Facebook can be a great thing and it can be a reason to wonder why you are attached to such people. Then you realize that you can delete them from your life!
I am a "friend" of the Farm PEI facebook page and I think I am making an enemy of this guy/person, I'm assuming it's a guy but correct me if I'm wrong. There have been a few posts that I read that I wonder what it has to do with farming in PEI and then there are posts that just slam agriculture and all its practices. I replied to his post that maybe he shouldn't bite the hand that feeds him quite so harshly.
Well then the war was on. I can't "un-friend" the guy, I can't delete the page because I feel like I am his devil's advocate, always seeing the good in agriculture and its farmers. I'm putting it on myself to inform the reader that all of what he is posting (mostly from American websites) is not truth. In fact, I am going to contact a few scientists and ask some questions about the validity of the information he is linking to his facebook friends. I'm also hoping that a few other "friends" will add their comments because there aren't many people replying to his posts, maybe because they are scared of the conspiracy theory?
I've made a few inquiries to the intention of the Farm PEI facebook owner but to no avail, yet. I don't mean to stop this person from bringing up some issues but let's see both sides of the argument. I hope that if and when I do meet this person, he (she) will sit and have a beer with me and discuss farming in PEI, farming in Canada, farming in general, with a little less severity than is portrayed on the facebook page.
If you get to his facebook page, he seems to like music too.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Farm Technician Apprenticeship Program
Friday, February 25th, 2011 marked a banner day in farming history with the first Blue Seal Certificates being awarded to five young men from Prince Edward Island, Canada. The Farm Technician Apprenticeship Program is the only apprenticeship of its kind in Canada, combining on-farm experience with in-class training.
Jeff Stewart, Basil Attwood, Chad Lawless, Kyle MacLeod and Lawrance Purdy are the first official Farm Technicians in Prince Edward Island, in Canada even. Dr. Leslie MacLaren, Co-President of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College told them in her address that "you can now confidently call yourself a professional".
This group of young men has spent the past three years in training for this program by attending 8 weeks of classroom learning with 10 months of log book skills upgrading. The 8-week classroom sessions began with courses such as farm safety and preventative maintanence and in their third year of the program they learned about farm financial programs, attained their 3A Class licence, and endured intense courses regarding cropping systems and weed management.
The Prince Edward Island Minister of Agriculture, George Webster, said to the group, "farm labour is not what it used to be" and went on to say that the farm labourer needs to be highly skilled and that "knowledge is the key to continuous progress."
Sarah MacDonald, NSAC's Manager of Continuing Education said that adult learners have a strong connection to what they are learning and it showed through their commitment to the program. These five graduates of the Farm Technician Program "are leading the way for others to follow."
In my opinion, this program is exceptional. I would offer up a few changes but on the whole, farming is now a job that needs a professional status. There are so many skills needed to be a farmer or a farm worker in this century. With the farming community reducing in size, what used to be considered common sense on the farm is now an unknown skill that needs to be taught, hence the need for an apprenticeship program.
Check out the link to the NSAC Press Release regarding the graduation of the first Blue Seal recipients of the Farm Apprenticeship Technician Program on February 25th, 2011:
NSAC delivers educational component of unique farm apprenticeship program
Jeff Stewart, Basil Attwood, Chad Lawless, Kyle MacLeod and Lawrance Purdy are the first official Farm Technicians in Prince Edward Island, in Canada even. Dr. Leslie MacLaren, Co-President of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College told them in her address that "you can now confidently call yourself a professional".
This group of young men has spent the past three years in training for this program by attending 8 weeks of classroom learning with 10 months of log book skills upgrading. The 8-week classroom sessions began with courses such as farm safety and preventative maintanence and in their third year of the program they learned about farm financial programs, attained their 3A Class licence, and endured intense courses regarding cropping systems and weed management.
The Prince Edward Island Minister of Agriculture, George Webster, said to the group, "farm labour is not what it used to be" and went on to say that the farm labourer needs to be highly skilled and that "knowledge is the key to continuous progress."
Sarah MacDonald, NSAC's Manager of Continuing Education said that adult learners have a strong connection to what they are learning and it showed through their commitment to the program. These five graduates of the Farm Technician Program "are leading the way for others to follow."
In my opinion, this program is exceptional. I would offer up a few changes but on the whole, farming is now a job that needs a professional status. There are so many skills needed to be a farmer or a farm worker in this century. With the farming community reducing in size, what used to be considered common sense on the farm is now an unknown skill that needs to be taught, hence the need for an apprenticeship program.
Check out the link to the NSAC Press Release regarding the graduation of the first Blue Seal recipients of the Farm Apprenticeship Technician Program on February 25th, 2011:
NSAC delivers educational component of unique farm apprenticeship program
Monday, December 6, 2010
Seeing is believing...
It's a windy day in the neighbourhood, the neighbourhood...I'm afraid my house may blow off it's foundation. Sorry, no rhyme there, just the truth.
The start of another week and hopefully an extension of the visual recovery that I had last week. Last week started with being able to see through the blank spot that has been affecting my vision for the past 6 weeks and the recovery each day was exhilarating. To lose any percentage of your eyesight is truly an eye opener and I was lucky enough to eventually get my sight back. Even though I can see through this spot, I still have trouble seeing yellows and things are darker than normal. Believe me, dim lighting is only cool for romantic dinners and watching television.
To say that I only had about 10% of my vision left may seem horrible but when you close your eyes and see nothing, 10% is a heck of a lot. And it's a lot to be grateful for.
