Patreon Perspectives: Unveiling Growth - Season 5, Episode 9

In this episode, we dive into topics suggested by our dedicated audience, giving a big shout-out to our Patreon supporters Wayne, Sean, Kyriaki, Rachel, and Brian, whose discussions in our Telegram chat have heavily influenced today's content.  If you're keen on supporting the show and engaging in transformative conversations, join us on Patreon.  

Today's focus is on the dynamics of life on the homestead, exploring the stress of change and the newfound confidence driving us forward.  Aligning with the season's themes of abundance, balance amidst chaos, and time management, we confront the reality that despite our efforts, achieving equilibrium has proven elusive, evidenced by recent health setbacks.  

The prevalence of these topics reflects a growing awareness of over commitment and its repercussions.  As we reflect on recent stressors, we emphasize the importance of reassessing priorities and learning to decline obligations to safeguard long-term well-being.  

Join us as we navigate the uncertainties ahead, confronting fears head-on while sharing insights into personal growth.  Discover how our Patreon community provides invaluable support, fostering candid discussions aimed at mutual empowerment and building resilience.  Join us for real discussions with real people.  No bullshit.

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Become a Patreon Supporter!

Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/allaroundgrowth

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Email:  allaroundgrowth@gmail.com

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Facebook Community:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/allaroundgrowth

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Discussion Links:

Antiochian Village: Christian Conference and Retreat Center

🌱 Celebrating Our Journey: From Family Farm to Co-op Success Story

🌱 Roots to Market: The Genesis of York Meadow Farm 📜

Cultivating Connections: Family, Growth, and Community at York Meadow Farm

Embracing Tomorrow: The Vision for York Meadow Farm

Join Our Fermentation Family: Stay Connected with our Partners!

Jean-Martin Fortier - Farmer, educator and best-selling author...

Transcript

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If we stand together, we'll never fall.

