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Ryan Levesque

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The Digital Contrarianâ„¢

Ryan Levesque

Issue #029

| The Digital Contrarianâ„¢

An EPIC Look Back at 2024

Farm. Books. Travel. Business. And What's Next...

Ryan Levesque

31 min read

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The only thing that Tylene likes less than my beard…
 
Is this hat :-)
 
But this hat has special meaning to me.
 
My grandfather wore a hat like this.
 
(He passed away when I was 12.)
 
And when I wear this hat, I feel connected to the past.
 
Simultaneously in this photo, I also feel connected to the future.
 
Because this photo was taken by my eldest son…
 
Who also happens to be 12 years old right now.
 
(He’s currently taking an online course on iPhone photography and videography as part of his development goals for this next year.)
 
He’s quickly transforming into a young man…
 
And he snapped this photo while I was hosting a call for members of my Strategic Advisory Group Mastermind earlier this week, focusing on composition, lighting, rule-of-thirds, and a few other principles he’s learning…
 
With how challenging his subject was that he was working with, I would give him a solid “A” on his first assignment :-)
* * *
Each year, at this time of year when we’re in this liminal space – exiting the previous year but not quite yet fully into the new one…
 
It offers such a unique opportunity to put your business (and life) in perspective – within the context of the work you’re doing and the meaning and purpose it provides…
 
I thought I would share some highlights from 2024 in a look back over this past year (much of which I’ve never shared publicly until today) and the context it sets for 2025 and beyond…
 
I’ve also included a few Easter Eggs, New Opportunities, and a Little Gift hidden within this week’s issue of The Digital Contrarian – which I think you might be interested to scroll down carefully and read more about below…
 
So with that being said, let’s dive into this “EPIC” look back at 2024, beginning with…

1 | The Farm. A Crazy (Unrealistic) Dream?

Over the last several months, people have become increasingly curious about what we’re doing here on our farm, and what brought us to the decision to embark on this journey.
 
So in this look back at 2024, I thought I’d begin by sharing a bit more about what brought us here today…
 
In some ways, this farm journey has been 3 years in the making. 
 
And in other ways, it’s been 30 years in the making…
 
The summer my grandfather passed away (30 years ago, when I was 12 years old), was the same summer I started my first organic vegetable garden in my parent’s backyard.
 
It’s an experience that’s been with me my entire life – and in many ways one that’s shaped my relationship with food all the way to this present moment…
 
(A story for another day…)
 
Today I’ll begin by sharing with you…

2 | The 3 Year Journey that Brought Us to Here Today...

To provide a bit of context around our farm here in Vermont…
 
  • In 2022, we left TX with little more than a dream to start a farm …
  • In 2023, we found our farm after an exhaustive 18-month search…
  • In 2024, we found our farm manager (Max), and through our collaboration together over the last 12 months, we’ve done a lot.
 
Now, we have some pretty ambitious goals with what we’re doing here.
 
Not only from a food sovereignty standpoint, but also from the perspective of developing (and hopefully proving) an environmentally regenerative model to sustainably grow and raise “better than organic” world-class quality food on a “family farmstead” scale through a system that can potentially be replicated elsewhere in the world…
Harvest season on the “Bench of Plenty” here on our farm. Three different days to show the cornucopia of tomatoes, green beans, wax beans, sweet corn, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, shallots, butternut squash, delicata squash, Hungarian wax peppers, jalapeño peppers, Kennebec potatoes, and even a tiny micro-watermelon (all of which are 100% organic.)
But at the same time, my vision is that the work we’re doing here will not only inspire a sense of optimism around the future of our planet and species – but also serve as an alternative food paradigm to potentially model for the next generation of humanity…
A few examples of our meals here on the farm. The greens, beets, carrots, potatoes, and chicken 100% sourced from the farm. The stock simmering is all 100% farm sourced (except for the salt and peppercorns, of course), and the sourdough is something baked fresh weekly – all of which is prepared, cooked, and baked by hand – by yours truly :-)
In short: My hope is that one day, my yet-to-be-born grandkids will look back at what their grandfather is doing here – and be proud of (and grateful for) this work – as flawed and imperfect as it may be…
 
Because as I mentioned in last week’s Issue #028: The Return to Real… to quote Buckminster Fuller:
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
What you’ll be reading about in a moment takes “The Return to Real” movement discussion we started last week to an entirely new level..
 
With something that’s been at the center of my life (as you’ll soon see) for the better part of the last three years…

3 | Our 3-Year Goals & Progress So Far in Year #1...

