Growing Dreams
Dreams are important. They’re a big part of what gets you up in the morning.
“I want to have a cabin on the lake.”
“I want to see my children grow healthy, happy, and strong.”
“I want to be the change I wish to see in the world.”
Farmstead Creamery & Café began as a dream too—a dream to reconnect people with real, local food, to build community, to foster creativity, and to engender greater sustainability.
Every community has needs. As our family began our adventures in agrarianism 18 years ago, we began to notice important needs in the area too—needs for greater access and opportunity. Many fellow Millennials are opportunity seekers, heading for the cities in search of career paths. But Kara and I decided to stay and be opportunity makers.
This passion for creating opportunity not only appears in special events that showcase area musicians, poets, authors, chefs, and artists, but also in our shop’s featuring of a host of other local farmers, growers, soap-makers, fisher-folk, cheesemakers, beekeepers, and syrupers. It all knits together like the different instruments in an orchestra, so that you have the opportunity to experience the full orchestral experience, just by walking in the door.
This last Thursday was another gathering for our Spoken Word series (5 to 8 pm, and it only runs now through the end of August, so don’t miss out). The three-word poetry challenge was back! And this time, I drew a different constellation of words—words well worth pondering.
Cow, germinate, domesticate –Laura Berlage
Germinate:
To spring into life from a dormant state,
To grow from a small beginning,
Just before emerging from the damp, fertile soil.
As Dowland said, “In darkness let me dwell”
For in darkness begins great things,
Before birthing into the light with form and purpose.
If born too soon, without the quickening in the dark,
Surely they should perish,
And never live to domesticate their wilder, darker dreams before the eyes of others,
The eyes that need the light to know the form before them.
Dreams need the dark time, the germination.
Tender, delicate dreams, like first shoots,
Not yet sturdy enough to take the blows of wind and rain
Licensing, taxes, regulations…
But as the dreams build roots in fertile soil,
Up they reach, higher and higher.
Eventually they can tower, standing commanding like mature sunflowers in the field,
Gazing towards the grazing cows.
But only so much as those roots,
Back in the dark place, are strong.
Take care of the germinating,
For only a sheltered start can find true success in the growing.
***
Just the other day, a lady and her daughter were stopping by Farmstead for some gelato. They were asking more about the place, and I shared that the shop had just recently celebrated its fifth birthday.
“Oh my goodness,” the lady exclaimed, thrilled. “You always hope that you can even make it to your fifth birthday in small business. Congratulations! The world needs more of this. What you’re doing is amazing.”
It was exactly what I needed to hear on that day, with four hours of sleep, kids crying upstairs, spilled milk on the floor, and a stack of dishes in the kitchen. You have to hang onto those dreams, celebrate the wins, and remember the goals. It’s been a big year for highlights, including being named a “Top 10 foodie destination in Wisconsin” both in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Star Tribune.
Dreams might start large or small, but the journey of growing them into reality is filled with adventures and opportunity. This, our sixth summer, is filled with exciting events from music to chef dinners, poetry to an upcoming artist showcase. Join us this summer as we continue to realize our dreams down on the farm!
