Newsletter 9/16/20

Greetings Friends and Neighbors, 

Frost clings like sugar to the early morning meadow. As Sun climbs over the ridge, he melts where he touches, painting the valley with his Fire Light. These are Golden Days – the fleeting season between Summer and Fall. I have wondered if our term ‘Indian Summer’ carries a longing for an imagined intimacy with a landscape that is at once so beautiful and so temporary. Frost brings word of endings. First Basil and Tomatoes, then Swimming Holes and Songbirds – like beloved dinner guests who must, finally, pull on their coats and turn towards home after a long and memorable visit. “Thank you for coming. Until next time,” we say as we linger in the open doorway, watching and wondering how we will fare without their company. In this Letter we will consider the Farm’s first Transition to Winter Gift Distribution.

Please join us on Friday for our weekly celebration of the riotous abundance of place, Soup and Bread Gift Distribution, from 4-6pm. We will have Soup made from carefully grown and gleaned local ingredients and hundreds of loaves of fresh bread, offered as a gift to anyone who is hungry for any reason. Last week at the Stand we learned of two newly born neighborhood babies and relished sending home Soup and Bread to the proud families. Another neighbor raced home from work as a nurse at the local Family Medicine Clinic, offering us her huge smile and near-tearful gratitude for the nourishing supper. Magic is made in these moments, and the recounted stories sustain our work through the week. 

Please join us for our Work Day this Sunday 9/20, including an outdoor potluck supper – information here: bit.ly/brushbrookworkdays. We ask, ‘Would you to consider making a financial gift to support our work?’ So far this month we have received $1524, leaving $3800 to go to meet our September Budget Request of $5300. This money goes to pay for electricity, rent, insurance and purchased supplies as well as modest living expenses for Adam(full time) and Collin and Erik(part time). Detailed budget below. We would be honored to continue this work on behalf of a better day if it seems worthwhile to enough of you. Several have asked whether larger Gifts could be tax-deductible. We are looking into this possibility and encourage you to reach out if you would like us to keep you in the loop.

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Turning Toward Winter: An Unfolding Local Food Story

As a Farm Team, we are dreaming and planning for weekly winter Soup and Bread Gift Distributions. We have imagined a Saturday Stand in a sunny greenhouse with a fire going outside, the Sheep and Cows nearby. Getting from here to there will be a lot of work, and in this Letter I will begin to answer the questions “Why?” and How?” 

Why? Radical Localism

If you’ve been reading the Newsletters of late, you might be thinking, “Boy, this project is more radical than I first imagined.” And you’re right. We love the word ‘radical’ here at the farm, as it means ‘related to the root.’ We have described our work as a ‘Joyful Plea for a Radical Relocalization’ – or Radical Rootedness. Why do we find local food so compelling and important? In short, we have imagined that as we bring the consequences of our lives back into view, we could begin to see ourselves as consequential. We might, then, be willing to recalibrate our needs and desires, to trade personal preference for willing participation. As participants in a more-than-human community – as residents of a household of place – we could begin to recognize limits and set about repairing our relationships. Imagine, for a moment, if we were able to endure living alongside our own consequence. Our self-esteem would likely improve. The world might even recover its capacity to endure us. 

Over the past century we have gone from feeding, clothing, sheltering and entertaining ourselves locally – living in relationship to a shared Home Place and its Limits – to a world where this limit-bound way of living is Unimaginable. Here at Brush Brook Community Farm we spend a lot of time imagining and even attempting to learn how to live in this way again. Each week we invite you to join us. Over the next couple of months, as we turn towards Winter, we will ask for your support in deepening this community food effort.  

How? Food Preservation Assistance

With the first frost behind us, it is time to preserve the vegetables, greens and herbs that will fill the Winter Soup Pot. We began this work in July, but will redouble our efforts until the November cold wilts the last Brussel Sprouts. We could use your help! As we harvest and glean vegetables and greens over the next 6-8 weeks, we will ask for Volunteers to process at home. We will make up Preservation Kits (vegetables, instructions and containers) for pickup at the Gift Stand beginning 9/25. Processed vegetables will be stored in the freezers here for Winter Soups. Do you have herbs or extra vegetables from your own garden to add to the Pot? This will be welcomed as well. 

How? Cow Shed Construction and Greenhouse Repair

The new Cow Wintering Shed will be built from nearly 100% gifted materials. Thanks especially to Zakari, Derek, John, Elliot, Lisanne and Bill who have generously ushered this dream towards reality. Construction will take place as a community effort over a couple of weekends in late October and early November. The greenhouse that we imagine as the home for the Winter Gift Stand – thanks to Sarah Jane – will need some repair work and a new covering of plastic. We would love your help on these celebratory work days! Detailed invitations to come.

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Here is what you will find in this letter:

1. SOUP MENU for 9/18
2. INVITATION: GIFT DISTRIBUTION 
3. WORK DAY: Sunday 9/20, 2-5pm – click here for details: bit.ly/brushbrookworkdays
4. FINANCIAL GIFT REQUESTS – detailed September Budget

With Great Care, 

Adam and the Brush Brook Community Farm Team

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SOUP MENU

1. Brush Brook Soup – Spaghetti Squash, Peppers, Greens, Beef, Garlic, Herbs, Bone Broth.  
2. Vegetarian Soup – Roasted Squash, Corn and Peppers, Herbs, Garlic.

Please bring a pint or quart container with you from home and we will fill it for you. 

INVITATION: GIFT DISTRIBUTION DETAILS 

Friday 9/18, 4:00pm – 6:00 pm
Brush Brook Community Farm 

4582 Main Road, Huntington, VT.

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

Would you consider coming by for bread and soup for your household, and/or some to drop off to a neighbor on your way home?

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BUDGET UPDATE: Thank you for Considering the September 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 Friday Gift Stand, or donate through the website. We are 100% financially supported by these personal financial gifts. 

Brush Brook Community Farm and Bakery – Sept. Budget
	As of 9/15
Gifts Received(Balance from August)	$          1524.00
Estimated Expenses for August
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 (full time)	$            648.08
Adam Wilson Rent	$            200.00
Erik Weil (part time) Rent/Housing	$            500.00
Collin McCarthy (part time) 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	$         (3,773.42)