Well I must apologize; I haven’t exactly been keeping up on my posts. But, as with any late submission there is always an excuse. It has been crunch time for finals at school and (to yours and my surprise) I have been studying. I had three exams one after the other with my last final being 16 days later. Between those 16 days I managed to sneak away on a holiday to British Columbia for five days but not before the annual Beef Expo Show in Saskatoon. Don’t worry I’ll explain it all in the paragraphs to follow. I tell ya what, I may not have put a post up for a while, but I’ll do my best to make up for it in this post and the posts to come throughout the summer.
I figured with the switch from school to work for the summer I should recap a few of the events and activities that have happened at school and around the world throughout the school year. Starting in September I found myself rather excited to get back to the books and learn new exciting things. I had enrolled in five classes that would all go towards one of my degrees of either Agribusiness or Crop Science (Crop Science at the time was what I had planned on being my second degree). AGRC 111 Discovery in Plant and Soil Sciences (Plants and Soils for Idiots), BIOL 120 The Nature of Life (Boring prof. but cool information), COMM 101 Introduction to Business (The business class that has nothing to do with any other business class), MATH 104 Elementary Calculus (HELL but awesome professor), and PLSC 214 Statistical Methods (the online class that causes you to yell and scream at your computer for hours on end). September found me mostly trying to keep my classes organized and notes legible but ultimately failing at both. Also catching up with friends that I hadn’t seen over the summer and don’t forget the new friends I inevitably made every Thursday night at AG Night.
October; Drag Month; the Agro’s month of glory. Sadly, it’s also the month of midterms. To put it briefly I studied lots and tried to find the time to go out and socialize but October got the best of me and minimal mingling was done. Don’t get me wrong; this wasn’t a bad thing. Midterm marks came back strong as ever. While cutting loose was kept to a minimum that doesn’t mean I never got out. I managed to celebrate an Ag Night on the last week of October the day before “Ag Bag Drag *Goose*”. I had just finished all my midterms and figured I should catch up with some friends to celebrate. It just so happened that the day after Ag Bag Drag, I had to be in Landis to preg check cows at 9am. Let’s just say that I was a hurting unit.
November was much of the same; plenty of studying and a couple midterms. The most exciting part about November is Agribition. As I had qualified for the 4-H Saskatchewan Provincial Judging Team I got to compete at Nationals during Agribition. This is an honour I have been lucky enough to indulge in for the past two years. It gives the opportunity to judge multiple classes of high caliber stock all in about an eight-hour period. In which the top judge gets the honour of being one of the panel judges for the prestigious First Lady Classic show. This is not an opportunity that presents itself at many other competitions throughout the year. Therefore, it is held to a very high standard by the organizers and competitors alike. Unlike many other years I was not able to attend the Simmental show at Agribition this year but with multiple classes and labs to attend I suppose it was understandable. Missing the show didn’t stop me from making my way through the barns after the judging competition to talk to breeders and look at cattle. I suppose even when the judging competition was over the judging never gets turned off. I was extremely impressed by the caliber of stock that were represented by all breeds. Agribition truly is one of the several wonders of the agricultural world.
The month of December is a nightmare and a blessing in disguise to most college students as it is the month of finals. As for me, I got off easy with all my finals being spread apart nicely. I had at least three days in between all my finals. This certainly made it less stressful when organizing my study routine. My finals began with MATH 104 and when I walked in and looked at the exam my eyes lit up as I knew almost every answer. That was with much thanks to a good friend in Animal Science that tutored myself and a few friends through the class for a total payment of beer and wings. Finals for the 2018 fall term ended with my AGRC 111 class and it was all multiple choice and matching. Which to most high school students would sound amazing, but college is a whole different story. I like short answer questions (because as most of you know I can BS very well) as they leave a lot of opportunity to explain your answer. But nonetheless finals turned out well to round out the 2018 year and coming home to the farm for Christmas was very much a treat. Just being around the cows made me much more relaxed than I could ever be in the city. You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.
2019 has been a year packed with new experiences and events in both my life and the agriculture industry worldwide (and its only June). January saw the start-up of this blog in which I got the idea at the Saskatchewan Farm and Food Care Conference in December of 2018. The idea sprang from many interactions at the conference, but two people really brought the idea to life. Kaitlyn Kitzan being one of these people. Kaitlyn and I met in my first year of university through a mutual friend who was living in residence with her. I had gone to residence to buy a textbook from our mutual friend and was greeted by the smiling face of Kaitlyn. A reassuring gesture for my nervous first year self. I would later come to learn that smiling face never really got put away. I have seen Kaitlyn make tremendous strides in both academic and professional endeavors in the few years I have known her. I encourage you to follow her on twitter @Kaitlynkitzan as she truly embodies the spirit of the ag industry in everything she does. The second of these two people is my long-time friend Amy Carruthers. Amy gave me the idea of this blog by simply talking about starting her own. We were talking after the conference and she had entertained the idea of starting her blog about her travels as she was taking off to Europe for an exchange program. Amy has written many articles about her adventures and the ag industry in the areas she has visited on her blog that I believe everyone should follow. You can read and subscribe to it here: https://agricultureiseverywhere.home.blog/ . Amy has also produced a brief but informative video for the Farmfluencer Contest. I encourage you to go visit https://farmfluencer.com/ scroll to the bottom and watch her video on Conventional and Organic Farming.
February was the month that saw the tragic flooding in Australia after seven years of drought. A drought that makes our dry situation in Central Saskatchewan look like a premature 3-pound child (but nonetheless we still need rain). Our University of Saskatchewan Stockmans Club stepped up to the plate to raise money for the Australian Ranchers the only way agros know how. Through Steak nights, pub crawls and even out of member donations. It reassured me that our industry sticks together through the hard times. Along with all that February was the last time I have posted an article and I truly apologize for that.
March and April wrapped up the school year very civilly this year. I focussed hard on studying and grades but still finding time to ensure everyone I was still alive and not rotting at my desk in my room like some kind of “Bates Motel” scene. Finals came and went with no trouble other than the fact that I twitch a little every time someone says “accounting”. Between my finals I had a 16-day gap and I decided I was going to take advantage of it. I managed to slip away to B.C. with the old lady (she’s older than me so it’s okay for me to say that, even though she doesn’t think so) for five days. It was great to tour the countryside. We ended up stopping at D Dutchmen Dairy in Sicamous for some ice cream and it was delicious. I recommend it to everybody. The beauty of the place was surreal, but I would be lying if I said my prairie boy self wasn’t a little claustrophobic with all the mountains.
May and the start of June have been a whirlwind and that is why I have not been able to get this article posted sooner. I have been working at Ag in Motion seeding and spraying crop plots for various companies. We have seeded everything from Canola to Hemp but as was pointed out to me by a family friends’ little girl when I challenged her to name a crop I hadn’t planted; I haven’t seeded any rice.
There you have it, a school year in review. Again, I apologize for my tardiness on posting but I do hope that you will forgive me. Until next time, Farmkid out.
The Millar Markup 