“Every piece of our greenhouse is sourced from repurposed materials. It doesn’t look pretty, but it works well.” – Kevin Crow

Blooming Future

“Every piece of our greenhouse is sourced from repurposed materials. It doesn’t look pretty, but it works well,” Kevin said while describing how he and his wife Kayla operate Mount Olive Farms.

Kevin and Kayla were faced with some hard decisions as their family income was affected by arduous economic conditions in early 2020. Kevin, a full-time pastor, and Kayla, an in-home nurse, often spending half a day in travel time going to and from assigned clients, suddenly found themselves with, seemingly, instant income constriction.

“We decided to put all of my efforts into operating Mount Olive Farms,” Kevin explained.

They purchased their little farm, not long before the challenging economy arrived, and had formulated a dream of creating a flower business that would have stewardship at its core.

“Our philosophy is simple,” Kevin clarified. “We do everything to make sure the land will be better than it was before we started.”

They fulfill their role as stewards of the land from the ground up. One example of their creativity is their on-property worm farm. Kevin constantly feeds the worms organic material from their farming activities, that would otherwise go to waste. The worms eat and grow. Their waste creates worm castings that Kevin uses to supplement the soil. He also brews “worm tea,” from the worm enclosures, which he uses to spray his crops, giving the plants exceptional nutrition. 

“It’s all about using all of the existing pieces and resources we have, so as respond to what I sometimes refer to as the mystery of success,” Kevin said.

Other pieces they’ve added to their business include weekly flower selling at the local Farmer’s Market, holding weekly “You-Pick” sessions on their farm, selling flowers to florists, renting their farm for photo shoots, seasonally renting a yurt constructed on their property, and selling edible flowers to local restaurants.

They’ve created a multifaceted business which is allowing them to reap rewards and grow relationships.

“We invest what we make back into the business and our family,” Kevin explained. “So, we aren’t experiencing explosive growth, just sustained growth.”

And, growing they are. They’ve become a well-recognized business while keeping their values firmly in place.

“They’re sweet people,” Chef Tyler Rogers said, as he described how he uses Mount Olive Farms grown edible flowers in his food at his “Hail Fellow Well Met” restaurant. “They provide us with great food enhancing products that match our desire to provide dishes aimed at expanding the pallet of our clients, by offering menu items with a twist, which results in traditional-like dishes which are unusually flavorful.”

Chef Tyler’s creations are also a reflection of Kevin and Kayla’s family. The Crows have adopted three children all of whom are growing like the flowers on their farm. It is a traditional-like family with a twist. The kids came from varying backgrounds and are now part of an unusually flavor-filled family all working to grow their farm and build rooted bonds with each other.

Just like Kevin said, every piece of the Crow farm, and family, is sourced from and rooted in repurposed materials. And those words, perfectly describe Kevin and Kayla’s exceptional life called Mount Olive Farms.

If you’d like to know more about Mount Olive Farms and Hail Fellow Well Met restaurant, watch as I host this episode on American Dream TV which will be streaming on Apple TV and Roku in August 2023

“Caleb Chapman's Crescent Super Band is a music group directed by Caleb Chapman. It consists of 25 musicians aged 15–18.”

Maestro Movements

On a Sunday in 1909 Sonora Smart Dodd was sitting in a pew in her small church located in Spokane, Washington. She was a little perplexed as she listened to a Mother's Day sermon.  Because, she didn’t remember her Mother. Her mom died while bearing her sixth child.  

Sonora was 16 at the time and as a result of her mother’s death she was quickly introduced to rigors of parenthood because she began helping her father raise her younger brothers, including her infant brother Marshall. Still, the sermon inspired her. It reminded of her own upbringing, and turned her heart to memories of her father, William Jackson Smart, who raised her and her five siblings alone after the death of their mom.

The oration in playing out in her church caused her to wonder how many others were like her? Motherless, but blessed with a devoted and loving father who made a home and a happy childhood for his children without the help of his wife.

