Bill KerwoodBill Kerwood

Why I shop with Mom & Pop… and the BIG result that builds your community

Bill — Sat, 16 Dec 2017 14:59:09 +0000

You hear, “Buy local.”

You think, “But why?”…

Amazon is one click and two days away.

From pottery to furniture…

Jewelry to pie…

Honey, to soap.

What is it about a handcrafted gift that warms the heart?

Spending hours creating,

Ignoring the economy of scale and time,

The human creators in your community invest time and energy,

Where many corporate bodies cut corners.

Your local artisan focuses on beauty, form & function,

Producing tastes & tools that bring a spice to your life,

Prioritizing presentation over profit.

From the smooth beauty of wood’s natural grain, to the precise proportion of nutmeg to cinnamon in a multi-grain. These cottage industries bring a unique dimension to life.

Heart prints

It’s the artist’s perspective and creative expression, that leaves heart prints on a physical item. The process of subtly shaping and forming. Often secret methods combined with the instinct that only comes from devoted hours. The experience of drinking from a hand shaped mug that could have been spun generations ago. Stirring with the soothing grain of a wooden spoon that could be even older. Was this item made 150 years ago… or just last month? I can’t tell. It’s a wonderfully timeless experience that strikes a resonate chord deep in the soul. Simply put: “You can’t buy this at Walmart!”

Have you ever given a gift and someone had the wise audacity to ask for the same gift again? What if 11 friends did? Either I have the most audacious friends, or the Christmas 2016 hit the bullseye.

I shared the process that my family used to create handcrafted homestead soap. Along with this nostalgic process, I shared a bar my wife’s favorite soap made by a family farm near the grounds of my formative years in southern NJ. This soap is amazing. The intense smell of peppermint essential oil combined with a naturally refreshing clean that leaves a soft smooth moisture that only comes from natural ingredients. Not a store bought chemically stripped clean with a clinically dry finish.

This soap was an experience for those who received it.

What made people request more?

The initial smell?

The silky feel?

The clean result?

Or maybe, just maybe…

It was the collective inspiration from the first experience that gave anticipation towards the next. A revived joy in a daily procedure that the post-industrial era minimized over time?

What if your whole community experienced more inspiration in their daily grind?

Why shopping with your local Mom & Pop strengthens your community?

You are greeted by name – not a number
It’s very personal (unlike like like an ATM Machine or Amazon)
Your purchase is appreciated first hand, on a human level. (not a percentage point on a loyalty card database a world away.)
Your product has the creative twists and heart prints of the family that applied their skill & effort. (not clinical factory precision like the million that came before yours).
You get an uncommon commitment to service – (vs. “Dude; I’m on break, try isle 63″)
You become a member of their family and your community grows even closer.

There’s is a prerequisite to earning the name of Mom & Pop. The name inherently indicates that multiple generations are collaborating. Working together to bring value to their community… drawing on previous generations, Mom & Pop, usually, have sons & daughters. A progeny is continuing the tradition. For the kids, It may start as a family job, but the journey towards maturity reveals the joy of implementing the wisdom of the previous generation with the desires of the next generation.

Here’s the #1 reason I shop with Mom & Pop:

When you shop with Mom & Pop, while enjoying all of the artistic benefits, you are building the future of each future craftsman. In a post-industrial homogenization of the retail experience, you are investing in what makes art and life so beautiful… People!

Look for the Mom & Pop Shops in your community; some have storefronts while many are from homes like yours… the corner of a basement or may have taken over the whole garage. No matter where they originate or what they produce, your zest for life and love for your community is better because of their heart & their art.

A few thoughts to ponder:

What unique value does your family provide in your community?
If you stopped producing, would people call and request (even demand) more?
What skill are you passing to the next generation that you received from your great-grandparents?

Want to experience the world’s best peppermint soap first hand?

Visit: Shepherds Watch Farm

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20 years later, I still miss Henry… (A piece of you may too.)

Bill — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 05:14:46 +0000

His family knew him as Henry.

You know him as John.

In 1943, delivered a Deutschendorf.

In 1997, died a Denver.

A random day in 1973. I’m a 4-year-old bouncing in the passenger seat of my Dad’s 18-wheeler on a narrow road after a long day. My heart jumps as the radio plays, “Take me home… to the place… I belong…” Same Scenario a year later. Dad & I belt another one out together over the diesel engine’s roar, “Life on the farm is kind of laid back. Ain’t nothin’ a country boy like me can’t hack. Early to rise. Early to the sack.” 22-more years finds Dad & I a few rows from the stage singing with John Denver (and a few thousand others) at a live concert. The older I grew the more deeply I identify with his lyrics like no one else’s.

Fast forward to our wedding day and you would hear a less familiar ballad from John, “Just to wake up each morning… to you by my side…Just to offer a prayer each day for you. For you, the best of my life, For you, for the rest of my life, for you alone, only for you.”

Countless times since, at least weekly, heading home from work, I’ll sing along with or without John, “There’s a fire softly burning, The supper is on the stove, It’s the light in your eyes that makes me warm… Hey, it’s good to be back home again“

If anyone wrote and sang the soundtrack for my life, it was John Denver.

Each year more details surface like a continual discovery of winding yet parallel tracks. A persistent revelation of the resonating lyrics in my youth were simply reflections of similar paths.

A deep appreciation for all that creation offered, it’s ruggedness, it’s fragility, it’s resilience, it’s beauty.
The allure of a good chord progression, paired with a simple melody and an alternating baseline.
The joy of being rooted in generational thinking, doing what we can to make a difference, and leaving a legacy for our prodigy.

