When I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer or an artist or both. There was a brief time when I was in elementary school when I wanted to be an astronaut, but a career day in fifth grade where a pilot told me I could never fly planes because I wore glasses ended my dream of being an astronaut. So as far back as I can remember, it was always writer and artist; never once was my dream to be a farmer.
I grew up in a large city, but we lived just over the line in the county so there were corn farms around my house growing up. I went to church in a rural town with my parents that also had some farmers in attendance. My dad even had a coworker that we went to hang out with a lot who was a part time farmer. (More of a homesteader really, if we want to get technical) So I guess I was always kind of farm adjacent, but it never seemed like that was a path I was going to walk because it just wasn’t what my family did.
That being said, in the last four months I have learned more about farming and dove deeper into farming culture than I ever expected to in my life. I’ll be honest, my ex-wife was a prolific gardener and grew tons of food at our old house but I hated working on that project. Today, I wish I had that house and property because I would love to farm that third of an acre. This backstory is simply to show you that I did not have a love for growing things or an obsession with the food system like I do today. So what changed?
The short answer is the world seemed to change, and by association my place in it changed. I used to believe that we were all just trying to help each other get to a better future together, and that things like the food system were so fundamental that surely there was an over arching altruism that was guiding it. But I don’t think that way anymore. I think a large segment of the population is being preyed upon by a smaller more powerful part of society. I think we are in a social battle for resources, and the underdogs are suffering significant losses in the forms of health decline, wealth shrinkage, and time loss. It is overwhelming to watch.
But I have never been one to back down from a challenge, so I press on in the fight for a better future for all. This is where we circle back to my life long aspirations of being an artist and a writer, because I always believed those were the people inspiring others to make positive change in the world. But how can they when there’s too much noise and not enough attention to sort through which change is positive and which change is inspiring and what we change would be best. There’s a cacophony of people arguing about what should be done or who’s fault it is or what’s the best solution. It’s analysis paralysis on a societal wide scale. We’ve lost the thread of why; we’re supposed to be working for the benefit of all in our community and not just the ones that agree with us on every opinion.
Why did I come to farming now? Not because I think it is a way to get rich and not because I think it is my life’s passion; I came to farming because I finally recognize it as an exceptionally powerful tool for change. If I can grow food, then I can feed people. If I can feed people, then that is going to create space and ripples of opportunity in their lives to go and do the work of change they want to do. Food is power, and if I can grow food and feed people then I can help get them off the first step of Marlow’s Hierarchy and onto the thing they were born to do. Feeding people enables them to move past survival and onto the higher callings and purposes they were put here to accomplish.
So my life’s purpose is not to write the great American novel, but I will continue to write. My life’s purpose is not to create a new genre of art or exhibit in a major gallery, but I will continue to make art. My life’s purpose is to help others, and after years of trying to do that in innumerable ways, I have come to realize that the best way I can do it is to just feed as many people as I can. And the best way to do that is to grow the food myself.
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