Newsletter 6/3/20

Greetings Friends and Neighbors, 

This morning, heavy mist fills the still air, wetting every blade and leaf. The valley erupts in green with an exuberant abundance that astounds even the most distracted among us. That this moment arrives once again after so many months of winter – are there words of praise eloquent enough? And on these very same days, the news brings terrible word of centuries-old angers boiling over, of cities erupting in riotous rage. From a distance, it seems that the human world is entering a sort of fire-breathing free-fall. A belief that things will return to ‘normal’ is increasingly difficult to maintain. How can we look into the fire without going numb, or blind, or worse?

At the Farm this week, we made Soup as our way of attending to the World in such a moment as this. This Soup and Bread are offered as gifts to anyone who is hungry for any reason – all will be given away on Friday at the Bread Stand. 

In every way it can be understood, the two delicious and nourishing Soups offered this week are made from Gifts. Many willing hands showed up Sunday afternoon to wash, chop, roast and season – all the while sharing stories and song. If you would like to join the Soup Team, you can find details in this Letter. We would love your help! The ingredients also arrived as Gifts: ramps and fiddleheads gathered from the forests, garlic from Marc’s garden, over-sized turnips and blemished sweet potatoes from Justin and Lindsay’s fields, beef bones boiled low and slow to draw out the stored calcium from the soil, spinach and kale and on and on until the pots were full. 

These Gifts are sustained by healthy relationships, and so you could say that the real work at the Farm is to tend to these relationships and to pass the gifts along. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Here is what you will find in this letter:

1. SOUP INFORMATION – please bring pint or quart containers from home.
2. INVITATION: Bread and Soup Distribution Details for Tomorrow
3. JOIN THE SOUP TEAM – work with us at the Farm or from Home
4. FINANCIAL GIFT REQUESTS: Farm and Bakery Budget for June

With Great Care, 

Adam and the Brush Brook Community Farm Team

Soup Information 

Four Fridays in June – 5^th, 12^th, 19^th and 26^th. 4-6pm at the Bread Stand. 

Two soup offerings this week: 

1. Brush Brook Soup – Ramps, Kale, Fiddleheads, Spinach, Turnips, Sweet Potatoes, and Beef. 
2. Veggie Soup– Pureed Sweet Potatoes, Turnips, Garlic and Cherry Tomatoes from last summer.

We will be FILL YOUR CONTAINERS for you, as to ensure safe handling. Please bring quart or pint containers (Plastic yogurt-style or glass wide-mouth canning jars) from home. Do you have extra yogurt containers to help us create a stash for those who forget to bring one with them when they arrive?

How to reserve soup: Please bring an empty containers with you to Bread Distribution LABELED with your name and the dates(6/12, 6/19, 6/26) and which soup you would like (either “Brush Brook” or “Veggie”). There will also be soup available for those who have not pre-reserved it, but this will help to give us a sense of how much to make. 

Invitation: Bread and Soup Distribution Details

BREAD GIFT DISTRIBUTION – Increased bake production means there is plenty of bread!

Friday 6/5, 4:00pm – 6:00 pm
Brush Brook Community Farm & Running Stone Bread
4582 Main Road, Huntington, VT.

Bread Varieties this week:  Mountain Bread, Polenta, 3 Seed, Rye, Sprouted Grain, Backcountry Loaf (gf)

Would you consider coming by for a loaf for your household, and possibly one to drop off to someone on your way home?

Join The Soup Team – work with us at the Farm or from Home

Sundays 2-5pm @ the Bakery.

Washing, chopping and preparing vegetables for Soup. Please give a call or text to Adam at 802.922.2808 if you plan to join and which days, and bring an apron, knife, and cutting board with you. 

You can also stop by another time to pick up a bag of vegetables to process at home.  

Have extra produce in your garden? Let us know by email or phone 802.922.2808. 

Budget Update: Thank you for Considering the June Budget

Many heartfelt thanks to all who have responded to these invitations by sending in Financial Gifts. Quite miraculously, our budget for May was covered to the dollar! If you would like to support our work, you can mail checks to PO Box 202, Huntington, VT, 05462, bring gifts to the Bread and Soup Stand, or donate through the website. 

Brush Brook Community Farm and Bakery – June Budget
	June (gifts as of 6-3)
Financial Gifts - Thank you!	$             60.00
Estimated Expenses for June
Production Expenses
Bread Ingredients & Packaging	$          1,115.50
Bakery Overhead (Insur., Electric, etc.)	$            555.86
Bakery Rent	$            300.00
Farm Expenses	$          1,051.76
Farm/Bakery Team Requested Gifts
Adam Wilson Personal Living Expenses	$            648.08
Adam Wilson Rent	$            200.00
Erik Weil Rent/Housing	$            500.00
Collin McCarthy Utilities	$            100.00
Investments
Bakery Deferred Maintenance Fund	$            400.00
Fees
Estimated Federal/State Taxes	$            351.22
Paypal Fees	$             75.00
Total	$          5,297.42
Balance	$         (5,237.42)