I wanted more for this kid that I love so fiercely. I didn’t want him to be sitting against a wall at recess as punishment for enthusiastically speaking out of turn in class. I wanted him to be able to spend hours uninterrupted when he was focused on something wholesome that he enjoyed. I wanted the divine spark inside of him to be fanned, not extinguished.
"I hope I sleep well and dream of tall stands of timber, Mark gracefully felling trees, James skidding them to the landing on a frozen trail, and me splitting wood, loading up a cord in our red dump truck. Simply our family working together to bring in firewood just like many who’ve come before us."
One of our biggest business challenges is revealed. Out dated legislation gives first generation farmers very little protection under our current Right to Farm. Depending on where you live your municipal zoning may not be farm friendly. Hear about why Vermont needs a Right to Practice Forestry, stronger Right to Farm protection, and an active plan to educate our community on what it means to live in a rural Working Landscape.
Technology has become a modern farmer's tool of necessity, but I don't think many of us actually enjoy it. I have to keep up fresh looking, edited photos of bucolic farm life (not the part where I'm in tears with a flat tire, or a pig gets tangled in fencing, it's the shiny stuff for marketing) with daily Facebook posts, new content for Insta, keep my SnapChat inventive and funny, get posters up of our latest meat specials, try to woo local store managers to carry our products, and just learned in my latest online farm marketing course I should have soundbites on my website. Little does this course instructor know I've got this nasal, often high pitched voice, no recording equipment, and I'm a perfectionist. So, I knew I was going to follow his command, but I'm still not sure if my ramblings are podcast worthy!
I know that you're time is valuable and I appreciate you taking the time to be here and listen to the latest drama over bunnies, a post oil vermont, and trigger warnings.
