Social Media a BIG yes

I was a pretty early adopter of social media. In my work life, I created the strategy, governance and team to launch FB and Twitter platforms at a national crown corporation. I knew these platforms had power to change the world. Although some still argue not for the better, I disagree.

During Covid social isolation, I’ve been on social platforms way more than usual. It’s not because I need to be better informed about the most recent statistics or the stupid comments from political leaders who I swear want this pandemic to incite unrest.

A counselor whom I spoke with not too long ago for a story I wrote advised individuals to monitor their mood before going on social media and again when they stop using it on a scale of 1 to 10.  1 that you felt lousy. 10 that you feel better.

I’m proud to share I’ve become more addicted to FB, Instagram and LinkedIn than ever right now because my experience has been 10 out of 10, thanks to those I’m connected with.

To the largest extent, those I follow on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are friends and trusted connections. They include childhood, high school and college friends, lots of family spread out all over the country and world, current and former colleagues from many walks of life, and people from groups I belong to that are local, national and international.

I’ve experienced weather and nature shots from across the country, moments of families doing fun, new activities as they cope with being inside, memes, satirical jokes, essays, notes about present and past enjoyable experiences, pictures from former vacations, people’s pets and lots and lots of baking experiences.

I have friends with musical talent who’ve shared songs, from the clergy, who continue to share inspiration and messages of hope, friends who share stories of giving back and compassion. I have friends and colleagues using the situation to create new online businesses, shifting their business model or instigating new fundraising initiatives. People are sharing photos of what they're creating from paintings to gardens to masks. And there are links to thoughtful messages about resiliency, adapting to change and mental and physical wellness.

This morning, I watched a meaningful reflection on the significance of “home”.

I see photos of my friend’s new babies and grand-babies, young childrens’ firsts, people doing school at home and children getting behind the wheel for the first time. There are unique birthday party shots, and people honouring those who feed and take care of others. There are families having zoom dinners and meetings.

I can talk with my mother any time through Messenger even though she’s only about 15 minutes away from me isolated in her independent seniors living residence for safety.

I’ve visited with friends in Spain and Argentina using What’sApp and used Viber to catch up with my cousin in the Ukraine. Her great great grandfather and my grandfather were brothers.

By zoom, zoom, and zooming some more, I’ve kept connected to many important networks and at the same time become a cast member of the Brady Bunch opening credits  as we look at each other in little squares on the computer screen.

The Covid-19 pandemic is showing social media and technology at its very best and the content inspires me and gives me hope, laughter, stimulating thought and peace during the strangest time in my life so far. I bet Mark Zuckerberg never quite imagined that.

Four truths - The Leader's 2020 Europe experience

-Day of departure Kelowna to Amsterdam arrival March 10, 2020 Tuesday.

-Day of departure from Amsterdam to Kelowna March 15 Sunday.

Myrna (Mom, wife)

I am a glass half empty leaning person. My husband is the exact opposite. I’m not sure where one’s perspective comes from, nature or nurture. It doesn't really matter. Most of the time we balance out each other if we can come to middle ground. It’s been even more apparent as we move through this global pandemic situation. I plan for as many risks as I can so I can have a sense of peace – although I never saw this one coming, I did purchase 16 roles of toilet paper, rubbing alcohol and cleaning products before we left for a family vacation in Europe on March 9. 

We debated going since China was already closing down borders. We even talked with the airline to see if they would refund our flights if we didn’t go – which they wouldn’t have to the extent the tickets were worth. 

So, we packed up, hand sanitizer in hand, and were off to Amsterdam, although my gut was telling me it didn't feel quite right. I have strong intuition. Heading on this trip seemed less exciting than it should be. I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly but there was a feeling. 

The day before we left, my son’s small German University, where he was on exchange from Jan 1 until April 30, cancelled class for a week because a student had tested positive for Corona, now Covid. It heightened my risk aversion metre, but he wasn’t in contact with the student and it meant he could spend some extra time with my husband, daughter and myself. I was happy about that.

We had an uneventful trip and landed in Amsterdam, with our son arriving later the same day by train.

The first days were lovely as we explored the city and determined what to see, shopped for groceries and got our bearings. Amsterdam is a lovely place with so much to see and since it was my husband and daughter’s first time in Europe, we mostly walked around taking it all in and learning the awesome public transit system.

