Farmer Tim
My parents moved to a larger property in rural Virginia last year. During the peak of Covid, I stayed there and helped the family with the vegetable garden, maintaining the pastures, and completing some bigger projects. As suburbanites, we were all learning a lot.
Being completely isolated, I began creating daily farm videos, dubbed "Farmer Tim", which turned out to be not only a fun little side project, but a lesson in creating and expertise.
A few lessons:
There are a three themes that stand out to me.
- Intention - My first few videos were mostly jokes about being on a farm and living in a rural area. Only later did I create more educational topics on growing micro-greens, planting tomatoes, and creating compost piles. Create first, niche down later.
- Expertise - My friends began asking me questions about how to grow their indoor and outdoor plants. Now I'm the expert! It's a reminder that expertise is relative. I only knew barely more than them on some topics and likely less on others. But they tagged me as "plant" person and it stuck.
- Fun - I encourage others to have a creative outlet. It is easiest when it is fun doing and you feel energized after having done it. Shooting quick videos not much different than what I do regularly, which is lot's of quips. Writing, on the other hand, is a lot more difficult.
I ended up not continuing with the farm content because I eventually went back to New York and traveled with friends. But I may return to shooting quick videos that require a little effort and just flex my creative muscles.