On a highly-practical level…
 
Our short-term three-year goal is to produce 80% of the calories we consume on farm consisting of the highest-quality “better than organic” food, while minimizing external inputs, focusing on building a localized close-loop system, and for the farm to be economically sustainable.
 
Our longer-term goals are far more ambitious.
Early morning hikes on the farm and the surrounding land where I get my exercise in at dawn and do much of my early-morning planning and thinking.
Now to be perfectly transparent, I’m writing this late in the evening, pretty tired right now – because this issue has taken me a lot longer to write than I expected – just having recently devoured a Chocolate Chip Kind Bar (the closest thing to junk food I could find) of which 0% of the calories were generated on this farm.
 
So yeah, we’re making progress :-)
 
(All to say, I too am a highly-imperfect human, doing the best I can – with a lifetime of bad habits, impulses, and vices – not to mention generations of inherited flaws – and financial, time, and energy constraints that challenge me immensely every single day – just like the rest of us…)
 
In other words:
 
The journey to get here has been messy, the learning curve continues to be steep, and I still have a long way to get to where I want to go…
 
BUT…
 
We’ve made significant progress in our first season over the last 12 months…
 
And in today’s look back at 2024, I thought I’d share a few highlights that you might be curious to know more about…
 
Or at a minimum, to hopefully inspire you by showing an example of what’s possible when you dedicate yourself to something BIG (and scary) that you deeply believe in.
 
So with that being said, let’s begin with…

4 | The Farm. 2024 Highlights.

I’ve tried to strike the right level of detail here.
 
Enough to give you a level of insight into what we’re doing…
 
But without drowning you in too much data and information.
 
Let’s begin by taking a look at the each of the biggest projects that we took on in our first year here on the farm, beginning with…
 

Our Annual Production Garden

This year, we tilled our first 1/2 acre production garden. (Even in a no-till system which is what we’re running here, when you’re converting pasture into tillage – year one still requires significant soil disturbance.)
 
These photos below show an aerial view of the tilling from above, followed by the staking and stringing our rows, and ultimately what things looked like in early spring after laying wood chips down in between our rows.
In the next three photos, you can see what the garden transformed into in high summer (August), along with a few of our yields – broccoli, carrots, and tomatoes – just a few short months later…
Now, in terms of tomatoes, we did three different varieties year, as well as three different varieties of potatoes (pictured below) – which we overwinter in slightly-damp sawdust, as one of our primary winter staples…
In addition to potatoes and a few other root vegetables (including carrots, parsnips, and beets) we also overwinter a significant amount of winter squash – like the butternut and delicata you see on the shelf in the photo on the right below, also grown in this production garden.
The middle photo represents a mix of onions, shallots and garlic (which we also dry, cure and overwinter) as well as a mix of fresh greens, fresh potatoes, and some cucumber / zucchini along with a few mixed peppers.
 
Now, in case you’re wondering, the photo on the left represents some of the more than 50 gallons of acorns foraged by my parents (thanks Mom & Dad), which was key input into our pasture-raised pork.
 
(More on that below when we get into livestock…)
 

Kitchen Garden

The production garden for our row crops that we tilled is in addition to a smaller kitchen garden we put in place right outside our back door. This small garden is where we have our fresh greens, herbs, and a few other daily “cut and come again” crops just a few steps away from the kitchen.
 
You can see seed starts in our potting shed, followed by a Yankee hardy blend lettuce mix which is a daily favorite of ours for salads, smoothies, and green juices. This year, we also did romaine, arugula, mustard greens, rainbow blend chard, and several varieties of kale.
I still maintain that fresh herbs and greens is the place for most people to start when embarking on a food journey like this, because of the relative ease to grow + the arbitrage of not having to buy expensive (and sub-optimal quality) “fresh” herbs and greens from the grocery store…
 

Experimental Crops

We also had a few fun experiments this year – not all of which panned out.
For example, in the photo on the left above you see some of our kale, which we experimentally freeze-dried to blend into powder for winter smoothies and soups.  (This experiment is a winner – and something we’re going to do more of next year.)
 
The middle photo is one of our “micro-sized” watermelons – which are hard to grow in our zone, and which had very little taste (we won’t do these again) :-)
 
The photo on the right is some of our corn “posing” for the camera. We did sweet corn, popcorn, and flint corn this year (yes, all organic and mostly heirloom seed), and we’re contemplating doing corn in a bigger way next year.
 

Equipment

We made big investments in equipment this year.
 