At night, however, I was online following world events and listening to comments from friends and family in Canada and across the globe. We had plans later in the three-week vacation to meet up with friends from Barcelona in Germany for a weekend visit. (We originally met them in Kelowna when they lived in the same rental unit as us after we moved here.) This visit was going to be a trip highlight. It also meant we were in touch with them and they were letting me know things were getting worse in that city and country very quickly. 

Being a former journalist and now freelance writer, I’m very lucky to be connected through social media with many journalists – agricultural, news, and travel writers. I was also seeing their updates – news from credible sources.

By day three, we determined we needed to get home earlier. Our original plan was to leave Amsterdam, tour south through West Germany and head home from Paris, which my daughter has long wanted to visit. It was the Leader's first European family vacation. Although we hadn’t cancelled the trip, the day before we left home, we’d altered that plan to avoid a higher risk area in Germany and instead see Luxembourg before heading to France.

Back in Amsterdam we waited on hold for our airline to see about rebooking flights back to Canada at no charge, the day that was announced. When we learned that getting out the following day, since we had to get from Amsterdam to Paris first, was going to be about $10,000, we opted for a rebook leaving Paris on March 21. Our son had also altered plans to return about the same time from Munich where he planned to see a friend before coming back to Canada.

In the hotel and around Amsterdam, many people were already social distancing and hand washing and sanitizer were part of our routine. We did a lot of walking, a walking tour and two museums before they all were closed. On the final day, we headed to a lovely beach community about 30 minutes by train outside Amsterdam. The air was cool and there was a brisk wind, but it was sunny and the fresh air was a welcome respite. We also weren’t the only people on the beach – with people already practicing social distancing.

But that sense of “everything is not so bad" quickly faded back at the hotel. Tensions mounted. I asked for advice from my friend in Spain as well as my friend who is a travel writer and is very familiar with being all over the world. What was their honest opinion of what we should do? Both confirmed, things were getting worse and their best advice was to get back to Canada as quickly as possible.

Advice that was much easier said than done. First, job was convincing my optimistic husband that this was critical. Pressure was mounting in my brain, not only concern for our health, but what if we got stuck in Europe where we didn’t know anyone and hotels were closing, and restaurants? Although the grocery stores had food in Amsterdam, there was already evidence that it wasn’t a normal time. No toilet paper. Limited fruit and veggies. Shelves weren’t bare, but they didn’t look full either. A few people in our excursions were wearing masks but not many.

If you’ve ever travelled to Europe, you know hotel rooms are small so discussions, phone calls all took place with the entire family present. Our 13-year-old daughter broke down crying because she was scared and so was I.  I told my husband that he could stay if he wanted but I was leaving from Amsterdam as soon as possible, no matter the cost. We’d continually been searching for best options up until this point – where else could we leave from? Could we rent a car and get somewhere in Europe to leave from? London? Ireland? Could we get to Vancouver and then rent a car home? Or what about Calgary? Realistically, there are only a few carriers who make the overseas journey and we saw tickets selling out. We were an ocean away from home and it felt like it.

After no success waiting to book tickets with airlines, and having my credit card company call because they blocked my card, seeing how there were all these attempted airline charges that wouldn’t go through, I saw a lifeline.

After midnight Amsterdam time, I saw a friend in Kelowna online. There is a nine hour time difference between Amsterdam and home.  I sent a message asking for the biggest favour. We have only known this family for a couple years since moving to Kelowna so asking wasn’t easy, but necessary. After she confirmed it was me by asking for some personal info about them only I would know, I asked, “Could they go to the airline website and book 3 of the remaining 7 tickets that it  showed available for us to fly that morning from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Calgary and to Kelowna? We would transfer them the funds as soon as booking was complete. 

With the exception of receiving good news after personal and family health scares, I’ve never been so relieved when they said yes.  After sharing passport information and confirming the bookings through photos back and forth, we were booked. $6500 for three round trip tickets, round trip because it was cheaper than one-way tickets.

My son also managed to book a new flight the following day with the same route to Calgary where he'd left his vehicle.  

At about 2:30 a.m. we shut off the lights to get a few hours of sleep.

We cabbed it to the airport, rather than the cheaper train route. My husband was busy cancelling all further travel plans – hotels, a European rental car, air bnb’s, train tickets – as much as he could. Some places provided a refund. Others did not.