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Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whatever the case may be and wherever you are. First and foremost, I would like to thank you for tuning in to the show. Big shout out to all of the Patreon subscribers out there. That's right, Wayne, Kiriki, Rachel, Sean, Brian. I'm talking to you guys. I very much appreciate your help. If you want to find out more about what the Patreon group is all about, then check it out patreon.com/slash allaroundgrowth. You can see some additional content there. You'll also get access to our Patreon members only Telegram group where we have dialogue that takes place on the Telegram group and then some. It's at a whole different level. And uh a lot of what I'm going to talk about today has been talked about in depth with all of you guys there. And I appreciate each and every one of you for giving me the confidence to do what was done today. So let's talk about that and get right to it. I have myself on a timer today because there's a lot of work to do. Kind of been uh we've fallen behind on a few things here on the homestead, specifically with regard to the fermented foods business, because of some of the things that we've been working on. You can find out what's been going on here on the homestead at York Meadow Farm on all the different social medias Instagram, Facebook, Telegram. We've even got a Telegram channel for York Meadow Farm. So, you know, follow us there, like us on Facebook, help us get to a thousand likes. We are about a dozen away. So if you're listening to this and you're following the page, but you have not liked the page, then please make a point to do so and share some of the posts and encourage people to do the same. Help us reach and breach that thousand like mark. My understanding is that will impact the algorithm positively, so your help is appreciated. Um, one of the episodes about a month ago, season five, episode four, was titled Harvesting Change: The Evolving Story of York Meadow Farm. And I shared with you the blog post that is pretty much the same as it was at that time posted just a few days later. But what I ended up doing uh basically at the request of or the suggestion of you guys out there in Patreon land, specifically Kiriyiki, was break it down into three smaller posts. So that has been the big project over the past um week, couple of weeks was break that down into three separate posts, with part one being titled Roots to Market the Genesis of York Meadow Farm. Originally posted on February 21st, and then February 22nd. We posted part two titled Cultivating Connections, Family, Growth, and Community at York Meadow Farm. And then last but not least, we had a post titled Embracing Tomorrow, which was posted on February 23rd, 2024. And that was Embracing Tomorrow, the vision for York Meadow Farm as we look ahead. We've since posted an additional article, one that was titled Um Join Our Fermentation Family, which is expanding on where we are at with natural ferments. We launched the logo, in a sense, on the Embracing Tomorrow post, and then we shared some information about the 2024 season. Um shared some information about what is to be expected with regard to the partnership, the collaboration between York Meadow Farm and Natural Ferments, um, teased our website that is in the works, which is being built at York Meadow or NaturalFerments.com. So check it out there. Sign up for the email list to get subs uh to get email updates on that as time goes on. But one thing happened over the past week that got me thinking, and we talked a lot about this in the Telegram group, like I said, and that was really something that we've been talking a lot about in this season five. Now, last episode what was an episode on the Freedom Cell Network meetup. The episode prior to that, episode seven, was titled Our 24 Hours Managing Time, Money, and Priorities. Episode six titled Soul Searching, Finding Balance in the Chaos. Episode five was another Freedom Cell Meetup recap. Season four, like I said, was Harvesting Change, the Evolving Story of York Meadow Farm, where we talked about all of those three blog posts and then some. And then episode three was navigating the maze from St. Anthony's Wisdom to George Carlin's Wit in Modern Politics. Episode two, Life Unveiled, navigating business bonds and personal triumphs. And then on January 9th, we had the season five premiere navigating life's abundance and balancing acts. And I feel where I am today is right in line with a lot of what we've talked about so far this year. Balancing acts, navigating business, bonds, personal triumphs, the evolving story of York Meadow Farm, Freedom Cell meetups, updates with that, finding balance in the chaos, managing time, money, and priorities. And I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I am not doing a very good job of managing my 24 hours. I'm not doing a very good job of finding balance in the chaos. I am not necessarily adhering to the wisdom of Saint Anthony all that well. Why do I say that? I had another seizure last week. It being epilepsy is something that I've been dealing with since the age of 13. You would think that I'd know how to navigate that at this point in life. But the reality is I do not. I seem to have a habit of consistently taking on more than I should. I seem to have a habit of trying to trying to do too much. Too fast. Or I don't know. Um but I've got some time coming up this weekend where I will be heading out of town. I will be heading to the Antiochian village and engaging in a retreat. I will link to the Antiochian village so you guys can learn about what I'm talking about and share some information about this retreat that I'm attending. But I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the topics that are going to be discussed there with my peers within the church. Um I'm looking forward to a little bit of downtime, and I'm going to take some suggestions from respected Patreon subscribers and think about what the hell it is that I'm doing. What of all the things that are going on in life, what are those things, first of all? What do they mean to me? What do I need to do? And what can I eliminate? And who and what do I need to begin saying no to? Because there are some things that I might need to say no to. That's exactly what it is. It's it it it is a master of none. I I I am doing nothing well, but I'm doing a lot of different things at a very mediocre level. And what is difficult is that um what what is what is difficult is that it's life is different now. Right? Life is different now. And