My Turn!
THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
The Great News is that I have been asked to speak more than a few words at the Press Publish Conference in Portland, Oregon on March 28th – 2015. I know most of you knew that already but I thought I would make it all official and also tell you a little of what I am going to speak about.
When I first saw the email from Andrea Middleton and Jen Mylo asking me to consider talking to them about coming to a conference with Press Publish – I almost deleted it thinking it was junk mail. ( I am so sorry Andrea! You almost ended up on the cutting room floor!) Have you ever had a delay in your head when you read something and it is so NOT what you expected to read – then there is a blank moment, then a few seconds later you cock your head and look back and think about what you just read and have to dive for the rubbish bin to retrieve it and read it properly this time, thank you very much? Or is that just me?
I was visiting Wellington, in New Zealand my home country – cooking homemade tomato sauces for the great lasagna feast. My mind had eased right down into that gentle kitchen cruise. I had just put two baking dishes, loaded with whole well oiled and salted garlic, into the oven to roast, I was heady with the scent of fresh, local garlic and crushed basil. Or was that the wine? Anyway – Random ideas swirling in pictures about my head with words floating behind them like bubbles, my inner score on full glorious sound. I had talked to nobody but tomatoes for hours. Then there was this email asking me to speak Out Loud.
To write is one thing. To Speak is quite another.
Now – I thought. Then I read it again. This. This is one of those offers one must grab with both hands. I thought. But being at a loss for words, I said – Hmm.
(If I have this correct – Andrea and Jen, who are organising and managing these conferences, work for Automattic. Automattic hosts WordPress. Wheels within Wheels.) Brilliant isn’t it!
And what will I be talking about?
Spinning the Yarn: I will be telling you, in person, the journey I took that brought me to blogging about my farm. I will tell a little of my history. Our histories build the path we walk upon. I don’t mean our fathers or grandmother’s history (though that is important too) – I mean us – Our Lives are our strength. We are living in an instant pudding world. We do not have time to be victims of our lives, we need to live in our lives and lean on all the relationships we have built, all the knowledge we have collected, then turn the corner and stride along swinging our arms using that knowledge as fuel. Fuel for the Benevolent Monster. (You have heard me talk of him before – that is for sure). Yes, I will tell a little of that. 
We are never still, life is always in motion. Like our hearts and our imaginations. So I will try to stick to the plan.
The concept I want to explore in Portland is that of Relationships. When I say relationships I mean the relationships with our Histories and with our Bodies and with our Food and with our Cars and with our Health and with our Mothers or our Readers or our Work and with our Keyboard and with our Journals and with our Lovers or our Dogs or some of those or all of the above and much, much more. I think that these relationships and the communication lines we develop BETWEEN these relationships become our vehicle. Our benevolent monster. Then we place our two legged monster, full of relationships chattering away, on a road built with our histories and stories and we gambol along gathering. Relationships are critical to Balance. Balance! Balance in our lives is a Talk in itself.. maybe another day. Imagine being wide awake and seeing these relationships.
So My Talk will begin with those stories, the stories of my youth, where my little self came from. My gamboling. How I grew up surrounded in people and noise. Stories of my growing Up self. How so many of the relationships I developed, or strangled as the case may be, how they all met at a certain crossroads and I turned left and suddenly came to the prairies and its empty fields. And it was all suddenly very quiet. How the farm and my cow and that deep quiet brought me to blogging and to you. And how you brought all your histories and knowledge to my blog, and the relationships we developed taught me and supported me in the farming and keep me honest.
The Fellowship is why I am going to this conference. You build my strength.
Then I will teach those wonderful people at the conference How To Think Like A Cow. Though I will not make them re-chew their food. Or moo. There will be no mooing.
The line up of speakers for the Press Publish conference in Oregon is extraordinary. I have to admit to being a little in awe of my fellow speakers. They know the stuff I don’t even know I don’t know. I am more of a Whisperer than a Speaker. Hopefully they will give me amplification. And for those of you who are closer to Phoenix than Portland, there is another conference there. Not me, but some pretty clever and interesting speakers to further develop the relationships we have within the blogging community.
We love new challenges you and I.
Love your friend – almost back at the farmy
celi
PS Tomorrow we zoom across to the UK for a look at an old farm there. The last farm in this series. We should have called this series Old Farms in a Modern World because I for one, and you too I think, have gained quite an insight from each contributor into how small farms are managing in a big farm climate.
This coming Sunday (the US Sunday) I travel back to the prairies. The tundra. It takes all day so I will leave here at 5.15 am and I should be home back out on the prairies by about 8pm. But I will check all the animals before I go to bed. And check in with you on Monday morning.
Then I am home until the weekend of the 28th of March when you can find me in Portland, Oregon.
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
122 responses to “Press Publish calls Miss C”
Hearty Huzzahs! You must visit Powell’s Book Store – make the powers that be give you at least a good hour!
Is it open on Sunday? Saturday will be deliciously packed!
yes; powells is book lover’s urban pilgrimage
WIsh I could be there – just to see you soar. You’re miles ahead of other, Ci. What they know is not what you know. You see and use what you use what you’ve lived – many never learn to do that. Some may teach skill, you teach life – blogging is there, but not all that there is. (Hope that make some sense.)
If even one learns to think like a cow, then they and the world moooves better. (can you set your phone down to record session – then post on blog? With all the WP geeks there, it would be hard to imagine someone isn’t thinking ahead)
Smiles and hugs!
I hate the sound of my voice recorded.. it is so weird! My evolutionary widgits have not caught up with hearing my own voice on a device yet.. I will ask Andrea and will let you know.. thank you Mouse! c
I know what you mean by hearing your own spoken voice. I never sound like I think I sound.
