Hello, my name is Christena Jenkins-Giffen, a Middlesex Junior Farmer for 5 years. I had the pleasure of going on a 3-week International Exchange in Scotland with JFAO this past summer. Welcome to part 2 of my 3-part blog post. In case you missed my first blog post; I can not rave enough on what a great experience this has been for me to connect with the Young Farmers in Scotland and to experience travel like a local. The best part of this exchange is all of the new friends I made while staying with hosts and becoming a part of their family. I was able to see a lot of Scotland having hosts in the East, West and North! And my first host brought me down to the South! Each host was involved in agriculture in some way or form. It was great to learn from them and get to know and be a part of their everyday lives, in addition to exploring their local treasures.
My Second host family was part of the Edinburgh JAC Young Farmers. I stayed with Rhona Forbes and her mom Lorraine in the big city of Edinburgh. I started my first day with them exploring the city in the afternoon and spending time at Rhona’s work getting to know her coworkers and some other interesting characters also visiting Scotland. We are now on day seven of my big adventure! Rhona and I went to the West Fife Show, one of Scotland’s oldest agricultural shows dating back more than 250 years! We a grand time at the event checking out everything. There were livestock competitions where they show in white lab coats unlike what I’m used to in 4-H showmanship back home and they had so many different breeds showcased! An interesting event I haven’t seen before was tractor football. It was very cool, they had a huge soccer ball (they call it a football) that tractors pushed around and try to score between bales! Another unique event was the Young Farmers Tug of War Competition. I really enjoyed seeing the East Region Tug of War Qualifiers where I saw Ashley Sparks, one of last years exchange delegates who came to Canada. They take this sport very seriously. It was quite intense to watch and cheer the teams on. We finished the day off at the Young Farmers’ Dance.
Rhona and her mom Lorraine are very passionate about their horses. I enjoyed walking their horses and watching Rhona do fun show jumping practice on several occasions. I particularly liked feeding them bananas (I didn’t realise it was such a treat for them)! On Day eight we saw some sheep shearing in the pasture and visited her Grandma who recommended seeing Dalhousie Castle on our way back. It was a lovely and relaxing day in Scotland.
On day nine, we started the day off with a baking bee. I shared my favourite (and famous back home) rum ball recipe with them and they loved them! Then we made Rhona’s trusted Rocky Road recipe and tried out a new one, Pink Lamingtons! I really enjoyed the new recipe. Not only did they look fancy, but they tasted really good. We brought some of these tasty treats to her Young Farmers’ Mock Auction meeting. This is something new to me, a mock auction is where you complete a valuation of the items listed and then bid on items with the goal of being under the value. It was a bit of a treasure hunt for me to find all of the items (and identify them/match them to the list), but my favourite part was the auction and hearing the actual value of items. I was often surprised by the value (it was hard accounting for the currency exchange) but also things are priced differently based on location. For example, there was a snowplough attachment which I thought, hey that’s cool, we have those! But the price was so much higher than I was anticipating because it isn’t a common piece of equipment there since they rarely get enough snow in that area. At the end of the meeting, we enjoyed warm meat pies for snack which were so good! We should have more hot snacks after meetings at home! Afterwards we went to see The Kelpies as the sun was going down which was gorgeous all lit up! I brought the Ontario Farmer newspaper with me and the newly acquired Scottish Farmer newspaper I picked up at my 1st host family’s home. Rhona and I (and her friend Lucy) took many photos and featured us reading the papers with the Kelpies in the background. It was a lot of fun posing and laughing together.
On day ten, Lorraine took me to see one of her favourite castles, Linlithgow Palace. On our walk up to the castle, we encounter so many different birds; ducks (my favourite), swans and even two Canadian geese! I didn’t realize there were Canadian Geese in Scotland. Once we got inside Linlithgow Palace, it was a bit of a maze. I was thoroughly enjoying going through and taking lots of pictures, but in my hunt for fun pictures I made the poor decision to split up to get a photo from above and got lost! We did find each other again, and yes, we got the photo I was after in the end. Afterwards, I met up with Rhona and we made the long drive to Hawick where we toured the Innovis (Innovative Sheep Breeding) Farm. We almost weren’t going to make the trip, but I am so glad we did. This was one of my favourite tours. Her friend Kate showed us how to take wool samples (for testing fibre microns (softness) and staple length). We check each young ewe (hoggs) with the tag reader which altered us if we needed a sample. Then selected a strand from the middle of the ewe for submitting. She explained how they measure and record everything from weaning weight and tail length to wool weight. It was really interesting to hear about how they get the best of the best genetics with all of their research and recording.
On Day eleven, we ventured to Innerwick to see the NSA Scotsheep Show. There were live demonstrations like the value-added carcass lamb butchering, stockjudging with the Young Farmers, and there was 32 sheep breed societies! There was so much to see and there were lots of vendors on site. There was a speed shearing competition which was incredible to watch. It was amazing to see how fast and precise they were with shearing the ewe hoggs. During the team competition, the winning duo sheared two ewe hoggs in under 1 minute and the winning individual sheared one in 29 seconds! He made it look easy and I know from my minimal experience shearing my 4-H lambs in the past, it is a tiring and difficult task!
On Day twelve, we conquered Arthur’s Seat, the highest peak in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park. It was a tough hike for me but well worth the trek up the rocky terrain. I took many rests along the way and enjoyed the panoramic view of the City of Edinburgh. We found the ruins of St Anthony’s Chapel along the way which was cool to see. I’m happy to say I didn’t fall along the way (I saw a few incidents as the rocks were loose in areas and I am usually one of the clumsier people). We then made our way back down, went to visit Rhona’s friend’s horses and nursey where I enjoyed smelling the flowers. I always feel at home with plants! Then we attended another Young Farmers’ Mock Auction. Since this was my second attempt at the Mock Auction, I feel I was better prepared and more comfortable in my participation. I made 3 successful bids this time (last time I won none)!
On day thirteen I said goodbye to the Forbes Family and headed to Alford on the train to meet my final host family. I had another amazing week in Scotland and added more great friends along the way. I have been so lucky to have this experience with the JFAO International Exchange Program. Once again, I cannot recommend this exchange opportunity enough. Take the leap and apply for the 2025 exchanges. You will have memories and friendships that will last a lifetime. Stay tuned to hear how my final week, week three, in Scotland went in this 3-part blog post.
