This year, for whatever reason (let’s just blame COVID), we had a horrible cucumber crop. But we had green beans galore, so we pickled dillies instead. We lost all our pumpkins to beetles. But we had a glorious peach crop, so I’ll buy a pie pumpkin for Thanksgiving and serve cobblers the following months.
Our summer gardening mimics the change in direction many businesses have recently taken. Call it the Pandemic Pivot, if you will, it’s the dance businesses large and small have done in order to survive these past seven months. It’s the steps they may have to continue for the next seven months.
How’s business been for you? What might you need to do differently next year? Now’s a good time to take a reality check.
What I’m Working On This Month
Ever wonder why some businesses get all the media attention? I’m putting together a workshop that answers just that. Check out the Women’s Farm & Ag Network Annual Conference and sign up for “Create a Media Kit that Brings Publicity to Your Farm.”
What I’m Tuned In To This Month
- The Land Remembers, by Ben Logan.This month would have been his centennial birthday. A great memoir of growing up on the farm in the 1920-30s in Driftless Wisconsin.
- Young Blood Beer Co. Their business plan was to open a taproom, then COVID hit. In their words, they “revised,” “adjusted,” and accepted “it is what it is.”
- Octoberfest Brewery Tour. Every year we take an annual “celebration of sipping and scenery.” This year we’re social distancing on the North Shores.
- Revisiting Carole Cadwalladr’s still-relevant TED Talk. “It’s not about left or right…it’s about whether it’s actually possible to have a free and fair election ever again.”