The middle of winter being a quieter period in rural communities, it’s a good time for participants to attend the Waterloo Rural Women conference. A staple for 20 years, it’s a chance for women to get together, laugh, reflect on hardships and, perhaps most importantly of all, find understanding and support among their ranks of hardworking farmers, wives and businesswomen.
“It’s important for us to get together and recognize who we are,” said Waterloo Rural Women committee member Susan Martin of Elmira.
The event will be held February 13 at the Schmidtsville Restaurant in Wellesley.
For Martin, farming is a family affair and women play as large a role as men when it comes to running the very hands-on businesses.
“A lot of these women … they’re in the barn, they are actively involved in the practice, whether they are doing the books or (something) as simple as running for tractor parts in the summer time. It takes everybody too make it work; it’s a business,” she said.
A sheep farmer by trade she knows all too well what it is like to be a woman in the industry, working with the animals and collaboratively running a farm together with her husband and parents.
Every year the conference features a number of speakers to represent the various aspects of farming and rural life that the women may encounter.
“You never know what could happen … but that’s life, it’s just like getting caught in a traffic jam. You just have to roll with it. That’s kind of what this group is all about,” Martin said.
In past years the conference has hosted the likes of gourmet tea parties, with farmers’ wives bringing forward their experiences on the farm.
“My aunt Peg spoke last year on how she was not a farm girl coming onto a farm because she married a dairy farmer. She was like ‘whoa now what?’ She did not go into the barn but she still supported her husband in lots of different ways. We hope that we have something that’s going to interest everyone,” Martin explained.
The committee will continue exercising a knack for mixing serious issues with lighthearted entertainment on February 13. This year’s speakers are Brenda Gerber of New Hamburg, Linda Slits of Milverton, and Darlene Aberle of Elmira.
Gerber will share her story of a serious farm injury she suffered as a child; a fitting topic as the committee also holds an annual farm safety day for kids. Next up, Slits will share her experience as the 2013 Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Ambassador.
“It’s interesting that a small-town girl won the title. I’m really curious to hear her story because she is really interested in agriculture and how to promote agriculture which I think is really important in this day and age,” Martin said.
And lastly, Aberle, the wife of a farmer for many years, will cap off the event with some decorating tips for the spring.
“We just have a lot of fun and yet there is seriousness,” Martin says of the annual gathering.
“If someone in our group has a tragedy we are all there, and I think that’s important to acknowledge. We are all connected that way. This group of women is all over Waterloo Region. But we all have a common denominator and that’s that we are rural folk.”
Lunch and coffee breaks are included in the $20 registration fee. Register online at www.waterlooruralwomen.org or call a committee member: Rita Bauman (519) 638-3624, Lois Cressman (519) 696-2667, Sharon Grose (519) 846-9788 or Susan Martin (519) 669-8066.
