Downwind"Coffee with members"
Extreme sports. Ruled by adrenaline junkie athletes, mostly age 15 years old or so. They live life on the edge by competing in events like:
- Free style snowmobile jumping (flipping a snowmobile with hopes that it lands right side up…who decided that was a good idea?)
- High wire balance crossing from mountain peak to mountain peak (they do make solid ground trails and roads from point A to point B)
- Tsunami surfing (I’m guessing you do it once, dude)
- Underwater cave exploring (talk about claustrophobic nightmare)
- Free solo climbing (no safety harness, no rope, no future)
I have maximized my adrenaline, thank you. No extreme sports for this guy. Many years ago, I explored some limestone fissure caves with some buddies outside of Hanover, Illinois. We crawled through the tunnels from room to room. It became confusing to figure out which way was “up”. No water to swim through, though. Boring.
On the farm, in my childhood, my brothers and I tried some activities that felt like extreme sports:
- Manure pit pig rescuing (it’s more disgusting than it sounds)
- Feral cat wrestling (all teeth, claws, and rage)
- Bareback sow riding (we never made it to the eight-second horn)
Today…rolling into and out of bed has become my version of extreme sports parkour. The bed is so high…free solo climbing?
While not exactly an extreme sport, I had the true pleasure of drinking approximately a barrel of coffee with members on Friday, April 18. As part of our wrap-up to Member Appreciation Week, a steady stream of members stopped in to say “howdy,” catch up on their Farm Bureau gossip, and consume a cup of coffee with me, Farm Bureau President Janet McCabe, and board member Dan Biernacki.
The 2-hour coffee break stretched into 3½ of fun-filled, conversational hours. In the process, I learned:
- I could not be a competitive coffee drinker.
- My bladder informed me it was involved in an extreme sport.
- We are fortunate to have terrific members who are a part of the organization (I knew that already).
More importantly, I learned:
- Members love our contests… ag adventures word search, question of the month, identify farm tools/equipment, etc. It was suggested we create an “identify the weed” contest.
- A member used our ABC’s of Food feature topic on Zucchini, published in the April 2024 Co-Operator, to create a poster to enter an event at the Lake County Fair in Indiana and received a $8 prize.
- A member thinks we should move the office to Midlothian so it's easier to attend all our programs (she said with a smile).
- The E Co-Operator is okay for those “youngsters” but the rest of us members prefer to be able to touch the hard copy paper.
- O’Hare National Airport continues to contract full season grazing to help manage the grass growth on its 10,000 acres and a local farmer and his sheep are in the running for the contract.
- Friendships with Country Financial agents remain a treasure
- Adding Maxant stainless steel honey bottling systems has been a life changer for a local bee farmer but the amperage pulled keeps tripping the house circuit breakers.
- Local sheep wool, despite the fact that it has little monetary value, is delivered because it is used to make United States military uniforms.
- Prairie Farms Dairy’s french onion dip is the best but is difficult to find for sale in this area.
- Hoof and Mouth disease is spreading on livestock farms through several European countries, causing local concern that it must be prevented from reaching the US.
- Members want to know if recent federal trade actions are supported or opposed by farmers.
- “Biggest loser” family competitions cause members to reject a doughnut leaving one more for me to eat.
- County Farm Bureau staff are very helpful and kind (I knew that also)
- The Easter Bunny drinks Diet Coke when people aren’t looking.
The coffee morning re-enforced with me the fact that everyone, has a connection to farming… direct through farm production…linear through family connections…indirect through the love of food, fiber, fuel, and all the products that start on the farm. We recognize each connection is real and valuable.
Members responded to our challenge to test our boast “We even answer the phone”. Throughout the appreciation week, members called to give us the daily codewords of popcorn, bacon, watermelon, squirrel, and milkshake to be entered into the daily prize drawing. In the process, we all enjoyed many conversations, making the work day move quickly while providing us a glimpse into member’s lives and what matters to you.
Please continue to test us by calling the office…we will answer (We will call it “member appreciation year”).
And thank you for helping me avoid the potential embarrassment of drinking a barrel of coffee by myself…