Spring Gratitude

A cursory youtube or instagram search for “sustainable farming” will inundate you with content of beautiful people homesteading or farming on picturesque landscapes. It all can seem so idyllic - who wouldn’t want to sip coffee on the porch overlooking a stunning farm, swim in the pond, grow their own food, and cook spectacular meals? While these can all be elements of the burgeoning small farm movement ….

Starting a business is no small feat. Winters can be dark, lonely. Personal relationships can falter. The mountain of tasks can feel overwhelming. Greenhouses need to be built, hundreds of wheelbarrows of compost need to be shoveled and moved to the fields, irrigation needs to be  set up, and structures need to be erected. Taxes to be filed, business documents to get in order, crop planning to be done. It feels like enough to break you.

But as a wise mentor told me, “... spring always comes. Crocuses bloom, birds sing, grass turns green, nights shorten. Marvelous new people show up. Love finds you. Death gives way to life. ...And then fall comes and the cycle repeats. What a raw, beautiful ride it all is!” And that it is! The greenhouse is bursting with life - seedlings have emerged. Carrots, spinach, and lettuce mix have been direct-seeded in their compost beds. New grass is beginning to cover the scars of well-drilling and earth moving. 

The reawakening of life on the farm is a reminder of why I’m here. To be in the seasons. To watch the hawks dive, and the fox glide through the grass.  To nourish my customers with the best produce I can grow. To build community centered on good food. To reawaken our collective connection to place.

I am so grateful to the CSA customers who have supported the farm in its beginning stages and I’m so excited to see the rest of you at the farmers market in a few months.  I can’t wait to share this season’s bounty with you.