The plane rides were uneventful. Some people in masks, including the air crew and no one overtly sick or coughing. However, at that time, no one was taking temperatures or even asking people if they felt well. In fact, after we were a few hours into the overseas portion of the trip, my daughter asked if we could travel premium economy all the time with its linen place mat service and extra leg room, refreshments, etc.  It helped me to smile.

We made it back and are just finishing our 14-day isolation. Friends have been very kind, checking in on us and getting us groceries. We are all feeling well, which is the most important. We have recovered some costs, but as I’ve said, here’s to the Leader’s most expensive 5-day European vacation ever!

Christian’s perspective (21 year old)

Just as my parents were leaving for Amsterdam, I learned through email that there was a student from my German small University who was diagnosed with Covid and all classes were suspended for a week. I had not been in contact with this student as I’d been traveling the week before and only at school for a couple days. Even with the case in my school, I thought it was a one off and everything was fine.

I knew Corona, as it was called then, was in China but wasn’t following it that closely, because, well, it’s China, quite a long way away from where I was.

I’d planned a trip to Italy with a friend shortly after arriving in Germany the first week in January. There were corona cases and no travel advisories in Italy so a friend and I changed our plans. He went to Norway and I went to Belgium for a few days before my parents were to arrive.

When I learned school was cancelled, I changed plans again and traveled from Belgium directly to Amsterdam by train, happy to spend more time with my family.

Over the course of four days, everything was fine, then everything was closed. On Friday March 13, the whole world decided it was closed. My first thought was I’ll just do this last trip to Munich to see a friend and then Austria. Then I shortened the plan to just Munich. Then when everything in Austria and Munich was closed, I decided I’ll just go home to Canada. By that time, school had let me know that classes were cancelled and some of my international friends were going home.

I felt frustrated because I had so many trips planned that I wanted to do in my last two months of exchange, I had friends now in Europe, some of whom I’d met at U of A when they were on exchange, that I really wanted to see -- people I’d taken on adventures with me to the mountains and so on to show them our beautiful country, They were going to do the same for me.

I didn't worry about school because everyone was going through the exact same thing. I can adapt.

I was worried about my parents getting home. I was sad they had to spend a lot of money. I was frustrated with my mom….she was annoying. She kept flip flopping about her decision to go home, just go already. I wasn’t scared of getting sick at all but I did worry that flights would get cancelled and then it would be difficult to get home from Europe.

I wanted to see the beach near Amsterdam. So on our last day, we headed there by train. I had my drone so took footage of that and the formula 1 race track that I lead the family to.

I said goodbye to them in the morning as they headed to the airport.

I took the three trains back to Vallendar, packed up my stuff, cleaned and said goodbye to some friends. Everyone was going home. One of my German friends gave me a ride to the airport in Frankfurt, about 40 minutes away.

The flight home was uneventful. My cousin picked me up at the airport in Calgary and I headed straight to my uncle's house where my 2007 van had been parked since Dec. 31, 2019. I gave it a little pep talk before turning the key. It started. I pulled out of the snowy drive and headed out on the 7-hour drive to Kelowna on a full tank of gas, stopping once for fast food and an energy drink. The drive through the mountains was quiet as it was evening and the roads were clear. My only issue was trying not to speed as tunes played. I’d  watched a race car movie in the airplane and there are some songs that just make you want to drive fast.

I left the van full because I thought, in the time I’m away, Alberta is going to get a carbon tax. That’s funny as gas was $0.75 a litre when I got back! I also made it home to parents on a full tank of gas…arriving at 11:30 p.m.  

Tracy’s perspective (Husband, father)

The experience started when we left for Amsterdam, Netherlands on Mon. MAR 9/2019. I knew the Coronavirus was around but at this time I felt little fear about it. Upon arriving in Amsterdam, things seemed fairly normal. Beginning to tour Amsterdam, we noticed people were out, but were told that normally the streets would be packed, which they were not. 

Within a few days, we noticed fewer and fewer people were on the streets and began to follow media reports indicating the quick and ever-changing escalation of the virus. 

I never really felt that we were in danger of catching the virus as we took all the precautions, but I noticed things were changing. 

I am the eternal optimist and my wife less so, which in hindsight was probably a good thing. She began to worry with everything she was hearing in the media and from her friends online. She felt we needed to return back to Canada immediately. 

We changed our flight to return out of Paris on March 20/2020 which would have been 11 days earlier than expected. At this point I felt we would still be ok, but everything was closing in Paris, so what would we do there?

