Let’s take a break from the virus and go to the farm
In the past month, I’ve seen other consultants help businesses transition their technology to meet our new distancing challenges.
I have heard motivational speakers saying that this “could be the best time of our lives.”
I’m thrilled to see innovative approaches left and right. Businesses and individuals are applying creativity to get through. Yet, I have held back from pushing out creativity advice to address this difficult time.
Make no mistake, I think it’s more relevant than ever. But right now, the most important thing we can do together is follow instructions. Trust the scientists and experts who have devoted their lives to studying and dealing with pandemics like this. Stay home. Wash your hands. Keep your social distance.
So, instead of “4 Things You Need to Do to Be More Creative,” or “How to Be Creative During the Coronavirus,” I want to take you on an eight-minute vacation to one of my favorite places, the farm.
Farmers are a perfect example of a business owner who “works from home.” Farmers have a very special relationship with the land. It is their home. Farmers are some of the most creative people I know and the farm is a place where the realities of life and death are a daily rhythm. Not unlike life for many right now.
Here you will find a video that videographer Dan Richardson and I recently produced for my friends at the SK Herefords Farm near Medina, NY. The farm recently won the New York State Award for Environmental Stewardship.
I have this video on my desktop and it is a real comfort for me during this time. I watch it regularly. I think you will enjoy it to… and it might make you want to be a farmer.
Take 8 minutes and enjoy.
During this time, give yourself permission to take that necessary break. Let yourself step back from the turbulence and tragedy that our world is facing and take care of yourself. Give yourself a creative break. And encourage the people around you to take a creative break also. We all need to be restored and refreshed during these times.
Thank you Roger, this was very moooooving! And a great example of how taking the larger and longer-term view creates better results. Whole system thinking makes more sense than looking at one small piece of it and creating significant waste.
Love this Roger.
Great video Roger!
Interesting how every piece of this farm can provide an opportunity for micro-innovation that allows for all the parts to connect to the consumer. Good farmers are so inventive and it is great that many of them are environmentally responsible.
Farming is a way of life, why not all jobs become a way of life? What if everybody took that responsibility? is it a matter of ownership?
Something wonderful that happens these days with the virus challenge is that people are learning how to take data, sort through the b.s. and make their own decisions! let’s all adopt a farmer’s mentality.
Thanks Rog, This was as rewarding an experience as a Disney movie from back in the day. I am excited to see exactly what the ” new normal” will look like. After over a decade of summer camp staff life I find the social distancing practices of today similar to those days but with technology to help keep us somewhat connected. From what I have physically witnessed lately Mother Earth is rather enjoying this break as well. Stay safe. Stay healthy and keep being creative. The world needs more people like you. Ray
I loved watching this video. Farms offer us all the most important lessons about how to provide for the well being of the planet. The wisdom of knowledge, skills, understandings passed down in practice is so eloquently expressed by the seventh generation daughter. The economic model that we live in now doesn’t support this with everything scaling to “Big Agriculture.” We don’t need it. Truly, just don’t need it. A small plot of land can keep a community in vegetables, fruits, eggs, and meat on a daily basis, while providing habitat for living things, from the bugs in the ground, to the birds in the sky, to everything in between. It’s within our reach to do this. It starts with understanding how small actions add up and create a movement to better living for all. Thank you for posting.
Hi Roger,
Thank you for the video. Very good. I live in Los Angeles…so…not much thought about farms. This was great!
Be well.
Stay creative!
Thank you for sharing – we buy our beef from SK Herefords and it is superior, now I know why!
Right on, Roger. The conservation easements for birds and wildlife on the Hereford Farm, make my 3 acres (out of 200) in Southern Indiana, look pretty insignificant. The CPR program is in year 9 of 10. I don’t know what will happen after the 10th year. Hope this finds you OK. I call your mother every once in a while. Hope she doesn’t get tired of my babble. Heard you say “Hello” on Easter Sunday. I didn’t identify myself or turn on my camera. I clicked on the link and there was Juvenal, so I didn’t dare click anything else.
I will share “creativity with my two tenant farmers. I don’t agree with their politics, but I admire their ability to endure the difficult weather and economic times. I’ll remind them of how their planning and farming are all about creativity.
a great inspiring example where a creative mindset leads to meaningful outcomes based on nature intelligence! good stewardship, the natural result of creative leadership…
Great video about some folks I care about that are passionate about what they do. My freezer is already full with SK beef.
Video could use more pyrotechnics though.
Thanks for that video Roger! It feels good to see folks not just taking a deliberate approach to live and operate in harmony with nature and creation but to do so in such a conscious way that the abiding energy is present in everything–the soil, the animals, the people…the air. Namaste!