You’ll see below photos of our Kubota RTV X1140, ExMark Zero-Turn Mower, and Kubota M6060 Tractor (for which we also have a bucket & loader, bale grabber, and a few other implements not pictured here.) Hundreds of hours went into the research behind these equipment choices – which were driven by our unique needs and the needs of our site.
We’ve tried to design our site (using permaculture principles) to be as “human scale” as possible. But we’ve also found that after holding out for nearly a year, there was some small-scale equipment necessary for what we’re trying to accomplish at the scale at which we’re operating.
 
And while I do have moments where I feel guilt about using equipment like this, I generally sleep well at night, believing this is a justifiable use of fossil fuel during this “carbon pulse” we’re experiencing right now in our lifetime, relative to some of the more “hedonistic pursuits” that this fuel might otherwise be used to support less productive activities elsewhere.
 

Building Projects

We made investments into a few small infrastructure projects this year – including building a small DIY greenhouse for our seed starts, a chicken tractor for our broilers, installing a larger propane tank, and (while it’s not pictured here) installing a frost-free hydrant for winter watering of our livestock.
You can see our amazing farm manager, Max, in the photo on the left with my older son fastening the frame of our small seed start greenhouse.
And just to express the obvious:
 
Everything we’re doing here is possible because of the structured collaboration we have in place with a farm manager like Max. This collaboration – and the financial arrangement that’s part of this partnership – is a key part of the paradigm we’ve been working hard to design and refine here on the farm. There are few if any widely used frameworks to model for this – and this is an area in which we continue to learn and grow.
 
All that said, I’ll take this opportunity to express a huge amount of gratitude for everything Max is contributing here and helping to make possible on the farm (including tapping into his background as a professional photographer to take a few of the photographs of yours truly in this week’s issue :-)

Livestock

Speaking of livestock, while I had some limited gardening experience coming into this “Grand Adventure”, both Tylene and I were both completely new to raising livestock. Literally zero experience.
 
So naturally, when it came time to decide “what we should start with” I pleaded my case to begin with something “small” – like a herd of cattle :-)
 

Cattle

Joking aside, I wasn’t planning on starting with cattle as our first form of livestock. But last winter, we had an unexpected opportunity to purchase the entire herd of 10 head of Randall Linebacks from a local, retiring farmer. 6 cows and 4 heifers. It wasn’t our “plan” – and I certainly received a fair share of vocalized “concern” from Tylene.
 
(In the “vehicle” that is our relationship, I’m the accelerator… she’s the brake. And when you’re driving with two feet, sometime both pedals get pressed at the same time. :-) )
 
But this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Randall Linebacks are considered to be Vermont’s “original cow”. Pure, registered Randall Linebacks are very rare heritage breed – and this particular herd was raised Certified Organic – which made the opportunity even more special.
Now, in case you’re not familiar, heritage breeds of livestock have a long genetic history, often dating back several hundred years. These breeds were generally developed long before industrial agriculture, genetic modification, and modern breeding practices.
 
Randall Linebacks in particular are what’s known as a “tri-purpose” breed (beef, dairy, and draft power) and our herd comes from a genetic line that can be traced back hundred years.
 
While we started with 10 head of cattle, our goal has been to maintain a herd of 4-6 grazing animals annually (which is what our land base supports) to help maintain the pastures and regenerate the soil here – by running an intensive, rotational grazing hsystem that we’ve designed for this site.
 
(Our herd is entirely grass-fed and is supplemented with organic hay over the winter, which we purchase from a local, neighboring farm.)
 
So this summer, to get our numbers down – we sold 2 calf/cow pairs to another farmer who also raises Randalls, bred two of the remaining cows (with the white Randall bull you see pictured in the middle photo above), and slaughtered one animal – for beef and tallow – which was our plan going into the year.
 

Pigs

One of the projects we wanted to explore coming into this year was working to raise the highest-quality “better than organic” pasture-raised pork. We have good ground on our site to do this with lots of gentle-sloping silvopasture like you see in the photos below. This year we did pigs at a very small scale – with just the two gilts you see here:
But we’re considering possibly doing pigs at a larger-scale next year, possibly focusing on a Mangalitsa cross (the “kobe beef” of pork).
 
As part of our plan, we subsidized our pigs’ diets with foraged wild acorns (you may remember from the earlier photo above) – akin to what’s done with the Iberian Pigs (Cerdo Ibérico) of Spain & Portugal, which are fed a diet largely of acorns and nuts – which in turn leads them to be widely considered to be among the best-tasting, highest-quality pork in the world.
 