Ah, but on the stage, you can select whatever character voice you choose and be whomever you choose to project! (the only way I was able to teach judgmental secondary kids)
(laughing) Oh yep
I am so proud of you! Graduations! You are perfect. The perfect person to speak for all of us, your farmy blog followers!
Linda ♪♫❤
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
speaking For you. why yes.. that is a wonderful thought .. thank you Linda
I remember, Celi, when you started blogging. I remember you writing about the loneliness of a woman who lived not too far from you who just couldn’t take anymore “alone”. Isn’t it interesting – if her story was a big impetus for catapulting you into the blogosphere, what a gift she gave you and your readership! Plus…oh gads, here I go…since I believe that those who’ve transitioned are aware when we bring them into our awareness, your adventure and success will expand her on-going soul with love and gratitude.
We so easily and simply forget how our seemingly simple lives can impact so many and so much.
Listen, lady, you better be prepared to teach us how to think like a cow! If I missed that…what’s the link?! Meanwhile, get up there and brag about all your smart readers who recognized a good time when it showed up as a blog!
thank you for such a lovely comment.. you are so good.. here is the link to thinking like a cow.. it is about loading a cow onto a trailer gently.. https://thekitchensgarden.com/2015/02/13/think-like-a-cow/
Oh boy, now there’s a tight band around my chest. You did such a caring and fabulous job – being so thoughtful of her – that it makes me wonder how on earth she’ll manage in other surroundings. See, I know she’ll miss you like stink, Celi. Animals do – I’m sorry if that makes you sad, too, but did you tell the new owner the number of eyes and hearts that will be on him with ONE report of carelessness?
she is a resilient soul too.. c
I so want to be a fly on the wall at that Conference but alas it is not possible. I am glad there will be some representatives from the comments lounge to represent us. Your talk sounds wonderful, but we know that from the gems you produce on a daily basis. Just relax and enjoy. In the meantime, we await to welcome you back to the land of real mooing and piggy grunts. Safe journey.
If you flew in (from the part of UK that is really Irish) we would ALL be at the airport waiting for YOU!.. c
What a wonderful welcome that would be! I’ll dream about it tonight, if I manage to sleep. Three nights in succession with only half an hour sleep each, is not good for the looks, mood or ticker. Alas, I think I picked up a bug last weekend when in Dublin (real Ireland) for a tragic funeral. A bagful of warm sunshine would doa power of good. Celi, you could make a fortune if you could bottle sunshine!
Congratulations Celi, you’ll blow their socks off. Sorry I’ve been out of touch, Nanette and I have been/are dealing with Tropical Cyclone Marcia. So far, I’m fine and undamaged, and I’m waiting to hear how Nanette fared in the night…
oh no.. those storms.. glad to hear you came through unscathed.. c
Apart from some loose tin on the shed roof, which is nothing. Now we worry about Nanette getting flooded in.
Kate, as I write – late Saturday evening, Marcia, which is now a depression, has crossed the border and is heading east out to sea. I live an hour west from Nanette in Murwillumbah so her weather is very similar to ours. After weeks of showers and then the east coast low which dumped 200ml in the last 3 days, I think we can thank our lucky stars we didn’t cop Marcia too. Droughts and flooding rains eh? Joy
“Her beauty and her terror, the Wide Brown Land for me”… I guess if you love Australia, you have to take the (very) rough with the smooth! We are extremely fortunate to live in this great country, and even more fortunate that we’ve escaped one of her tantrums!
I look forward to exploring your country one day.. Of course I have been to the cities, but more i would love to see more.. c
Oh Celi, there’ll never be enough time for seeing everything Australia has to offer. She has the lot. If I didn’t have family and friends overseas, I’d never leave again. Everything from hot, dry red desert to cool drippy ancient forests, from glorious beaches to glorious cities… I’ll die still discovering some new thing to stun and excite me.
Oh my Celi … what a magic post. I love the phrase ‘instant pudding world’. How very true. Your speech will be perfect and so very enlightening, I’m so sorry I won’t be able to be in the audience as I would love to. I would nudge the person sitting next to me and say proudly ‘I know Celi’. Congratulations lovely
Oh Julie, that is such a sweet image.. c
The audience, if not part of The Fellowship currently certainly will be after your talk, and maybe even be persuaded to moo… if you’re happy and you know it moo like a cow… nothing wrong with being a little foolish…
I saw the following quote on Pinterest this morning and it has inspired me…
“I must learn to love the fool in me–the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of my human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my Fool.” ― Theodore I. Rubin
I love it when everyone shares wise and inspiring words 🙂
Just wonderful! c
Congratulations! Have a good trip back!
I hope so, it will be good to get back!.. c
That may be the first time for a big speaking appearance for you in the States, Celi: I am certain it will be but the beginning . . . you better get used to listening to your voice recorded! Love your juxtaposition of the family photos in your inimitable way with the précis of the story you are preparing to tell . . .
Morning Eha darling.. life is full of surprises isn’t it!?
You are a wonderful writer and thinker and do-er, Celi. We can all learn from the things you say.
And we all learn from each other.. have a lovely day.. c
Congratulations Celi, and I know you will be a strong speaker because when you talk about what you love, the words will just spring out of your mouth. And if it helps, just imagine the audience as being The Fellowship – hey look, there’s Julie from Frogpond Farm, and Viv in France, and Grannymar, we will all be there and you will delight everyone!
I am not surprised, Celi. Simply wonderful!
Thank you Lynda.. c
Connect with your passion and you can’t go wrong. Enjoy yourself! this is wonderful and a natural extension of what you are already doing.
I think so too, it feels like the next step, .. c
Cool! What a bit of Portlandia to get a feel for the city 😉