So, based on everything we were hearing and being told, we escalated our departure procedures out of Amsterdam. It became a very stressful and panicked situation. I still felt safe and not too panicked, but I could see and feel how stressed the individual members of my family were, so with the help of our friends in Canada, we booked a flight out of Amsterdam, which wasn’t easy. Everyone was trying to do the same thing. We returned March 15/2020 and began to self-isolate for 14 days. We were happy to be home where we felt safe. As of writing this, 14 days out, we are all ok with no symptoms of the Coronavirus. 

During this whole adventure, one which ended way earlier than we imagined, I never felt scared or endangered and continue to feel that way to this day. I follow the precautions outlined and will continue to do so until this virus is contained. I always feel that you cannot live with fear, and to challenge this obstacle head on is what one needs to do while trying to continue living your everyday life as normal as can be expected during these unprecedented times.

Marina (13)

The day before we left for Amsterdam, we received a call from Christian(my brother), he gave us some insight on what was happening in Germany. Things were getting exceedingly worse and case numbers were going up. The area we were planning on visiting in Germany was the hub of cases. Christian gave us his opinion, having our full trust in him, we took it.

Shortly after that brief call, we decided to change some of our plans up, cancelling some hotels, Air BnB’s etc.  At that time, I was still excited to get to Europe. There was so much to see and I didn’t want to give that up. I wasn’t scared or worried about the chance that we could possibly get sick.

The first three days were good. I really enjoyed them. I wasn’t worried, just a little tired with jet lag. We visited various museums, landmarks, we even decided on a short walking tour to get some more knowledge about the city and its past. 

Then Saturday arrived. Saturday was full of mixed emotions. During the day, everything was fine. I felt fine although I began to get a little worried, we are ok, right? That evening, everything was a mess. We’d been hearing news about the drastic measures that were being put in place, news of more and more cases, everyone was worried about us. Many people were sending mom email links, etc, about the increasing risks of staying any longer. Other countries were shutting down, closing their borders. 

Our biggest fear was getting stuck in Amsterdam. We needed to get out. We tried booking various earlier flights but the transactions wouldn’t seem to go through. At this point I was worried, scared and anxious. I felt like everything was coming to an end.

I just wanted to get home, to be safe, to feel the comfort of my cozy bed. I started crying, I was worried for myself but more or less for mom, dad and Christian. After what felt like hours of failed attempts, we got one of our good friends to book us a flight back on Sunday. I was relieved and so unbelievably happy. I'm so glad they agreed to help us. I don’t know what we would have done if not for their generosity.

If I could go back in time to when that call from Christian happened, I would still have gone to Europe even through the trauma. I'm so happy I got to see such a different perception of everyday life. I wouldn’t want to stop us from going, I really enjoyed that trip. Amsterdam is a beautiful city.

Women’s place in ag changing

 Women’s place in ag changing …..by Myrna Stark Leader Feb. 2018 

     This year’s Golden Globe Awards shone a light on greater empowerment, equality, and recognition of women across the film business – issues paralleled in agriculture.

     Oprah’s inspirational speech talking about women and people empowering each other produced accolades and visions of orators like Marten Luther King encouraging people to rise up. For women in the agriculture industry, rising up to equality continues to be a challenge but times are changing.

     According to Statistics Canada’s 2016 Census of Agriculture, 28.7% of the 271,935 farm operators on agricultural operations or 77,970 were women, an increase since 2011. Women were most prevalent among farm operators aged 35 to 54 years (30.7%), followed by those aged 55 and older (27.7%) and those under 35 years of age (26.4%).

     More rural women, once isolated from peers and support by distance and workload now have instant connections online and through social media. The channels are enabling women to connect like never before.

Mary Ann

     Right after Globes, the Agriculture Women’s Network (AWN) Facebook page carried a post seeking advice. By coincidence, not plan, Mary Ann Doré, a dairy farmer, reached out.

A salesman had come to their 90-cow operation near Kitchener, Ont. It was a welcome visit because the farm, which is Doré’s family farm and where she and her city-raised husband are now partners, needed some new equipment. When the salesmen arrived, her reached past her outreached hand twice to shake the hands of her brother and husband before sitting down. She left the barn in anger and asked the group what she could have done.

“How often do you say something? I’m not level headed enough to say something at the time,” she wrote. “Joe (husband) said he’s going to speak to the owner about it, but I’m just so tired of this still happening.”

     Within minutes and for days following, responders acknowledged her situation and shared advice and stories.

