There you have it - that is the core of our Anneth Farm HR policy. When you think about it, you could list any number of qualities that would encompass the perfect farm worker. Dedicated, focussed, intelligent, thoughtful, motivated, industrious, caring, physically fit, independent, communicative, enthusiastic, disciplined, mature, open to feedback, keen to learn.
Hmmm - come to think of it that might be a description of a fantastic electrician, physician, financial advisor, teacher, police officer, CEO, writer, or future prime minister of Canada.
Those who have come to look after our animals and garden have, for the most part, been very young, with their lives in front of them. They are at school or university, or feeling themselves at a crossroad. of “what comes next”. And this is on the backdrop of a world of uncertainty; political, emotional, financial, and environmental. Maybe our little plot feels tangible and authentic in a way that the future does not. There is something pretty tactile and present about gardening and feeding creatures. But the barn and veggie patch are little educational institutions in themselves, inspiring the development of not just skills, but character traits such as patience, responsibility, ingenuity and compassion. The animals are not always easy, and the cranky ram likes to take a run at you from time to time, raccoons leave a trail of chicken carcasses. While it is idyllic on some days, schlepping hay bags and shoveling manure in the pouring rain can wear a bit thin.
And then there is the matter of that tricky thing called communication and what happens when things don’t go right., when things aren’t “perfect”, those times when we have to figure out how to deal with error or human conflict. Because, I can tell you, the most imperfect things on the farm are its owners. We think we know the “best way” of doing things, but there has never been a farm worker who has not improved the farm in some way before they leave. We try to be great bosses but life happens and we become tired, cranky or impatient and have to have what we famously call around here a “redo”. But man, perfection is a lofty and disappointing goal. I sure hope that despite our bumbling attempts to be “the bosses”, that the message struggling to emerge from it all is this: it is ALWAYS ok and human to make mistakes, experience struggle, or have conflict and these very experiences are the substrate for learning. In fact I hope that that the clear take-away is that learning IS the real work. Every time Stan and I think, “hey, maybe we’ve finally nailed this”, whether “this” be building a shed or building a relationship, we screw up in some way. But please let the gift we give our farm family be our willingness to never give up trying to gain wisdom and improve, to find empathy, to ask for forgiveness, and to forgive.
And so we have to say to those who come here to help us that working for us is just such a short segment of the journey. There is so much more for you, more to learn both formally or informally, to experience and to contribute not just locally but globally. We are the tiniest of stops along the way. And we love you all and miss you all. But the most loving words we can say to you are “Good Bye”
