Have you identified your passions? If “yes,” have you identified their origins? Are they unique to you, or is there a chance that they have their roots in your family tree, passed down through the generations?
NPR recently ran a story titled, From Organic Pioneers, Son Inherits Passion, Just Not For Farming. It is a general interest piece largely centered on the memoir A Farm Dies Once a Year by Arlo Crawford. Arlo is the son of Jim Crawford, an eminent leader in the organic farming movement and the owner of the highly successful “New Morning Farm” in south central Pennsylvania. It was founded in the mid-seventies by Jim and his wife, Moie.
The younger Crawford talks of “passion projects,” citing his father’s New Morning Farm as a prime example. The farm was an endeavor born of Jim’s and Moie’s passion, and its success resulted from the combination of that passion and the skills the owners developed and brought to the business.
Interestingly, Arlo inherited from his parents not a love of organic farming, or a desire to lead a self-sustaining life, but rather their passion and determination to seek out new things and to take risks. Arlo traded the pitchfork for a pen, and in so doing, created the opportunity for someone else to continue the family business; someone with a passion for organic farming. As Arlo describes it, New Morning Farm is a “passion project” that is best handed down to the individual with the greatest ambition to ensure its longevity. To hand it down from parent to child solely for tradition would not be in the best interest of the farm, nor the family.
Are you free to pursue your passions? And will the pursuit of those passions lead you in a direction that makes the best use of your knowledge and interests?
Read an excerpt from Arlo Crawford’s book, A Farm Dies Once a Year and learn about New Morning Farms on the NPR website.
Here at The Wealth Conservancy, our passion is advocating for inheritors, ensuring that you are free to pursue your dreams with ambition, excitement, and persistence.