How Rural Communities Become Extended Family

Growing up, I have always lived in a town with a population of 3,000 or less. While this number may seem large compared to other small towns, my graduating class still only had 62 students in it. Having this small of a graduating class, allowed us to grow close to each other, and we were also able to grow close to the other members of our high school. I come from a very tight knit community filled with community members who will always be there for each other, especially when a family is facing a tragedy.

My community can come together, like nothing I have seen before, to support a family in need. I have witnessed these heart-warming acts more than once. One of my best examples of my community stepping up, was close to three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, a young lady in our community was tragically killed in a semi wreck. Renee and I were often mistaken for sisters, and sometimes even twins. She was 21, a week away from turning 22, and one of my best friends.

{Renee and I, my junior year and her senior year of high school (2016-2017), rocking our hats for the FFA St. Jude fundraiser.}

The McGrew family is a large family, to say the least. They’ve been in our community for decades and are well known and loved by many. They’re often known across different states as well through the showing of their Belgian draft horses. Needless to say, our entire community felt the shockwaves sent out by the loss of Renee Ann. Although none of us wanted this to happen, and we would do anything to have her back, the past three weeks have shown me what it means for a rural community to become extended family. The support the McGrew family, and her close friends such as myself, have received over the course of the last three weeks has been incredible. Members of the community were right beside the family, as soon as word traveled, supporting them and doing whatever was needed to help out. The Riden’s Farm Supply crew stepped up and got the shop ready for the funeral and celebration of life by cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning some more, then hauling in over 200 chairs to be used on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, over 300 people showed up in remembrance of Renee. As a close friend of Renee’s, this show of love, for such a sweet girl, meant more to me than anything. It showed how loved Renee was. Tuesday was spent shedding tears, exchanging hugs, and more importantly, laughing at our favorite memories of our girl.

{Renee and I grew up together through 4-H, FFA, high school, and church. This picture is from National FFA Convention in 2014.}

“Living in a small town…is like living in a large family of rather uncongenial relations. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s perfectly awful, but it’s always good for you. People in large towns are like only-children.”

Joyce Dennys- (quote from goodreads.com)

Rural communities are one of a kind. In our area, they’re easy to find, but people who have grown up in a city will never know the bonds that form in small towns. Small towns come together in times of joy, heartbreak, anger, and celebration. Everybody knows everybody in a small town and your fellow community members will always have your back. They will make you feel like you are family wherever you go. However, in a town where everybody knows everybody, everybody often knows the details of your life, even the ones you may not want them to know. This can be a negative of a small town, but from the experience I have, I know that the love of a small town will always outweigh the negatives of a small town.

About the Author

Hello everyone! My name is Paige Sargeant and I am currently a Junior at Western Illinois University, where I am majoring in Agriculture Education. I am from Bushnell, Illinois and grew up as an active member of the local FFA and 4-H chapters. I enjoy spending time with family and going on trail rides with my horse, Perky. At WIU I am active in Sigma Alpha, Collegiate Farm Bureau, the Ag-Vocator Team, and Collegiate FFA. Thank you for reading my blog!

When One Door Closes Another One Opens

So many young people are asked the question, “What are your plans after high school?” Those answers vary, as some want to go right into the workforce and others head for college. Friends decide to go their separate ways and the time comes to work towards your goal in life.

When I was asked, “What college are you going to after highschool?” I would reply, “Wherever softball takes me.” Even though I grew up in the agriculture industry heavily involved with showing cattle, softball was my life. From age 9-18 I was playing every weekend or during the week, whether it was with my school team or travel team. My goal was to get a full-ride scholarship to play softball at the collegiate level.

Region 24 Champions ~ Lake Land Softball

I wanted to attend Lake Land College to play softball, and study agriculture, because it is an excellent school for both. My dream came true in the summer of 2017 when I got offered a full-ride. I got a scholarship and was going to be playing softball for one of the top ranked junior college teams in the nation… until I got a tear in my shoulder and my dreams went down the drain. My freshman year was the hardest year I have ever gone through, knowing my shoulder was absolutely shot. I had to make the hardest decision of my life – hanging up my cleats for the last time. 

Thankfully, I wasn’t only invested in the softball program at Lake Land. I also became involved in the agriculture department, which led me to friends who became family. They came from different states and even countries too, but we all shared the same interest. The apartments we all lived in were close to each other so we had countless meals, movie nights, and fond memories.

By the end of my sophomore year at Lake Land, I was asked the same continuing education questions as before. I honestly had no idea where I wanted to go. I finally decided to attend Western Illinois University. Some of my close friends also chose to become Leathernecks. Lake Land College gave me two great years of growth, life long friends, and countless lessons learned. Now, nearly a year into my time in Macomb, I can say the same. I am so glad I chose Western, where I have knowledgeable peers and professors in the ag industry. Western is the perfect fit for me.

Having an open door in front of you means having an opportunity before you ~ Revelations 3:8

Looking back, I am forever grateful for all the memories and life long friends Lake Land College and Western Illinois University have given me. I’ve learned you truly can achieve anything you put your mind to, so do not sit back and wait. Go chase your dreams!

