Hey folks,
I personally, love change. I can’t watch movies twice. I get bored with podcasts inside of 3-4 episodes. I seldom revisit a vacation or travel spot.
I love change, newness, novelty.
So when we had the chance to plant white nectarines 6 years ago, I jumped at it. Now they are in and I couldn’t be happier with the results. (See the video above!)
It makes me think about how Maize Quest has changed since we launched in 1997. Considering how little we new about building attractions, one can only surmise that it was the exuberence of youth that enabled us to believe it was possible to survive.
- My sister designed the maze.
- We used an old shack my Dad and his era friends used as a changing house at our farm pond for swimming when he was a kid as our ‘headquarters’.
- We laid out the maze with a 300ft tape and two color flags (hilariously making a measuring mistake that set us back DAYS from completion).
- It didn’t rain, so we had to construct an irrigation system from scratch and pump from the pond at one point running under the public road through a drainage pipe to reach the field.
- We had to invent a method of stamping pieces of the maze onto a game sheet with custom-built wooden arms, each different to place the image correctly.
It was wild, fun, nerve-racking time. It was full of excitement, hope, and… change. With all the energy we pushed into the project, it’s incredible how little has survived all these years.
Nearly everything we do to create the maze has changed.
It’s tempting to think that “We were so foolish, incompetent, uneducated or just plain wrong back then.”
It’s tempting, once we had successfully completed the first season, that “We did it! Nothing should ever change! We got it right, people liked it, so we should hold on tight to what we know.”
I’d say neither is correct. What I find so satisfying is the combination of trial & error, what to keep & what to modify, what works & what fails, then creating some space from which to detach myself from the process and let it sit.
The “let it sit” part is the hardest. In a world that demands instant solutions for everything, the pressure is on to make quick decisions, but I like to let things sit and think about them.
- Can you sit with your thoughts before you make a decision?
- Can you focus on the problem, parameters, and potential solutions for a time without taking action?
- Can you stop thinking and make a decision?
- Are you willing to change?
Farming is a good occupation for someone like me. There are plenty of activities, people, interactions, machines, processes, fruits, to-do lists, weather and it’s almost never the same two days in a row.
How do you deal with change? Did my talking about it make you anxious? Longing for safe routines? Did it make farming sound more exciting than you thought?
Looking for or resisting change aren’t signals you are good or bad. Understanding which way you lean is the point.
Why not be still and have a good think about it? You could think about it out in the orchard, maybe with an ice cream in your hand…
See you soon, down on the farm,
Farmer Hugh