Poultry

This year we raised both meat chickens (broilers) and egg layers (hens).
 
We processed on-farm ourselves 100 meat birds this year (everyone in the family participated), and raised about two dozen egg laying hens (15 of which we raised from day old chicks in our brooder, and another 10 pullets we sourced from a neighboring family farm).
We have a mixed flock with Olive Eggers, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Wellbars, Banevelders, Buff Orpingtons, and Reds. And as expected, we lost a few birds due to predation this year (hawk and raccoon), and one hen turned out to be a rooster (which has been fun ;-)).
 
But even accounting for these losses, we’re currently yielding about 12-18 eggs per day, which is right on target with what we were aiming for.
 
Now, I have to say – poultry has been interesting.
 
I think the egg layers are definitely here to stay, but broilers are actually up for discussion for 2025. Their high grain input requirements mean they are not as resilient of a food source as many would think, especially for being the most wildly-consumed form of livestock worldwide.
 
The vast majority of the world’s poultry is fed a steady diet of GMO corn-based feed, sold on the global commodity market. And even “organic free range” chicken is generally not really raised sustainably in the small-scale, regenerative paradigm that we’re trying to employ.
 
But before we give up entirely on broilers as a food source, my quest to explore more sustainable feed solutions continues…
 

Trout

This was one of my personal highlights of the year.
 
My younger son loves to fish. Some days, it’s all he can talk about. So for his 10th birthday, I surprised him by stocking one of our ponds with ~100 rainbow trout. You can see him below on the right with one of his early catches. This gives us both an on-farm source of fish (as well as an unlimited IRL source of recreation with no screen time limits – this is an example of what “Going Analog” looks like in action :-)
All to say…
 
Between the beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and trout (as well as beans and other legumes we grow in our production garden) – we currently generate 100% of our protein (and fat) needs on farm. 
 
And between the Honey and Maple Syrup we generate from our site (we partner with a local beekeeper to care for 48 beehives that we maintain on our farm, and a local sugarer to run approximately 1,100 taps on the maple sugarbush on our land), we’re on track to generate 100% of our sugar needs on farm this year as well.
 

Perennial Food Forest

The downside to everything I’ve shared so far regarding the Production Garden, Kitchen Garden, and Livestock – is that all of this requires continual annual planting, care, cultivation, and production.
 
Now, this is how we as humans source most of the “whole foods” we eat today…
 
But the true path to sustainable food resiliency involves incorporating perennial food sources into our diets, in a much more significant way.
 
This is where the concept of a perennial food forest comes into the picture. This year we planted nearly 500 fruit trees, nut trees, and perennial berry bushes on our site – which was a huge lift led by our farm manager.
These included Apples, Pears, Plums, & Persimmons… as well as Bur Oak, Northern Hardy Pecan, American Chestnut Hybrid, and Black Walnut just to name a few.
 
On the berry side we planted Service Berry, Chokeberry, Seaberry (Sea Buckthorn), Honeyberry, Nanking Cherry, American Gooseberry, Jostaberry, Black Currant, Red Raspberry, Black Raspberry, Elderberry, Highbush Blueberry, and table Grapes – to compliment some of the “miniature” wild strawberries (far left) and wild blackberries (far right) you see foraged in the photos below.
BTW – These plantings are in addition to perennial plantings of Comfrey, Yarrow, Jerusalem Artichokes (which is a perennial potato-like alternative) and many other perennials that we’re incorporating into the landscape here to potentially produce enough calories to support multiple human families in the future, in addition to supporting the wildlife that also lives on this site.
 
(More on that below…)
 
Now, the challenge with Perennial Food Sources – unlike an annual vegetable garden and livestock – is that with a few exceptions, Perennial Food Sources often take significant time to bear fruit, nuts, and berries (often years, and in some cases, decades…)
 
But when they do yield, they can provide significant sustainable perennial food sources for generations into the future…
 
After all, as the Greek proverb states:
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”
So this is a big part of our plans with what we’re doing here on this site.
 

Wild Forage

In addition to what we cultivate here on the farm, we’re also seeking to incorporate more wild forage into our diet.
 
Currently, wild forage accounts for a very small part of our diet. But early spring we sustainably harvest ramps (wild onions) and fiddleheads (young coiled fronds of the ostrich fern) like the ones you see pictured below:
This is in addition to a moderate amount of wild greens we consume and a small amount of wild mushroom that we’ve been able to incorporate (we have discovered Hericium, Morels and possibly Boletus – as well as Turkey Tail and Chaga so far on our site).
 
