Promoting Pure Gold by Julie Koerber

http://www.yellowstonevalleywoman.com/promoting-pure-gold/

Promoting Pure Gold

by Julie Koerber —5 June 2015

Billings area women help shine the light on The Great American Wheat Harvest

Every year at about this time, you see the stalks sprout and start to manifest into a golden carpet over sections of the Montana landscape. Nearly six million acres of wheat is harvested each year in our state bringing in a cash value of more than $1 billion. The sight is so common that you might not even pay much attention to it as you travel down the state’s back roads. You might not even give it a second thought when you go to buy your weekly loaves of bread. One Maryland film maker, however, was determined to change that and enlisted the help of two well-connected Billings women and agriculture advocates to shine the spotlight on The Great American Wheat Harvest. It’s been center stage at viewings in nearly every state in the nation and come 2016, the footage will be shown in classrooms all across the nation.

 

 

The result of Conrad Weaver’s exhaustive research and filming is an hour-long documentary that chronicles the wheat harvest through the eyes of custom harvesters. Starting right about now, in early June, these men and women pack up their crews, their families and their combines and hop scotch across the country, traveling as far south as Texas and straight north to the Canadian border to cut the wheat that helps to feed the world.

“So many people around the country have no idea what goes into producing the food that we eat every day,” documentary maker Conrad Weaver of Conjo Studios will tell you. “I wanted to tell the real story of real people who are taking incredible financial risks so that the rest of the world can eat.” He wanted people to have a better understanding of what it truly takes to get a loaf of bread on our dinner tables.

Weaver’s connection to Montana came in a rather odd way, thanks to social media. Jody Lamp, a public relations and agricultural marketing guru, was sitting in on Ag Chat Foundation’s Tuesday evening event on Twitter. This live chat draws in voices from coast to coast to talk about various topics within the industry. During one such chat, Conrad Weaver chimed in asking for help with press releases for his brand new documentary project on the wheat harvest. Jody not only answered the tweet, she enlisted her friend Melody Dobson’s help as well. Dobson was well versed in P.R. after serving as the Coordinator for Montana’s part in the National Lewis & Clark Bicentennial. “I told Jody, I think he needs a lot more than someone to write a few press releases,” Melody says with a chuckle today. Turns out, she was right. The pair went on to not only help raise funds to get the documentary produced, they provided a vital link to get this film shown in cities and towns in all corners of the nation.

“To say that Jody Lamp and Melody Dobson played a vital role in raising funding for the Great American Wheat Harvest documentary would be an understatement. Without them, this important film would not have been made.” Weaver went on to say this duo was not only driven but persistent. He says, “I remember Melody telling me one day that when a company says, ‘No’, (to a sponsorship opportunity) it just means ‘Not yet’.”

 

 

Over the course of two years Weaver says Jody and Melody have driven countless miles, made hundreds of phone calls, and sent thousands of emails all in the effort of trying to convince people this story of the Great American Wheat Harvest was one that was worth telling.
“The harvest intrigues everyone,” Jody says as she reflects on the last two years she’s spent promoting this project. She laughs when she says, “If you ask people, ‘What do you think is the sexiest crop?’ I think it is wheat. How many people do you see photographed standing out in a wheat field? It’s that wide open space. It’s our daily bread.”

For Melody, the project was nostalgic. Her father spent a few decades working as a custom harvester. She smiles and says, “I graduated from high school on June 9, 1978 and the very next day I left driving a truck headed south to Elk City, Oklahoma.” This fourth generation Montanan says, “I can relate to everything in the documentary. I can relate to the stress of my dad when something would break down. I can relate to the changes in the weather. I know what it is like when a crop gets hail damage.” She remembers vividly lining up individual slices of bread just to make sandwiches in an assembly line fashion for the entire harvesting crew. While she helped with the day to day operations of getting laundry done and food prepared, many times Melody would be sitting in the combine itself, serving as one of the chiefs of the harvest. “A lot of the farmers liked women drivers because they were a little more particular. Farm kids, you just did everything.” It’s the very reason why, when Billings hosted a viewing, Melody wanted her dad in one of the seats. Melody says, “My dad just smiled through the whole documentary.”