um and and and that's been a big part of writing this series of blog posts, this this three-part series ultimately ending in a full post titled Celebrating Our Journey from Family Farm to Co-op Success Story. I will link to everything that I've discussed in today's brief episode because, like I said, I'm on a timer. I'll link to all of this so you guys can see where I'm at mentally. But I know that we can't do this alone. And the the little excerpt from the full blog post reads embark on an epic journey with us through the evolution of York Meadow Farm. From humble beginnings to remarkable success, our story is a testament to passion, dedication, and community support. This lengthy read compiles three blog posts detailing our history, present, and future. Discover how our founders, Bob and Denise Kaiser, transformed their vision of sustainable agriculture into reality and explore the pivotal moments that shaped our growth and resilience. Join us at York Meadow Farm where the seeds of today sow the success of tomorrow. And what's interesting is many people would look at what we're doing as sustainable agriculture, and we are I I you know I'm I'm reluctant to say this, but it's it's it's true. We have no idea what we're doing, right? Um all of this started out, as you can see in the full post or the part one, Roots to Market, all of this started out as a retirement plans for a beautiful property to build a retirement home. On that's what mom and dad intended to do. And as we all moved home, and as I began to learn things about farmers market, permaculture, small farming, sustainable agriculture, all of these things, everything that is not farming, as you know, farming, as we learn farming, most of us that is growing up. We wanted to do something similar to that, and we have, but we have certainly have not done it alone. Um, mom and dad started doing some things. I began helping, I stopped doing certain things. We had other people come on board, tenant farmers. Now we have one tenant farmer full-time who has a few people helping him. There have been people helping me do certain things with the growth and evolution of the fermented food business, which wasn't even on the radar when all of this started 10 years ago. So but the future is bright. We have a lot that we're dreaming about, and quite frankly, there's a lot of fear of the unknown, and the fear of the unknown is what causes me a lot of stress, and I need to learn how to deal with that better. Um fear of the unknown of what's going to happen when I raise prices, because in order to do things the way that I need to do them, I need to sell product at a certain price point. The cost of goods that go into the production of these fermented foods are increasing. The cost of the produce, the cost of the jars, the cost of the lids, the cost of the labels, the cost of the ink. You know, everything that goes into the product costs something. And when those costs increase, I either have to eat the cost and make less money, which isn't a sustainable business model, or pass those on and hope that people will understand that this is the cost of doing business and prices increase. Price increases with everything else in life. Why shouldn't they increase with mine? Um you know, big props to everybody in the Patreon audience for entertaining and humoring me, uh entertaining these discussions and humoring me with ideas, concerns, fears, and saying, You need to do this, Rob. You know, big shout out to Cody for having these conversations as well. And you know, I learned something from Wayne, and Cody heard something similar from uh Jean-Martin Fortier, who he follows. If you're not familiar with Jean Martin's work, I will link to him in the show notes as well. But basically, the long and short of it is if you raise your prices and no one says anything, your product was priced too low to begin with. And today I ran around and delivered new pricing, new product descriptions for the 2024 season to the locations where I sell retail. And not only did nobody say anything, but I immediately got an order just a couple hours after delivering the product description list and price sheet to one of the customers, and I will likely receive another order next week. So, guys, there's a lot of validity to people and the experience that they have, and I think it's important to talk about the things that are of concern in our minds and share them with other people and share them in a supportive network, and people who are not only going to you know tell you what you want to hear, but tell you what you need to hear. And a lot of times the people in our lives they tell us what we want to hear, but they don't tell us what we need to hear, and that is why I have such a deep and profound appreciation for this community, because you guys, especially you guys in the Patreon community, don't really sugarcoat things. You know, we have straight-up conversations with one another where you know, we get down to brass tacks and we talk shop when we need to talk shop. And I I I I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. It means the world to me, and I look forward to I I look forward to sharing more with you because, like I said, I I enjoy all the things that I do, but I'm gonna have to start saying no to certain things and trying to figure out what those things are. So stay tuned for more on that as we continue to move forward together. Hopefully, as time goes on, we'll figure out ways to actually deepen the connections that we've been cultivating since we started this Patreon endeavor about three months ago. We've got a few subscribers right now, the core group, Wayne, Kiki, Rachel, Sean, Brian, you know, you guys are basically funding the podcast as it is right now, and I'm deeply grateful for that. If you are out there listening and you want to join in on the conversation that takes place behind the scenes, then you know what to do. Go to patreon.com slash allaroundgrowth, subscribe at whatever tier you're comfortable with, and and strap in because the conversations get real and they get real fast. So it it's it's not for the faint of heart, but if you want to be challenged and if you want to grow and you want to surround yourself with a high caliber of people, then that's where you want to be because that's where we are. And guys, like I said, from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much for your support. It means the world to me, and I look forward to catching you next week and letting you know how the upcoming weekend of rest and relaxation went. This is Rob Kaiser. Thank you and God bless.