Week #30 - Through a stranger's eyes

This week our first of several visitors arrived on the farm. Susanna from Finland has come to stay for three weeks as part of a 4-H exchange program. She is here to learn about agriculture in Canada to supplement her studies at home. On Friday, we will welcome Yuki from Japan as well.

Having visitors from afar is not new for our family. It is a yearly tradition that has greatly enriched our lives and grown our network of friends around the world. As farmers, leaving the farm can be tricky so we bring the world to us! Hosting has given us so many wonderful experiences and knowledge that we otherwise would not have experienced.

While often one thinks about the benefits of travelling to a foreign country, one shouldn't ignore the gifts that come with hosting a traveler! 

• See our world through the eyes of a stranger - we often take our home, family life, or country for granted. The reactions of our visitors often illustrate and clarify just how rare, precious and/or appreciated what we have is in the eyes of others. 
• Become a tourist again - Hosting visitors from afar means we spend time re-discovering our province and country. Creating wonderful memories and learning experiences for both us and our visitors. 
• Learn a bit of a new language, culture or traditions first hand - The appreciation of a culture or country is deepened significantly when we get the chance to talk and explore directly from our visitors. 
• Create a global network - Our children have grown up knowing people from all over the world. Each exchange has created lasting relationships that endure well after the visit. I like to think that should we finally launch on our world tour that we have many friends around the world to visit on our way! 

These reasons and many more cause us to open our home and hearts to people from all over the world each year. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. 

Week six - Through the eyes of a child...

There is little more amazing to watch then a child learning... Our experience as leaders in our local 4H club has given us many opportunities to see this first hand. Whether its learning to cook, sew or fix an engine, how to take care of an animal or grow your own food... watching them learn and grow is pretty amazing to see! 

This month we've been hatching chicks and thus have had a number of visitors! 

A couple of the 4Hers have been following the chicks progress and have waited anxiously for their eventual arrival.

The kids have learned how the egg is formed inside the chicken and how often they lay eggs. We have also learned how long it will take for the chick to grow inside the egg (21 days) and finally they've watched them emerge and thrive. 

While they may not grow up to be chicken farmers, they have learned important lessons of life, natural selection and the responsibility of caring for another being. 

Hope they look back on these experiences as fondly as we do... 

Breadwinner

Photo a Day - Day 61

A few weeks ago, I shared my success with making a sourdough starter. 

Over the past few weeks, I've been experimenting with different recipes from traditional sourdough bread to crackers, muffins and cakes. Not all things have worked but most have. 

This weekend I built on a previous successful recipe for sourdough bread and created a whole wheat version. 

I have discovered the secret to the yummy chewy crust is to mist the bread with water periodically as it bakes! 

Learning to connect...

FFF Photo a Day - Day 45

Today I spent the day with 15 other small farmer in a great little workshop on farm marketing put on by Small Farms Manitoba and Food Matters Manitoba and facilitated by Adrienne Percy from Nourished Roots Farm.  

Seemed appropriate to spend the day that celebrates relationships learning how to connect more with customers and others interested in what we are doing on the farm. 

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! 

Learn to do, By Doing

4-H member learning welding in our shop.

FFF Photo a Day - Day 41

4-H is an international youth leadership program that we have been involved in for many years. We believe it gives our children so many skills and experiences that they may never gain otherwise. We invest a lot of our time and energy helping our children and those within the community to engage in 4H because it builds our future leaders. 

In 4-H our children can and have learned everything from how to raise livestock, take good photographs, cook nutritious meals, sew their own clothes, to how to manage their money, survive in outdoor weather, welding and blacksmithing. There is no end of skills that they can learn. On top of that they learn how to plan a project, practice public speaking, and know how to run an efficient meeting better than most adults. 

Learn to do by doing is the 4-H motto and it is a great way for kids to learn and gain confidence. We are a 4-H family! 

A day of discovery...

FFF Photo a Day - Day 31

Today we took nineteen kids on a day of discovery. Thanks to a grant from FCC we were able to take all the kids in our 4H club to the Food and Farm Research Centre just south of Winnipeg. 

Many of the kids live in towns and have not given much thought to where their food comes from. They were able to explore how pigs and dairy cows are raised, ground their own flour to make bread and explored the eggs-citing world of chickens! 

Connections are important!

Day 10 - FFF Photo of the Day 

Today we went to the first (annual - I hope) Small Farms Manitoba Conference in Oak Bluff. 

Small Farms Manitoba is the brain child of Kalynn Spain who has spent the last 1-2 years meeting and profiling small farmers around the Province and has created a wonderful website that provides a platform for all small farmers to reach their customers. Whether you are looking for great local food to eat or want to find work on a farm, check out the website to easily find what you are looking for. 

The conference was a resounding success, drawing loads of farmers and producers from all over. While there was some great content and much learning, one of the most valuable things about the day was the ability to connect with others that show the same passion and have similar experiences. Farming can be a pretty solitary enterprise unless you make efforts to connect with others. It was great to network, share a great meal and learn some new things. Thanks Kalynn for making it happen!