9/14/09 - 9/16/09 Kirksville, Mo “Heart of the Puzzle”
This is the 15th Annual Women In Agriculture Conference.
The conference is hosted in various locations in Missouri every year.
The torch was passed to Southwest Missouri for the 2010 Conference.
This was an exciting, fun-filled adventure and a very informative conference. There were vendor displays, amazing workshops, silent auction and hospitality room (the hospitality room was amazing!). The banquet Monday evening was very humbling to hear the stories of the nominees for Missouri State Women In Agriculture Award and the entertainment of Mechelle Matthews,
Professional Ventriloquist, was so much fun!
On Tuesday the fun-filled adventure began with a trip to Newark, Mo., to visit Heartland Creamery. The tour was packed with excitement beginning with a visit to the milking goats, the 60-stall milking carousel area, with a chance to "try" chocolate milk and a new creation of root beer milk, visit to the irrigation area, an awesome buffet luncheon at the Ozark Lodge and Steak House,
a visit to the cannery and cellar, creamery, cheese house (time to sample cheese) and ending at the Ford Museum, Solid Rock Cafe and the New Creation County Store. The evening Twilight Tour took us on an adventure to Novinger, Mo., to visit the beautiful land owned by Frank and Judy Oberle. The tour began with an adventurous drive over the gorgeous landscape and presentations along the way from Frank. The tour ended with a relaxing bonfire and scrumptious muffins made by Judy. We had wonderful speakers at the bonfire and their passion for preservation was "catching" and "refreshing" as well as very informative.
The last day of the conference had presentations on USDA programs, farm bill and an extremely important presentation on Women's Preventive Health Issues.
Kudos to the committee for this conference. Their hard work and dedication made this a conference to remember!