Newsletter 7/8/20

Greetings Friends and Neighbors, 

Thunderstorms approach from the West. The air grows pregnant and heavy. The soil turns dusty again, just one week after heavy downpours filled buckets with over 2” of water. The flies thrive in these hot, dry conditions and they bother the cows and the humans alike here at the farm this week. 

Some days the chainsaw just will not start. You’ve pulled the crank twenty times or more. Maybe the spark can’t find the fuel. Or maybe you discover that there isn’t any more gas in the tank. And so it is that I write with the news that we will not be hosting Soup and Bread Distribution this week. We will devote our energies to tending to the animals and plants and humans and infrastructure that keep the Gifts in motion. There will be no Gift Distribution Friday 7/10 and no Work Party 7/12. 

Last week’s newsletter included some Stories and some Wonderings about Privilege. Some responded to that writing with words that landed at the Farm as raindrops touching dry ground. Praise can be a potent form of reciprocity. So I will extend some as well. Each week I join in careful conversation with the ‘Farm Team’ – Ava, Erik, Collin and Evan. These fine people sustain and inspire – meaning ‘breathe life into’ – the efforts of the Farm to grow, glean and give food away as gifts. And then there are those who join hands to care for the bakery, the animals, the gardens, the website, the bank accounts and the soup pot. Those names in include Helen G., Helen K., Christina, John, Lisanne, Julie, Heather, Amy, Walter, Matt, Erika, Dickie, Sherry, Deborah, Zakari, Reenie, Carl, Grey, Katie, Polly, Paul, Michaela, Marc, Liz, Emma and many, many more. And then there are those who join hands to consider and cover the Farm’s Budget. And then there are the other-than-human companions who work with incredible focus and clarity to uphold the World by being themselves. I find myself gratefully and beautifully obliged to each and every one of these dear Friends. The word obligation sheds its sense of top-down compulsion when we look closer to find that it means less ‘to owe,’ but rather comes from the root -lig as in ‘ligament’. The word describes that to which – or those to whom – we are bound. 

Thank you for your patience with us as we catch up, and catch our breath. There is some vulnerability in closing the Gift Stand, a wondering whether people will continue to consider the budget as they move through their days. If the Work seems worthwhile to you, we invite you to consider making a financial Gift. 

With Great Care, 

Adam and the Brush Brook Community Farm Team

BUDGET UPDATE: Thank you for Considering the July Budget

Many heartfelt thanks to all who have responded to these invitations by sending in Financial Gifts. If you would like to support our work, you can mail checks made out to Brush Brook Community Farm to PO Box 202, Huntington, VT, 05462, bring gifts to the Bread and Soup Stand, or donate through the website.