     Responders understood why the situation upset her. Most encouraged her to stay in the meeting. Suggestions included: place a call the salesman’s boss; have her husband and brother introduce her as a partner; be bold, temper her emotion and put her hand forward and introduce herself.

     After listening, Doré followed up with the salesmen and his company via email sharing this back with the group: “The owner and salesperson both emailed me back and he explained it was a complete accident and he was horrified that I felt that way as he is an equal partner with his wife.”

“With my scenario last week, it ended up being that he apologized and it taught me that I should say something and stay in the room and how to process that really helped me,” Doré, a seventh-generation dairy farmer, explains.

     As a volunteer administrator with the Ag Women’s Network, Doré says it’s the kind of situation she and a group of friends where hoping to address with when they started the group two years ago.

“AWN is able to connect people who don’t normally get connected., people who are isolated…What I really like is that outreach of support. When I joined, we’d recently moved and I didn’t know any other female dairy farmers in my area and I felt like I was the only person working fulltime on a farm. But you quickly realize that isn’t the case. Everyone is just so busy so you don’t see them.”

     AWN largely serves southwestern Ontario, but there are similar networks in Saskatchewan and BC.

“There’s talk of us joining forces but right now, we’re happy to have anyone join in,” Doré explains referring to AWN. “We’re always trying to get more people to post and share ideas. There’s so much wealth in people’s experiences and there’s so many people on the channel that you really just have to ask and someone has been in the same situation.”

Speaking up or asking for help still work in progress for some

“People don’t feel confident enough or they don’t have the support of their family…I can only think of once where someone dismissed me. He was a demolition expert and was elderly and asked whether this was my husband’s farm or my dad’s. I just let it go, but any other times, my family will stand behind me, but I know friends that don’t have that,” says Doré.

     People on the channel show each other respect and posts don’t often need moderation. However, she says they have discussed women who make it to the top of organizations but are threatened or not confident enough to give other women a leg up which is a shame.

“Women are often the harshest to each other,” says Doré. “And we moderate for that.”

Still too many stories of challenge

     Enough examples have been shared on the AWN pages to demonstrate equality in the field of agriculture still needs work.

“This woman, her husband took the paternity leave as was company policy, and he never lived it down. They made fun of him for years and I want to make it go away,” says Doré.

Another woman said she always introducers herself and Curtis, her husband. She’s not Curtis’s wife. Yet another, writes that her husband sells iron and she reminds him every day that if he doesn’t work his ass off to kill the patriarchy, his daughters will never farm and their legacy will die.

“It's unfortunate that this goes beyond the sales aspect of ag,” wrote another woman. “I attended a district commodity meeting yesterday where one of the key speakers had interspersed a few sexist jokes into his presentation.  And only hours before, the meeting had opened with the commodity group asking for "more female leadership".  No wonder they are having a harder time finding women willing to be on their boards!  Maybe think twice about who they allow to speak and ask for a copy of their presentation... the sad thing is, another woman in attendance said she had seen this presentation before, so it's not like it was completely out of the blue.”

     “Something that really stood out in the comments to me was what to do when a speaker at a conference or at a meeting says something sexist, how do you address that, not only on your own farm but in the face of many male peers,” says Doré. “It’s good we’re talking about this and what to do about it and very publicly instead of complaining to other woman about how annoying that is.”

Jenn

     Agronomist Jenn Doelman, who farms on a 2,600-acre cash crop farm about an hour northwest of Ottawa, was watching the AWN thread. She’s describes Eastern Ontario as a cross-section of the independence of Northern Ontario and Western Canada tied in with a Southern Ontario flavour. A third-generation seed grower, Jenn’s family farm was principally seed production & cow/calf and feedlot operation. They exited cattle pre-BSE. Now, in addition to their wholesale seed production, they operate a full-service crop inputs and feed retail operation.

“Growing up, the stereo types existed. There was a big split in age between my siblings. Mom was a nurse and dad farmed and I did a lot of the child rearing,” Doelman says adding the reward for helping was being able to help on the farm with the equipment.

     In high school, she wanted nothing to do with the farm and was going to be a physiotherapist until she visited the U of Guelph, fell in love with the campus and became a crop scout. When she graduated, her parents needed help and asked her to come home. She did and began to manage the family’s farm supply business.

     She says it was tough being the only female seed person in the area, even though there were previous female role models and she’d always experienced her mom participate as a full farm partner even with her nursing career.

