Keep Improving Your Situation

There used to be a show on the television where they dropped two guys off in the middle of nowhere and saw if they could survive. One of them had a coin phrase and it was to “keep improving your situation.” Each day and sometimes each hour he’d look for ways to better his surroundings. Did he have water? Yes. Great. Now let’s work on shelter. Did he have shelter? Yes. Now let’s set some traps to get something to eat. To quote Disney, “He kept moving forward.”

And that’s what we like to do here on the Farm. Do we have a garden planted? Great. Now, let’s look at how we’re going to feed your livestock this winter. Or, do we have a herb garden? Wonderful. Let’s add some medicinal herbs. And on and on it goes. Each year we add just a little more (without neglecting the former). We keep improving our situation. But. And it’s a BIG but (hey—not that kind of but). We do a little at a time. That way it never feels too overwhelming. If we’d started off with all we have now, I guarantee our yard would be nothing but weeds and not a chicken would be left. We started small and each year did a little more. We stayed in our lane and improved our situation as we were able. From the outside it looks like we have all this stuff. The orchard. The garden. The flocks. And we do. Now. But what most people don’t realize is that it took us seven plus years to get here.

My advice? Keep moving forward, improving your situation, but do it at the pace you’re comfortable with. And for Pete’s sake, stop looking at what everyone else has and start being grateful for where you’re at. You’ll get there. In your time and your way. And when you do, you’ll have your own kind of story to tell.