Tapestry of my work life…

I grew up on a farm and in a shop.  I also was a gardener.  These are earliest memories for me.  Parents and relatives were of the earth.

I was always inventing things.  Taking things apart; Putting them back together sometimes with success, not always.

Working in the shop with tools taught me well.  Working on the farm with animals and equipment also prepared me for life.

I got an education in school. Probably should have skipped High School and went straight to college.  Learned nearly all there.  Sang in a choir, played in bands.  Crammed 4 years into 5.  Would have enjoyed being a perpetual student.

Began raising vegetables on rented land.  Did that for 3 years in college.  Also worked at K-Mart in the Patio Department  (Blue Light Specials et al) quit that and worked in Produce in a supermarket (fired), Farmed every summer, mostly raising vegetables.  Then got a job selling farm equipment.  Few hundred bucks a month and all the used steel I could eat.  But there was a commission. Prospered at it. Eventually did well enough where I bought a small piece of land.  Farmed it.

Learned to trade commodities during that time. Oats, Corn, Pork Bellies.  Huge wins larger losses.  Learned economics the hard way. 

In the Mid 70s quit the equipment business to go into the technology field.  Personal computers were new.  Started a small corporation.  It became a big one.  Then a second in software that didn’t.  And a third in Radio Networking that did.  And all the while farming.. owned a dairy farm.. for a while.   Sold out when it didn’t work.

In the 1980s land I had contracts on to own went away.. the inflation of the Carter years were washed away by Paul Volker and I was nearly broke.  From great plenty… to the edge of disaster.

Just in time a call came from a company in Chicago.  Come and help.  So I moved here.  Operated that company for a few years .. then moved to Germany to manage a company there.  Both went really well.

Returning then in the early 90s I decided to get back into Horticulture and Farming.  Worked in marketing for a major Nursery.  Then for a while recruited back into software.  That only lasted several months.  Missed the outdoors.  Worked for a local family nursery.  Fired.  Started my own.  Became a good sized corporation.  Closed it in 2002 and started the company I own today.   Began consulting for other nurseries, banks and financial institutions. 

Now after 50+ years of work in a dozen different fields I see how they all book-ended together to bring me to this point.  I am convinced that some things could never have happened without these various activities.  Am I a jack of all trades??  Sorta.. but master of some. 

I wish that many people would see how the tapestry of life is closely woven by Father God and no matter what happens, it’s all good.. even when it seems not to be.