In the opening scenes, you hear the voices of the men and women who work all season long to harvest the wheat that turns into our cereal, our breads and the pastas we bring to a boil for our dinner. Huge combines can be seen kicking up dust as they cut and gather up each precious kernel of wheat. The documentary chronicles a handful of harvesters and shares their stories through the weather woes, the mechanical breakdowns and worker shortages. It’s not a lifestyle for those who don’t like to roll with the punches. These families hit the road in May and are lucky to be home by Thanksgiving.

“One of the older harvesters that watched the documentary said, ‘I have waited all my life for someone to tell this story,’” Jody says. Melody adds, “You can take the DVD and show it in the most important theater in the United States, your living room. It is our friends. It’s our neighbors who might have no idea how bread is made.”

The DVD isn’t the end of the story for The Great American Wheat Harvest. After all the video was put into the hour-long video, what was left was 83 hours of unused footage.  Jody and Melody knew that to leave this on the cutting room floor would be a tragedy. Where it needed to be is in the classroom, to make sure our youngest generation won’t become even further removed from the industry that feeds them. Thanks to this duo, the footage will be delivered to classrooms nationwide as a part of the National Ag in the Classroom curriculum. Jody says it is lessons like these that are critical to the future of agriculture. “Farmers have always been such hardworking people. Now, we’ve had to teach them in agribusiness to talk about what they are doing and to be transparent. That’s what we expect from farmers. It is critical in a sense that we have so many generations not growing up on a farm and getting dirt under their nails,” she shares. The documentary team secured funding from New Holland Agriculture and the U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. to develop the educational phase of the project. In the end, there will be seven lessons that will meet national curriculum standards and will focus on wheat production, harvest, career opportunities and labor issues within the industry. The video lessons should be ready to launch sometime in 2016.
It’s a lesson that Jody and Melody know is an important one.

With each viewing, it means one more person has a little deeper understanding of the men and women that fuel our existence. Jody sums it up by saying, “It’s absolutely critical. We as a country are not hungry enough. We truly take our food for granted.”

 

THE GREAT AMERICAN WHEAT HARVEST

To get your copy of this telling documentary, visit greatamericanwheatharvest.com.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Montana exports about 80% of its total wheat production overseas, heading for the most part to Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and South Korea.
• Montana, in the past ten years, has produced an average of 150 million bushels of wheat each year. One bushel can provide the flour to bake up roughly 45 loaves of bread.

A Thanksgiving Tribute from the Great American Wheat Harvest documentary film Team

On behalf of the Great American Wheat Harvest Documentary Film Team, we wanted to say “Thank You” for all the hospitality we have received while filming and promoting this national treasure project. We've traveled throughout the Wheat Belt to share the vision for the film.  What has resonated with all of us is the deep appreciation that those with a connection to agriculture have for their rich diverse cultural heritage.  We met so many who work hard every day, if not for anything else, just for the pure love and passion for what they do!

Along with my national executive co-coordinator, Melody Dobson, it has been an honor to work on this national treasure project.  Under the direction of award-winning filmmaker, Conrad Weaver, the documentary will become a reality March 2014.  Conrad has logged more than 70,000 air- and 30,000 driving-miles in 2013 alone, capturing the harvest from Texas to North Dakota to the Northwest and across the U.S. border into Canada.  He also worked with many individuals within the industry from manufacturing, research, marketing and education.  You can keep updated on the film’s progress and our upcoming Premiere Screening schedule at GreatAmericanWheatHarvest.com.

This Thanksgiving, when we sit down at our tables and enjoy the fellowship of family and friends, we will have a true appreciation for the amount of people, energy and work it takes to make “Our Daily Bread”.  We tip our hats and salute all who have had a part in putting food on our tables. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. 

To show our gratitude, please enjoy a special Thanksgiving Tribute message from Conrad Weaver, Owner, ConjoStudios, LLC; and the Great American Wheat Harvest Documentary Film National Co-Coordinators, Jody L. Lamp and Melody Dobson.

