Calendar of events Oxford WSA 2014/2015
Thursday September 18, 2014
" The Future People and Products of Canadian Agriculture"
Our first meeting is going to be on September 18 2014 at the Omafra building in Woodstock. We start at 8:00 pm.
We invite you all to bring a relative or friend or anyone you know who would be interested to come with you or would like to become a member to our meeting.
Our first speaker will be Stefanie Nagerlschmitz Farm Show Team Lead & Communications of Canada’s Outdoor Shows. Stefanie grew up on her family’s dairy farm near Thorndale, where she was involved in various school committees, Thorndale Fall Fair and 4-H clubs. She graduated from the Honours Agricultural Science program at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College. During her four years at Guelph, she actively participated in a number of student leadership organizations. Stefanie sat on the OAC 2009 class executive, was the 2007 College Royal Celebrant, a Cluster Leader on the Residence Life Staff, a Student Representative on the University of Guelph Senate, and President of the Student Federation of the Ontario Agricultural College to name a few. Upon graduation, she was named the recipient of the R.P. Gilmor Award for her commitment to improving the student experience and contributions towards the betterment of student life at the University of Guelph as well as the SFOAC Gold Medal.
Since 2009, Stefanie has worked for Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and is currently the Farm Show Team Lead and Communications. In her free time she is a board member for the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association’s Ontario Chapter, Secretary of the Ontario Agricultural College Alumni Foundation and board member of the Alumni Association. Stefanie will speak about the future of Agriculture by drawing on her experiences at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and the Ontario Agricultural College. Whether looking at the latest equipment innovations or changes to agricultural education through schools like the University of Guelph, both play a pivotal role in shaping how Canadian farming will look like in 10, 15, or 50 years to come.
We hope to see you all and please fill out and bring your membership form
We invite you all to bring a relative or friend or anyone you know who would be interested to come with you or would like to become a member to our meeting.
Our first speaker will be Stefanie Nagerlschmitz Farm Show Team Lead & Communications of Canada’s Outdoor Shows. Stefanie grew up on her family’s dairy farm near Thorndale, where she was involved in various school committees, Thorndale Fall Fair and 4-H clubs. She graduated from the Honours Agricultural Science program at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College. During her four years at Guelph, she actively participated in a number of student leadership organizations. Stefanie sat on the OAC 2009 class executive, was the 2007 College Royal Celebrant, a Cluster Leader on the Residence Life Staff, a Student Representative on the University of Guelph Senate, and President of the Student Federation of the Ontario Agricultural College to name a few. Upon graduation, she was named the recipient of the R.P. Gilmor Award for her commitment to improving the student experience and contributions towards the betterment of student life at the University of Guelph as well as the SFOAC Gold Medal.
Since 2009, Stefanie has worked for Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and is currently the Farm Show Team Lead and Communications. In her free time she is a board member for the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association’s Ontario Chapter, Secretary of the Ontario Agricultural College Alumni Foundation and board member of the Alumni Association. Stefanie will speak about the future of Agriculture by drawing on her experiences at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and the Ontario Agricultural College. Whether looking at the latest equipment innovations or changes to agricultural education through schools like the University of Guelph, both play a pivotal role in shaping how Canadian farming will look like in 10, 15, or 50 years to come.
We hope to see you all and please fill out and bring your membership form
Wednesday, October 15. 2014 “Milking and Farming in China”
Matt
Walker is a veterinarian in a 7-man dairy practice called Oxford Bovine. Oxford
Bovine treats about 35000 dairy cows in Canada.
In November 2013 Matt went to China for C.L.G.A. This program is funded by the Canadian government, and helps with consulting agricultural businesses in different countries. The main focus this time was COW COMFORT. Matt visited a 1000 head and a 3000 head cow farm. Matt will tell us all about what farming is like in China in his fun presentation and slide show.
In November 2013 Matt went to China for C.L.G.A. This program is funded by the Canadian government, and helps with consulting agricultural businesses in different countries. The main focus this time was COW COMFORT. Matt visited a 1000 head and a 3000 head cow farm. Matt will tell us all about what farming is like in China in his fun presentation and slide show.
