Last Updated on November 27, 2023 by Brian Beck
A few years ago I had something happen to me. I wish I could say that I had an epiphany but rather it was a question. I had become frustrated with the status quo about lawn care. There were many things that went unanswered and problems that were plaguing my clients lawns that I just could not identify. If you saw the 1999 movie, The Matrix you will remember that the protagonist, Neo was persisting in a futile existence of a monotonous life in a soul numbing job. Ok, it wasn’t that bad but I was irritated about what I did not know that I am aware of now…the Biological system.
What woke Neo up was a choice that he was given by the stoic character in the movie, Morpheus. Morpheus gives Neo the choice to wake up and swallow a red pill or chose the blue pill and continue to sleep in a perpetual mediocre existence. Neo chose the Red pill and realized that he was, in reality trapped in a machine world that was using his body as an energy source to power the machines that had enslaved the planet. His reality, or perception was really one of deception, a virtual reality to keep his mind fooled into thinking he had free will and a normal life.
Well, my red pill was not so dramatic but did abruptly change my mind. I realized that I was operating in a system that was perpetuated by misinformation, or rather a lack of information controlled by a powerful industry that tells people that you need their products to make things happen. Sounds like a mind job right? Well, I was in it for two decades and did not question it because it was what everyone else was doing. What wisdom is there in that? Well that is another blog on another blog page but you get my drift. I questioned the system and I found my Morpheus. He was a local expert in the Hemp industry, as Colorado had just legalized Hemp. Relax, although Hemp is in the Cannabis family it is a different species altogether. If you think you can get high smoking it, hold on because you have to smoke something about the size of a telephone pole to get high as there is a very low presence of THC. Hemp is meant for other purposes altogether. Anyway, sorry went off on a tangent there, the guy that I found was an expert on not just a plant but SOIL. This changed my mind forever. He talked for over an hour and left me with a challenge. “Brian”, he said, “Learn about the soil and you will become a great asset to your customers and to yourself.”
So I dug in, looking everywhere I could to find out what he was talking about. I listened to everyone from Farmers and Ranchers, to Environmentalists and Weed growers. I discovered one thing that was remarkable, they were all using the same language and they all had a common belief and that was that the soil, if empowered will provide everything that you need and basically do all of the work, if you allow it. Beginning in 2018 I experimented and failed and tried new things with a limited understanding until I spoke to an agronomist in 2020 that permanently set my trajectory on the right path. Now I have a basic understanding and I had performed my first soil test. It all started coming faster and faster, more understanding and breakthroughs. Now, over 1000 hours into the mindset, dozens of soil tests and proven results, we have broken new ground and discovered a system that will be indelibly etched in my mind.
Changing an industry where most people are comfortable is not without it’s challenges. New ideas are threatening to people that are set in their ways and presenting a solution to people when they have not fully accepted the solution is sometimes like trying to give broccoli to a three year old. They reject it and do not provide a reason for it. Closed minds do not create the wheel, cross the Atlantic, cross the Mississippi, invent flight, break the sound barrier, land on the Moon or land on Mars. Closed minds have always challenged me as that is not how my mind works. I am always looking for a more efficient way to do something or a smarter way to do it. Maybe that is the German in me, I don’t know. The point I am trying to make is that there is a better way and I am exploiting it for the betterment of my business and the lawns that belong to my customers. We will never look back. The Moon is in the rear view mirror…