With much Gratitude from Team GAWH...Happy Thanksgiving!

Jody, Melody and Conrad

Agricultural Education ~ We'll Reap What We Sow

As we settle into the new school year and the concept of having a child old enough to attend junior high, my husband and I have been asked several times why we chose to send our son to the smaller "country" school in nearby Shepherd, rather than within our own "city" Billings Public School District #2.

Well....there are several reasons, but none of which had anything to do with convenience. First, the city school district bus comes directly to our driveway. Unfortunately, the Shepherd district bus does not, so one of us must either drive our son the 10 miles to and from the school everyday; or one mile to the nearest Shepherd bus stop drop one hour before school and one hour after school; or simply make other arrangements until he's old enough to drive himself. So far, we seem to be adjusting to this new transportation juggling.


So, nix the convenience factor and our decision basically has everything to do with more educational and organizational choices. "What??!!" you say? The smaller country school offers MORE, or at the very least, different educational choices than the largest city school district in the state of Montana?? Yes! Specifically, vocational agricultural classes and an organization chapter affiliated with a little, okay let's say, BIG national organization that boasts nearly 560,000 members and 7,500 state chapters called, the Future Farmers of America....or a.k.a...FFA! Yes...the smaller school offers these choices!

"There are two things that make goose bumps go up and down my back: one is Old Glory flying over the nation's capitol when I walk by it at night, and the other is when I see FFA members in their blue jackets. I get an emotional feeling because FFA lifted me out of the depths of poverty and personal problems to the halls of Congress."  Wes Watkins, former U.S. congressman from Oklahoma and former president of the Oklahoma FFA Association.

Agriculture ~ Montana's Largest Industry

 With the average size farm or ranch at 2,068 acres, Montana currently ranks 5th in the U.S. for lamb production and 6th for wool production and leads the U.S. in organic production for dry peas, durum wheat, and spring wheat.
Statistics and photo  from the Montana Dept. of Agriculture.

When I think about agricultural education being offered in our Montana public schools, I have to wonder why the Billings Public Schools, which serves about 16,000 students in grades K-12 in 30 different schools located across the city, don't offer these courses. After all, the latest statistics from the Montana Dept. of Agriculture website indicates that agriculture continues to be Montana's largest industry with nearly $3 billion in income generated on more than 29,000 farm and ranches.

Wheat and beef account for about three-fourths of the state’s agricultural receipts, but pulse crops such as peas and lentils are gaining ground. Other crops include barley (#3 in U.S.), honey (#5 in U.S.), and oilseeds such as safflower and canola. Montana also is known for its hay, sweet cherries, sugar beets, and seed potatoes.

I'm certain that Billings Public School District #2 officials would inform me that my children could still get "agriculture" education options by sending them to the Career Center. However, course work there is only available to sophomores, juniors and seniors. And, even at that, I can't say I'm too impressed with the "urban agricultural" classes offered there, including:

Botany

Course Description: This course is designed for the student that has a genuine interest in the “Green Industry” with an emphasis on plants and environmental factors that affect them. Learning will take place through a combination of indoor/outdoor laboratory activities.

Environmental Studies

Course Description: A one or two-semester course in which students examine the complex ecological, sociological and political problems created by human interaction with the Earth’s environment.

Luckily, for parents like us who live on the west or east outskirts, we can apply to have our children go out of district to either Laurel or Shepherd. Here's what the Shepherd offers:

Agricultural Education: A sequential set of course offerings for students 7-12. The programs is designed to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience in and about agriculture. Ag Ed prepares students for further eduction, self-employment, entry-level jobs and consumer awareness in the agriculture industry. Courses currently offered: Agriculture Education 1, 2, 3 &4; Ag Construction, Horticulture and Jr. High Wood Shop.

Thank you President Lincoln!

Vocational Agricultural, as it was formerly called, started in Montana in 1917 with the passing of the Smith-Hughes Vocation Education Act of 1917. But even before that,  I can't help but think of and thank Abraham Lincoln for his contribution to agriculture education. The Morrill Act, which would provide a federal grant of 30,000 acres of public land for each senator and representative in Congress to establish land-grant colleges, was first proposed in 1857 by Congressman Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont, and was passed by Congress in 1859. However, it was vetoed by President James Buchanan.

