Inching along at Inch by Inch Willows

As you may or may not have read in previous blog posts of mine, I am an empty nester (mid-50s) who chose to grow willows because they are easy to plant and I had an acidic, clay acre to grow them on. I wanted to travel after homeschooling my three kids for 16 years, but my husband is a homebody and traveling is not really his thing. I could have traveled on my own, but that is not what I had in mind. And I still wanted to be available to my young adult children and their spouses, future grandchildren, and my aging parents. So... looking at my parameters and then doing some internet research I found info on growing woody cut stems and more specifically willow which fit within those parameters.

Here's the thing, I knew nothing about growing a crop, the markets, marketing, social media, building a website, pests, weaving willow, floral design, preserving woody cut stems, and the list goes on. That is really frustrating, but if I learned everything about everything I didn't know I would not be writing this post. I had to step out in faith and courage. So, I guess I am writing this post to give you hope. You really don't need to know everything about everything before you start something new; you just need to start. Put one foot in front of another - you remember that song from one of the Christmas-time cartoon movies - and soon you'll be walking out the dooooorrr! Truly!

This year alone I did things that had caused me great angst and I procrastinated as long as I could in doing them. First of all, I committed to growing willow as a business not just a hobby. That entailed a lot of flip-flopping in my mind -my poor husband and business coach/cousin. I also started an Etsy shop selling curly willow and pussy willow. I would have done it sooner, but packaging and shipping terrified me. Why? I do not know. And I had to get business liability insurance and put that off as long as possible and then when I finally set my mind to it, I got it done within a few days thanks to some willow grower-friends and Ted from Erie Insurance.

Another thing I did this year was cut activities out of my calendar because I realized that I needed to focus, focus, focus. I hate cutting fun things, helpful things, social things out of my calendar but now I feel so free and I get all giddy thinking about the courage it took to do that! And I narrowed my agricultural focus on just growing willow for basket weavers with only a couple of plants for curly willow and pussy willow for my few local floral customers.

You know, the tons of books out there telling you how to grow a business all make sense, but the arrogance and pride in me had me tangled up in knots. I was terrified of making mistakes that would be published on Etsy reviews or Facebook comments because we have come to demand perfection, and I am far from that! So, I have also learned to think to myself and say to myself and to any disgruntled customer - "Yes. You are right. I screwed that up. How can I make amends? How can I do better next time?"

Are you about to embark on the next phase of life? Are you scared? Here is some advice:

1) Everyone gets scared, and it is okay; just don't let it hold you back.

2) Things take time so give yourself some grace because you might have to overcome some junk in your mind, you know..."stinkin' thinkin'."

3) You "eat an elephant" one bite at a time so don't fret about the ALL the things you have to do; just take the next step and then the next one and then the next one.

The willow plant is resilient, and it has taught me to be resilient as well. And I just want to pass on encouragement to all of you out there that are afraid to step into the unknown to follow your dreams and reach your goals in life. Life is meant to be lived not just watched. GO LIVE IT!