Lift Off

Here we are, on our way to Washington DC for our Farmers Union Legislative Fly-In trip. I am really excited for the culmination of our year-plus long training and also very much looking forward to seeing our FUE Leadership Couple friends, and also somewhat sad that it's coming to an end soon.

This trip to DC will be mostly business and I have been trying to study up over the past few days on Farmers Union positions on current policy and goings-on so that I can be knowledgeable and confident when addressing members of congress, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little intimidated. I'm trying, woefully, to remember some of my 12th grade U.S. Government lessons, but hey- that was about 12 years ago! I'm sure in the moment, I'll be fine, but right now... yikes.

As for the blog, I've got a few posts in queue that I'll post while we're gone, for your reading enjoyment. Once I get back, I'll try to compress the entire DC Fly-In experience into a few posts to share with you all how our trip went. Some of the highlights will surely include:

• National Press Club Beat the Deadline 5K I'm participating in on Saturday morning
• Seeing our fellow FUE friends and experiencing DC with them
• Getting an inside look at the machinations of lobbying and government in action/meeting with Representatives and Senators
• Eating at delicious restaurants, including two that North Dakota Farmers Union owns 
• Who knows what else is in store?! 

For now, wish us safe travels! See you on the flip-side! :)

Good to be Home

For those of you who have been keeping track, I haven't made a post to the blog in 20 days. But who's keeping track, right? How much did you miss me?!  Actually, don't answer that.

I have missed writing, however. Between starting a new job and all the travel we have done over the past few weeks, there just hasn't been time. 

Most of our travel was football trips to Bozeman. The Bobcats finished the season in disappointing fashion, losing their last two games. They should have been better than they played. Sometimes even with a talented roster, there are intangibles that don't fall into place the right way. If you're asking my humble opinion (which you really probably shouldn't) it was all due to the DESTRUCTION sign on the back of the scoreboard.

From the moment I saw it, I did not like that sign. Bad JuJu, if you ask me. One look at it and I just had an inexplicable feeling that the destruction might be of us and not by us. I shudder to admit that my completely irrational, fleeting thought may have been right.  Ugh.

Anyway. We also traveled to Minot, ND about a week and a half ago for our most recent FUE Leadership Couples training, in conjunction with the North Dakota Farmers Union Convention. If you don't remember what the FUE thing is all about, catch up to speed by reading this post: Welcome to FUE!  It was so, so good to see our FUE friends again-- I wish we all lived closer!! It was so interesting to hear about all their respective harvests and farm projects, and also extremely enlightening to drive through western North Dakota. I'm hoping for another post soon with some more in-depth info on ND and the training we did.  As always, stay tuned.

Thanksgiving was low-key for Jeff and I as we traveled with Tom and Carol all the way to town (Rudyard) for dinner with some dear friends. We feasted and played silly board games all afternoon long. It was great to spend time with family and friends, even if it meant tearing my reclusive self away from the home I had been missing all month long due to incessant travel. 

Jeff and I have been giving considerable thought to the amount of time we have spent away from home this fall.  We are thinking pretty hard about letting our Bobcat Football season tickets go for next year. Before you judge us as fair-weather-fans feeling glum after a disappointing season, hear me out. Our future is here, on the Hi-Line, on the farm. We have spent so much time away, that we have come to feel like our priorities have not aligned with the way we have been spending our time. It would be one thing if Bozeman was close by, but it's a five hour drive. Not exactly a day trip. When you're always gone, you just can't get as much done at home. I personally have declined to join the Christmas Cantata this year because I just couldn't justify spending another several hours away from home when that was often my only time of the weekend to do laundry or cleaning or anything else around the house. The underlining theme to our ongoing conversation is that it takes much community involvement to keep activities alive and rural areas thriving.  When it comes down to it, we feel like we have been spending too much time away from the community that is our home.  The decision has not been made yet, but is definitely pending.

That is all why it was so good this weekend to Just. Be. Home. I helped Jeff a bit with cow chores this morning and also did some garden maintenance. I have felt so disconnected from the farm lately, so it was nice to do something productive in the yard, even if only for a short while. 

