweet feeling.  It was hard to leave, as much as I love home, I still had feelings uprising inside me as I was walking to the parking garage.  I had met and/or reconnected with all these amazing individuals and then just like that, after four days, they are gone...only to hopefully see them next year when we celebrate agriculture and put our minds together all over again at the next CYFF.  

Young farmers from one side of Canada to the other have the opportunity to network, learn and communicate.  It is such a comfortable, fun environment and being a teacher I know that it is easiest for anyone to learn when they are in a comfortable environment.  Often I am a very introverted person and am afraid to speak up and share my thoughts, but everyone was in the same position as me, having gaps in knowledge and expertise in one commodity or topic over another.  That supportive environment and the quality of presenters is what did it for me.  The quality is outstanding and even when we are tired from late nights and early mornings, we still watch with intensity because it is genuinely interesting what these presenters have to share with us young farmers.  The topics truly do leave us feeling inspired and motivated.  I take the most away from the virtual farm tours and family farm presentations.  I think it is really touching to see each farmer talk about their journey and often hear a tremble in their voice as they talk about it, partly because of their passion and slightly because they are not professional speakers who get up in front of a large audience all the time.  It is very real and when something is very real it is believable and inspiring.  It is rewarding to see those individuals from different educational backgrounds take a leap of faith and combine it with education and a well thought business management plan.  Some change their careers entirely and pursue farming.  Farming becomes their way of life and their fear of the unknown becomes a wee bit smaller as their knowledge expands and trial and error sets in.    

Confident Conversations was a topic that caught my eye on the agenda.  Having confidence when speaking about agriculture and how to do it in a non-defensive manner is really important.  Anyone can respond to a comment, but not everyone can respond in a professional manner.  We need to represent agriculture in a professional manner all the time and that point was stressed in a positive way.  It was also very interesting to hear about how relationships affect your business.  Farmers generally work with their families, as many farms are passed on from generation to generation and a family business can be very trying at times.  The way we react to situations can affect an outcome in succession planning or just the way you leave someone feeling and we were reminded to be mindful of everything we do and say.  I cannot possibly touch on all the topics presented, but lastly I wanted to emphasize the push for social media.  Several presenters expressed their passion for agriculture through social media tools and outlined strategies to use.  Tweet about it, brand yourself and your business, write articles, blog it, facebook page it...most importantly share and educate in any form you can because there is a huge disconnect between agriculture and most of the general public population. 

I got in my car and felt a few tears fall down my cheeks.  I laughed at myself and drove off, pondering why I was feeling so nostalgic.  I drove home for four hours and little of that time was spent thinking of anything else.  Get a life, right?  That is how I felt, but that is the impact that all these delegates and speakers left on me.  They left me wanting more and created in me a very sentimental feeling that makes me want to do more, be as successful as I can in life and in agriculture and come back next year to share my successes with them and actively listen to theirs!  I told myself I was being irrational, but that nostalgic feeling hit me with urgency.  I already missed the conference before I turned left out of the parking garage.  I already missed the friends I made and was reiterating interesting and fun conversations we had, just like someone might miss a part of their childhood that brought them comfort or seek memories of enjoyable times gone by.  It is incredible that a conference can hold such an impact on an individual.  If every person at the event walked away feeling the way I feel, CYFF did their job and impacted the minds of today’s young farmers.  The conference has already become another sweet memory.  

  There is something really special and rewarding about growing up on a farm.  It is rare in this day and time to be able to say you eat your own meat, grow your own vegetables or distribute your product to various stores and markets.  Farmers will always be around on different scales, but there are fewer farmers than there were a century ago and the times are increasingly changing.   I have learned how important it  is to celebrate agricultural successes, share stories and create awareness of this evolving industry and way of life.  Farming can be a really tough business, carrying with it its own highs and lows.  Prices for various agricultural commodities are ever changing and farmers struggle and succeed throughout their lives, but often find ways to remain positive, become innovative and continue to enjoy their rural lifestyle just the same.  

 I have started this blog page to show my passion for agriculture.  It is important to show pictures and tell stories about the farming lifestyle to create awareness and to network with other fellow farmers or those who just want to be educated in agriculture or informed on rural pleasures and share their own. I plan to write a book one day with a compilation of many country stories and notes from various experiences.  This is just the beginning!  Writing has always been something that fills me with joy.  Putting pen to paper seems to be a lost art and I strive to write 5 letters a month to friends and family around the world so I can connect with them in a traditional format.   I often find myself writing about the farm and how excited I am about a current project we are working on.  This lifestyle consumes me, but it consumes me in such a positive way.  I am not one to criticize non-traditional forms of communication, as social media is incredible and is ever changing the face of not only agriculture, but networking in this great big world in which we live.  It makes our world a whole lot smaller, while becoming increasingly connected on a larger scale.  Please feel free to share some of your own projects, ideas or simple memories and stories of your farming experiences and this wonderful rural lifestyle.