Just a small town girl with nothing to lose and everything to gain. That was my mindset as I entered early adulthood. That mindset got me to where I am at today. I remember feeling stuck and scared that I was going to be put in a box. A box that capped my highest potential and I blamed that on the environment I grew up in.
I blamed Iowa…I blamed Iowa for the constant reminder of not having much as a kid . The tap on the shoulder that wouldn’t let me move on from the life I grew up around surrounded by what seemed to be the never ending cycle of financial hardship. Let’s be honest here if you know what it is like to barely make ends meet and then you happen to run into some luck every once in a while… that luck doesn’t last long at all. Most of the time that luck is equated to dollar bills and you blow it as fast as you can get it. That was the environment I was accustomed to. So as a young adult I was suffocating from the thoughts of following in those same footsteps… so I left Iowa.
I uprooted my family on pure faith. A little history about us was that we bought our first home on the east side of Waterloo. Ryan loved that house. It was the first house we made a home. We had amazing neighbors who quickly became like family to us. I remember the day I left our first home and vowed never to look back. I left by myself to start a new life in the Chicagoland area. All while Ryan finished packing up our old life so I could get a jump start on our new life. This was how things went for us for 8 years. Moving to states where we were the closest family we had. Man.. I thought I was the risk taker in the relationship… what took me a long time to realize was it was my husband and son who held the highest stakes. They bet everything on me.. literally.
The move back to Iowa wasn’t my idea. I quite honestly was against it.. I realize now it was out of fear of being put back into that same box. But life for me is always about bets and risks. I grew up around bets and risks so that only makes sense except this time I felt I had everything to lose. Deep within I knew it was time I bet on my family.
Iowa welcomed us back with open arms. I just wasn’t prepared for what Iowa had in store for us. It changed me…
Iowa woke me up from what I believed was the best I could do. It continues to show me there is so much more to life. I just can’t believe it came in the form of a vegetable garden.
Less than 5 years ago I wanted to climb the corporate ladder. The goal was to reach the highest rung on the ladder I could. Now.. I realize life’s truest potential isn’t about boardrooms and corporate engagement meetings. It’s about finding complete happiness and holding on to it.
This farm has taught me so much about myself in such a short period of time. This isn’t a phase.. I understand now why they say farmers are some of the happiest people alive. It’s because they figured out that life doesn’t have to be over complicated. Life is best lived when you silence the noise of chaos and choose simple.
So yeah.. I would risk it all to be a vegetable farmer. It is abundantly clear on exactly what I need to do these days.
Moral of the story… Sometimes those boxes we find ourselves put in are the boxes we packed ourselves. It’s time to unpack. -✌🏼Jamie
Moral Of The Story 