A Barn of a Different Color

We live in a colorful world, indeed. Some people see it strictly black and white.

Photo Credit: KNM Bliss Baked Goods

Some observe a rather astounding range of gray between the black and white. Some get so lost in a grand spectrum of color they never notice a single shadow.

What would the world be, without all of those different perspectives?
Don't you want your accountant to be a fairly black and white kind of person? And yet, can you imagine that mindset on someone you were consulting with on paint for your home?

It ALL counts. It all matters! We all have value in this world. Perspectives we don't agree with have value. Perspectives that hurt us have value — even if only to test our dedication to our own knowledge.

When it comes to this barn project, there will be LOADS of perspectives. They will all be worth considering. Some will be discarded. All will be appreciated.

What's important is to remember the WHYs:

• A young lady who has made more gains than anyone thought possible
• A senior gentleman who would like to see his family farm restored to his mind's eye view
• A goal to prove old barns can be reborn to unique purposes that better our greater world

This weekend was quite extraordinary for the person mentioned in that first bullet. Her wonderful friends Katelyn, Sophie, Tesika and Madison, first surprised her with a celebratory birthday lunch at her favorite place, the Olive Garden. In this season of gratitude, it's well worth taking a moment to mention all that these young women have done to mentor their friend. Through the Dairy Princess program, and the Chautauqua County 4-H Dairy Project, these young people have assisted, encouraged, and befriended someone who at first, was really hard to connect with. It's taken years, but they have created an indelible bond. 

As I follow social media posts in Autism groups, I become more and more aware of how lacking in friendships our special needs community members are. They crave connection, just as we do. They often don't understand why they have trouble making and keeping friends. Communication differences make forging and building those relationships hard. The isolation that happens because communication is so difficult makes the relationships that do take hold so much more valuable and necessary than other typical friendships we might experience. If you have a chance to reach out to a person on the spectrum, please do. If you connect, please don't ever let go. 

Following lunch, our tribe of young friends drove my girl to Hills Valley Farm, where she became the proud owner of a Brown Swiss calf named Satin. The calf resides at the farm next door: her grandfather the primary caretaker with Autumn planning to assist at every available moment. Likely, our barn will never be ready for Satin to inhabit before she becomes a milking cow. Perhaps though, her daughters will grow up here. 

Today, none of that matters to these two. 

That said, it still matters to me. 

We're working on estimates. Working on putting a dollar value on what we think we can do this spring. It's not easy. There are different ideas on how things should be done - that whole black and white/gray/rainbow perspective thing is making itself unmistakably apparent. 

The Barn Diva is aiming HIGH. Why not? 

I'm not sure if I am scaring or frustrating people, but so be it. This is not a project where "good enough" is going to cut it. I believe there's magic in our barn. I can't wait to share some history, and talk to people who are ready to contribute their barn stories to this blog! Together, we can create something that benefits generations to come. 

There's no room for low-balling here. 

A mission is forming. It's about our barn, and your barn. It's about creating places people can go to find out how farming was, how it is, and why it changes. It's about showing why this way of life matters, and why all people should have a connection to farm. 

I haven't written much about yoga on my barn blog - but they are connected. Yoga aims to ground us - to build the connection of our minds to our bodies, and our bodies to earth. In doing so, our thoughts are more grounded, our emotions more stable. I wasn't long into my yoga practice before I realized that farming is truly a type of yoga - that cows embody a calming energy that can be therapeutic, and the physical demands of farming work to solidify our mind-body connections ("sensory organizing" in therapy-speak!). 

People leaving the farm harms our society as a whole. We're disconnecting from a reality we desperately need. In so doing, we're allowing fear to erode our food system. That fear ultimately makes it more difficult for families with limited resources to make sound nutrition choices. We get so worried about if we should go organic (and then the cost) or about GMOs, that we give up and sit down with our pop and chips because somehow they seem more affordable and comforting. Do you see what just happened there? 

... ANY vegetable and ANY milk is better than pop and chips! 

If you live it... or if you ask a farmer. I've seen the light go on for so many as they speak with our dairy princesses. I've had the honor of turning that light on for a few myself! We need more opportunities to make that happen. People need old barns and as many avenues as we can create to connect with animals. We live in a huge world, and yet digital technology allows us to shrink it. A rainbow of thought you can fit in your phone. 

It's up to each one of us to create the rainbow. 

Telling the Story

Last week I told you about the 8.6 billion present-day reasons why our barn needs to be restored.

Now, I'd like to tell you about why the book I've started writing is a story that needs telling and also may create an avenue within which to generate funds that will help renovate the barn.

If you know me - if you've read old Barn Diva posts - you won't be at all surprise to find that for me, it all starts with my time as a dairy princess. Funny it was a job I didn't want, and turned out to be one of the singular most influential experiences of my life!

If you ask a princess, I think you will find similar stories. The program and the experiences it provides, shows you how important it is to share the real-life experiences of living and working on a farm. I remember talking with students in the city schools in our county and realizing how little they knew about farming; and how excited they were to learn about cows! I remember talking to them about the health benefits of dairy products and how engaged they got in learning about how milk would help them grow big and strong.

And those connections, friends?

As a farm kid, I was *never* the first one out to the barn. Seriously, never. I was not a morning person. Chores were not the highlight of my existence. But sometimes when I was out there, I'd think about the kids we were feeding. Sometimes I'd think about the funny stories they'd share ("My dad's a farmer! He milks chickens, dogs, bulls, and sheep!"). It was times like that when I finally understood being a princess was actually an important job.

And today?

Today, being a princess is an even MORE important job.
Because people don't begin to understand what farmers are doing. They don't see that big farms are still family farms. People don't understand that farmers don't make enough on the products they produce to pay their bills. People think plant-based beverages are the same as milk!

Aside: Thank you to our past princesses for your time and efforts for the industry. To the princesses of today - keep up the good work and KNOW your mission is an important one!

And does anyone understand why farms took the path of growth? Does anyone know why small farms are dying?

Yeah. I'm sure I don't fully know it all either. And the funny thing about this whole princess thing is - at least for me and a few of my past-princess friends - the mission really never leaves you. As a nutrition educator today, I still find myself telling the story of farming. Those are truly gratifying moments - it really never gets old!

So the book (or series, because the history of farming is definitely more than one book) will look at the path of farming - as seen through the eyes of a really remarkable child. In telling her story, we'll see how generations of family farms came to be where they are - and why beautiful barns like ours have come to stand as agricultural dinosaurs in the museum of modern agriculture. My hope is to be able to monetize a website and release chapters that - for a donation of your choice - you will be able to purchase and read knowing that your donation is going to restore a part of agricultural history.

It will be vitally important to hear the stories of farms. People who know farming in the early 1900's. People who can speak to the economic eras that pushed farms to change. Those times when there were hard choices to make - what drove you to make the choice you did? Would you change that if you could go back?

I am thankful to be part of a fantastic farm community! People who have made growing my girl as much a part of their passions as it is mine. This mission is about telling a story that encompasses the stories of the families I love best. It's about making another avenue for people who aren't connected to agriculture to gain some understanding of the generations of love and care that have gone into where we are today.

This IS the story I was meant to write.