Whose hands cultivate your food?

Darby Zimmermann of Thanksgiving Farms in Frederick, MD, takes care of growing our weekly veggies and she doesn't think that professional hand modeling is in her future. As the owner/manager of our local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), I appreciate her abilities on the farm and grateful for the service offered. There is a beauty and simplicity of knowing the dirt that nourishes the foods we eat. As industrial farming continues to swallow up aging family farms, we tend to get further from the food source. It is fun and tasty to eat broccoli that was harvested that very morning. 

My tastes and requirements for food have changed over the years. My grocery shopping would include the pursuit of the perfect tomatoes, just as I would see in a McDonald's commercial. Now I will look for the funny shaped veggies that have a bit too much character and are left behind. The eggs shells from pasture raised chickens are produced in a range of colors from the standard white and brown to beautiful shades of blue, due to the various nutrients and seasonal plants the chickens eat. A co-worker began farming a sizable plot of land over the last couple of years and has been able to eat all season and preserve enough vegetables to carry his family through the winter. I have been inspired to see how this professional couple manages to drive changes within the Washington DC beltway during the week and farm a bounty from their land in their free time.

There are many ways to get a step closer to your food source and a bit closer to the land that spouts your food. As our mommas always said "you are what you eat". This truth hasn't changed even if we have the Internet and Pokemon Go. The nurseries still have tomato plants looking for a good home and that condo balcony has just enough room to grow your next salad goodies. 

Going Further: How can you get closer to your food sources? How do you think about where your food comes from? When did you last clean soil from your fingernails after harvesting your food? When can you next get dirty in pursuit of your food? 

What is your superpower?

Just as all superheroes have a power, your gifting and abilities can be used for the good of others. Help can be offered in many ways and you must know your power when the space aliens are mounting their attack. Most of us humans experience very few actual alien attacks over our lifetimes, however, we do have many opportunities for a bit more mundane emergencies. These include an empathetic heart to walk the last moments with a family member in hospice care, a ladder and paintbrush to take care of a new coat of paint on the house trim, an encouraging word, a poem, or tutoring the neighbor kid through the tough math homework. This kind of superhero work is needed far more than fending off the alien attacks. 

I have met many superheroes in my lifetime and they have taken on many forms. A few examples included those that helped get the stalled car running, gave financial help during a hardship and helped move my entire household prior to a record snowfall. My superpowers are in the mechanical realm and includes changing a tire or cleaning hair out of a shower drain. These superhero acts are never in the local paper, but when on the receiving end, I certainly feel like calling the local news to highlight the generous help and grateful for the local superhero.

Since American Idol is no longer in production, maybe it's time to rethink what idols we worship and consider the superhero that brought in the chicken soup.

Going Further: When did you first use your superpower for good? How many powers do you have? How have you developed your expertise over the years? How do you feel after saving the world for that one person? Are there any powers that have not been used in a while and it is time to bring them out of retirement? Who needs your superpowers now?

Who are the creatives among you?

You can't miss them, right? They are those people that have a particular style, their hair has a dash of the rainbow and a mass of braids or their dark and brooding ways prove they are a poet on the verge of discovery. My first poetry slam had a mix of what I expected, but the other half did not fit the narrow picture I had imagined. This other half surprised me; the straight-laced school teacher, the mid-forty-something body builder and that extreme introvert from Norfolk Virginia. This experience had two effects on me; the first was to challenge my stereotypes of who writes poetry and the second was to give me a glimmer of hope that there was a trace of creativity coursing through these uninitiated veins.

Ramon sold me my cell phone upgrade today and during the conversation I learned that he is a creative. Believe it or not, selling cell phones was not his lifelong dream. I know, I know, I should have warned you to sit down for that news. He would prefer to be impacting the world through his writing, his guitar, and mixing music. There was a creative, right in front of me; the logo on his shirt just distracted me from who he really is. Our conversation inspired each of us to redouble our efforts to produce content. Shouldn't this be the result of our interactions with others; to leave them better than we found them? 

Writing this post has had a couple more effects; the first is to prompt you to have the courage to do a bit of naval gazing and determine how you might be creative; then take the first step towards cultivation of this dormant talent. The second effect is for you to express your gratitude to those around you who are expressing their creative genius. These souls are creating something to be put into the world and risk criticism and humiliation. Even if it doesn't strongly appeal to you, they have dared to push back against the resistance that says they are a failure and their art is not worthy. This bravery is worth encouraging.

What is the creative stereotype you default to? How do you encourage your inner creative? How does your definition of creative expand beyond just the stereotypical arts? Who are creatives you appreciate and what about them appeals to you?