Picture taken by Cindy Cagwin-Johnston

My name is Camryn Travis, I am from Oblong, Illinois. I am currently a junior at Western Illinois University pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Business. I am very passionate about the agriculture industry. Thank you for taking time to read my blog!

Agvocating Doesn’t Have an Age

How many of us can remember back to our high school years, specifically our senior year of high school?  Regardless to whether it was just a few years ago, or even a few decades, we can all probably recall the dreaded question that was usually asked when they learned of our upcoming graduation. “What do you want to be or do when you graduate?”  Our parents wanting assurance of a successful and happy future, our school counselor wanting validation of a well thought out career plan, or a friend simply starting a conversation, all triggered a tighter knot in my stomach as I secretly knew my career aspirations changed every month or two.

Attending college after high school was always in the plans, however it was the end goal that I could never finalize with any certainty. Instead of asking what I was going to do, I deeply yearned for someone to ask about the things I felt were important in that moment.  The things that fueled energy for the activities and causes that I spent my time with, the things that I felt important in life. Somewhere between the urgent need for a major life decision of transitioning into adulthood, and living in the moment, I realized the window of opportunity to bring meaning to my life.  For myself, this meaning during my high school years was to advocate.

For those that are unfamiliar with the term “agvocate,” you are not alone; Webster’s dictionary does not know how to define this term either. If I could submit a definition for the dictionary to use, I would define this word as “passionately spreading one’s voice and experiences within the agriculture sector to plead one’s support in the industry.” This is closely related to the terms: livestock enthusiast and plant nerd. In short, an agvocate can be described as an advocate for the agriculture industry. This in a nutshell, was what I was yearning for during high school as well as, the catalyst for my future career decisions.

This photo is taken by my high school Ag Teacher, Amanda Haeberlin, on an on-farm tour of my family’s operation in 2016. During this time, I shared the many benefits associated with raising St. Croix hair sheep among a group of cattle operators across the country.

As a freshmen in high school, I jumped head first into getting involved within my school’s FFA Chapter. Leadership conferences and conventions, career development events, public speaking, and even discussions with state legislators were things I felt naturally drawn toward. The common denominator between all of these FFA events: the need for those involved in agriculture to speak on behalf of their experiences. Thus, the industry needs agvocates.

Your story, whatever it is, is a story the consumer has never heard before. So tell it.

Andrew Campbell, Canada Agvocate

Hearing these inspirational calls for action through FFA, led me to pursue my own method of advocating. In the summer of 2017, at the end of my Sophomore year in high school, Square Rooted, a licensed food service business was formed with the aid of local investors through the Young Entrepreneur’s Academy in Hannibal, Missouri. To this day, my small business named Square Rooted, continues to sell locally produced and processed meat and canned fruit products. As a small agriculture business owner, I have never felt such a strong connection to my community and a desire to provide a high quality product and service. This provides me the opportunity to use my business as a platform to share my ag story with the rest of the world through social media posts and engaging in conversations about my knowledge and experience on agriculture issues.

Not all forms of agvocating are through launching a business, some can simply be striking up a conversation with someone struggling between two products in a grocery store aisle or volunteering to teach ag in elementary school classrooms. While my story has been advocating through a variety of FFA events as a high schooler, agvocating does not pertain to a set age range. Each person has the ability to reach consumers that the next person might not reach. Similar to Andrew Campbell’s quote above, if each person’s story is not shared, then that is one less perspective for consumers to hear in their search between true and false information within agriculture. If we all make a continuous effort to focus on what we can do in the present moment instead of down the road, it might be shocking the impact agvocates of all ages can have.

About the Author

Photo take by WIU Visual Production Center.

Hello everyone! My name is Kinsey Tiemann, I am from LaGrange, Missouri. I am currently a Junior at Western Illinois University pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Education with a minor in Agronomy. After graduation, my plans include furthering my education to get a Master’s Degree in Agronomy while continuing to be a passionate agvocator! A long term goal is to continue operating Square Rooted in some capacity in my future. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

What I Thought I Knew: How Learning About Agriculture in a Foreign Country Expanded my Knowledge of Agriculture

As a child, I wanted to be a farmer, getting my hands dirty while producing plants and animals for human consumption gave me joy. My passion to be a farmer made me study Fisheries and Aquaculture technology for my first degree in Nigeria. During my undergraduate studies, I interned in a fish farm in 2016 and I became experienced in catfish production. I graduated from college in December of 2017. After my first degree, I worked as a young graduate for one year in a farm in Nigeria. I was made the manager of the catfish production, processing, and marketing unit because of my experience. It was a load of responsibility, but I was happy performing all my duties because it gave me a sense of fulfillment.

Mini hatchery for breeding (2018). Photo credit: Ochepson farms

I had all the equipment I needed for production and processing and those that were not available were gotten upon request. The farm was such a great place to learn but I had some issues with the fish management, my fishes were not growing as expected. My colleagues at work were not seeing this, but I felt something was not right with the growth.