Cultivated and semi-wild mushrooms will be a major part of our plans in 2025.
 

Wildlife & Nature

The paradigm we’re developing here is one deeply integrated with (and connected to) nature. There is a distinct “wild” element to what we’re developing here on the farm…
 
For example, you see the crocuses and daffodils coming up in the early spring as life starts to emerge from the slumber of winter. We’re exploring the possibility of cultivating Crocus sativus to harvest saffron …)
The wildflowers that cover our pastures in April/May – including the fields of dandelion (bottom right), is something we make into tea, and from which we harvest the greens for early spring salads…
And between the highly beneficial insects and arachnids all around us…
And the “Aesop’s Fable” collection of friends with whom we share this land…
As I wrote in a piece titled “A Billion Beating Hearts”, I feel deeply connected to the multitude of life here on this land. Sitting on the bench you see below, I wrote the following words…

As I sit here on the hillside looking out onto the horizon, on this land – at this moment, there are a billion beating hearts.
From the fireflies in the fields to the bears in the woods.
The cows out in pasture. The chickens in the coop.
The foxes, raccoons, and minks scurrying through the shadows.
The geese flying in formation and the eagle circling above.
The wriggling worms in the dirt and the painted turtles in the pond.
And playing outside, I spy two young boys whom I love more than life itself.
And in the garden, the woman who said yes to me a million years ago.
A billion beating hearts.
And today, on this day…
MY heart…
Is full.

* * *
So while it’s still very early days, and as we certainly enter this next year with many questions – and some fears and doubts…
 
I believe we’ve made significant progress in this first year on the farm and I’m very optimistic (and excited) for what the future holds…
 

“Return to Real”

Opportunity with Me In-Person

Now that you’ve gotten a bit more of a glimpse of what we’re doing here on the farm, now would be a good time to mention that in this move to the “Return to Real” as I wrote about in Issue #028 of this newsletter, I’ve decided to host a very small group, intimate in-person event here on our farm for 5-10 people in Q1 of 2025 (in either February or March).
 
Everything we’re doing here on the farm is possible because of the business we’ve designed and built – which has given us both the level of income and freedom of time to do everything we’re doing here.
 
This doesn’t happen by accident. And it certainly doesn’t happen by simply “working harder”. It happens by making a series of smart, strategic decisions – and unconventional, contrarian moves – which ultimately provide you with leverage.
 
The format of this event will be a mastermind-style experience, with each attendee receiving dedicated time and 100% focus and attention from me personally.
 
The event is designed to help you make the right strategic moves, pivots, and decisions in your business this year to set you up to achieve your personal goals.
 
Because frankly speaking, when you’re inside the bottle – you can’t read the label. And this is exactly where you need a smart, seasoned, outside mentor, advisor, and guide – to offer counsel and perspective.
 
The price of this event will be $5,000 per person.
 
(I’ve charged as much as $10,000 to participate in events like this in the past, and I expect that this may be what I eventually charge if I decide to do more of these in the future).
 
But for this first one, I want to reward a few people who take action.
 
Now, because of the very small size of this experience, the level of interest that’s been expressed already (and the fact that I haven’t hosted an in-person event in over 3 years), I expect these spots will go quickly.
 
So right now, I’m putting together a priority interest list – and getting feedback on a few questions I have before locking in dates and final details.
 
All to say, if you are potentially interested joining me in person for a small group event like this later in Q1 2025 (February or March), click on the link below, and indicate your expression of interest:
 
 
NOTE: That link will ask for feedback on a few things – like whether you’d be more interested in an event up here at my farm in Vermont, if you prefer an urban hotel meeting space in Boston (the closest big city to us), or if you’d be open to either option.
 
It will also ask if there are any dates that you cannot make in Q1, and if you’d be interested in adding a private 1:1 VIP day with me the day before or after the small group event. (There will only be one or maybe two of these available, so make sure to indicate your desire, if this is something you might be interested in.)

Want to work with me one-on-one?

Join my private client waitlist and be first to know when I have availability for new 1:1 clients.

The Learning Journey to Get Here..

When I’ve started to share bits and pieces of what we’re doing here on the farm, I’m often asked, “Where did you learn all of this? And how did you make the time to learn and do all this while running your business?”
 
Well, to be honest, it’s been a multi-year deep dive and more than I can cover in today’s issue, and frankly I still feel very early in my journey with an incredible amount to learn.
 
