Encouragement Farm
In the latest edition of 'Encourage Meant' we remind ourselves of the power of imagining something into being and celebrate the first visitors to our Encouragement Farm
We created the Encouragement Manifesto in a quiet period just before we sold our house, just before we voluntarily made ourselves nomadic. We were in the process of deliberately pulling the rug out from underneath ourselves to satisfy the notion that the only way to gather a perspective on ‘what next’ was to change the context radically. This was a conscious decision to take our ideas on a road trip. So, the house was sold shortly after we had closed down the deli/café that brought us much happiness and a sense of community in our post-’world of work’ life.
But there was a lingering sense that there was something else.
We would never discover what that ‘something else’ was if we stayed in the same place, paying for the same commitments, and doing the same things. There needed to be a shift … judging from the number of people who called us ‘brave’ for selling up to deliberately unsettle ourselves, the perception was that the shift was seismic. For us, it felt natural; very low-risk. Removing the burden of home ‘ownership’ (okay, what we’ll call ‘the right to pay for a large mortgage’) and sizing our future around something more modest would unburden us.
So, we had this Manifesto … even as we travelled, we gathered the words people offered us; and we connected with like-minded humans through the Encouragement Sessions. As our ideas flitted and flew and fermented, there was also an imagining, a wondering about what Feasts & Fables would look like if it was a place.
The words and ideas flowed easily, informed in large part by places that had inspired us and the experiences we had shared as deli owners and supper club hosts.
A picture formed; a landscape was painted.
Basecamp
Roll forward 18 months. We had travelled. We explored places and ideas. We grew. The ideas we had been playing with stayed consistent. But the roaming emphasised to us that we were ready to have a basecamp; the wanderlust was still there, but the sense that we needed somewhere to come back to, to recharge, and to set off from, that sense grew. It also felt as though a basecamp would offer us the chance to bring to life the vision we had scribbled down.
A place where we could do even more encouraging. A place that would attract kindred spirits and like-minded souls for inspiration and encouragement.
The idea of an ‘Encouragement Farm’ began to take shape.
And now we have one - a little under two acres and an old farmhouse in the French countryside a couple of hours inland from La Rochelle and the same distance north of Bordeaux. This week, we welcomed our first visitors, the perfect opportunity to test out our vision for extending a warm welcome and a bucketload of encouragement, in person.
There was a long table, slow feasts, gentle conversation, and encouragement aplenty.
Our visitors volunteered to help around the farm, finding ways to accelerate us through our never-ending list of ambitious plans. Also, they encouraged us to slow down … Mrs Feasts dipped in the River Charante and Mr Fables pedalled 100 kilometres through the quiet rural lanes, stopping for cake and café allongé along the way.
Work and play. A deepened friendship. Encouragement flew in both directions.
‘Feasts + Fables’ would be a place for slow conversations. For speaking and listening. For teaching and learning.
A place for being.
Humans being not always humans doing.
‘If Feasts + Fables Was a Place’
What Next Then?
We are busy laying out a kitchen garden and making plans for fruit and veg growing to fill that long table with great tastes. We need to set up a system for capturing rainwater. There is an orchard that will be the perfect place to put up a couple of bell tents, an outdoor kitchen plus simple shower and toilet facilities. By the Spring we hope to be able to welcome folk to the Farm … oh, and don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of jobs to do in exchange for encouragement and good food. A short stay might just prove to be the small push, or the most invigorating of inspirations, for others to follow their own dreams of lives well-lived.
You Might Have Missed
10 things we learned from over 150 Encouragement Sessions
Pebbles in the Pond
… ripples of encouragement
Stefan Powell is an artist and a coach, who has all the skills to throw in some barista training too. He is on a mission to “help people lead better lives” from his base at The Little Boat Studio on the Isle of Wight. Values-driven; a top ‘encourager’.
Freelancer Magazine is the creation of founder Sophie Cross and designer Ange Lyons; it is, at its heart, a community bound together by the generosity of the advice and inspiration between the covers of every issue.
* A huge thank you to everyone who sent encouraging ideas following my crie de cœur about newsletters, regularity et al
This is of course a naive declaration, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if the world was a version of the Encouragement Farm? It sounds like a wonderful place to meet old friends and make new ones.