Hey Technicians,
Have you ever struggled to make a project, relationship, festival, or crop/garden work out when you wanted it to, only to discover that when it finally came together, the timing was better than you had planned?
Timing is everything. A joke told a minute too late doesn’t land. A crop planted before the storm grows; planted late, it withers. Meet someone before you understand who you are, and you can’t relate.
Back to agriculture. Everything is an experiment, and growing plants at the whim of Mother Nature and the weather is always challenging. It requires a great deal of faith and willingness to try, to venture into the unknown.
Since human beings are wired for self-protection, I feel that this willingness to venture into the unknown is a learned attribute, which is good! If it is learned, then it can be learned. Innovation never comes from playing it safe.
- My Grandfather Hugh took a risk expanding the farm’s potato production for the snack chip factories in York, PA, back when we loaded potatoes in sacks on the local steam train.
- My Dad took risks transitioning the farm from chicken production into growing peaches for the Baltimore area grocery stores in the 1970s.
- My mom took a risk publishing newsletters for our little farm as we grew our pick-your-own business in the 1980s.
- I had no idea what I was doing when we started the corn maze in the late 1990s, before “agritourism” was a word.
As it turned out, the agritourism timing couldn’t have been better because we were learning and growing, even helping to define the Fall Harvest industry from the early days.
Lavender fields are ready for harvest; I missed it by a weekend. Lavender growing is brand new to us, and I was set on having June 25-26 as our opening weekend. Over half the field was in bloom, but not everything. Then our caterer and music got sick, our staff was stretched thin with blueberry pre-orders, and we just couldn’t put on the event we wanted.
I was frustrated! Maybe you like to get your way, too. I was frustrated, but it wouldn’t have been good enough.
Then Monday, after what would have been the opening weekend, the rest of the field came into bloom. Our team was ready to schedule. Food service was prepared to go, and July 2-3 would be the right opening event.
It was all timing, not my timing, but timing made right from beyond my grasp, and in blooming flowers, timing is everything.
This week, sure, we’d love to host you for Lavender Harvest. It’s going to be beautiful and relaxing.
Even if we can’t host you, I’d propose that you think about something in your life that’s not fitting your schedule, that feels frustrating because it’s going too fast or not happening fast enough.
Pause briefly, imagine that the timing isn’t right, grant yourself a little patience to wait, or give yourself a break, some breathing room, to slow down.
It’s always good to be kind, to be patient with yourself. Everything will happen at its proper time, and timing is everything.
See you soon on the farm,
Farmer Hugh
