I received an inquiry on Friday through my companies website from a farmer who asked me to contact her. She sent an email like many others do, saying that she was interested in learning more and asked that someone contact her to show her a demo. What I particularly love about what I do is that I have the opportunity to speak with people who are 1) truly fascinating and 2) extremely passionate about making this world a better and healthier place. Because of this, I can really say that I am often lucky enough to speak to many interesting people in the course of my day/week. This woman though, blew me a way.
I would never have thought, when I started this job that my personal and professional life would intersect in so many ways. As it turns out though, they do. When you work with people who are passionate, you often find yourself meeting people who apply their passions in many ways. For example, there is the farm that is actually a home/program for adults with special needs. The adults come to live on the farm, in one of their many community homes, and while living there learn about agriculture, farming as a profession and how to run a csa. They provide them with an opportunity to have a profession, invaluable life skills as well as a community to be a part of. There is probably no greater gift that you can give to an adult with special needs then a place in society.
There is the buying coop a colleague of mine came across in Florida that was started by moms of kids with special needs who have to adhere to certain diets and so they decided to make it easier for all of the mothers like them in their area. I could give more examples but I am sure you catch my drift.
And then there is the woman I spoke with on Friday. I started off the conversation as I always do by saying "So tell me about your CSA program". Her response: "well I have an 11 year old son with special needs who needed a specific diet..." Part of that diet was to drink 2 gallons of organic cream each week. So she figured, since she lived on a farm anyway, she might as well get a cow because it was so much cheaper, and from there she started her dairy csa. The next thing was that her son needed organically grown fruits and vegetables and she began farming them and so began her veggie csa. She then thought to herself, that the youth in her area seemed to be spending too much time hanging on the street corners. Since she needed labor for her farm anyway she started a riding program for youth. In exchange for riding lessons they would work the land and with that she got the teenagers off the streets. She made sure in purchasing her horses that they were trained for people with disabilities so that she could accommodate children with epilepsy or other disabilities.
And that was just her getting started. She was probably one of the most impressive people I have ever spoken with. I told her about my son, we exchanged some stories and she totally got it. By the end of the call I felt like we were friends.
I often think about what my legacy will be. I don't mean in a grandiose way but more in a "in what way will I impact people" way. I feel like I was given this life for a reason. I feel strongly that it is not just about getting through my "situation" but about what impact I can have on others as a result. After speaking with her I know that it is time to kick that into high gear. Her son is only a little older than mine and look at what she has already accomplished! I want to take my lemons and turn them into lemonade. I want to make sure that my legacy is that I helped as many mothers like me and as many children like mine. I don't know how yet, but I guess it is time to start figuring it out.
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