Donut Day

And giving back

Saturday morning in Scone is donut morning.

A crowd of maybe 30 people gather in the courtyard of the Green Seed Grocer.

A tiny crack-in-the-wall shop bursting with locally grown produce, eggs, skincare and green cleaning stuff.

The donuts were late.

It didn’t matter.

People were drinking coffee. Chatting. Kids were laughing and running between tables.

The sun was shining and the mood was high.

Then the donuts arrived.

There were whoops of joy from children as the boxes were unpacked.

Plopped into paper bags and handed over to outstretched hands.

Passion fruit, strawberry, salted caramel and cinnamon.

When it came to payment, Bec - the owner of the Grocer’s, said they were on the house. Free. Nada.

They were dishing out donuts like fairy dust.

“Just do something nice for someone else”, Bec said as she waved me goodbye, my arms laden with paper bags full of doughy goodness.

What would I do with this invitation…

Hand over a couple of the donuts to a neighbour?

Buy someone else a coffee?

It got me thinking about the most impactful “free” experiences I’ve been blessed with.

Ones that have literally changed my life. Personally and in business.

The first - Acorns.

(I feature in a promotional video on Acorns here…)

A roundtable mentoring program funded by the Department of Agriculture in Ireland for rural women at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey.

A successful business woman led us through a six month process, she was our “CEO”. Financial monitoring, promotion, sales channels, planning.

The best part? The camaraderie of our fellow Acorns.

Support, encouragement and ambition.

The second program was The Break Fellowship. Partly funded by the EU and the program Spain Entrepreneurial Nation.

The three goals of The Break were to accelerate us and our business, collaborate with others and to give back to the local community.

I’ve wanted to be able to give back. What goes around comes around and all that malarkey.

I don’t have anything concrete yet, but I know what’s needed.

I know the confidence that grows with the support of like minded individuals.

Flourishing in the right environment - with diversity, protection, support.

Sounding familiar?

How the right soil is able to create abundance when the conditions are right.

With that in mind, I’m going to create a movement right here in the Hunter Valley.

Of women - business women looking for the support of others. With the right soil to grow.

Mentorship.

Camaraderie.

Doing things that make us feel whole.

Staying close to our core beliefs.

Giving back.

And the donuts. I’m also doing it for the donuts.

(Side note: Want to get involved?

Drop me an email and let me know your thoughts… hello@magnersfarm.com)

#TheBreakFellowship #FromLittleThingsBigThingsGrow #Acorns #FemaleEntrepreneurs #ARisingTide #RuralNSW