September-Provided For
These are the months when we provide for our winter selves. Late August always has us feeling high on the hog as our farm cooler and dry storage overflow with a fortuitous harvest. In such a seasonal business, you could think of this feeling as an illusion. For the time always comes when I scour the fields for signs of life, scrounging for the last of the fall vegetables and the income streams wane into winter.
I never much liked the ominous sentiment behind the expression, "make hay while the sun shines". Rich and I once worked for someone who messaged us that very expression when we took a weekend off in the summer to visit with family, eliciting a sort of guilt for taking advantage of the sun in a different way. There's sort of a doom inferred in this proverb which threatens the quality of life of the farmer, who is so dependent on the high season, the threat of winter hanging over their head. But the message rings true enough for me to hear it, encouraging me to dip into energy reserves as if they were bottomless to capture the sun. Last Friday we certainly got an eye on where this finite resource ends as we scraped the bottoms of our barrels to eek out another heat advisory-ridden harvest day. We were advised and yet, we heeded that aforementioned advice and struck while the iron was hot. Is that why tonight it feels as if I need to call it a night before the hens retreat to the henhouse?
No matter, we made it to another successful market to peddle our little parcels of captured sunlight to the masses: arriving at a crisp 7:30 with a trailer heavy enough to slow me down on the uphills, to return home in the afternoon with just odds and ends of produce left for us and for those weary hens to enjoy. Not to mention, compensation for our time and efforts, with enough to sock away for mortgage payments, pizza nights, and those rainy day surprises that come throughout the winter.
While I occasionally let my mind wander to a hypothetical life in which we pursue more lucrative careers, earning an income which truly compensates you for the amount of work we put in, I often come back to the same conclusion. We have what we need. I'm very proud of us for building up this Foxhole Farm to what it is today: a chugging engine fueled by a consituency of hungry locals and a powerful desire to provide something for our kids which is so unique: a way of life in which we are everpresent in the start of theirs. We've woven the kids into our inherently work-from-home lifestyle, the nature of which is so tangible...
Last week the kids found me in the barn cove, sitting on a bucket processing our onion harvest. The catharsis is as such: clip the dried tops and the roots, rub the dried outer layers off one bulb at a time to reveal the bewitching red, copper, and white skins of the various varieties. Milk crate by milk crate, the onions are stacked for storage. Whatever May and Jack's agenda was before they ran into the shady bay, they were captivated by the process and dragged their folding chairs beside me to join in. The discarded layers dropped to the floor with crisp crinkles and their after-school energy was quieted by the methodical work. It often happens that way, the kids playing freely, their antics serving as the background music to our farm projects, until they get curious enough to want to try their hands at a task themselves.
It's empowering, to learn how to sustain living things and to collaborate to provide something for the world. I was referring to the kids learning the land and harvesting food, but I just as well could have been referencing Rich and I learning to parent and to nurture our kids.
It's when I'm this deep in thought, that I realize why I have such a distaste for always seeking to make hay when the sun is high. Life is not calculated, and with a strong foundation beneath our feet, the ground will not fall out from under us if we let off the gas when we need to. A sunny day spent at the town fair with the kids, carefree and unabashedly spontaneous will not impinge on our well-being, but tend to it. A rare, late night out with Rich in August to laugh and eat and be merry, provides the spice that makes life so fun. Not to mention the next groggy morning hovering over our coffees, reliving the evening's magic and maybe making an extra pot to accomodate our tired eyes.
It's a life in which we are providing for our family in ways more meaningful to me than maybe those of a capitalist mindset. Providing for ample availability for our kids, to be slow and listen to them when they seek a shelter for their thoughts, fears, and ideas. I see their expansive and hungry minds engaging in the little corner of the world we've carved out, digesting the connection we have to this place and our community. Their observe the relationships we make with partners in the community, knowing our chef friends by name, as well as observing how we serve people at farmers market. Perhaps of the utmost importance, May and Jack are witness to the mistakes we make and the challenges we face, both of which we are responsible for resolving. They see that life moves on and that the sun also rises day after day.
We are provided for by this place and by our ambition to provide for these kids and this community. September is here, and as signs of our slow season begin to accrue, that brings us much consolation.
Updates from the farm:
-High Market Season: Despite the current drought, we are harvesting more than any previous year. We purposefully chose this property for its deep well and access to water. We look forward to a great month of market Saturdays. We will start to harvest fresh ginger this week :)
-High Tunnel Plans: We received a grant from the NRCS to build two additional high tunnels/hoop houses which will triple the indoor growing space on the farm. We are so enthusiastic about this growth. We've decided to hire a crew to construct the hoops this time, as opposed to bringing in volunteers and setting our work aside to erect them. This crew is very practiced and will get the hoops up in 2 days. Of course their labor is not covered by the grant, but we are so happy to have the real practiced professionals do the job in less than half the time. The construction will happen in late October or early November.
-School year flow: the kids are back in school, May in 2nd grade and Jack in preschool for a couple of hours a day. We are so grateful for the teachers the kids have in their lives and the exposure the kids have to new ideas, socialization, etc. We are slowly getting into the flow of drop-off, pick-up, school activities and such amidst the busy farm season.
Thank you for reading :).
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