Mother's Day and the Calgary Cousins

It was a very busy and exciting Mother's Day for me. Along with my mother and her parents, we headed to the big city of Calgary to watch a cousin of mine in a musical. He was in StageWest's production of All Shook Up, a wildly entertaining musical accompanied by a fantastic buffet. My cousin Nicholas was the lead role in the show, and it was great to finally see him back in Calgary.

Mom, Nicholas, and I backstage at All Shook Up after the show

After the show, we headed west of the city to the cabin owned by more relatives. It's a little confusing explaining my relation to all these people, since I have one of those families where I only actually have 5 first cousins so I call everyone with a moderate relation to me, my cousin. So we'll call these people cousins as well. The Calgary Cousins are urban professionals who love the idea of the lifestyle of ranching, and love to hear about our latest agricultural escapades. Their cabin features a riding pen, two horses, and a view of the Rocky Mountains. Whenever we get a chance to visit with them, they are eager to hear what the latest excitement has been around our ranch. The Calgary Cousins are the kind of people I wish I could always be telling my agricultural stories to-a captive, interested, and encouraging audience.



Today's topic of discussion was calving and seeding, the two things we've been most busy with this past week. They ooh and aah at how many calves we've had in such a short amount of time, and ask our opinions on the latest beef-related news stories they've seen. When the topic turns to farming, and specifically seeding, a question about how modern seeding equipment functions is fielded by my mother. She gives a very simple yet effective explanation of how our air-seeder works, and they are once again wowed by the many innovations in the agriculture industry.

We can't always be so lucky to have a captive or even interested audience when trying to tell stories about how we make a living, We can, however, treat every audience as if we are about to wow them with the amazingness that is agriculture. We can tell our story as if our audience is always as excited about it as we are- and chances are, when they leave the conversation, they will be!