In the world around the farm, 2020 was year of immense tumult, flux, and suffering in our world. Even the lucky had the rug pulled out from under them more times than they could count.
But here in the fields, on the farm, 2020 felt very normal. More than that, it was a year of growth; of uber-abundant strawberries and flowers; of new members, neighbors, opportunities, and friends; of softball sized onions; of Wesley the Weasel and Ingrid returning to the pond. We grew and harvested for over 260 adults and 100 Sonoma County kiddos.
That the farm remained a nourishing table and a place of respite, even in a year like 2020, was not luck and was not an accident. It was because of you, dear members.
You see, the community supported agriculture that we practice here, that we ask you to practice here, is not a gimmick or a fad. It is not a clever way to sell farm produce ahead of time. It embodies a direct relationship between a human community and the land and the farmers that feed it.
And while this CSA model is a blessing in a normal year, 2020 showed it’s true strength. While so many of our farmer friends were suffering incredibly stressful years — pivoting their entire business plans while planting fields for unknown buyers — this model, you, meant that we could keep our heads down, trim strawberry runners, and stay the course.
This is not to brag. No, this is to remind ourselves. This is to mark that even in a storm, in a year that shook supply chains and shattered every idea of normalcy, the simple model of a community supporting a farm held fast. This is to mark that people who know their farm are lucky people and a farm that knows it’s people is a lucky farm.
Each year, each Spring, human beings all over the world set out on adventures of gathering and growing food. When farmers kick off from shore, they know not what awaits them; whether their nets will come up empty; if they’ll make it back to shore. It is scary. As the climate changes, these voyages are only going to get more and more precarious.
Vanishingly few farmers have a community behind them on their voyages as we do.
So as we close out this Farmer’s Log on the voyage of 2020, let it be known that we couldn’t have survived this year were it not for you — who taught us that even in the nastiest of gales we can nourish ourselves if we take care of each other and the land. There is no safer harbour than that.
