Join the Minnesota Department of Agriculture on July 21 at 9 a.m. to learn how Men’s Sheds have taken rural and agricultural communities in Ireland by storm, and see if they’re something farmers and other rural men in Minnesota would enjoy.
Men’s Sheds are activity-based social organizations for senior men to get out and do things with other guys. Most members are retired or (in the case of farmers) semi-retired. Sheds are independent: members decide what they want to do together – which might be anything from woodworking, to gardening, carpentry, fishing, community service, music, photography, cooking, biking, or other activities.
Sheds foster friendships, keep men active, reduce isolation and loneliness, and improve health and wellbeing. On top of that, they’re fun! Men’s Sheds first began in Australia in the 1980s and have been making their way across the world, creating spaces for camaraderie among men. Australia now has nearly 1,000 sheds, Ireland has 450, Canada is at 20 and growing. Minnesota already has five sheds: do you know a rural community where a shed might take off?
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Farm and commodity organization leaders, county staff and board members, township officials, social workers and human services professionals, library directors and librarians, farmers, Farm Business Management and Extension educators, clergy, civic and business leaders, and anybody else who might want to join, sponsor, or support a Men’s Shed in their own community.
For more information or to register for this webinar, click here!