Man, running a business takes a lot of time and effort. I love what I do and I can’t wait for this business to keep growing, but damn I wish I had more time to dig! The freedom and detachment from the world while I’m digging has such a profound impact on my psyche. It feels so nice to get away for a day or two and be one with nature. Exploring, digging holes, having no phone reception, and admiring the landscape are some of my favorite hobbies. I built this business with one of the intentions being to allow myself more financial freedom so I could travel and dig up treasures.
Right outside of town there is a nice spot where my partner and I find amazing Butte County quartz crystals. Some of them even have amazing chlorite inclusions. I’ve posted a few on the story on instagram, and they’re just fabulous specimens with amazing clarity, great crystal structure, with sharp terminations. The phantoms of chlorite in some of the crystals are layered and have the nicest forest green color. When we leave the hole often times, we have a whole backpack full of choice picks, and other times we have a rough day and don’t come home with anything. But either way it’s always a successful day because the hike to and from the spot is challenging but it makes me appreciate the view even more. My goal is to get out here at least once a week, but sometimes the business gets in the way.
Things like inventory, creating mystery bags, gem shows, and local events we vend at are important tasks that need to get done weekly or monthly. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy doing these things. Interacting with customers and my coworkers, and getting a lot of productive work accomplished feels really good. But so does being out in the middle of nowhere covered in dirt and sweat, digging in a hole that’s taken you weeks to chip away at, knowing that no phone calls or emails are going to make your phone vibrate in your camelback. Makes me smile just typing about it!
I wish everyone could feel this joy, and that’s why we’re such big advocates of “doitfortheGRAM.” GRAM stands for Geology Rocks and Minerals, and when we say doitfortheGRAM that means go outside and do it for the Geology Rocks and Minerals. Go on an adventure, go look at the beautiful landscape all around us, go try to lose phone service, go look for crystals, go enjoy that time with nature on your own or even better with a loved one. The Earth is such a beautiful place and I think we all should take more time to go out and appreciate it, including myself. I hope to create more free time in the near future so I can doitfortheGRAM more often.