Thursday, November 27. 2014 Bus-trip to “One of a Kind Show”
Join
us on our Trip to Toronto on a Cherrey Bus! The “One of a Kind Show’
established into a Canadian shopping tradition for all those in search of the
unique, handcrafted and the fantastic. A great way to start your Christmas
shopping! Maybe you find here the right gift for the hard to shop loved one!
We will meet at the Walmart Parking Lot in Woodstock at 8:45am and leave at 9:00am sharp! We will return to Woodstock at 6:00pm!
Space will be limited to 47 so safe your seat early! There will be no refunds given. Should you not be able to attend you certainly can give your seat away to someone else as an early Christmas gift! Also no payments can be made on the bus. In order to ride and shop with us your payment has to be received by the dead line! Thank you!
We will meet at the Walmart Parking Lot in Woodstock at 8:45am and leave at 9:00am sharp! We will return to Woodstock at 6:00pm!
Space will be limited to 47 so safe your seat early! There will be no refunds given. Should you not be able to attend you certainly can give your seat away to someone else as an early Christmas gift! Also no payments can be made on the bus. In order to ride and shop with us your payment has to be received by the dead line! Thank you!
Monday, December 15. 2014 “Christmas Flower Arrangement”
Gerda Pier of Belmont, will be our teacher this
evening! Bring along your pruning shears
and your inner floral designer for a fun filled evening and take home some
Christmas spirit! Gerda is a Mom of two and the wife of Bas. A cleaner
of messes and a tryer of new things. A lover of reading and a decorator of
Interiors. A farmer of chickens and a keeper of books. She enjoys MX tracks in
summer and ice rinks in winter. She lives in Belmont. She for sure is lots of
fun!
Friday, January 9. 2015 “New Years Social” “Snowball Ball”
Bring
your spouse/friend, dance, socialize and celebrate, if possible dressed all in
white, as a Snowman, or Snowball or Snow-Fantasy…..! We leave this up to you!
Please remember that this evening is only for our members and one guest each. We will have a lovely sit-down dinner followed by coffee and dessert. Then we will enjoy the sounds of the “InfraRed” Band, a live band, with a big sound, dynamic rhythms, a versatile selection of music, and always ready to provide entertainment with a polish. “InfraRed” continually updates for the best repertoire and perform all music styles including 50’s, Oldies, Country, Smooth Jazz, Latin, Calypso and more!
If you aren’t in the mood to swing with the music, just sit back and take in the cool beats and celebrate the New Year with WSA!
Tickets for the New Years Social are available from the executive: $ 15.00 per person!
Please remember that this evening is only for our members and one guest each. We will have a lovely sit-down dinner followed by coffee and dessert. Then we will enjoy the sounds of the “InfraRed” Band, a live band, with a big sound, dynamic rhythms, a versatile selection of music, and always ready to provide entertainment with a polish. “InfraRed” continually updates for the best repertoire and perform all music styles including 50’s, Oldies, Country, Smooth Jazz, Latin, Calypso and more!
If you aren’t in the mood to swing with the music, just sit back and take in the cool beats and celebrate the New Year with WSA!
Tickets for the New Years Social are available from the executive: $ 15.00 per person!
Thursday, February 12. 2015
“Winter-workshop” “The
Big Bee Day”
Bees
make big news lately and we would like to discover more about this tiny busy
insect that keeps pollinating our plants and produces honey to benefit our
environment and us. While we are familiar with bees (and sometimes not in a
good way…bee sting), very few of us are knowledgeable about the many types of
bee species, their physiology and their amazing intelligence. Our winter
workshop will devote the morning to learning about how vital bees are to our
planet.
We’ll start the morning with our WSA member Wendy Colcuc, who will describe why bees are so important for pollination on their blueberry farm.
