Words cannot express the fun that was had this weekend! You Real Foodies know how it is to feel like the lone weirdo when no one else in your world drinks raw milk or knows the truth about how good butter is for us. Well not here. The Wise Traditions conference is in the land of milk and honey. (Both raw of course.) It’s a place where others put even more butter on their bread than you do and no one bats an eye. It’s a place where farmers and chefs who are growing, raising and cooking our REAL FOOD get well-deserved standing ovations from the grateful crowd. It’s a place where you feel like you’re coming to a family reunion each year, and you can’t wait to hug your old friends again.
It gets better…
And in this strange, beautiful land, to top it all off, is the ultimate joy for a Real Foodie blogger: to be surrounded by other Real Foodie bloggers who GET IT. They get the thrill when a reader comes up to hug you and thank you for helping them heal and be done with chronic issues they’ve lived with for years; they get the frustration of technical issues and the sleep deprivation; they get the way your heart does flip-flops when Mark McAfee walks by andsmiles at us sitting at our Real Food Media table or when Jeffrey Smith does his happy dance because we shared our potato chips fried in lard with him; or when new sponsors are seeking us out because they’re excited to work with us so we can get their amazing products out to people who want Real Food and products that won’t make them sick; or when we get to meet our current sponsors who we’ve interacted with via email for months or years and are finally able to hug them!
Wow, I could go on all day, and I haven’t even started gushing yet about the FOOD, the mouth-watering unbelievably delicious FOOD! (Speaking of the food, pictured at right are myself and the CHEF extraordinaire, Amanda Love!) I’ll share more pictures soon on my Facebook page, including shots of the blogger panel discussion I got to be a part of – so fun!
Hey, look who else I got to finally meet in person, my until-now online friend, Jo-Lynne from the Musings of a Housewife and Eat Local Philly blogs! She lives nearby and decided to come at the last minute. It seemed like we’ve been friends for years. 🙂
I was going to go on the local farm tour on Monday, but the return time cut it too close to when I needed to be at the airport. It’s tricky when you want to do it all. All weekend everyone had what Sally called a ‘good problem': not being able to choose which talk to hit. So Chris from Chaffin Orchards and I would pop in and out of a few different talks and Tweet them up, he’s was so much fun to hang with. (Here we are ooh-ing and ah-ing looking at Viewfinder slide pictures of next year’s conference hotel in DALLAS!)
MORE BIG NEWS that I am SO excited about – go check out this post to see who won this year’s Weston Price Foundation activist awards!
There are more people that need to be appreciated for such a great weekend: the GAZILLION behind-the-scenes hard workers! I can't imagine how many people and how many HOURS it took to pull this off. THANK YOU ALL.
This next film clip, from “Farmageddon”, will make you crazy. It’s just wrong and makes me ask, “What country am I living in?! This can’t be America can it?!” This Friday I’ll show you how we, you and I and many others, can help to MAKE IT STOP. Stay tuned. (p.s. I also loved chatting with Kristin Canty, the filmmaker, this weekend – her movie will be out in early 2011!)
Were YOU here this weekend? Tell us how your experience was and how many times you've been to this conference?
Lisa @ Real Food Digest says
Hi Kelly!
It was so nice meeting you this weekend. I loved hanging out with all the Real Food bloggers. This was my first conference and I am hooked! I hope I can make it again next year. It’s a nice way to recharge when most of the time it can be isolating to be so passionate about the power of real food.
I also had a hard time choosing which sessions to do – but it is a “nice” problem to have.
KitchenKop says
Hi Lisa,
I loved meeting you, too, you are such a sweetheart. And I agree, once you go to the conference once, you can’t imagine ever missing again! 🙂
Kel
Tamara says
YAY!, i am SOO going next year, i live in Austin, TX so Dallas is VERY doable! 😀
Kelly says
I am so exited about the WAPF Conference being in Dallas next year – I live in Dallas! Whooo – hoooo!!
Raine Saunders says
Thanks for sharing this post, I haven’t had time to do one yet, but I am really enjoying all the pictures and stories from this amazing event. Thanks for everything Kelly, and it was great to meet you! 🙂 Hope you are doing well.
Jennifer says
I just watched that trailer for the
Michelle says
I am in San Antonio and I found my raw milk by searching realmilk.com and eatwild.com, localharvest.org also has good listings for farmers markets and CSA shares. My milk, beef, chicken and egg guy is in Alice, so that is probably a lot further than you want to go, but he comes to me here in SA.
Tamara says
Hey there, I live in Austin, TX and there’s a farm down near San Antonio that gets high regard in the area. Check it out at http://www.texascheese.com. I plan to drive down there JUST to stock up on raw cream (the farms near me only sell raw milk and raw cheeses).
HTH!
Amanda says
Wow!! Dallas!!!! I’m so excited! Only 2 hours from me also!! I can’t wait to experience that!
kristin Canty says
It was so great to hang with you this weekend Kelly! What you and the rest of the Real Food Media people are doing is amazing and inspiring. Thank you for posting the trailer and can’t wait to see you next year in Dallas but we’ll be in touch in the meantime!
XO
Kristin Canty
Kat says
Was great to meet you this year Kelly, and I’ll see you again at the next one!
The Mom says
It sounds like an amazing time! Maybe someday I’ll get to go. The Farmageddon clip is scary to watch. Most people have no idea that this is going on and what it means to them. I’m realizing more and more how much it impacts my life.
Jenni says
Dallas!?!? I’m sooo excited! I’m going to my first Wise Traditions Conference next year! Thanks for making my day Kelly.
Nancy says
Oh, my goodness, did I hear correctly?
Dallas Texas in 2011?
That is just a little over 2 hours from here!!!
I’m saving as well, it’s mt birthday week, I KNOW what to ask for ;o)
We were coming back from Rome, Italy. Saw Dr. Simoncini about my newly discovered cervical cancer and the alternative treatment we’re using AND did some chef research about the food and low obesity sightings..very informative all the way around.
Exciting to be living with and around real food and milk and LIFE!
Jennifer says
Is it really going to be in Dallas next year?!?!?!? I’ll start saving up now. I might be able to afford going next year.