Meanwhile in 1858, Abraham Lincoln, a "prairie lawyer" in Springfield, Ill., was using the  Farmers' Almanac 's for one his most notable criminal trials. He defended William "Duff" Armstrong, who was on trial for the murder of James Preston Metzker. According to Wikipedia, the case is famous for Lincoln's use of a fact established by judicial notice to challenge the credibility of an eyewitness. After an opposing witness testified seeing the crime in the moonlight, Lincoln produced the Farmers' Almanac to show that  the moon was at a low angle, drastically reducing visibility. Based on this evidence, Armstrong was acquitted.
  
In 1859, Milton W. Reynolds, editor of the Nebraska City News, had this to say about establishing a colleges of agriculture and studying the act of "farming":

"One of the most visionary, impractical, unnecessary and useless schemes for the political self-aggrandizement that was ever thought of, is this of building agricultural colleges all over the country. They are a sinecure, perfectly useless, absolutely detrimental. We want the sturdy bone and sinew, the strong arms and and stout beard, to cultivate our soil, not gentleman farmers, kid-gloved, cologne-scented and pampered gentry, with a smattering of science -- with a strong compounded laziness. Agricultural colleges have been tried and have resulted in miserable....failures."

Milton W. Reynolds (1823-1890) - Writer, politician and newspaper publisher, 

Reynolds was editor of the Nebraska City News until 1861.

 

Thankfully, Abraham Lincoln didn't feel the same at Milton Reynolds. Nearly a year before he was elected the 16th President of the United States, Lincoln addressed the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society:

"This leads to the further reflection, that no other human 
occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and 
agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought, 
as agriculture. I know of nothing so pleasant to the mind, 
as the discovery of anything which is at once new and 
valuable -- nothing which so lightens and sweetens toil, 
as the hopeful pursuit of such discovery. And how vast, 
and how varied a field is agriculture, for such discovery. 
The mind, already trained to thought, in the country 
school, or higher school, cannot fail to find there 
an exhaustless source of profitable enjoyment."
Abraham Lincoln

In 1861, Morrill resubmitted the act with the amendment that the proposed institutions would teach military tactics, along with engineering and agriculture. Aided by the secession of many states that did not support the plans, this reconfigured Morrill Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862.

Sow the Seed, Reap the Harvest
This past week at Harvest Church, we wrapped up a lesson series called, "7 Laws of the Harvest". Our pastor gave examples of what we understand from the natural world and how it translates and puts into perspective our personal spiritual walk. He reminded us that we can't put seed in the ground one day, and expect to harvest it the very next day. It takes time, patience, cultivating, nurturing and some weed pulling. And sometimes....when we've done everything right, we will reap more than we sow. So, here's the lesson...be careful what you sow. Sow little...reap little. Sow lots....reap lots. Sow bad....reap bad. Sow good...reap good.

Continue to take agricultural education out of our school curriculum....we're left with a bunch a kids who grow up to be adults that think their food comes from the grocery store. Worse yet...we have people with no agricultural background making policies and regulations telling those who do know how to farm and ranch how they should be operating their businesses.

I admit that our "sports-broadcasting" fanatic 7th grader may never take after his mother's love and enthusiasm for agriculture or pursue a vocation specific to agriculture. And that's okay with me. But what my husband and I hope to do by sending him to a school that offers elective agricultural courses, is to instill in him the knowledge, appreciation and understanding of this industry and the hard work and energy it takes to make our nation's food. Here's praying we are never hungry enough to take food for granted. I hope when our son is out in the "real world", our little "Lamp" may be a beacon of light for another child or adult who can come to know and understand what generations of America's farmers and ranchers and those associated with agricultural have done to produce and maintain an abundant, safe and affortable food supply in our country.