Harvey looking on as I pulled dead plants and hoed the raised beds.

Added a bit of compost and raked through the soil.
Should have asked the hubby for a layer of straw over the top I suppose.

Jeff, Harvey and Abby, wrestling in the grass. Good to be home!

I hope you all had a  fabulous Thanksgiving. I am Thankful for Home. 

Welcome to FUE!

Add Farmers Union Enterprises to the list of time commitments and interests Jeff and I now embrace.  Have you heard of Farmers Union Enterprises before? What about Farmers Union Industries? I myself had heard of Montana Farmers Union and National Farmers Union, but not of Farmers Union Enterprises or Industries.  MFU, NFU, and FUE… Lots of acronyms here, folks.

 

FUE grew out of collaboration between five states: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Originally, each of these five states’ Farmers Unions had put up some money to start a business that would benefit Farmers Union members in their states.  The original business was a rendering facility.  Now, there are several more businesses in industry and manufacturing that FUE is ultimately behind. Each involves agriculture.  Here is the website for Farmers Union Industries- http://fuillc.com/ Check out some of the businesses they have! Besides the rendering facility, there is also a metal works company and a great cat litter called Swheat Scoop (made from wheat by-products). 

Image source: www.walmartimages.com

 

FUE was also the brains and original funding behind two farm-to-table restaurants in the Washington D.C. area, Founding Farmers and Farmers and Fishers. 

Founding Farmers Restaurant

Farmers Fishers Bakers

Definitely going to have to try to get into one or both of those restaurants next time I am in DC!

 

Jeff and I are members of MFU as of December, so less than a year. I signed up at the Women’s Conference I attended last fall, although I think we were likely to join anyway, as we believe in the ideals Farmers Union embraces. Somehow we made an impression on the leaders of MFU, as we were asked to represent Montana in the Farmers Union Enterprises Leadership Program.

 

Farmers Union Enterprises at some point decided to begin a leadership training program dedicated to young couples and families.  Each year, there is one couple or family from each state selected to participate in the leadership program.  We are the new couple from Montana. It seems as though the commonalities among all the couples are a commitment to Farmers Union in their state, and some sort of demonstrated leadership potential.  The hope is that couples who complete the year-and-a-half of training will take on a leadership role of some sort in Farmers Union and/or in their local communities.  I think Farmers Union, in general, is seeing an aging population among its long-time leadership, so I think another purpose of the program we are in is to encourage younger membership and younger leaders to step up.

 

We will meet with the other four couples in the leadership program approximately once per quarter, usually corresponding with another Farmers Union meeting or convention in one of the five states.  We attend that function as part of the larger group of attendees, and then spend one or two days in intensive leadership training courses with our small group and our coordinator.  This time, we attended the MFU mid-year meeting in Bozeman, and then spent time training on time management, conflict resolution, and just getting to know each other.

 

There was also a great session in which the Farmers Union Presidents from each of our five states were present for a question and answer session.  We got to ask them about anything we wanted. Jeff got in a question about the prospect of the Farm Bill, and I got in a question on the outlook of women in leadership of Farmers Union. One thing is certain, the Farmers Union Presidents of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin each have a lot of personality! They were entertaining as well as very encouraging and interesting. It was clear that they are thrilled with the FUE leadership program we are in, which was a great affirmation.

 

Jeff and I are very excited to participate in FUE and feel honored to represent Montana for the next eighteen months or so.  The other couples and families we met all seemed like fantastic people with whom we had much in common.  We are really looking forward to getting to know each of them as time goes on, and hopefully establish some life-long connections throughout the Upper Midwest. I am also excited about learning more about Farmers Union—I did not grow up within the organization as Jeff did.  My early impressions are great- this is definitely an organization Jeff and I feel like we can support and be part of.  It’s very clear that their primary concern is family farm operations. 

 

I am planning to do a series of posts relating to Farmers Union, so stay tuned for more.  There will be at least one more post in which I’ll write more specifically about the conference we just attended in Bozeman, entitled, “From Seed to Table.”