A reflection from Kristin Marsh Song, founder of Delve Experiences 🌾
A few years ago, beekeeper Jeremy Campbell opened one of his hives and saw something he’d never seen before: honey that was bright, fluorescent green.
It turned out his bees had been drinking from a nearby Pepsi bottling plant, where syrup barrels had leaked. They were gathering sugar from factory waste instead of flowers. The discovery was funny and a little unsettling — and it told a story more powerful than any statistic about modern agriculture, ecology, or human behavior.
When Jeremy shares that story, everyone leans in. They laugh, they wince, and then they start asking questions: How far do bees travel? What else are they bringing back? What does that mean for us?
That’s the power of a story. It turns information into meaning.
We can teach people how food is grown, how bees pollinate, or how soil holds water — but it’s the stories that make them care enough to remember.
🌱 Why Agriculture Needs Stories
Fewer people today have a personal connection to farming. For most, agriculture lives behind a screen — a word they read, not a world they touch.
That’s why stories matter so deeply. They build bridges between experience and understanding. A spreadsheet can show rainfall and yield. A farmer’s voice can show resilience.
Stories remind us that food doesn’t just come from land; it comes from people — people who make daily choices about care, risk, and hope.
A good story lets someone who’s never set foot on a farm feel what that life is like. And feeling is where curiosity begins.
🪶 Telling Stories With Respect
Before Delve, I worked in journalism, where I learned that every story is a gift. Someone opens their life to you for a little while, and your job is to listen closely enough to do it justice.
It’s not so different now. Telling a farm’s story means balancing honesty and respect. It’s not about romanticizing; it’s about revealing the real — the early mornings, the droughts, the quiet victories, and the love that keeps people going.
Farmers aren’t content. They’re people with histories, humor, and hard-won knowledge. Every time we help share one of their stories, I feel the same sense of privilege I did as a young journalist: the weight of being trusted with someone’s truth.
🌻 Storytelling as Connection
At Delve, everything we build — from experience listings to blog posts — is an act of translation. We take the language of farming and turn it into shared curiosity.
We don’t script the stories. We simply help the storytellers be heard.
A family who visits our mushroom farm in Buda doesn’t just learn how mushrooms grow. They hear how a small indoor farm became a classroom for food, science, and sustainability.
At Joppy Momma's Farm in Dallas, the farm's story of perseverance and purpose becomes the living heart of the visit. And at the San Juan Mission Farm in San Antonio, history itself tells the tale — field by field, century by century.
Stories connect people faster than facts ever could. They create belonging where there used to be distance.
🌾 What Stories Give Back
When a farmer shares their story, it’s not just for the audience — it’s for themselves.
I’ve seen what happens when someone realizes that others find meaning in their daily work. Pride shifts into purpose. Quiet routines take on new weight. Sometimes, telling the story gives back the very thing the work can take away: perspective.
It reminds all of us that what we do matters — even when it’s hard, even when no one is watching.
🌻 Stories as Seeds
Stories are seeds. You never quite know where they’ll take root — in a child’s curiosity, in a visitor’s garden, or in the choices someone makes the next time they shop or cook.
But every story planted grows connection. And connection is the soil where change begins.
That’s why storytelling will always be at the heart of Delve: because the more we listen, the more we learn — and the more we remember that food, land, and people all speak the same language when someone takes the time to tell it.
About the Author
Kristin Marsh Song is the founder of Delve Experiences, a Texas-based agritourism platform connecting people with local farms and hands-on learning. She’s a mom, a lifelong explorer, and a firm believer that curiosity builds community — one farm visit at a time.
Explore more reflections in From Our Founder →
