The following message was published in the NFU-NB’s Winter 2017 Newsletter.
In the winter months, farmers start planning the coming summer’s crops and livestock. While thinking about our next season I began to think about how, as a family and a restaurant owner, I only want to buy meat from farms that have “happy” animals. I aspire to only eat “happy” animals!
This has got me thinking about what makes a happy animal, and what keeps an animal happy. A good farmer goes to extra effort to have healthy livestock. They make sure their animals have a good diet, and get enough rest and sunshine – in essence the things that make an animal happy.
This also has me thinking about all the other “animals” in my life – are we looking after ourselves, our spouses, and our children as well as we look after our livestock?
It takes time and effort to make sure everyone around us is happy. While we need time to plan the season, execute the plan, fulfil the year’s budget and maintain or upgrade our requirements, we also need time with our spouses and quality time with our kids. And lest we forget the need for time alone and leisure time for doing something just for fun.
And here is the conundrum; it takes time to plan to make time for what’s important to us. Time is a valuable commodity and we should treat it like the treasured resource it is. Time management is our most important challenge. Make a plan and write it down; I find it only becomes an actual plan when it’s written down. A real plan is one that one that I can properly define, affix an allotted amount of time to, and check off when it is completed.
Make a plan, keep to it, start early in the morning and get a good night’s sleep! Hopefully through all this planning we manage enough time to keep all the animals happy. Good luck to everyone as you plan for your upcoming season, and make sure to include time for yourself!
-Nicole Edwards, NFU-NB Women’s President and Co-Owner of Chef Carson’s Organics & The Dune View Inn
