It’s spring. It is the season of potential. As a farmer, I deal in potential. I am in the process of turning a weedy piece of our chicken yard into a fruit forest. (To see what I’m planting, keep reading.) As I plant what amount to little less than twigs into the soil, I see their potential as bushes taller than I that will supply my family with fruit for decades. I see buckets full of nutrient-rich and flavorful fruit. For me, that’s the magic of farming. It’s turning potential into results. The whole process is empowering. I know investments I make now—of my time, my sweat, my planning, will pay off in the long run.
Potential turns into results when we have hope and add investment.
I think the potential is always there and we generally greatly underestimate it. My weedy half acre can be a weedy half acre or I can see the potential, INVEST, and get different results.
My work as a nutrient consultant is the same process. I help clients see potential and turn it into results.
You, the client, have to bring 2 things to the table—hope and investment.
HOPE is the buy-in. If you don’t think something can happen, it won’t. I help clients see the potential, to build hope. Without hope, nothing changes for the better.
I remember when I was so sick 12 years ago. I had to make a very important choice. I could “accept my fate,” take the growing list of medications doctors kept giving me, and continue to decline. I call this drifting through my health story. I chose to look for a better way. Hope propelled me. I really thought I could feel better, but I needed to find better help. I needed someone to direct me where I could make investments that paid off. Instead of drifting, I decided to steer. I didn’t find a single mentor, but many. After years, I pieced together the science and practical skills to take my health back. Now, I help women through that process.
When I began, I DID NOT see the full potential, but I had hope. I had no idea of the real power of food and lifestyle. I have since seen, experienced, and heard things that have me in awe of the power of food and lifestyle.
Now, I talk to women like you that I can see struggling with that same decision. You’ve tried this, tried that, and you are struggling with seeing the potential. You have been let down a lot. You’ve made investments that didn’t bring results. We all have. There are a lot of bad investments out there. The number one thing I hear from women is that they are confused. I was too. Marketers love confusion. Diet culture is built on it.
You worry that the investments (financial, time, dietary, and lifestyle) aren’t worth it. That you can’t do it. The work seems like drudgery. The thing is, it’s not. Work with no results is. An investment has a payoff and when it comes to health, the payoff is massive. The right investments are like magic keys that give you your power back. Realizing that your health is primarily under your control is humbling and empowering. Having the power to realize your potential is worth every single investment.
So, I spent my weekend planting my fruit forest of the future. It’s an investment in a future payoff. For some of those plantings, it will take 6 years or more to really enjoy the fruits of my labor. I could have spent my weekend doing anything else, but I was empowered to make the investments of time, sweat, and planning for a future reward. Undoubtedly, I will learn a lot along the way and make adjustments. I’ll likely have some failures in my overall scheme, but I know I am creating an even grander whole. I know that I can do my best and not everything is under my control. Weather, soil, natural disasters and many more factors can change the outcomes. Farming is attempting to lead a symphony. I’m not the magic, I just try to guide and lead. Same thing goes for health. Our bodies already have the potential to be healthier. You need to lead and guide. The magic is inherent, but there will be pitfalls. In my fruit forest, I am doing the work now so those investments can pay off to meand my family (and wildlife) again and again and again. Investments in health are the same. You are building a reserve of resilience.
Had I not chosen to steer my health story 12 years ago, I would not have had the physical ability to plant my little slice of fruit paradise. I may not even be here.
So, when people say to me that they could never eat kale, or how can you eat oysters, or I couldn’t live without x, y, or z; I understand where they are coming from (I really do,) but I wish I could convey to them succinctly that these small investments are the keys by which I own my power.
This is what I know.
Your potential is already there.
You supply hope and make guided investments.
Your investments bring results.
You take your power back with results.
Power realizes your potential.
If you would like to know if the work I do can help you in your search for better health, focus, energy, and productivity, please reach out and apply for a free 60-minute Breakthrough Session. That is the way to take the next step and start taking better care of yourself. You can apply for and schedule a session right here.
My Fruit Forest:
About a decade ago, we added fruit plantings to the farm. So for about a decade, we have had: raspberries, blackberries, grapes, rhubarb, strawberries, cherries, and peaches. We had some apples and pears that have since died and I will likely never replant them. I am just not an attentive orchard farmer.
This year I am planting:
Blackberries (primocane variety)–4
Aronia–3
Elderberry–2
Honeyberry–4
Currants–3
Gooseberries–6
Hardy Kiwi Vines–3
Blueberries–7
Rhubarb (more)–4
Cherries (additional tree and 3 bush cherries)
Pawpaw trees–2
Peach (additional tree)
Lingonberry–6
Strawberries–25 (new planting–strawberry beds last 4 years with proper care)
Grapes–2 Concord, 3 Himrod, and 3 Mars
I purchased plants from Indiana Berry & Plant, Stark Brothers, and my great local greenhouse (Hamilton’s Greenhouse.)