Within a few minutes of sending out our newsletter last week, I felt an overwhelming sense of fear. Every day this week, I wondered where this fear was coming from. I tried to reassure myself. I know that the principles we laid out were true. They were an authentic expression of our farm’s purpose and the impact we make on our community. So, what was making me feel so scared inside?
The voice in the back of my head got louder and I found myself in a state of self-doubt. I started asking…
What if our dreams are too big?
What if it won’t work?
What if our bodies won’t hold up?
What if our customers don’t show up?
What if we fail?
The last one summed it all up. With our cards on the table and our purpose as clear as day, I imagined how it might feel to fail. We are taking on something HUGE and that means there’s a chance it might not work out. The thought was overwhelming….
Then I watched David Letterman’s interview with Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest nobel prize laureate. As she talked about her life experience and her purpose of creating access to high quality education for women and girls around the globe….I sat in silence.
The doubt started to lift. Our purpose suddenly felt like small potatoes (yup, that’s a dorky farm pun). We know that serving families in Rochester with nutritious organic meat, eggs and speciality produce will improve the health of our community, and that educating people about what we do inspires more informed and conscious consumers.
We fulfill our purpose every day as we care for our animals and tend to our fields. We do this every week as we share our experiences, our knowledge, and our food with customers at the Brighton Market and farm store. And we’ll continue to do this every year for as long as we can.
Being vulnerable is hard. At least it can be for us. But we’re hoping that through our newsletters we can share both the funny animal stories with farm updates AND the REAL experience of being small organic farmers here at Stonecrop Farm.
Come see us this weekend at the BFM. You can check out our awesome products and tell us about your vision for a healthier happier community!
All the best,
Your farmers
Greg and Jenney