As in many home offices — whether the office is in the house, barn or shop — there’s a cork board on the wall above my desk. It holds practical items, such as deadlines for Country Guide, but also items that make me giggle (a 1920s postcard depicting a farmer following his horse that is hitched to a plough with the words “City folks just don’t get the same air as we do!”), aspirational items (a photo of a 1970s muscle car I’d like to own one day) and inspirational quotes and photos (my daughter).
There’s also one other barely noticeable item: a stacked pile of small Post-it notes with subsequent versions of my “word of the year.”
I started this habit several years ago and it’s been super for helping me align or re-focus on my goals. For example, last year I found that I was a bit scattered trying to accomplish everything I wanted to. So, for 2025 my word was “focus.” (Actually, “intentional focus and follow-through.”) In 2024, I was feeling rather deflated about a few projects and unachieved goals, so I chose the word “persist.”
Read Also
Farmland values: assumptions and realities
Where farmland values are headed and what decisions farmers should make
Which brings me to the headline above. I’m not sure we can ever achieve all our goals, but I’m not sure that we should or that they should be so easy to achieve. We need something to push us every day. We need something that drives curiosity and continuous learning. Which, like the roots you’ll read about in Margaret Evans’s article “Sensing the Soil”, means that we are “not passively growing … but actively ‘reading’ (our) environment” to better build resilience, focus on what’s currently relevant and nimbly re-adjust as often as required.
In terms of goal setting for the new year, we also ask “Are you ready”? in Angela Lovell’s exploration of what’s holding many farmers back from succession planning despite the panoply of resources and advisors available. You’ll also find organizational tips for the mountains of paperwork your farm business must contend with in Leeann Minogue’s interview with organizational consultant Lacey Frizzell. And we hope you’ll find some valuable offbeat advice to help you address a few of your current challenges in Danielle Ranger’s article “The Power of Unconventional Wisdom”.
Whether or not you set goals every January (and manage to stick with them!), you’ll find advice in this issue of Country Guide to inform those important on-farm discussions and decisions throughout the year. I hope your holiday season is filled with love, laughter and, of course, delicious food and I wish you the very best for 2026. CG