Our guest speaker will be Albert Devries from Clovermead Adventure Farm and Apiary. Albert works for Clovermead who combine science and adventure to help adults and children better understand why bees are so good for us. Albert will speak on the following topics:
1. Introductory video on bee biology and psychology.
2. Pollination-why bees are vital to Onario agriculture
3. Pollination process for crops.
4. Honey Taste Testing
5. Health Benefits of honey, Bees wax and other products.
Today’s Bee Health and Industry issues will also be discussed!
Lunch will be served by Chrissy’s Catering. Please enjoy Pulled Pork on a bun and salads.
Our afternoon session will be a hands on experience. We will make candles out of Beeswax with Etty vanDijken. Further details to this creative afternoon will follow in our Spring Newsletter.
We’ll start the morning with our WSA member Wendy Colcuc, who will describe why bees are so important for pollination on their blueberry farm.
Our guest speaker will be Albert Devries from Clovermead Adventure Farm and Apiary. Albert works for Clovermead who combine science and adventure to help adults and children better understand why bees are so good for us. Albert will speak on the following topics:
1. Introductory video on bee biology and psychology.
2. Pollination-why bees are vital to Onario agriculture
3. Pollination process for crops.
4. Honey Taste Testing
5. Health Benefits of honey, Bees wax and other products.
Today’s Bee Health and Industry issues will also be discussed!
Lunch will be served by Chrissy’s Catering. Please enjoy Pulled Pork on a bun and salads.
Our afternoon session will be a hands on experience. We will make candles out of Beeswax with Etty vanDijken. Further details to this creative afternoon will follow in our Spring Newsletter.
Tuesday, March 24. 2015 "Farming With Family Ain’t Always Easy"
Our
guest speaker tonight - Mark “Caygeon”
Junkin - is a seventh generation farm boy who pioneered a different
approach to farm succession planning after witnessing his own family fall apart
due to farm management and farm succession issues. He didn’t want his farming
friends to experience the same problems and knew there had to be a better way
to do things. His NICHE focus is to radically improve HOW farm families make
DESCISIONS together during a decade of farm management transition, rather than
“who gets what”. It’s
apples vs. oranges to past approaches and is being well received by the farming
community! Junkin
started writing for Ontario’s Regional Country News and this has now grown into
syndicated column in the largest farm papers on three continents. With the
release of his 3r book “Farming With Family Ain’t Always Easy” he is now
speaking at some of the largest agriculture conferences across North America.
His 45 minute talk will include discussing: - Overcoming “The Third Generation
Curse” – How to Introduce New Ideas & Deal with Change – Grooming The Next
Generation to Make Decisions. Mark runs a niche agricultural consulting
practice where he works face to face with farmers throughout the world to help
farm families prevent and solve farm succession crises!
Wednesday, April 15. 2015 “Shovel to Spoon”
The
Local Community Food Centre is a not-for-profit agency dedicated to alleviating
food insecurity in Stratford and Perth County.
Their
programs are dedicated to enabling self-identified food insecure individuals
with skills in the areas of growing, cooking and advocating for good food.
The Shovel to Spoon program is run for 14 weeks, and focuses on the life skills of growing and cooking nutritious food, then sharing the food made with the program participants. As a result, their participants get education in hygiene and safety in the kitchen and garden, cooking and gardening instruction, nutritious meals at each session, and an opportunity to get out and socialize. Often participants become friends outside of the program. In there last session per program, the participants run a restaurant to demonstrate to family and friends their acquired skills.
Their clients for this program are generally referred by social agencies such as Family Services and Canadian Mental Health Association.
The Shovel to Spoon program is run for 14 weeks, and focuses on the life skills of growing and cooking nutritious food, then sharing the food made with the program participants. As a result, their participants get education in hygiene and safety in the kitchen and garden, cooking and gardening instruction, nutritious meals at each session, and an opportunity to get out and socialize. Often participants become friends outside of the program. In there last session per program, the participants run a restaurant to demonstrate to family and friends their acquired skills.
Their clients for this program are generally referred by social agencies such as Family Services and Canadian Mental Health Association.
Tuesday, June 16. 2015 Bus Trip to “Hamilton Botanical Gardens”
More details about this trip will
be given in the Spring Newsletter!