It sad to me that the largest city and the largest school district in our state does not offer agricultural education and FFA to the extent that its smaller, neighboring schools do. I'm grateful for the school options and food choices we enjoy today. All we know how to do and to keep doing is "planting the seeds" of agricultural education where it needs to grow.

"Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up," Galations 6:9

Montana FFA was chartered in 1930 as the 38th state to join the National FFA Organization.

Proud to be a parent of a junior high FFA member and  NEW Shepherd FFA Alumni Member!

News and Updates from the Producer/Director of the Great American Wheat Harvest documentary film

 

 We're in the middle of wheat harvest season across the country and our film crew has been traveling and capturing footage and interviews with harvesters, farmers, and others involved in the wheat industry. Check out our Facebook page to see photos and updates from our journeys! We've been to the following places: Vernon, TX; Guymon, OK; Canadian, TX; Shattuck, OK; Garden City, KS; Leoti, KS; Colby, KS; Goodland, KS; & Limon, CO. Check out the map of our path on the right.

 

Here's our upcoming schedule and tentative locations:

July 22-24: Imperial and Scottsbluff, NE
July 25-27: Wall, SD and surrounding area
July 28-30: Billings, MT and surrounding area

 

 

T-Shirts are Available! We've put together an awesome design for a T-shirt promoting the Great American Wheat Harvest film. Orders are coming in quickly from all over the world! It's amazing to see how many people around the world are interested in our film! Be sure to order your T-shirt here.

Sponsorships Available We've recently announced that A Total Manufacturing Company has joined us as a Silver Sponsor! With its roots deep in the agriculture industry, TMCO and National Manufacturing work with wheat breeders, food research laboratories, universities and companies worldwide that all have direct links to the food supply chain. We're so grateful for their support!   NOW is a great time for your company to join us as a sponsor! We're looking for Producer's Club level sponsors and we're looking for someone to step up an become our first GOLD Level sponsor.   For more information about all of our sponsorship opportunities, please contact me, National Executive Co-Coordinators, Jody L. Lamp at 406-698-9675 or send an email to: jody@greatamericanwheatharvest.com   To make a contribution now, click here:  Thank you and hope to see you as we travel North with the harvest crews!

 

It's Not Where We Start! It's Where We Finish!

As we look forward to 2013 with plans and resolutions...I am motivated to reflect on several moments from 2012 to not only encourage myself to never settle for what masquerades superficially as "What Is", but rather to focus on "What Is Yet To Come!" Hence...the title of this blog post: "It's Not Where We Start! It's Where We Finish!"

What I discovered and appreciated with the start of a new year was the opportunity to reevaluate and refocus my career goals. With prayer, guidance, amazing love from my Lord, family and friends, I started this “Bright Ideas! Brighter Future!” blog and renewed my Lamp Public Relations & Marketing business. Through those actions, I met "life changing" people and made strides that I never imagined possible. With that said, here's a reflection and dedication of my Top 7.5 Audacious New Year Ideas that may be life-changing for you too:

1. Reconnect with Friends/Business Acquaintances: If you escaped the holiday season without sending any Christmas cards or writing an annual family letter...use the month of January to reconnect with friends and business acquaintances and tell them what your goals are for the new year. By doing this in early 2012, I was able to help with the publicity of two local media/public relations events ~ one for the Harlem Globetrotters through MetraPark and one for Women of Faith. Also, by June...a grade school friend connected me and my business with a friend of hers who was looking for some strategic marketing and planning expertise for her new business, Prairie Preservations

One of the publicity stops with Harlem Globetrotters Ant Atkinson allows time for my kiddos to come meet this basketball hero.

2. Use Social Media to Expand Your Network: Since starting my Twitter account at  (https://twitter.com/lampprpro) in Nov. 2010 at the annual American Agri-Women convention, I've significantly expanded my circle of influence.  For example, during a February weekly online Twitter chat through AgChat Foundation,  a farmer-led foundation "empowering a connected community of agvocates", I connected with an independent, Maryland-based filmmaker, Conrad Weaver of ConjoStudios, who reached out to me about helping him market and promote a project called the Wheat Harvest Movie (now called the Great American Wheat Harvest documentary film). Knowing the scope and magnitude a project like this would entail, I was able to connect with a local independent communications consultant and in April we collaborated our businesses for this project and were named the National Executive Co-Coordinators. 

