WHY WE FARM.
This. This is why we put up with the aches and pains and sweat and tears.
Because this is our ingredients list every day. Right now, our options are corn, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, peppers, basil, dill, cilantro, beans, berries, mushrooms, lamb, beef, chicken, eggs. We have outrageous meals, eating like kings, and we are all the healthier because of the food (and the work that went into growing it).So at the end of this insane week, the 100 degree days and grubbing for potatoes in the mud and smelling eternally like onions, I am still sure. I am sure that this is what I want to be doing, as I bite into an ear of sweet corn freshly picked. As our kitchen floor is crowded with baskets of food. As I fall asleep each night, belly full and arms sore from work.- Hannah.
REAPING WHAT WE SOWED.
Apparently, that phrase has a literal meaning. A few months ago, the Smiths planted the most onions they've ever grown, and we all together planted the most potatoes. And this week––this ninety-five degree week––we harvested every bit of it.And as hard as it was––as hard as crawling on you hands and knees across rocky dirt while the sun beats down on your back for the better part of three days––it was also a lot of fun. Good conversations broke out among plenty of convivial moments of solidarity. Eric liked to pull a few potatoes out of the ground and with each group would say, "That's a meal. That's a meal. That's a meal. That's a meal." Cher calculated that, for just the Red La Soda alone, we got 1,275 lbs of potatoes out of one 100 lbs sack. And we planted two more varieties. How lucky we are to have such a generous source of creation as soil––if you're ever looking for wonder, the garden is a pretty excellent place to find it.- Jesse.
IN DEFENSE OF IDEALISM.
I am idealistic, always have been. God willing, always will be. And although I have learned to mitigate my idealisms over the years, I've also learned not to let them go. It's easy to lose them. It's easy to forget we once wanted to make a difference, because admit it, even the words "make a difference" sound mildly childish, and people will let you know about it.It's hard to ignore someone when they say, "I used to be like you—you'll change," because deep down we know, if we hear it enough, they'll be right. And to some extent, they are right. We will change. But there is no reason to believe change and idealism are mutually exclusive—we can change, or mature, and remain idealistic. I'm proof.The other day my father and grandfather came for a visit. My grandfather is a relatively conservative man with a wit sharper at ninety years old than mine will ever be. His generation was about getting a job and staying there until retirement. And his generation purposely left the farm for greener pastures, which is probably why he's never fully approved of my farming. After showing him the cabin and the farm, however, and taking him to the Smith's cabin and outdoor kitchen, he said jokingly "I might have liked to do something like this when I was young and foolish,"––my grandfather's own form of approval.But who could blame him for his skepticism? Four years ago, when I decided to go farming, it wasn't entirely routed in rationality. It is simply not sensible to quit a perfectly good career, with a perfectly respectable salary, to learn a whole new trade—farming, a job notoriously difficult and low paying––especially not to my grandfather. It's idealistic is what it is. I wanted something better for myself, and for my future children. I wanted to work hard and I wanted to earn an honest living from it, a sustainable one. But I guess idealism, like wine, lowers one's inhibitions. Without it, without feeling like I was doing something greater than myself, I can't say that I would have ever left the city. Now, however, four years later, I'm living off the grid with my beautiful wife, proudly young and proudly foolish, sincerely thankful for my idealism.- Jesse.
photo credit to Cher
WENDELL WEDNESDAY - THROWBACK!
A classic Wendell photo from last year....I MEAN, does it get any cuter? I think we need another one. Also, I just realized that we have 1,764 photos of this dog in our "WENDELL" folder. We might be obsessed.