After church, she complemented the preacher on his sermon, and suggested that a special day should also be dedicated to fathers. She asked her pastor if they could have a special day for fathers the next Sunday, the first Sunday in June that year, because it was the day after her own father's birthday. And, after some discussion with other ministers in the area, it was agreed that the third Sunday that June would give all of the cooperating pastors the time they needed to prepare such a sermon.

The first Father's Day celebration occurred in Spokane on June 19, 1910, but the concept didn't really catch on. In fact, it was mocked by newspapers and dismissed by many men who believed the holiday's sentimental nature and gift-giving elements were just a commercial deception. So, when Sonora, the pivotal conductor and champion of Father’s Day, went off to study in Chicago in the 1920s “Father’s Day” all but disappeared. But on her return to Spokane in the 1930s, she resumed her mission of spreading the celebration of Father’s Day across the United States.

It wasn’t until 1957 when Senator Margaret Chase Smith, representing the State of Maine, took Congress to task when she accused them of overlooking fathers for 40 years while recognizing mothers. And nine years later, in 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson finally designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day through a presidential proclamation. It took another six years, until 1972, for Father's Day to become a nationwide holiday. 

You might not remember that Father's Day started in 1909. You probably won't remember the name of the woman who made Father's Day her life's mission. And that's okay. Because what you will remember is that Father's Day came to be because one man made a deep and lasting impact on the life of his daughter. And, there are other people who have continued to keep the spirit of fatherhood alive by becoming a pivotal element the lives of children who aren’t members of their own blood lines. One such person is Caleb Chapman.

I met Caleb at a different type of celebration, yet I was immediately mesmerized by his skills of conducting young musicians. I watched as he conducted youth protégé leading them to play exquisite music. Yet, the music wasn’t the real story being played out in front of me. 

He was conducting others toward positive movement forward, during a pivotal moment in their lives. Just as any good father does in the lives of their children, allowing them to become the person they really are. I don’t know if the talented musicians who were playing in front of me, under the Caleb’s leadership, had active fathers in their lives or not. But, I knew their lives were being molded by a maestro conductor, just as Sonora Smart Dodd’s life was impacted by a strong, loving father.

I also know that everyone benefits from a strong loving father, whether such a maestro-conducting-father shares blood with those he serves or not.

Bravo!  Bravo, William Jackson Smart and Caleb Chapman and to all those who are acting as true fathers.

“I won’t be able to feel her feet anymore!” – Donna Sansbury

Dancing Into the Future

There was a pool of water held in place, behind her eyes as she tried to speak.  She was doing everything she could do to keep that water dammed up, from trickling down the gentle slope of her cheeks.

“I’m sorry.” Donna choked out between halting breathes. “I don’t like to cry in front of people.”

She went on explain that she’d just put her home, of more than twenty-five years, under contract for a sale.  During all of those years, Donna and Larry Sansbury have loved their cottage which is located on a large, tree and grass filled piece of land in the high south.

“I’m filled with memories.”  She continued.  “We had our horses there and we’d ride the trails which crisscrossed our property.  We loved gathering the fresh eggs.”

She stopped abruptly.  Her voice hitched again.  What was once a trickle, soon became a torrent, rushing down her face, toward her feet.

“It’s the garden I don’t know if I can live without.”  She cried.  “I won’t be able to feel her feet anymore!”

Donna and Larry Sansbury’s adult daughter created this particular garden.  She put and left her heart and soul into that, more than simple, vegetable garden.  She surrounded it with beautifully stacked and artfully positioned stones.  So, it’s now Donna and Larry’s garden of memories; holding the precious reminiscence of their now passed beloved.  Donna’s tears were showing her understandable distress of moving away from the physical representations of her daughter.  Yet, her tears also appeared to be tracing a new, flowing path of joy, hope and love across Donna’s face, toward her carefully selected future.

This tracing of memory toward a bright future quickly tickled her mood into brightness.

“Our new place has a wonderful deck.”  She breathed. “It’s looks out to the tops of beautiful hardwood trees.  I love to watch the leaves dance on the wind.”

“That’s good,” I thought.  Because Donna had just told me that Larry wasn’t able to dance anymore.

