Tribal

~ This article first appeared in The Leader Vindicator Newspaper. ~

Tribal

We’re born with the need to be together.  Surrounding ourselves with people we trust is, among other things, an act of protection, a coagulation of wisdom, an amplifier of ability, and a membership card to the human race.

Some of the most influential small businesses I’ve studied focus primarily on developing the correct tribe of people to carry the mission forward instead of singularly plunging their efforts into producing products.  Farmers are a group who can benefit from strategic grouping more than perhaps any other echelon of society.  For example, famous farms such as Lois Bromfield’s Malabar and Joel Salatin’s Polyface became popular in large part because they are stories, played out through time and across the surface of the earth, about people.  Other farms are larger and more productive, but these are remembered because, via agriculture, they created a place for a tribe to gather and thrive.

Before we talk too much more about coalescing people, we need to talk about connecting things.

A fully expressed environment is a living body made up of multiple “cells”.  Each cell – represented by vegetative, mammalian, avian, and aquatic life, etc. – connects to the other cells surrounding it, forming a support network.  When each element is in place, the natural functionality of such an environment is a powerful force that, leveraged to benefit humanity, will provide economic and social stability.

It has been a point of fascination for me to create a diversified farm that employs every component of a natural environment.  Within a functioning environment, every organism is provided for and also provides for the others around it.  It’s not difficult to see the advantage to a farmer whose crops happen to be one of the organisms connected to such an environment.  Biological farming creates an interesting and mentally stimulating setting that is pleasant to live in and eat from.  I see, on a daily basis, a lot of things that need connected. 

My effort to connect them has led to disaster.  I find myself constantly in the throes of frustration because there is insufficient time in a day to pursue multiple projects to their fullest potential.  The result is a landscape of unfinished ideas that don’t function properly.  Ouch.

I feel pulled in two directions: Do I cast off the majority of my intrigues in favor of a singular pursuit?  Or do I allow myself to drift, doing a little here, and a little there, without ever accomplishing much? 

Here, at this impossible intersection, is where we return our focus to people.

My first revelation is that I sit at the crossroads of two deep human desires: the desire to belong to a tribe, and the inexhaustible longing to live in a healthy environment.  The farming lifestyle is rich with opportunity to satisfy the two needs.

Second in the revelation department is more personal: I’ve been trying to finish my ideas in order to attract people.  The equation is backwards.  By focusing on things that will diversify our farm and transform the physical environment in which we live, I’ve placed an impossible burden on myself to do it all.  I need to focus on creating a cultural environment in which people are free to work on things.  People who come when nothing is available, then help create a new result, will be physically and emotionally bonded to the land and lifestyle.  That’s a tribe.

I am so grateful for the friends who’ve surrounded me.  Our farm is a commerce hub that is attracting others’ imaginations as they realize the potential a little farm store has to offer a good, creative farmer.  By layering independent farms and businesses on top of each other, we’re expanding and diversifying farming operations while at the same time enabling individuals to shrink into their own specialized work. 

It goes without saying that intelligent, passionate, industrious, and driven people will accomplish far more than a singular task set before them.  I speculate that by combining the major elements of farming together first, we’ll soon tackle the minor details, too, which are, in many cases, my favorite to think about.  In other words, I believe that the right people, exposed to the same opportunities I see, will eventually draw similar conclusions as those I have drawn and will want to see them to fruition.

Aggregating talent in this manner strengthens the whole farm environment far more than the traditional framework of one person doling out ideas from the top down.  A familiar buy-sell relationship among producers creates tangible degrees of separation that chip away the authenticity of goods available to the public.  When one entity empowers multiple owners to offer their own goods, such erosion does not occur and the quality of food increases significantly for the customer. 

Although it seems simple enough to work together, this is uncharted territory and I feel hopelessly unprepared most of the time. There is a plethora of agricultural information that teaches how to specialize a farm business, but painfully little literature explaining how to diversify one, especially when multiple families are involved. Most days, a fully integrated solution feels a long way over the horizon, but we continue taking steps and working through the challenges that arise. At the end of it all, if the only thing we have is friendship, something to eat, and a place to live, then that, I suppose, is all we could’ve asked for, anyway.