Speakers

Local author, Kristina M. Parker, from Parker Family Maple Farm will speak about her new children's book, "You're Mine, Walker and All," that is from the perspective of her son who must make sense of his mother's disability.

Kelsey O’Shea is passionate about dairy farming and her husband’s family farm, Mapleview Dairy in Madrid, New York. O’Shea grew up in the suburbs of San Diego, and now lives on a farm where they care for 3,000 mature cows, 3,100 youngstock, and 300 baby calves every day. With the help of 60 hard-working employees, the cows are milked three times day and corn and alfalfa to feed the animals is grown on 4,500 acres. The nutritious milk from their cows is shipped to Agri-Mark Cooperative and is used to make delicious Cabot Cheese.

O’Shea spends her days working with farms of all sizes and shapes through Cornell Cooperative Extension. She is the farm business Management Specialist for the North Country Regional Ag Team and focuses on helping farmers with everything that isn't actually farming: financials, business planning, HR, protocols, and generational transfer.  

The North Country Mission of Hope ^SM is a 501(c)(3) non profit corporation committed to fostering hope and empowering relationships with the people of Nicaragua through sustainable programs in education, healthcare, community and ecological development.

In keeping with the museum's vision to inspire all people to rise above their differences and celebrate the importance of freedom to the survival of the human spirit and mission to research, preserve, interpret, and promote the Underground Railroad history of Northeastern New York's Waterways to Freedom and to celebrate the importance of that history and its relevance and significance to our own time, Don Papson will share his "Who Do You Think You Are?" research.