 3. Appreciate Where You've Been...So, You Know Where You Can Go:  The Great American Wheat Harvest documentary film allowed me and Team GAWH several opportunities to travel back to my hometown area of western Nebraska. Growing up near Scottsbluff and having been away from the area for more than 20 years, I never imagined a national/international project would have hometown ties. I consider it an honor and privilege to have come from such a stable and encouraging upbringing, so I am able to take that experience and enthusiasm with me wherever I go. One of our trips to Scottsbluff included working with Teresa Scanlan Miss America 2011, who hails from Scottsbluff/Gering, on a public service announcement and appearing with her and the filmmaker on KNEB Radio to promote the film.

Above: Teresa Scanlan Miss America 2011 and Jody Lamp, National Executive Co-coordinator, Great American Wheat Harvest documentary film. Below: Conrad Weaver of ConjoStudios; Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011; and Jody Lamp of Lamp Public Relations & Marketing, appear with Kevin Mooney of KNEB Radio on News Extra.

Co

4. Find Your Passion to Empower Others: While working throughout the spring and summer developing and implementing the strategic marketing plan and fund development program for the film, for a few months I also wrote a weekly agricultural-based column for the Gering Citizen newspaper. With the help of national AAW president, Karen Yost, in May, my business partner and I were able to work once again in western Nebraska with local business leaders to help start a NEW AAW affiliate ~ the Western Nebraska Agri-Women.

New members, congressional and AAW representatives at the inaguration of the NEW Western Nebraska Agri-Women event in Scottsbluff/Gering, NE

5. Believe the Unbelievable...... Believe that you will meet people you have never met before...Believe you will go places, see and do things you never dreamed about before...And most of all...believe in your strengths and capabilities. One of the most spectacular things I  got to witness this past year was the Guinness World Record Breaking Harvest For Kids event when farmers from many different communities in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan area came together to bring in a record harvest of 249 combines rolling down the field in front of thousands of spectators all with the goal of bringing hope to kids around the world through Children’s Camps International. (the following photos appear courtesy of Harvest For Kids)

6. Invest Time in Yourself:  Even if your travel schedule overwhelms you or you think it's selfish to take a break from your family to concentrate on a personal project or dream...DO IT ANYWAY! You'll never regret the time you take to spend time alone. In a blog post I wrote earlier this year called, "STOP!! Smell the Roses!" I shared how my business partner and I carved out two extra days after some business travel to concentrate on our personal projects. My project is four years of researching, organizing and writing of a historical period in the development of our nation's horse/agricultural industries. I continue to be fascinated by my findings and encouraged to press on. I highly recommend never putting off doing today what may not be here tomorrow.  Life is too short and fleeting to take casually. 

 

7. Continue To Learn....School is Never Out for the Pro: Globally and locally, agriculture faces an ongoing plethora of challenges ~ productive landmass decline, food production practices, government regulations, consumer awareness or lack thereof....As I've traveled and worked with my fellow agricultural enthusiasts, organizations and associations throughout the United States and Canada, I'm inspired to pursue a master's degree in leadership education. While researching several options, I've already inquired and met with chairperson at my alma mater's University of Nebraska-Lincoln's department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication. What are you doing to increase and expand your knowledge base?


7.5  And lastly....Never Be Afraid to Let Your "Light" Shine: Even when we think no one is looking...someone is always watching to see how we will rise to occasion, respond to a situation or how we will step out boldly to lead the charge. If you're not satisfied with where your life/career/family goals are at this moment...remember..."It's Not Where We Start! It's Where We Finish!" that counts. I leave you with one of my favorite quotes and bid you a prosperous new year! Go MAKE great things happen in 2013:

Our Deepest Fear

by Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

 Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. 

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. 

We are all meant to shine, as children do. 

