Community

Interconnectedness on the farm

The last two months have felt as busy as any January/February that I can remember in my life for our family. With our kids getting older and more involved and farm projects to check off, most of our slow evenings are spent in a sprint trying to get to events or wrap up jobs so we can move onto the next thing. I also had a couple meetings to attend in this window as well that were great for networking and catching up with some old friends. I was also able to meet two new people recently with Helen Freeman hosting her AgStacker Roundtable last month. Helen and Tim Connolly were there for a lively early morning conversation (late night for Helen) to talk about problems and solutions we see in ag and the world at large around us. It was reassuring to hear that we are facing the same challenges in agriculture across the country and across the pond. I don’t say reassuring because I like that others are facing my struggles as well but with a widespread problem that means many people and many minds are working on solutions to make farming viable again for a broader range of people. Helen has done a magnificent job of building up the AgStacker community and trying to make a space where folks can talk about challenges, opportunities or just things happening in ag in their respective area’s. I am looking forward to March’s meet up as this community grows.

Practical Farmers of Iowa meeting

Communities are all around us in every facet of life, from the people and worldwide lifeways we interact in, down to the microbes beneath our feet interacting with nutrients and plants to feed out soils and world. For myself it is easy to forget about doing my part and being connected, it is easy to hermit out at the end of a day with farm work, endless electronic distractions and many other excuses to avoid connection. But for ourselves, families, communities and ultimately the world to find balance, it takes a bunch of individuals doing little things selflessly to build up the greater community around us. I struggle to get involved locally for fear of letting people I know and love down as I know with my full schedule I will drop the ball somewhere, but I think I will have to challenge myself to be more involved. In the last year we were able to open our farm gates multiple times to groups of farmers from the Midwest and the Wye Valley Grassland group. We hope to continue this in 2026 with a pasture walk with the Greenhills grazing group and a field day talking about Native forages with Ozark Native Seed LLC. Events like that have helped me realize the greatest benefits of opening up your farm, home, or heart is the opportunity to grow through critiquing and working with others. As a raging introvert sitting back and feeling safe is a great way to never grow not only on an individual level but as a part of a community. If I did what my inner monolog told me I would hide on the farm and avoid everyone, but I know I will never grow if I do that. I often think back to my childhood going out to my Great Grandmother Redman’s on Sunday afternoons. We always had cousins, Aunts, Uncles and others showing up to eat a meal and seeing what needed done around the farm. Some would keep an eye on us kids some would tend to the cattle or garden, and all of us would sit back and listen to Grandma Lucille tell us where we need to get our butts in line. We had our family unit to keep us accountable. As Americans and in the western world we value our personal identity so greatly that we spend loads of time “working on ourselves” to the point we forget our role in our community groups. I am extremely guilty of this, I often dive down rabbit holes trying to learn as much about soil and grazing as I can to the point I am buried in a book and not playing with my kids as a dad should. I want to pass knowledge and a desire to learn onto them but I need to slow down and be present. I think that is the biggest factor I see missing in community is just being there, not with an agenda or a checklist to accomplish for a resume’ or virtue signaling but just be present and see what the people around you need, that’s where community starts.

Wye Valley Group

Practical Farmers