What in this world is truly yours? I mean, what do you really own? Your face? Your car? Would you say the clothes you are currently wearing as you secured them with your own hard earned pennies? Perhaps the home you are locked into buying over the next 30 years? If you are fortunate enough, maybe your home is paid in full. However, what happens if you the owner choose not to pay the property tax?
Ownership is not a new concept. Interestingly, though, over the centuries the lines of ownership have been pushed back considerably. Figuratively and sadly in some cases, literally. We live in a world where the advent of the internet has unlocked knowledge of nearly everything to anyone. It is the greatest and worst encyclopedia of all time. Sadly, ideas, intellectual property, concepts are purloined, now more than ever from their innovators. They are then often enhanced with the use of AI and then a product is presented to the world for its benefit. The world accepts it and as a result the world improves even! Everyone wins – right?
Most scientific advancement throughout humankinds existence has been made due to the sharing of ideas, designs, theories, etc. One learns from the previous designers’ error – progress. One picks up incomplete research and development of another researcher & makes it whole. One improves the chemical composition of a pharmaceutical limiting side effects and enhancing absorption. Without some flexibility of the term ownership, could this advancement be possible? I would say yes, however, much slower. Any reasonable person can see the benefits of this collective insight. Yet, the question remains, how far back must the line of ownership be towed for the sake the greater good?
There seems to always be an innovator whom will go unacknowledged for the greater good, whose voice will be unheard, to whom the credit will go unattributed, and to whom the royalties will go unattained. If you have ever experienced this you are fully aware that this is no mere nuisance, it is full on torment.
In the world of farming there were countless innovators before us. They have created a space for us to exist and grow. Without them there would be no modern farm tools, techniques, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. Although I may not personally agree with all of these breakthroughs, I do respect the endeavor, ingenuity, and diligence that went into them.
As a young farmer myself I often meditate on what I will offer to the advancement of agriculture, technology, education, even content creation. What will I offer to my community that it hasn’t had before? What ideas will I, not just emulate, but enhance for the greater good? I do know all too well the torment having conceptual ideas snatched & swiftly rebranded as something new, when the reality is the concept is unimproved, unchanged, unaltered and not because the idea has reached its plateau but because of a lack of the rebranders’ own originality, artistry, inventiveness. Put simply, a lack of imagination. So if during my farming sojourn, I reach no mountains tops, ascend to no agricultural peaks, or leave no mark on this growing homesteading community, it will at least be of my own inability and that is acceptable.
It would be self righteous to say one has never replicated the ideas of another. A wise man was inspired to write that “there is nothing new under the sun”. Funny that. So what does any moral individual do? To each his own. I personally am resolved to show respect to those before me, to honestly give credit where credit is due, not being selective in where I think it should go but where it is rightly deserved. By doing so, I can grow big from home with a clean conscience, steady heart, and peace of mind.
February 2026 – The Farm In Portrait
