MFU Women's Conference 2016 Recap

First of all, let's acknowledge the obvious. I have a totally new blog design! What do you all think?!? 

I am IN LOVE with this design, which was created by my very talented friend, Joellyn. If you need any graphic design work done for your blog or website, definitely think about asking her! You can view her own blog by CLICKING HERE! She also does really fabulous interior design. Basically, if you need design help of any sort, ask Joellyn! 

With the new re-design and new name, I'm planning on doing a re-launch of the blog with a new URL very soon. But, I want to take a little time to plan up something special... like maybe a giveaway or two?? hmmm? yes? STAY TUNED!

Now, on to the true subject of this post: the 2016 Montana Farmers Union Women's Conference! 

The Conference was held a few weeks ago, February 5-7, at Quinn's Hot Springs Resort in Southwest Montana. This was the Fourth Annual MFU Women's Conference, and I'm happy to say that I've made it to all four so far! The past couple years, I've also been fortunate enough to be a member of the MFU Women's Committee, which helps plan the annual conference. Here's a photo of our committee of powerful, strong women:

Lindsey, Me, Delisa, Lisa, Mary, and Kathy.
Audra is also on our committee, but she couldn't make it to the conference.

I can't remember if we had officially decided on a theme for the conference during our planning sessions or not, but to me, the definite theme of the weekend was "Community." Many of our speakers talked about building and strengthening community, particularly in rural areas, and how strong communities can help us all reach our goals. We also grew the community of Farmers Union Women by getting to know each other better and meeting new people over the weekend. The conference did end up selling out, with quite a few registrants attending for the first time ever, and at least 2/3 of all attendees were not already Farmers Union members. I know I met some new people this year that I'm really looking forward to keeping in touch with. 

I also enjoyed having around some familiar faces. My friend Adria joined me again this year, for her third Women's Conference. This year, we were also accompanied by both our mothers-in-law, Carol and Lynn, and a few other friends- Glenda and Mary. With six of us making the 5+ hour drive, Rudyard made a very strong showing at Quinn's! 

Quinn's Hot Springs Resort is situated in a lovely canyon along the Clark Fork River, North of Missoula, near Plains, MT.
All the cabins on this side of the highway are brand new. It would be a wonderful venue for a wedding or reunion, if you ask me!

I think the success of this conference every year lies in simply bringing women together. As Delisa always says, "When you bring women together, magic happens." Magic happened again this year, too. There is a yearning for women to build community-- one that I think is lacking sometimes in our day-to-day lives. This year's group was very diverse, both in age and background. While most all women in attendance were involved in agriculture somehow, that wasn't true of everyone. We had many, many positive comments on our evaluation sheets, both from farmers and non-farmers. The conference held something for everyone, and community was indeed built in Quinn's.

The lovely Kriss Marion of Wisconsin Farmers Union and Soil Sisters spoke about community organizing and the snowflake model. She advocated for building community one pot-luck at a time, and bring cookies!

I believe that one of the greatest strengths that Montana Farmers Union possesses is its ability to bring people together from diverse backgrounds. We often find that we have much more in common than we have apart and when it comes down to it, we're all in this together and we need each other more than we need to divide one another. 

MFU Women's Committee Member Lisa Schmidt speaks about, well, public speaking.

Justene Sweet, an herbalist, spoke about native Montana plants in the context of how the plants are part of our community, and how we can use some of these plants to build our own communities. Lovely presentations!

And yes... I even led a session at the Conference. Something I've never done before! 

My session was a "Hack-a-thon" wherein we were "hacking" out solutions and ideas to grow/enhance/create vibrant rural communities. I began with about a 10 minute presentation in which I attempted to explain what a Hackathon is and how we were going to go about doing it, and also discussed Creativity and how it is necessary and useful when talking about building community. Basically, I described Creativity as being sort of like a muscle. Take the bicep muscle, for example. Everyone has a bicep-- some of us have stronger biceps than others, but we can all strengthen that muscle. Creativity is the same way. Each of us has the capacity to be creative-- we just may have to work out that "muscle" a bit. I led the group through a few Creativity exercises, then everyone split off into small groups of 4-6 people and strategized ideas that could help in rural communities. Groups presented their ideas the next day in a sort of show and tell session. Man, were there some excellent ideas!!! I hope people actually follow through on some of them! For example, a "Tour de Montana" style bike ride with stops at farms all across the state! How cool would that be?!

All in all, even though I was nervous for the hackathon, I think it was a success. It got people thinking in a different way, and mingling with people they maybe didn't already know, which were my goals at the outset. I am satisfied with that.

This is the Event Center- where the Conference was held.

Now, I just want to write down a few notes that I had jotted down during the convention. Things that got me thinking...

• Build your capacity through people and connections. Be leaders and make leaders of those around you.
• "I really think it's all about the food!" ~ Kriss Marion, on the importance of food and potlucks!
• "I want my farm to be loud and alive!" ~ Kriss Marion, when discussing keeping our farms and lands healthy and sustainable for future generations.
• Gather in diversity- with that comes wisdom. Gather to cultivate community.
• "What's growing in your own backyard?" ~ Justene Sweet, during herbalism presentation
• "I build confidence in others." (My own elevator speech-- thanks Lisa Schmidt!)
• "Feel the fear and do it anyway." ~ ??? Not sure who said this during the conference, but I wrote it down!

Above is a photo of all the attendees of the conference. That's a lot of powerful people and WISDOM in one place!!! I hope everyone took something back to their own community, or that everyone was affected in some way, and will make a positive impact.

If you missed the conference this year but may have wanted to attend, next year we will be back at Chico Hot Springs, near Yellowstone National Park. The weekend will be the weekend after the Superbowl this time, but before Valentine's Day. It should be another fantastic event to look forward to!

Speaking of Community and organizing, a friend of mine linked to this article on his Facebook page recently--
Where Have All the Members Gone?
If you're a farmer, or married to a farmer, or if you like farmers, or like food, or live in a rural area, or live in a city but appreciate farmers and food, than you should consider joining a farm organization. If you are a farmer, then you DEFINITELY should join one. Our voice is small, but it is important. If we want our voice to be heard on a national level, it needs to be done through farm organizations, such as Montana Farmers Union/National Farmers Union. Please consider joining. If for no other reason, then to get on the mailing list for the next Women's Conference! ;)