Logo_Design_Standard
The spirit, thought process and values behind the way I choose to raise chickens and do business can be put into these main areas; Caring: I care for the effects of my doing. Choosing to become a poultry farmer means I will have animals and land under my stewardship. For me, being good to my animals goes further than giving them clean food and water. I like to play with them, sit with them, talk to them and get to know them. Being good to the land means that I need to know it. I need to start seeing it as a living organism, and like all living organisms it has it's needs and wants. Every year we use 10 tons of topsoil to create 400 kg of food per person. When I started seeing topsoil as skin, I was shocked how much we are mutilating the earth. I started to imagine how it would feel like if something was peeling my skin of, piece by piece, and leaving me exposed to the stinging sunlight and the burning of water running over exposed flesh. Internalizing this imagery I felt, no, I have to take care of my friend, the earth, because it takes care of me so well as well. And thus, when I am going to need land for my chicken, I need to make sure I give back to the earth, and not cheating by giving back synthetic junk or cheap drugs (chemicals to 'stimulate' the earth). Also, I want to thank my friend by leaving it in a better state than it was. "We haven't inherited this land from our parents, no, we are borrowing it from our children". Embodying this mentality means that I want to leave this land better than it was to the one who comes after me, when I am not here anymore. Simple complexity. The earth has been here for eons, and probably will stay for eons more. Life has been here a little less than that, but enough to develop and develop and develop. It developed harmony between the individual and the whole, where the individual can fully take care of itself whilst acting in service to the whole. Because these systems had so much time to develop it would be foolish to depart from it, but still we do. Many of us care for ourselves without considering the whole, I learned to not do that, I care about the effect of my doing. Transparency: im in the business of providing food that goes in people's mouths. That's a very intimate thing to do. Before I started farming I felt how intimate that was, so I tried to make sure to the best of my abilities to only put in my mouth that which was 'good'. I had the need to know the whole chain before the end product. That gave me a feeling of safety and satisfaction, I knew where my money was going and so what I was supporting indirectly. Now that I am a producer myself, I feel I want to actively make my chain transparent, for myself first and foremost, to emphasise the integrity of my methods, which I take great pride in. Sharing: I couldn't have started this business without the sharing of information by others who came before me. In the past I used to think to keep learned skills and tricks for myself, because that gave me an edge. As I have matured and experienced more, I now believe that actual benefit is found more in sharing. I realised that I am unique, my story is unique and nobody can take that away. Learning that gave me enough confidence to let go of the insecurity of holding on to 'secrets'.
Everyone who is aware of the dire straits of the food industry and are looking for alternatives. People with nostalgic feelings for their grandparents farms and the feelings of simpler times. Parents looking to reconnect themselves and their children with the earth.
Please provide details of your project direction, ideas and/or goals. The more specific the better so that I can be on the same page as you! Include images where possible.
This holistic vision of working with animals and the soil they work on falls under ‘regenerative agriculture’. Which goes further than ‘organic’ guidelines. Regenerative agriculture goes deep into the matter and is much broader and deeper than I can portray here, but terms that are important and associated with it are: soil-food web, biosequesteration, holistic management, water cycle I have been trying to sell whole chicken for a few months now and I noticed that the Dutch people don't know what to do with a whole chicken, they are used to supermarket cut and ready parts like wings, drumsticks and filet. So one idea I had is to organize outdoor cooking workshops. Where they can buy a fresh chicken and we will prepare it on the spot with instructions. They will have the experience of outdoor cooking in a lovely garden-like area with trees in the background and take the food they just made home with them or eat it there at a large dinner table. I also have the idea of educational workshops. For example explaining in detail the anatomy of chicken, or letting them witness this sacred slaughtering, or teaching them about how and why I move the chicken daily, or what grasses and weeds and herbs they exactly eat, or talk about the chicken themselves their natural behaviors, the sounds they make. These are the general growth and expansion ideas for the business. While the chickens can be a centralizing factor. I would like to see a logo that reflects the well rounded ethos and bigger picture. I am also curious to what you come up with given this information I have provided together with the sketch and photo. I would really like to see those incorporated.