Ag Business and Katie Eisenberger!

In January of 2011, Kris, our 3-month-old Max, and I went to Atlanta for the American Farm Bureau meeting.  

While we were there, Atlanta experienced quite an ice storm.  Great footage here.  There were no flights, no restaurants or museums were open, and the hotel workers even had to stay in the hotel because no one could go home.  (In fact, on the day we were trying to take a train to the airport a car nearly slid into Max and me in the street.  SO MUCH ICE!)

As a result, we spent a lot of time with the other Farm Bureau members there and got to know them very well!  One of them was Katie Eisenberger, and we've been friends every since.  She's also the daughter of a dairy farmer, and after careers at MSU extension and as in insurance, she's now an agriscience teacher at Breckenridge High School!

Katie is one of those teachers that you absolutely just loved.  We all had them.  It was obvious from the way the students acted.  She's easy to love!

Katie asked me to talk in her Ag Business class today about how to communicate with people, how to share your story, and about blogging.  The students were great (hello all), and it was incredibly enjoyable to talk with them!

Out of the class only three of them were from a farm, and one girl whose family runs a greenhouse talked with me about how ... she knew there was a lot that went into a greenhouse, but until you're DOING IT, you have no idea.  

We discussed how each farm is different - we haven't been to a chicken farm ... she hadn't been to a dairy farm ... it's all just what's around and what kind of farmer you know.  Farmers don't know the details of other kinds of farms, let alone the general public knowing about every kind of farm.  

Just like the ice storm, when we were joking about why Atlanta had no equipment or salt - why would they?!  It almost never happens, so why have that expense for a once-in-50-years event?  You don't know everything that goes into it until you're the person responsible.

I went to the gas station by the school afterward, and the cashier said, "Are you a teacher?" 

I said, "No, I'm a dairy farmer."  

"Oh!  Well, thanks for feeding all of us!" he said cheerfully.  

And thanks to people like Katie Eisenberger, who are teaching all about it!  

Happy Thanksgiving, all!  

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Thanks, Mom! It's November ...

The cows used to have all of the calves in the summer, which made for some long and hard days ... like when 18 calves would be born in a day.

Kris thought that this year we would space them out a little bit more, so as a result ... we're still feeding little calves after our summer help went back to college!

My mom, the best volunteer in the land, offered to do the morning calf chores, and she's been great!  Kris and I don't know what we would do - or the calves would do - without her.





While that's been happening, we've had a lot of promotion, too.  One day the United Dairy Industry of Michigan hosted their program advisor training at the Huntington Club at Michigan State.  This is my friend Karly who was a part of it - (she looks just like a college student even though she is married and has a baby!)



I went to the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance annual meeting in Kansas City to continue our mission to positively promote agriculture ...



And as a member of Team Chocolate Milk, ran a 5K in my hometown with my kids and friends.  Cole won his age group - first time! (Yes, he has been heavily influenced by watching Olympic winners bite their medals.)



The five of us hit the national dairy meeting in California that Kris went to because he's a board member at our co-op ...



and today was our Michigan Milk Producers Association Leaders' Conference.



So you can see why my mom - and our employees that we actually pay - are such a huge part of all of this!  Thank you to all of them for taking care of things while we're not here.

Though it looks like we've been gone in November, we're actually here more than we're gone.  I just hit the highlights with these pictures.  The normal schedule for Kris is farm, farm, farm, farm, farm, farm, Michigan State football game ... but we just had the last home game!

The meeting was optimistic today, but I hope that the rest of 2017 and 2018 ... and beyond is only positive for farming!  Happy Thanksgiving - we all have a lot to be thankful for. At the very least, I'm already really looking forward to stuffing myself at dinner ... and my mom is, of course, making most of it.  Calves, kids, grandchildren ... she feeds all of us!

Want to know more about the farm?  Like the page on Facebook, on Twitter @carlashelley, or sign up to get the blog by email - the form is on the right side of the page.