Last week, I made the trip to Port Huron, Michigan to participate in the Farm Women’s Symposium 2017. The event took place at the Blue Water Convention Center, which is located right along the St. Clair River, marking the boundary between the United States and Canada. We arrived later in the evening and it was so cool to see the bridge between the two countries all lit up. My hotel room literally had a view of the bridge and water – very nice!
The next morning I participated on a blogger panel with Ashley from Messy Kennedy and Diane from A Farm Wife. It was lovely to finally meet “in real life” these two awesome women that I have known from blogging for quite some time now! I enjoyed hearing about why they blog and tips they have for others that want to get started. Perhaps not a coincidence, the first day of the Symposium took place on International Women’s Day. I can’t imagine a better place to be on such an occassion than hanging out with a bunch of farm women and talking about how important it is to tell people about our industry.
As usual, my remarks started with talking about our family farm and how things have changed on the farm since we started. The story of our farm is precisely why I thought it was important to stand up and talk about the issues that I write about now on my blog. We were also given the opportunity to discuss one of our favorite blog posts — mine being the one I wrote comparing my dog eating chocolate to worms eating the Bt protein. Happily, we also had time to take questions from the audience, which is always my favorite part of any event.
A very special and personal part of the day for me was that my parents were allowed to come in and watch the panel discussion. They made the trip to Port Huron with me and were going to do some sightseeing while I attended the Symposium, but because my panel got moved up to the morning (and other circumstances), they decided to stay at the hotel. The committee was very sweet to invite them into the convention room to hear the blogger presentation. Naturally, my speech include a lot of information about them, so it was awesome that they finally got to hear it. My parents have never heard me speak before, so it was very special for all of us.
While I was unable to attend the rest of the Symposium, it looked like all of the ladies had a wonderful time. They took a few farm tours, had a (rowdy?) banquet, and participated in a silent auction. To learn more about the group or join them on social media, you can find their Facebook group here.
A special thank you to Christina Gelder for taking such wonderful photographs and allowing me to use them. Please visit her photography website here.
Thank you to all of the women that worked so hard to put this event on, especially Shari for organizing the blogger panel!
Your parents are very nice to come all that way , they look interested in what you have to say.
What great people to stop what they are doing on the farm and be with their favorite daughter !
You look so natural speaking your father looks Happy to see you speak ๐
Amanda, each of you three bloggers added a special perspective and dimension to the panel. I was extremely pleased with the audience’s response! Thanks for your flexibility moving up to fill in the morning slot, and glad your parents could share in the experience.