Loving You

It is 8:40PM on Sunday night. I have just come upstairs after rinsing the sprouts and placing them in the cooler. I am joining Josh in watching the Super Bowl (except he has fallen asleep with Frank). While I was down stairs I had a moment when I looked at the sprouts as I placed them on the shelf, a moment of why I do this. Often we are asked to explain why we do what we do, why do we farm? At this conference I just returned from we were challenged in some seminars to be sure we know why we are doing what we are doing. Tonight I had a nice moment where it was again very clear to me why I do this. I love working hard to produce food that is healthy for us (you). It feels great to work hard to produce something that is so healthy and to share it with others.
Have a wonderful night and thanks for providing a home for our labours of love.

Skating Party This Weekend

We are hosting the farm skating party this weekend - Sunday 2PM
Josh was out with the kids on Thursday afternoon for a great afternoon of skating.

See you then!

Overload

At the end of day two my brain and energy have entered into overload. I am just busting with new thoughts and ideas. I've met a bunch of really interesting people who I can contact now in the future as ideas morph into realities.

I have been really inspired by Bryan Gilvesy. He is working on really innovative things and I am pumped to work towards positive change in this regard at home. http://www.norfolkalus.com/ I think it would be great if the Federation of Agriculture or a partnership of people brought him to NS to speak.

Also Gwen Simpson of Inspired Market Garden was full of excellent information, ideas and strategies for Small Scale Agriculture. http://www.inspiredmarketgardens.com/ She is going to be speaking at the ACORN conference the first week of March.

Tonight we are headed out to dinner at a restaurant that is workings of a local family meat farm (pigs, cattle, chickens, lamb). I met the farmers and have had a great chat about what they are doing. I can't wait to experience it. http://www.souleio.com/
http://www.caloriesrestaurants.com/

Our presentation went well. Dad did a wonderful job. It is always far less painful than one anticipates it to be.

check these out

http://www.maplemist.ca/ - local, wonderful and created by two wonderful woman. I have tried it and it is wonderful!

learned about these today : http://www.woodanchor.com/ and http://www.gorpbar.com/

Lessons learned today

First we heard from Rob Napier. His title was No Straight Road How can family farm businesses seize the opportunities from volatility & change?
Here are some snippets I picked out - I do not agree or feel comfortable with everything but here is what I wrote jotted:

• We need to reinvent our family farms
• need people on our businesses who love looking at the next opportunities
• How do we skill ourselves to handle unpredictability
• that agriculture and the environment are linked
• that agriculture and health are linked
• we are losing opportunities in not recognizing the value of our land and we need to learn how to maximize rewards from land business (I have some conflicting thoughts on this one)
• that we need to have a multifunctional farm approach
• people are looking for trust
• we need to change how we talk to ourselves - we are families with a farm business not family farms
• written goals and business plans should drive everything we do
• farmers are weak in generic business skills we need a massive effort to scale up skills
• wants to take the word farmer and farm family out of the equation. Redefine farmer and farm business inject the word entrepreneur
• travel is mandatory

We are off to dinner now - we had a great lunch - lots of cabbage!!! I was so excited to see cabbage as a main part of the meal.

First day - Travel

Well it was one of the most challenging days in my travelling life. Our plane left late from Halifax so we missed our connections in Toronto. I couldn't find my father for a time at the Toronto airport but since we both knew where we were flying out from it didn't much matter. Then our bags didn't make it. They arrived this morning at 1 AM which was wonderful!

Last evening we heard Dr. Lowell Catlett from New Mexico State University. His speech was titled Smart is Beautiful. He spoke about Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs and how we have entered into the middle part of the triangle the love and acceptance place. He explained that was or is a luxury to one generation is a necessity to the next. That people are doing things smarter. That we need to open our minds and pay attention to what is around us as we more head into the next generation. And, I like this one, it is a multiple objective world.

He suggested we look up www.heartmath.com.

He also repeated that healthy humans can not be separated from plants, animals and people.

It was a great way to begin to two day conference openning our minds and basically awakening to what is around us and the possibility of what may lay ahead.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. Today I will take in No Straight Road: how can family farm businesses seize the opportunities from volatility and change? and Maximizing the Profitability of Each Production Unit Through Scenario Analysis (I might need some extra strong green tea for this one:)) and that is all before break.

up, upand away

I am up and ready to be picked up for an adventure to Saskatoon. Four days in total, two travel days and two conference days. If you are interested in looking at the program here is it.

2010 Managing Excellence in Agriculutre Conference

Take Care