'Tangible plans' for work-life balance idea behind holistic farm life workshop
'A lot of business people don't live and work where their business is, 24/7, 365 [days a year]'
Helping Island farm families sync their business goals with their life goals is the focus of two-day intensive workshop later this month called holistic farm life planning.
- 'Poster child': P.E.I. dairy farm makes national calendar
- Homesteading: How P.E.I. couples are reinventing the family farm
The workshop at the Rodd Royalty in Charlottetown Feb. 23 and 24, as well as Riverside Resort in French Village, N.B., Feb. 19 and 20, is being put on by the Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network, or ACORN.
"A lot of businesspeople don't live and work where their business is, 24/7 365 [days a year]," noted workshop leader Debbie Lawrence, a business, life and career coach and founder of Abundant Living.
"It often involves multi-generations in the farm and often employees live on the farm … there's no snow day for our farmers."
Identifying goals for farm and family
The farmers Lawrence coaches are often concerned not only about a successful business and a happy family, but also their carbon footprint and how they interact with their community, she said.
Lawrence will lead participants through exercises in setting goals for production, their equipment, marketing and social media platforms as well as communication skills and succession planning.
They'll look at their internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and challenges.
For farmers, external challenges like unpredictable weather, volatile markets and political change can make planning very tough.
'Tangible plans'
"It's really wonderful to see farm families come together for the workshop," said Lawrence, who led a session in Nova Scotia last year.
Participants are given a workbook that they work on over the two days with help from the facilitator.
"Then they have tangible plans that they can take back and begin the process of implementing them on the farm," as well as sharing with other family members and employees, Lawrence said.
Islanders can register for the workshop at acornorganic.org.
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS I Shades of Snowmageddon? Another storm possible Thursday
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS I Action must follow words on racism, says Muslim Society of P.E.I.
With files from Kerry Campbell