A recent Friday evening saw an active Young Farmer group from Ingham County converge on High Caliber at the Meridian Mall in Okemos for an evening of axe throwing.
“Not to brag but I’m pretty good at axe-throwing,” said Nicole Jennings, MFB’s new[ish] District 5 Regional Manager. “Go-cart racing, on the other hand, I am NOT awesome at!”
Spirited matches of football bowling rounded out the evening, which despite a light turnout was still deemed a success given the weather conditions and time of year.
“At any Young Farmer-sanctioned event you can usually anticipate an extreme amount of fun, and Ingham’s Young Farmers proved to be no exception,” Jennings said.
Even despite a minor incident involving bumper cars detouring onto the go-cart track, Ingham County’s Young Farmers met or exceeded any reasonable expectations for enjoyment. And in true Farm Bureau fashion, everyone went home well-fed as well.
“Especially in a time when socializing has been challenging, our younger members are showing that events like this are not only possible but really needed,” Jennings said. “We all get wrapped up in the challenges of everyday life — a difficult harvest, the stress of a job that’s way more than a job... But our Young Farmers are showing a lot of resilience and are holding on to the fun of their involvement.
“They have gotten back to the basics of what brings people together: a chance to talk, have fun and finding the joy in gathering.”
Jennings joined the MFB staff in 2018 and until recently was Regional Manager in District 9, working with members of the Benzie-Manistee, Mason, Missaukee, Northwest Michigan and Wexford County Farm Bureaus.
But she grew up on a cash grain farm southwest of Flint in Genesee County, so she couldn’t resist moving closer to home when the equivalent position opened up in District 5: Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Ingham and Shiawassee counties.