But it’s a journey that’s involved working with several mentors—for example, Ben Falk, whom I wrote about in [#021] The Life-Changing Magic of “Strategic Obsession” (photo on the left below)—as well as many friendships made along the way with fellow permaculturists and aspiring world-changers (like in the photo on the right).
It’s also been a journey filled with studying hundreds of hours of video, watching dozens of documentaries (many of which we’ve watched together as a family…), as well as reading and studying dozens of books—a few of which are included in the stack below.
Simply put: My reading list is long – and there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do and learn everything I want to learn in this lifetime :-)
 
Which brings us to the next part of the “EPIC” look back at 2024…

5 | Reading Highlights. An Interesting Mix...

In 2024, I finished 19 books, and started 4 others that I haven’t finished yet. (I also finished one not yet published manuscript from a friend of mine, which would technically make 20 completed books for the year…)
 

Good Reads

I was diligent about tracking my reads in 2022, but didn’t track at all in 2023. (It was something that just slipped in the year of the move from TX to VT and getting the farm up and running.)
 
But if you’re curious, you can see my 2024 Reading List tracked on Good Reads Here.
Now, I look at this and think, “Only 20 books? Really?” But then I remember that much of the first 1/3 of the year was consumed getting the farm up and running, and then the second 1/3 of the year was consumed by the sale of our software business, (more on that below). So really, with 11 of the 20 books (55%) read in Q4 of 2024, this would actually put me on pace to do closer to 40 books over the course of a full 12 months, a number a feel a bit better about :-)
 
For 2025, my reading goal is two-fold:
 
  1. First, I have a goal of finishing 25 books next year (I choose finishing as my metric, because it forces me to be thoughtful in what to choose to start reading and gives me a few mulligans.)
  2. Second, I want to be more intentional about what I read. Because if I’m 42 years old, and have maybe another 40ish years on the planet (if I’m lucky) – that’s only another 1,000 books over the rest of my life. (And I really want to front-load that reading so I actually have time to *implement* what I learn. Given that there are over 500,000 new books published every year in the US alone, that’s really not a lot of books.
By the way: In case you’re curious about my views around using AI to summarize books for you and skip the whole ‘book reading’ thing altogether, I’ve shared my views in a satirical piece I recently wrote, titled My Top 5 AI Tips to Outsource Your Life in 2025. Warning: Only read if you enjoy a bit of dystopian dark humor :-)

Masterclass.com

Speaking of learning… In 2024, I also went deep on my Masterclass.com Subscription, focusing on masterclasses by Aaron Sorkin, James Patterson, Malcolm Gladwell, & Michael Lewis – with one of my goals this year to improve as a writer and storyteller (especially as I continue working on Book #3, targeting a late 2025 release).
These courses are all in addition to my old standards surrounding cooking and food, (hence the Thomas Keller Masterclass showing up on the list as well).
 
This brings us to the next part of the “EPIC” look back at 2024…

6 | Travel Highlights. Near, Far, Wherever You Are.

One of the reasons for making the move here to the farm in Vermont was to put us in a location that we didn’t want to get away from. A place that we absolutely loved – and the type of place that friends and family would want to come and visit from afar. (We enjoyed many visits from close friends and family this year, and look forward to even more in 2025.)
On the farm we’ve hosted sledding parties in the winter (if you look carefully, you’ll spot my son catching some serious air) and swimming parties in the summer. There’s nothing quite like crisp mountain spring water on a warm summer day—nature’s original cold plunge.
And while no location is perfect (Vermont winters are a bit long and cold for our Texas-born chihuahua and my Texas-born wife – though climate change chips away at that each and every year), on the balance, I think we all really like it here.
Our farm dog “Blue” making her way across the farm – in the fields, on the beach by the pond, and of course cozying up by the fire on a cold winter day.
After all, we have the most incredible natural beauty right outside our door – not to mention endless trails and hikes to explore…
Hiking with friends atop Mt. Ascutney – a monadnock – which has some of the most epic views of the Connecticut River Valley, and across the valley and deep into my home state of NH.
All that said, while the farm is a big part of our life – it’s not our entire life.
 
And we’ve intentionally structured things in such a way that we have the freedom to travel and pursue other off-farm interests in addition to everything we’re doing here on site.
 