I exhausted all the knowledge I had, I wanted to do more but there was no one to learn from. I saw the need to learn more and these made me consider furthering my education. I applied for a biological science program at Western Illinois University (WIU) in 2019 with the intent to focus on fish biology. A year into my biology program, I discovered that biology was not what I needed. I changed my program to agriculture (Ag). I am just a semester into the Ag program, and I can say that I have found my passion again.

Usman (left) and I in the production pond harvesting fishes (2018).
Photo credit: Ochepson farms.

Coming to the United States to see how agriculture is done gave me so much joy. I was on a friend’s farm sometime last October when he was harvesting his soybean. It was such an amazing sight for me. I saw how the combine harvester which harvests and shells at the same time was used for the first time. My classes has been impactful. I learnt from my applied meat science class how meat is being processed and the different cuts of meat, I was wowed because it is a totally different method from the one I know in Nigeria. In Nigeria, the cut of meat that is common is the stew meat cut. I got to know the different cuts of meat which includes rib eye cuts, New York strip, tenderloin and the rest. Knowing different cuts of meat has helped me in selecting my choice of meat at the groceries store. I am happy that I know what I am eating and the best way to cook the meat to have an amazing eating experience.

I got a different meaning to sustainable food production and I have started learning more about livestock management. My thought about sustainable agriculture was all about producing organically. My livestock management class has made me to understand that sustainable agriculture has to do with producing “environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable products.” I am learning to be a better writer and to communicate Ag issues. I saw a different perspective to Ag here and I hope to adopt these knowledge when I join the Ag industry and on my farm in the future. I have learnt a lot and I know that I still have much more to learn during my stay at WIU.
I thought I had all the knowledge of agriculture I needed but now, I see that there are still more to learn about to excel in my career.

“Finding out what you don’t want to do is really important.”

Kristen ewing

About the author

Hi everyone! My name is Opeyemi Adejumo. I am an international student from Nigeria. I am a senior studying Agriculture at Western Illinois University. I have passion for Agriculture and I want to pursue a career in Agriculture. Thank you for reading my blog!

New Girl on the Hog Farm

I was looking for a new job that was something I had an interest in. Seeing the job posting for the hog farm gave me a sense of something different and fun. This would be something completely new for me and I was extremely thankful for that. I chose this job because I have always wanted to work with livestock so when I saw this opportunity came up for me because it gave me the option to expand my knowledge in this line of work.

Working on a hog farm and for a hog operation, has opened the light for many different situations. Being someone who is in charge of taking care of everything has opened up my instinct to always be the the nurturing one, always make sure everything is going how it should be.

Early morning’s in the barn making sure everything has been running smoothly gives you the sense of happiness because you know for the next nine hours you will be the one in charge and making sure that the operation is going the proper way. Having something give you this urge to take charge and be the one responsible for how the operation goes is a sense of happiness and purpose.

The shifts we have give us the opportunity to take control of how the rooms run and the process of the operation for each of the sows in the rooms and the process we have for each of them is going to have. Being able to take care of 150 sows for a shift gives you a purpose and makes you feel responsible for what happens and how it happens. Each midwife had their own rooms they were in charge of gave all of us a chance to manage the rooms how we wanted to handle what was going on and the process that we each went through. There were times that we had to rely on each other if the sow was to young that we couldn’t properly check her progress, we had to call for help so we made sure were giving every sow the care they need.

A photo of myself after working a few hours with the pigs.

Every morning we got to go in and check on each of the sows we had the day before and also move on to the next rooms because the process never stops. There were 25 farrowing rooms, in the barn and they each housed 50 sows at a time. There were normally nine to ten rooms at a time that we actively farrowing and the other rooms still have the sows and piglets in them getting ready to be shipped out.

Working in the farrowing barns gave me a sense of being in charge and having the responsibility for what was going on. Going into Agriculture Education is going to helps me understand what it may be like in the classroom, everything could be chaotic and not always go as you planned but there is always a way to handle each situation. Having this experience has prepared me for being in charge and having the opportunity to teach and help in the process of daily lives that I will soon be in charge of.

It may be a tiring job to have and the repetition may get old to some people but it honestly helps out because it gives you the sense of what the future will hold. Everyday may not be the exact same teaching everyday but it will be the same type of day and it will be give you the opportunity to make a routine of what I am willing to do.

Having this experience and being able to take care of the piglets gave me a sense of nurturing and responsibility of being in charge has given me a sense of wanting to become a teacher and be able to give the same care to my students. Becoming a teacher will let me take care of my students and be the support that they may need. Having an understanding of my students and being able to understand what may be going on is going to be a good trait to have as I become a teacher.

Hello everyone, my name is Kristy Weidhuner and I am a Junior at Western Illinois University. I am a junior and am studying Agriculture Education. I am a member of Collegiate FFA/PAS/AGED, and also Collegiate Farm Bureau. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.