I am privileged. I write that not to boast about it, but because I am very aware that my life circumstances have positioned me that way. The colour of my skin, the country I was born in, the parents I was raised by... I am lucky. My life certainly hasn't been perfect, but the lessons I have learnt through challenges have given me resilience. This past year has made me very aware that everyone deals with adversity in their own way. Full disclosure it's been frustrating to see many amazing people struggle this past year, and sometimes because of their own inability to see past the blinders that adversity put on us. Okay, so I mentioned a few weeks ago that there wouldn't be any more Covid talk here, and while I'm not writing this to talk about the pandemic, I am writing about what I believe has made me successful this year. I want to make it clear that I understand how privileged I am, and that I know that plays into what I'm about to say. I hope my words can encourage you regardless of your situation, and maybe light a fire in you.
Here's the thing about being a farmer, you are always assessing risk, planning for the future, and hoping for the best. It doesn't matter what you farm these things are true. I've been flower farming for 25 years now and every year brings new challenges. Farming forces you to do everything in your power to be successful while letting go of what you cannot control. That's not always an easy thing to learn. As a farmer the biggest thing that's out of your hands is the weather. Late spring frost, drought, heavy rains, early fall frost, hail... you can't control these things. What you can do, is plan your spring planting, cover your crops for frost (sometimes*), diversify your crops, and have irrigation and great soil drainage. Even if you do all those things perfectly you cannot control when a thunderstorm rolls over and brings hail or damaging wind and rain. There will always be risk. Perhaps the season will be heavy on the grasshoppers or cutworms, or maybe the sun won't shine or the temperatures will be too hot or too cold for extended periods of time... there are so many factors out of ones control and at some point you have to say, "I have done all I can to prepare, the rest is in God's hands". I cannot tell you how many times I have watched the sky on a hot summers day and prayed that it would not hail. It's just part of being a farmer. Maybe competition springs up or the market you have been selling at closes. Maybe customers decide pink is no longer in or dried flowers are not in style and now you have product you spent months growing, nurturing, and preparing, and you can't sell it how you'd thought. Maybe a pandemic hits and weddings are cancelled and everything closes down... you could never plan for that. But you can pivot, brainstorm, and look for other areas you can improve. I don't share this to tell you how hard it is to farm or run a business. I tell you this because for a long time I've been working on my resilience, planning for adversity, being thankful for what I have, and hoping for the best. And doing that has changed me for the better. (I'm still very much a work in progress***)
This year has brought its own set of challenges for everyone. I am not here to say that life has been easy. I know it has been difficult for most. But it is the people who take these challenges head on, take responsibility for their life, and choose to be resilient without blaming any one else who are the people I truly admire. The people who I watch pivot their business, diversify, plan for the future, and hope for the best; those are the people I want to be more like. Shouldn't we all?
Being a farmer has given me the tools and the attitude to be successful this year. I don't have it all together, and being thankful in all circumstances is a lifelong learning curve. I believe it is my attitude of thankfulness for what i DO have that allows me to hope for the future, and it is the lessons I have learnt through farming that have helped me thrive. Not everyone has the privilege to farm, but I urge you as you go on your daily path to look at what you have, however small it may be and be thankful. Choose to be resilient, prepare for the things in your control, be thankful, hope, and grow flowers. Because what is more hopeful than planting a tiny seed in this big old world and watching it thrive into something beautiful?
M
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