A limerick to remember.

As many of you know, this past Thursday I was able to travel home for a long weekend and speak to the BG Noon Kiwanis Club over their luncheon meeting. My step-mom Cathy has been a long time member of the club and over the years I have attended their meetings to hear special speakers and have gotten to know many of the members over time.

I was honored a few months ago when Brooke Harrison asked me to speak to Kiwanis as a part of her January platform of speakers all related to agriculture. I thought long and hard of the topics I would want to cover, and how I would give Kiwanis members an accurate snapshot of Ohio and United States agriculture in just 15-20 minutes.

Luckily, the words came easily, and I was very pleased with the message I shared. While I was able to leave my audience more educated on animal agriculture, myths behind factory farming, general innovations across our industry, and consumer awareness, the most memorable part of my day came before I began my presentation.

As a Kiwanis tradition, each meeting members go around the room donating "happy dollars" for the great things that have happened in their lives and communities. As the "happy dollar" circuit was closing, former Bowling Green mayor and highly respected community member Wes Hoffman shared his introductory limerick about me with the group...

For this week we'll hear more about farming,
But to you that should not be alarming,
For our speaker's the daughter
Of the family who brought'er...
And the Wenig's are really quite charming.

Our speaker group up with the grain,
On a farm in Wood County's terrain,
Her career became sealed
When she learned about yield
And why crops are dependent upon rain.

As a girl she was not far away
From 4-H, and, as well, FFA,
She became a real vulture
In affairs agriculture...
...Found a calling she had to obey.

Since her future she now could foresee,
OSU was the next place to be...
There her studies were tough,
Agricultural stuff,
But she finally got her degree.

Now in graduate school she will try
For more knowledge which she can apply...
And we hope she'll succeed
Since there is great need
For a confident world food supply.

Our speaker will give us instruction
On the future of farming production...
She'll explain Issue 2
And just what it will do,
And may warn about cropland destruction.

She'll describe what it means to our fate
To become much more ag literate,
To learn more about growing,
About reaping and sowing,
And the food that we put on our plate.

She will speak of the things that are hot
In the huge agricultural pot...
Though her talk won't be racy,
Let us welcome guest Stacie,
Who'll make sure that we all learn alot!


Thanks to Wes, and the entire BG Noon Kiwanis for welcoming me to your organization so warmly. I hope each of you were able to learn a little about hot topics in agriculture and the role you play as consumers!

Happy Tuesday!

Stacie