The calling to be a champion of the environment, wildlife and the fascination of capturing it all with a camera lens.
The eternally optimistic perspective that a live performance can infuse an audience towards a positive change.
Performing for the sole reason of sharing all the joy we feel in living.
Blissfully enjoying the magic & metaphor of expressing yourself through the love of flying.

Ultimately, John’s excitement and exuberance to fly was a factor in his untimely passing.

People often ask me,

“So, what really lead to John’s untimely death?”

1. He was an experienced pilot with multiple ratings in multiple planes.

2. His plane was a proven design created by world-renowned designer Burt Rutan.

3. His plane’s well-intended builder included an improvement that was ultimately questioned.

4. This modification was a factor that led to similar emergency situations for the 2-previous owners.

5. The modification was a main factor in a series of decisions that led to John’s incident.

Brief details

Full details

I remain grateful for all that John Denver has contributed. What a privilege to live in an era where we can relive John Denver’s musical & lyrical contributions instantly. As I celebrate John Denver’s life today these thoughts streak through my mind like the Perseids. In sporadic poignant succession… Each followed by another…

Today matters.
Each moment matters.
Each thought that guides each decision matters.
Every decision we make matters.
We are not promised tomorrow.
One thought can minimize or even end our tomorrows.
We are all dreamers and doers that live-out-loud, and that matters.
Dot each “I”, Cross every “T”.
Follow a master designer.
Know and thrive in your own context.
Give freely to others.
Love with reckless abandon.
Sing with all your heart, out loud & even off key.
Freely and vulnerably share your love with others.
Our thoughts and decisions affect our lifespan.
The longer we stick around, the more time we resonate with those who enjoy us most.
Recording our heart and our art, others can relive and enjoy… even after we pass.
It’s a great life,
Celebrate it all.

“I’ve been lately thinking about my life’s time,

All the things I’ve done, how it’s been.

The ways that it should be, The ways that it could be,

Things I’d do differently if I could do it all again”

And I have to say it now,

It’s been a good life all in all,

It’s really fine to have a chance to hang around.

Lie there by the fire and watch the evening tire,

While all my friends and my old lady sit and watch the sun go down.

How sweet it is to love someone,

How right it is to care.

All our dreams and the memories we share.”

From “Poems Prayers & Promises

John Denver 12/31/43 – 10/12/97

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I’ve Seen It Rain Fire In The Sky!

Bill — Sat, 27 Dec 2014 16:12:10 +0000

Scanning my 2013 journal I relived the following.

May the retelling of this encounter encourage you as you venture into all that 2015 holds for you, your family, and your legacy.

From art to nature, I have been contemplating how the facets of an object ultimately point to it’s creator. I usually recognize these details when I slow down to explore the simpler things in life.

Events of this nature usually end up in my journal, shared with a few close friends, and left it at that.

But this encounter was VERY interesting and far too significant to keep that quiet….

(Journal entry: January 1, 2014)

Pulling onto the driveway from an almost 7-hour round trip commute, I was quite eager to exit my little Honda Fit and stretch my legs. As my eyes rose past the horizon, my mind shifted gears. “Look at all those stars!”, I thought as I gawked overhead. Then the thought hits me, “How could the clear night sky point someone to God?” (Even now, I don’t know if this was my original thought, if I was thinking God’s thoughts after Him, or if I simply pit way too much sugar in my coffee.)

Next, I look down at the dark ground to reset the experience then look up with fresh eyes of purposeful wonder, as if looking for God in the stars. Instead of seeing a splatter of random specs, with vivid clarity, I begin to notice details: varying intensities, individual placements, the unique identities of each heavenly body. I start to realize how the magnitude of the night sky is moving me on a much deeper level. Just then, a shooting star darts from upper left to lower right, then an immediate second…upper right crossing to lower left… as if God made an X in the night sky with his finger…as I was searching for the creator!

I was overwhelmed. I just experienced: 2-shooting stars, in rapid succession, In the context of fresh eyes searching for God. As if that wasn’t enough, I was then reminded of the historic symbolism of the “X”.

As I walked towards the house my mind raced with questions:

Is this what it was like being an astrologer looking for the Christ child?
Bright lights in the sky, Looking for Emmanuel?
Did God communicate with them this way too?
Were they freshly filled with courage?
With a fresh pep in their step?

At a hair past 11PM and I entered the house and shared the story with my sleepy wife, Kristen, and my wide-eyed son, Grant. I explain that I’m bundling up to go lay in the field to see what else there is to see. Grant was eager to join me.

10-minutes later we’re laying in the field. I reminded Grant about broad gazing to look for shooting stars compared to narrowly focusing on a single section of the sky. I then pointed out to him that the “X” I experienced 20-minutes earlier was between Jupiter & Betelgeuse.

“Grant, do you remember ever seeing a shooting star before?”, I whispereed. “Not that I can remember”, Grant replied. I then said, ”God, please show us a shooting star so Grant can remember it as his first shooting star and that he will know that you made it just for him”… 3-seconds later…. a streak of fire across the sky!

Instantly we were both 10-years old: gasping for air, screaming, laughing, and hitting each other’s triple layers out of a euphoric excitement! A memory we will simply never forget!

For those who believe in a loving God who wants a relationship with those who seek him, this was quite an encouraging evening! For those who may not believe, this was all just a coincidence. For 25 anxious minutes we continued to lay on the cold ground. Only to see no more fire in the sky. For me, the absence of additional shooting stars simply authenticated the three that I did see.

I walk freshly into the coming year encouraged to talk with God as a child who’s Daddy yearns to pour out love & life. Not to a Father who craves a stilted prayer, but as a highly favored child of a Daddy who is eager to engage in a meaningful conversation with each of his children.

So I ask you now…
What “silly” thing will you ask God for?
Are you ready for an answer?
Go ahead & ask!
He loves you!
Really!
Ask!!!