The week of June 10, Farm Journal is celebrating the next generation of American agriculture. Our goal is to encourage you to plan for the future and cultivate multigenerational success through the transfer of skills and knowledge. Think tomorrow, act today to align your asset, resource and financial legacy.
Farming and farm life are about legacy. When we are raised by farmers, our earliest lessons in leadership, stewardship and life in general occur with the rhythms of the seasons.
We understand about birth in the spring, we learn about growth in the summer, we experience results with the harvest season and in the winter we learn about finality as one season flows into the next. Life and death are understood on the farm from a very early age. Yet, when that farmer isn’t there anymore, you finally get the meaning of life and legacy around the farm.
This past winter, I lost my Dad, Charlie Potter. I found myself seeking to learn from this tough time and apply it to leadership in the business of farming. It turns out, there are many valuable lessons you can learn during a season of loss. Maybe you can relate to a few.
Six Lessons Learned During a Season of Loss
1. You really, really learn who your friends are. Some people, especially those who have the least amount of time to do it, will literally drop everything to be with you. They understand and have been through it before.
2. You learn a lot about your neighbors. A new neighbor my mom barely knew sat with her in the hours after Dad passed before one of my siblings could reach her. I am so grateful for the community.
3. You learn how deeply your parent affected your life. Suddenly you notice everything that reminds you of your farmer, and it’s so sentimental. I put on an old dirty pair of my Dad’s gloves and then kept them in my coat pocket all winter.
4. You learn you can miss a person deeply even if you didn’t always communicate well. Farmers aren’t known for their way with words; my dad was no exception. But, in recent months he had started writing me letters about his early years farming, which explained so much.
5. You feel a sense of pride and gratitude for the many people who take the time to stand in line for a farmer’s visitation. Farmers’ funerals really are the best — people share stories, remind you how your farmer helped them out with hay, worked for them when they were hurt and grew up a fence row apart. It’s an incredible testament. Rural folks don’t skip the opportunity to support a family when it’s their turn to send off a farmer.
6. You learn the little voice that you’re not entirely sure you heard is really him, and he’s saying “hello” to comfort you.
Nature does bring that farmer back to you from time to time, doesn’t it? The thing about the cardinals — I’m pretty sure it’s true. I went ahead and bought a bird feeder and some seed, just in case.
