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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