Aug 24, 2023
By Rick McNary
After 40 years of sharpening my skills in building communities, whether they’re online, such as Shop Kansas Farms (SKF), or geographically defined like the small town where I live, I’m convinced farmers and ranchers understand the concept of community better than the rest of us.
Here’s why: they understand community based on survival; we understand community based on convenience. Let me explain the difference.
If you think back to the time SKF was launched during the pandemic and the grocery store shelves were empty, there was a new type of fear felt by the public many of us had never experienced — what if we ran out of food?
But farmers and ranchers stepped in and calmed our fears. LeAnn Miller wrote this on our site on Sept. 4, 2021.
“Thank you, Rick McNary, for all the work you have put into this group, and into our communities.
“I think maybe you don't know that for some of us, this isn't just a group. See, some of us went to the store, and saw empty shelves. We don't live off the land, we live off those shelves. That was the most terrifying feeling some of us have ever felt in our lives, and trust me, Brother, we've been through things, and seen things no one ever should. But here you came with this group of people who were like, 'Shelves at the store are empty, but we've got you! We don't need them.'
"Maybe you all don't know, but that took the weight of the world, and the terror from hell, off the shoulders of us that only drive by your farms, or maybe only hear about them. YOU ALL gave many people a fresh hope, and you slayed thoughts that no one should have running through their minds.
"So, in case no one else had said it, this is NOT just a group, this has been a blessing, a gift, a sense of hope, and a reminder not to take anything for granted. It's been a place to come, to see that people do still love and care for their neighbors, not just near, but also far. From the bottom of my heart - Thank you, Rick, and all who banned together in this, for what you've done here.”
She is describing a community based on survival. I began writing about farmers and ranchers more than eight years ago for Kansas Living as an outsider-looking-in and realized farmers and ranchers understand they need each other more than any other group of people I know. For example, when one of them is sick, surrounding farmers and ranchers will take care of their crops, their livestock and their entire operation while they’re incapacitated.
One of my favorite stories to illustrate farmers supporting each other happened in Pickaway Prison in Ohio. No, I was not one of the inmates, but I was there to engage the inmates in a meal packaging event for the hungry in the local community. A local journalist interviewed me and, when she finished, casually mentioned she was going the next day to work on the best story of her 30-year career.
She said there were 50 truckloads of fencing, hay and other farm and ranch supplies from various parts of Ohio meeting at a rest stop on I-70. Their convoy would go to Kansas to help farmers and ranchers who suffered tremendous devastation from the Starbuck Fire of 2017.
“I know exactly where they are headed and the farmers and ranchers they are going to help,” I exclaimed.
She replied, “There is no one who understands community better than people in agriculture. They know they need each other to survive.”
For many of us, we base community on convenience. We live in the same neighborhood, watch our kids in the same schools, and might see each other in other places, but we don’t understand we need each other to survive. However, I learned the most powerful lesson about this when I was in Africa.
I visited the world’s second largest refugee camp in Dedaab, Kenya, about 10 miles from the Somalia border and was flummoxed to watch starving refugees share their food with each other. Heck, my kids will fight over the last piece of pizza in the fridge.
I made that observation to my host, and she told me they explain their concept of sharing with a Swahili phrase that translates, “Today, it’s me; tomorrow, it’s you.” Meaning I will lend you food today if I have some and you have none because the roles might reverse and tomorrow you will have food and I will have none.”
Upon returning to America, I flagged my next-door neighbor down one day.
“John,” I said. “Here’s the keycode to my house. Anytime you need food, water, a change of clothes, or a roof over your head, help yourself. I’ll gladly share anything I have.”
As you can imagine, he was quite confused, but he knew me and knew I was trying to make a point.
“Umm, thanks, I think,” he began. “But, you know, I have a good job and all those things, so I probably won’t be taking you up on that offer anytime soon. That trip to Africa must have messed you up.”
“In a good way,” I smiled. “I’ve been in some of the poorest parts of the world and one thing they understand is they must have each other to survive. In America, we don’t think we need each other, but truly, when the chips are down and tragedy strikes, we learn the power of community is based on survival, not just convenience.”
A few months after that, I awakened at four in the morning to my doorbell ringing furiously while someone was simultaneously pounding on it. As I ran to the door, I noticed an eerie light in our windows: John’s house was in flames.
For a period of a couple of days, our house became sort of a grand central station for them. One day he remarked, “We really do need each other to survive, don’t we?”
Shop Kansas Farms began as a community based on survival but has grown into a unique community based on the love for farmers and ranchers and the food they grow. While we might not have always understood that we do need them to survive, that powerful lesson came to us during the pandemic. And when people rescue us from our fears, well, we will forever have a soft place in our hearts for them.
Here are five practical steps you can help our community grow:
- Write and post a review of your favorite farmers and ranchers and the products you purchase from them.
- Keep checking our website and map because new farms and ranches are being added each week.
- Encourage your family and friends to join our Facebook Group.
- Sign up for our newsletter.
- Forward this writing to friends and family so they can help build our community.
A good community is one that understands they need each to survive. The best community is one filled with love, admiration and support – all of which describe Shop Kansas Farms.
Thanks for being a part of our community and please help it grow!
P.S. Here is a wonderful article in Kansas Living that illustrates how a farming community takes care of each other.