In fact, here are a few of the most memorable trips from the past year…
* * *

Burlington, VT (February)

NOFA VT Annual Winter Conference
 
We did a last-minute mini getaway to Burlington, VT to attend the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont Annual Winter Conference (it was our second time attending.) And we made sure to stop by the Ben & Jerry’s Factory on the way there – and get some skiing in on the way back :-)
* * *

North Carolina (March)

FRD Band Hiking & Camping Trip
 
In March, I went hiking and camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains with my Front Row Dads Band. A group of six men I’ve become very close with over the last few years. We meet every six weeks (virtually) to talk fatherhood, family, and life. And at least once a year, we get together in person.
Ali Jafarian (the bald guy), Matt Drinkhahn (the tall guy), Matt Sprang (the other dark-haired beard guy who is not me), Mike Wagner (the guy with long hair), and Nick Hemmert (the guy with the green shirt) and not pictured, Scott Groves (who couldn’t make the trip last minute).
* * *

Providence, RI (May)

Brown University 20th Year Reunion
 
This was another great family trip. Tylene and I celebrated our 20th year college reunion. It was a trip down memory lane to be back on campus with so many old friends – and really cool trip to show our boys where their Mom & Dad first met – as well as where we had our first kiss, and where we got married. (They didn’t care ;-/).  It was also cool to see them experience their first college lecture and quiz them on what they learned :-)
* * *

Foxboro, MA (September)

New England Revolution @ Gillette Stadium
 
After a summer filled with sports camps, a two-week stay at “Mimi & Baba Camp” and lots of fun on the farm… We took the boys to see their first professional soccer game at Gillette Stadium – right before the start of school and fall soccer season – which they absolutely loved, (I coached my younger son’s team this year, so it was a great way to kick off the season.)
* * *

Miami, FL (September)

Jeff Walker’s PLAT Plus Mastermind.
 
After being a member of this group for 8 years (2015-2023), Jeff Walker invited me to come back and present as his featured guest speaker – it was the first in-person event where I presented some of my new ideas around The Great Sea Change, Going Analog, Zig When They Zag, and The Return to Real. Very special group that’s had a big impact on my life.
 
I wrote about the lessons learned from this event extensively in [#016] 10 Strategic Thoughts from My Recent World Travels…
From left to right (Top Row): Michelle Falzon, Bari Baumgardner & Blue Melnick, Stu McLaren, (Bottom Row): Elliott Connie, Victor Damasio, and Mark Falzon. Every single person in this collage has had a big impact on my life.
* * *

Austin, TX (October)

Front Row Dads VIP Retreat
 
Another group that’s had a huge impact on my life is Front Row Dads (which I’ve written and spoken about previously). Founded by a dear friend of mine Jon Vroman, I’ve been a proud member since 2019.
It was also on this trip to Austin, TX that I spent time with the filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg (director of Fantastic Fungi) as part of a special mastermind hosted by Yanik Silver, and which I wrote about in [#018] The “Secret AI Prompt” for Finding Hidden Opportunities Using Mushrooms…
* * *
After the sale of our software company in October (acquired by the UK-based software company ScoreApp), I was invited to do a mini UK Speaking Tour and record a Short Filming Series while in London.
 
A few of the highlights included:
 

Cambridge, UK (November)

The Long Haul Leader Summit with Chris Ducker.

London, UK (November)

ScoreApp + Bucket Special Event with my business partner, Daniel Priestley.
I wrote about the whole UK experience, along The #1 Marketing Lesson from My Whirlwind Trip in Issue [#023] The Secret Power of Being Unprepared…
* * *

Charleston, SC (December)

Village Impact Mastermind
 
My last business event of the year was the Village Impact Mastermind, hosted by Stu & Amy McLaren.  This event – in many ways was a “tipping point” for me professionally this year.
This room was filled with an incredible group of colleagues I respect, and the feedback I received from my talk gave me deep level of validation around some of the “unpopular ideas” I’ve been sharing over the last several months…
 
The reason I describe it as a “Tipping Point” is because this event gave me a level of confidence I didn’t have prior to the event to pursue the direction I’m pursuing in my writing and my work going into 2025.
 
I wrote about some of the biggest insights from this trip extensively in [#025] Tipping Points & The “Scaleability” of Your Ideas.
* * *

The Bahamas (December)

Lastly, we ended the year with a family trip over the holidays to The Bahamas, which I wrote about in [#028] The “Return to Real” Movement Taking Shape in the World… It was great to get away as a family for a few days spent in warm weather, where we enjoyed some fun in the sun, lots of water slides, and our annual planning day tradition as a family.
This brings me to the FINAL part of this “EPIC” look back at 2024…

7 | Business Highlights. A Year of Transition.

As I wrote back in [#022] How to See Hidden Patterns Others Completely Miss – my morning routine now begins with the following practice:
 
Touch the earth before touching the screen
 
And at least one metric of success I have started to measure more and more, is the number of sunrises each morning I wake up and take a few moments to savor.
 