“I stood behind Larry the other day and watched him labor to walk across the way to his shop.”  She explained.  “He just can’t do it anymore.  It’s too painful for him.  When we’re in our new place we’ll be able to sit together and watch the trees dancing, from our new perch in the midst the trees.”

The pool of water, that had been held in place, behind her eyes as she tried to speak, was gone, because her eyes were now dancing and sparkling.  Just like the tall, beautiful trees she was describing.  This, just commingled remembrance, had led her away from the worry of soon not being to feel her daughter’s feet beneath her own.

No, she won’t be able to feel her daughter’s feet on those same garden stones any longer, but she’s already recognizing the spirit of her daughter dancing in the trees. Because, Donna and Larry have discovered how to interlace their fondest, loved memories into the new branches of their future.

“The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.”  - George Washington

The Greater Triumph

One of the most perceptibly put-together-people I know, a person seemingly free from inner conflict, offered a glimpse of the “Greater Triumph” during a very personal conversation.

“I just don’t know if I can keep doing this.”  He said.  “I’ve thought about it over and over again.  And, I’ve concluded, I’m going to do what I think is best for me.”

It was a moment of revealed personal torture and decision.  Decision, because his boss had delivered a veiled threat.

“I guess you can do that, but our investors expect you to come into line with their desire not to take any time off.”  His employer had warned.

You see, my friend spends much of his personal time as a mentor to teenaged boys and he was going to take some vacation time to do more.  He acts as a mentor to them, because others did so for him, when he was at this same impressionable stage of life. He has never forgotten it.  Just as I have never forgotten invaluable counsel from George Washington, one of my heroes and posthumous mentors. 

“The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.”  Mr. Washington once said.

Another plain and simple complimentary truth comes from Brant Hansen, author and radio personality. Brant teaches that all people can use their own innate weakness to their advantage.” 

Wow! As he sees it, we must not shy away from our own inherent weakness because it is our most valuable teacher and is the evidence of essential interdependence. The bottom line here is that we are all weak.  And, where we are personally weak, others are strong. Embracing weakness will bring us to understand our, too often ignored interdependence, if we allow it to.

Embracing the concept of using personal weakness as a pathway toward growth opens the possibility of discovery.  The discovery of an inescapable fork in life’s road. We can choose to be entirely self-reliant, dependent on our natural gifts and abilities, without reliance on others, or we can seek to offer our strength, as well as receive strength, from others around us. 

Accepting strength from others relieves those, who choose the principle of interdependence, from solely bearing often debilitating natural consequences; the often times heavy burden of fully isolating-self-reliance and loneliness. In short, we all need to rely on others who also have our best interests at heart.  And in fact, there will surely be times when all of us will need to lean on the goodness of others during good, as well as bad, times.

Choosing to become a selfless attendant to others is the first key to winning the hardest conflict we will ever face. Here are additional steps to start down this crucial path to victory over self.

Second, we must recognize the flawed basis of remaining fixed in self-sufficiency.  Admitting that we have never been really been operating under our own power is essential in allowing weakness to become our teacher.  If we fail, or are unwilling to do so, we let our own individual pride stand in the way.

Third, we need to make it a habit and priority to offer our gifts to others. As we do, we will be often tempted to do things on own, relying on our own wisdom and power. In such times we must give both big and sometimes, seemingly small offerings to others. Especially as we witness those around us walking through painful, mundane, and often common circumstances in their lives. 

Lastly, we must recognize that relying solely on our own wisdom and judgment is a path to nowhere. A path not allowing the greater triumph described by George Washington.  He knew that the battle to overcome self is the greatest combat one will ever encounter.  That’s why he kept a list, rules of civility, essential virtues, in the forefront of his mind throughout his life.  He made the decision to continually remind himself of that choice, just like my perceptibly put-together friend, who made the same decision to follow his own rules of civility when facing the greater conflict.

There will always be times when each of us is forced to choose what path we’ll take. Will you and I truly face the harder conflict, so we can achieve the greater triumph described by Mr. Washington? 

In the end, each must make the decision on their own.  Yet, we can be there to help each other seize triumph.