“I was able to hold my own because I really new my stuff, so if a guy did tell me he wasn’t interested in buying seed or fertilizer, I would just put a few new pieces of information in his ear and prove that I was worth talking to. It probably took about four years of being at home managing the business where people finally stopping coming in and asking for “the boss” - wanting to talk to my father. Eventually, dad would just say, ‘I don’t know, that’s Jenn’s department.’ It takes strong men to ensure you have the resources and not be threatened by it,” says Doelman.

     Today, she and her husband are equals sharing all the duties because, she says, that’s how his mother raised him.

“Sometimes, we forget that the best way to make change is to show our son’s and daughters how to treat people properly.”

     But change takes time especially when it’s transformational and breaking generations of behaviour. Her dad took over from his dad, and often it’s still the son who is assumed will be the next generation.  Ironically, the business, named when she was a child, is still Barclay Dick and Son Farm Supply. She says some things are not worth raising at this point.

     What she can more easily change is not making assumptions about the sex of anyone in any position, not being content to be in the background even if it means having always to be the one to stick out your hand first, encouraging younger women to be bold and changing how the business operates today. That includes hiring women. She says her Quality Assurance Manager is a transgender woman who first started as a male summer student. It’s about acceptance. “Jesse is the same remarkable person she’s always been – now she just isn’t stuck conforming to male stereotypes. Equality is about respect for each other and embracing our differences as strengths not weaknesses.”

     She says women need to gain confidence in themselves and having a network of support like AWN is helpful. So is learning not to make cultural assumptions like the sex of who is running the farm or of the person working for a business that supports the farm. 

     She says she is working to stop referring to everyone as “guys”. While it’s a small change, she believes it’s important and will become more so with farm successions taking place across Canada over the coming years.

Systematic changes required

Diane

     Diane McKenzie also saw the AWN thread. She’s a cattle and grain farmer at Warner, Alberta, south of Lethbridge. She calls herself “a mature farm woman” who went back to school at close to 50 years of age. She’s now pursuing a Master’s Degree and the working title of her thesis is A History of Rural Women and the Intergenerational Transfer of the Family Farm.      

     Using a feminist approach to rural women’s history, she hopes to better understand generational changes. She is interviewing 15 to 20 rural women across three generational cohorts in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – 30s, 50s, 70s.

“It’s such a complex issue,” says McKenzie. “I am thinking about the conditions that surround rural woman. I am working to better understand generational changes around those conditions that impede rural women’s full participation in agriculture.”

     She says Dore’s post was good and so was the follow up conversation, but she believes we need to go one step further to look at the systematic structures keeping women in ag in check.

“Sometimes the discussion is about empowerment but I’m not sure what that means to each member of the group. We talk about the incident – the man reaching past her – and we hash that out, but more and more I think about how the system functioning underneath the discussion doesn’t get dug into very often.”

     She hesitantly names it patriarchy.

“The system is not designed for women’s full participation,” she says. “One of things I’ve tried to use as an example is when there is an article or advertisement about succession of the family farm with pictures in a magazine, how many of those pictures show three or four generations of men standing in the field? And I understand that it’s changing but that is our cultural norm.”

     She hopes people will do more critical thinking about why things are as they are and how things may change in a real way, not a token way, to include women.

“I was reading something the other day about systems where an author said these types of doors do not get opened very often because you can’t close the door once you’ve opened it and looked in. So as an example, once you’ve opened the white privilege door, and analyzed what is inside, you can’t shut that door. Once you’ve started that awareness, you have a different perspective and you approach life differently. The status quo is in question.”

     McKenzie says change eventually happens once people’s eyes are opened.

“I hope to work as a facilitator with families in farm succession. I’m also very interested in speaking to people in the rural community about rural women’s participation in agricultural business. I’ve already found using words like feminism, patriarchy and gender, the walls fly up, and so I’ve been thinking about ways to deliver my message. The last time I was involved in a rural women’s association it was Herford Belles, which folded years ago. We certainly weren’t discussing women’s issues then, so times are changing but we’ve have a long way to go.”

     She’s also pursuing research about property ownership. First-born sons are still a pretty popular choice.

“That’s my argument, it’s the system that needs to change and it may take another 100 years but you have to start somewhere and you start by becoming more aware of the actual system, not the symptoms of the system. I finally opened the door pretty late in life and now I can’t close it.”