I rely on my OTT Light at my desk and I really wish I had one shining on my clothes shelving so I could pick out blue jeans vs black jeans. I've only been wearing white shirts lately because that's the easiest to pick out of the closet. That and any colour sweater that may match blue or black jeans.
For whatever reason, my creative juices have started to flow in that, I have been thinking about sewing or knitting crafts as Christmas presents. Why would that happen when I can't see well enough to do any of that. Is that just a challenge that my mind has given me to prove that I can do it with only minimal vision? I have been imagining the photos that I will enlarge and the posters of my pictures that I will create and the frames that I will make...maybe not such a good idea to be using a skill saw with reduced eyesight. Is it a good idea to be making posters when I don't really see colours as I think they should be, which may become distorted to what actually is?
I may have to take that challenge anyway, just so that when I do see normally again, and I will, I will look back on this past eight weeks of visual distortion (pain included) as a growth and maturity that got me to that point in life, be it good or bad.
Let the healing continue...namaste
The start of another week and hopefully an extension of the visual recovery that I had last week. Last week started with being able to see through the blank spot that has been affecting my vision for the past 6 weeks and the recovery each day was exhilarating. To lose any percentage of your eyesight is truly an eye opener and I was lucky enough to eventually get my sight back. Even though I can see through this spot, I still have trouble seeing yellows and things are darker than normal. Believe me, dim lighting is only cool for romantic dinners and watching television.
To say that I only had about 10% of my vision left may seem horrible but when you close your eyes and see nothing, 10% is a heck of a lot. And it's a lot to be grateful for.
I rely on my OTT Light at my desk and I really wish I had one shining on my clothes shelving so I could pick out blue jeans vs black jeans. I've only been wearing white shirts lately because that's the easiest to pick out of the closet. That and any colour sweater that may match blue or black jeans.
For whatever reason, my creative juices have started to flow in that, I have been thinking about sewing or knitting crafts as Christmas presents. Why would that happen when I can't see well enough to do any of that. Is that just a challenge that my mind has given me to prove that I can do it with only minimal vision? I have been imagining the photos that I will enlarge and the posters of my pictures that I will create and the frames that I will make...maybe not such a good idea to be using a skill saw with reduced eyesight. Is it a good idea to be making posters when I don't really see colours as I think they should be, which may become distorted to what actually is?
I may have to take that challenge anyway, just so that when I do see normally again, and I will, I will look back on this past eight weeks of visual distortion (pain included) as a growth and maturity that got me to that point in life, be it good or bad.
Let the healing continue...namaste
Friday, December 3, 2010
Starting to blog
In procrastinating for one thing on my to do list, I've started another task, a blog spot.
One of my interests is agriculture and I hope that I can educate, vent, ramble, discuss anything related to agriculture. If you ate it, somebody grew it. If something else comes up, that'll be included as well.
My thoughts at the moment are really concerning procrastination. I'm really good at it and I wish I weren't. I want to be one of those people that when they are given a task, I would just do it, no excuses.
I was at the massage therapist yesterday and because when she had her fingers behind my head pressing on the base of my skull and my left shoulder twitched, she said that was an indication that I was full of ideas and not able to express them. The woman is a psychic without a crystal ball. Not only that, she basically told me my life story because I'm an aquarian. I agree with a lot of the things she was telling me and we had quite a conversation, even if I was trying to breathe evenly through the pain she was causing on the back of my head.
I seem to have a mental block/writers block and can't get beyond it. I have lots of ideas, I just can't seem to express them on computer, on paper, or verbally. Hence, the blog and I'll just spew with my fingers on the keyboard until something of any substance comes out. Ha, ha, read on as this will be my therapy until it becomes an informative message board for agriculture and it's consumers.
Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions, questions or opinions. It's time for me to write an article regarding Championing Agriculture based on a one day conference with Michele Payn-Knoper (www.causematters.com) informing Islanders how we as agriculturallists need to be the greatest advocates of food and farming we can be so that consumers feel they are informed, knowledgeable and confident about the food they eat.
Have a great day,
gwynabelle
One of my interests is agriculture and I hope that I can educate, vent, ramble, discuss anything related to agriculture. If you ate it, somebody grew it. If something else comes up, that'll be included as well.
My thoughts at the moment are really concerning procrastination. I'm really good at it and I wish I weren't. I want to be one of those people that when they are given a task, I would just do it, no excuses.
I was at the massage therapist yesterday and because when she had her fingers behind my head pressing on the base of my skull and my left shoulder twitched, she said that was an indication that I was full of ideas and not able to express them. The woman is a psychic without a crystal ball. Not only that, she basically told me my life story because I'm an aquarian. I agree with a lot of the things she was telling me and we had quite a conversation, even if I was trying to breathe evenly through the pain she was causing on the back of my head.
I seem to have a mental block/writers block and can't get beyond it. I have lots of ideas, I just can't seem to express them on computer, on paper, or verbally. Hence, the blog and I'll just spew with my fingers on the keyboard until something of any substance comes out. Ha, ha, read on as this will be my therapy until it becomes an informative message board for agriculture and it's consumers.
Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions, questions or opinions. It's time for me to write an article regarding Championing Agriculture based on a one day conference with Michele Payn-Knoper (www.causematters.com) informing Islanders how we as agriculturallists need to be the greatest advocates of food and farming we can be so that consumers feel they are informed, knowledgeable and confident about the food they eat.
Have a great day,
gwynabelle
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