Field notes: Learning the land from the besT

In a world increasingly reliant on technology, we’ve been feeling extra grateful for the farm lately. Pat and I both have full-time day jobs in tech — cybersecurity and creative agency work, respectively — where we spend 50+ hours a week in front of screens, and where AI acceleration is moving faster than we could’ve imagined.

Part of the appeal of getting into farming was that it is so different from what we do at our desk jobs. We get to be outside. We get our hands dirty. We connect with nature and nurture growth in ways that are anything but instantaneous. 

It’s good for our bodies and our souls, and it’s not something you can rush or shortcut.

Someone sent me this meme recently, and while moving from a hyper-technical desk job to raising geese is a sharp pivot, it makes total sense to us.

There is just something really refreshing about doing simple, manual work in nature. It creates an outlet and a balance we’ve both been longing for.

Over the weekend, we were fortunate enough to spend a couple of hours walking our fields with John Fuerch, the founder and longtime owner of Treetop Acres. As we tapped into his decades of knowledge and expertise (available to us through his new Christmas tree farming consulting practice), we were reminded that as valuable as technology can be, there’s simply no substitute for the deep, analog wisdom that comes from 40 years of hands-on experience.

It’s shearing season, so he showed us how to trim the trees for growth and how to course-correct those that weren’t developing as hoped. He told us what had worked for our land in the past, what hadn’t, and why.

We gained more practical knowledge in one morning than we could’ve found in the entire depths of the digital world.

By the time John left, we were in absolute awe of his expertise and the sheer dedication he has to the science and art of farming.  

That respect carried over to the farmer's market the next day.

Seeing the effort poured into every piece of produce, baked good, and flower bouquet reminded us that farming is truly a labor of love — the most human thing we’ve experienced in a long time.

That’s not to say that technology has no place here. In fact, Pat recently built an AI-driven app to track seedling mortality and gather better data — which is amazing — but it’s one small tool that can help us improve, not the entire endgame.   

Overall, it was a great, restorative weekend at the farm — and we were left feeling so incredibly grateful for John’s wisdom and the journey we’re on. 

Farming truly reminds us to slow down and work with the seasons, not against them. We’re looking forward to sharing more of that with you all — starting with our Autumnal Equinox yoga and journaling event on September 27.

Hope to see you there!