(Above are a few of my recent favorites from the last few months…).
 
In many ways, this year was highlighted by two major business events:
 
 
*A little gift for those of you who have been asking, the 3 most recent past issues of The Digital Contrarian have just been added to the brand new “archives” section of a brand new website my team has been quietly working on over the holidays. Surprise! :-)
 
And just like in the night sky (and eclipse) photos below – saying goodnight to one chapter gives you the opportunity to wake up and say good morning to the next…
And this past year has certainly felt like the start of a new chapter…
 
A year-long chapter that in many ways has been filled with a theme of rebirth.
 
I think my friend Amy Porterfield summed it up best when she said to me:
 
“Ryan, you are completely different person. The change in you is profound.”
 
And in many ways, I do feel like a completely different person.
Biologically speaking – every seven years we each become an entirely new person, at a cellular level – so if you feel like an entirely different person than you were just a few short years ago, both the sciences and the humanities support this idea :-)
* * *
Now, with everything we’ve covered in this issue…
 
I’ll wrap this issue by saying this:
 
As I mentioned in Issue #027 of this newsletter, my word for 2024 was “Reconnection.”
 
Part of my focus over the last year has been a reconnection with the type of deeper work I feel drawn toward pursuing in this second half of life (e.g. writing, my mastermind, working with a relatively small number of clients in a deeper way, and the work we’re doing here on the farm).
 
Part of my focus has been a reconnection with past colleagues and friends – as well as current customers, clients, students and readers (like you.)
 
Part of my focus has been a reconnection with a much more simplified business model – smaller team, less overhead, less stress – better aligned around the values that are most important to me…
 
And all of this is ultimately in support of what I’m optimizing my life for right now in this season…
 
Which can be best expressed through a second pair of photos – and which, like the pair of photos above, also happen to be taken 7 years apart:
All to say…
 
2024 was an EPIC year.
 
And I am so ready to Discover what 2025 has in store…
 
But I can feel my window with these boys beginning to close…
 
And I want to maximize the time I have left.
 
Because it’s going by so much faster than I ever imagined it would.
 
So remember…
 
Hug the ones the you love.
 
And here’s to making this next year – the best year ever – together.
 
Until next week,
 
Ryan :-)
 
P.S. Speaking of making this next year the best year ever…
 
Earlier in this issue, I mentioned my business partner, Daniel Priestley (co-founder of ScoreApp, the company that acquired my software company Bucket.io last year), but what I didn’t mention is something he and I are doing together to kick off the New Year…
This week, to kick off the New Year, Daniel and I are going to be hosting a special 1-hour live Zoom workshop this coming Tuesday, January 7th @ 10am US CT / 11am US ET titled:

“3 Marketing Campaigns to Make 2025 Your Best Year Ever”

 
I saw Daniel deliver a version of this presentation live in person while I was in the UK to another private group, and it was so good (and so practical) – I asked if he’d be willing to do a special training for us to kick off the new year.
 
And he agreed :-)
 
The only “catch” is this:
 
This is a LIVE session.
 
And because Daniel’s speaking schedule is insane right now – he’s only able to do it once.
 
Now, I know you’re probably wondering “What about a replay?”
 
Well, we’re going to make available a 24-hour replay for anyone who can’t make the session live – but the replay is only going to be made available to those who express interest by registering…
 
So….
 
If you’re interested (or even just intrigued) to find out what these 3 Marketing Campaigns are and how to incorporate, 1, 2, or potentially all 3 into your business this year…
 
I *highly* recommend signing up for this and attending.
 
I’ll be on there live with Daniel – and will be taking notes right alongside you.
 
Okay, I’ll leave you with that for now.
 
Have a great rest of your day – and I look forward to seeing you on the call.
 
P.P.S. BTW – If you have any thoughts, ideas, or something you feel compelled to share in response to today’s email…
 
If anything resonates with you – or you feel compelled to reply back to me and send over a short note…
 
I’d love to hear from you.
 
Simply *SHOOT ME AN EMAIL* to let me know.
 
I know how much time it takes to write a thoughtful note.
 
And for that reason, I read every note that’s written…
 
(No matter how short.)
 
And BTW…
 
If you replied to my email last week and haven’t yet heard back from me…
 
Last week’s issue generated a pretty big response.
 
So please know that I haven’t forgotten about you…
 
I’m just catching up on replies :-)
 
Have a great day – and talk soon.

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The Great Sea Change

The Great Sea Change diagram from Return to Real