Reading and participating in the discussion surrounding Kathleen Fitzpatrick‘s Generous Thinking made me primed. I immediately perked up to the possibilities of an analogy with scholars and librarians and teachers and farmers in David Mas Masumoto‘s description of a farmer’s social and professional network.
The journey of my peaches begins with a hand-crafted flavor, born from a regional advantage: the common geography I share with the other family farmers, a proximity that promotes interaction and exchange of information. We hope to learn from and trust each other. Living in this community can become a competitive advantage. Just as my peaches can’t be grown elsewhere, farmer-to-farmer friendships can’t be replaced and our farm stories can’t be duplicated. Small speciality farming depends on collective learning within competitive structure. A chance meeting in town, at a dinner or funeral, provides opportunity to pass on information about market demand, coming legislation, labor trends, and regulations. We exchange our own “consumer’s reports” on equipment and new innovation, especially with pest control. Solutions from the established industry need to be questioned; many of us have learned firsthand about the limited of conventional scientific research.
from Four Seasons in Five Senses: Things Worth Savoring
And so for day 2640
06.03.2014