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

How I Spend My Sept. 11's since 2001

I believe like most Americans do on this day since Sept. 11, 2001, I spend today reflecting and appreciating the blessings in my life: my parents, my husband, my children, my family, my friends, my country, and most of all, my relationship with my Lord and Savior.

One of the most famous pictures from 9/11, photo of three firemen raising the American flag at the site of the World Trade Center attacks. Shot by Thomas E. Franklin, of The Bergen Record, the photo first appeared on Sept 12, 2001 under the title, Ground Zero Spirit. The paper also put it on the Associated Press wire and it appeared on the covers of several newspapers around the world. The photo was a finalist in 2002 for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news photography.

Sept 11, 2001 ~  
"Where were you when the world stopped turning ....on that September day?"

The north face of Two World Trade Center (south tower) immediately after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175

I will be forever grateful that on that particular Tuesday morning, my day began like nearly every other day had been for me the previous four years.When my husband and I moved to Montana in 1997, the Milwaukee, WI/Lincoln, NE-based public relations and advertising agency I worked for then ~ Bader Rutter & Associates ~ allowed me the opportunity to continue working with them and set up an office in my home.

My husband had already left for work and our nine-month-old son was playing on the living room floor when I turned on NBC News in New York City to watch Katie, Matt, Ann and Al and catch the morning news. By that time, five hijackers had already crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower. I called my mom in Nebraska to see if she had been watching the news earlier that morning and had heard anything. She hadn't, so we said our "love you's" and hung up. Soon after, I watched in shocked as another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower.

At that point, I picked up my son and held him as tightly as I could. I knew what was happening could be no accident. I started to rock him more for my own comfort than his. Through tears, I prayed, "Dear Lord ~ please be with all those babies whose mommies and daddies went to work in those Towers today."

I called my husband's work and was talking with his boss when the five hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon. There was no doubt that our country was under attack and would never be the same.

 What Are You Thankful For Today?

What I was thankful for in 2001 and what I am thankful for and passionate about in 2012 has only intensified. Beyond the blessings I mentioned earlier, I consider it great honor and privilege that I continue to work with individuals and businesses in the public relations and marketing field advocating, promoting, educating, and sharing information about all aspects of agriculture.

Everyday I awaken with an attitude of gratitude for the ability to live and work in these United States of America. Herein lies my passion:

Meeting up with my fellow ag advocate and dear friend, Heidi Nelson of Harvest PR & Marketing, at the Ag Media Summit in Albuquerque, NM

"Amber Waves of Grain" ~ The beauty of an eastern Montana wheat field right before harvest

Talking with  Conrad Weaver, executive film director for the Great American Wheat Harvest (Wheat Harvest Movie) documentary film, and Tracy Zeorian of Zeorian Harvesting & Trucking, who was here all the way from Manley, NE to harvest spring wheat with her husband, Jim, near Jordan, MT. I wore my Husker hat and shirt to make Tracy & Jim feel at home. Melody Dobson, my business partner and national executive co-coordinator on GAWH took the pic.

Taking a pic of my co-National Executive Coordinator, Melody Dobson, as we meet up with the Zeorian Harvesting Crew, who are featured in the Great American Wheat Harvest documentary film trailer.

May We Never Forget 

This week as I travel to Nebraska for Husker Harvest Days and Kansas with my co-National Executive Coordinator to represent the Great American Wheat Harvest, I find myself recommitted, dedicated and driven to fulfilling the purpose of the life God has granted me. I love what I do. I hope that you in turn love what you're doing, love who your are becoming and love who you are yet to become.

The events of 9/11/2001 are a reminder to us all that life is too short not to love every minute of it.

"Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: 

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.” -- President George W. Bush September 11, 2001.

 "Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones

And pray for the ones who don't know?

Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble

And sob for the ones left below?

Did you burst out with pride for the red, white and blue

And the heroes who died just doin' what they do?

Did you look up to Heaven for some kind of answer

And look at yourself and what really matters?"

"But I know Jesus and I talk to God

And I remember this from when I was young

Faith, Hope and Love are some good things He gave us

And the greatest is Love......." 

Lyrics from "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning" by Alan Jackson