Newsletter 8/31/21

Greetings Friends and Neighbors,

Words are powerful business. In a time of digitally-distanced-living, could it be true that the words we choose to type and speak extend ever-more-potent influence upon the world? The word spell – invoking magical power and influence, even dark deception – means simply to make meaning by arranging letters. Have you ever had words crouching on your tongue and known that if you choose to cast them into the air – to speak the words aloud – you will set in motion something that cannot be called back? Here are a few of those words:

It is a time of transition for Brush Brook Community Farm, a time of endings and new beginnings. We are looking for a place to call Home – for the Farm, for the Farmers and for the Bakery. The Community Conversation serves as our invitation to you to help us to imagine whether we might continue to make Home here in Huntington before we begin to look toward other towns.   

In our current societal landscape logistics demarcate and draw boundaries around ways of living – permitting, septic regulation, zoning, private ownership of land, commercial real estate speculation and so on. And yet the work of growing, gleaning and giving food as a gift – with no barrier to access – has begun, at least for some of us, to crack open the hardened shell of the way things are, exposing something softer and messier – an environment perhaps more hospitable to life. And yet the exposed embryo is tenuous, fragile, even spilling. Sustained warmth and a sturdy container are required for emergence. If you’ve ever interacted with a determined Hen setting on her Eggs, you’ll know that incubation amounts to an act of faithful, ferocious love. As such, we now invite those who have so generously provided the fertile conditions for germination to help us imagine how to step – with boldness and exquisite care – into this next chapter for the Farm. With many heartfelt thanks, Adam

---

Here is a list of News items:

1. August Budget Request: We are still $1,100 short on this last day of the month. If you are willing to make a gift you can do so HERE.
2. Soup and Bread Gift Distribution this Friday 9/3, 4-6pm. Please join us for Fresh Bread and a delicious Tomato Zucchini Herb Soup – Vegetarian and Brush Brook(with our rich bone broth). 
3. Invitation: Will you help us imagine if we might continue to make Home here in Huntington?

A Community Conversation 

regarding Brush Brook Community Farm
and Simple Farm Meal – please bring a bowl and spoon

Sunday 9/12, 5-7pm – outside at the Farm

We are asking for your help as we:
Pause and Reflect on the question: What does Brush Brook Community Farm mean?
Share the challenges and dreams of the Farm
Imagine our next chapter together.

RSVP requested – brushbrookcommunityfarm@gmail.com

4. What does Brush Brook Community Farm mean to you? We will invite you to respond, in a couple of sentences, to this question during the opening portion of the Community Conversation on 9/12. Here is a longer-form response from Farm Team member Collin McCarthy, impassioned tender of all things livestock here at the Farm:

---

Collin’s Words: What does Brush Brook Community Farm mean to me?

Nearly 6 weeks ago at one of our Wednesday work sessions, I was struggling to pull Burdock on one of the only Julyish July days we had. With their long tap roots twisting deep into stony soil, I was having an excellent time. Unbeknownst to me I had a high fever, a Urinary Tract Infection, and was about to have the longest stretch of forced rest in my life. This period of bed rest – including sweating chills, a 10 pound lifting limit, bloody urine, kidney pain, and of course surgeries – has given me ample time to reflect on my relationship with Huntington River Valley and Brush Brook Community Farm. This reflective period has put into sharp focus my tendency to be up to my ears in the joys/challenges of day to day co-management of the farm without pondering the why, and for whom this work is for. I lose myself in the toiling and forget that this work is something I have been scheming/dreaming about, grasping for, and crawling towards for a few years now. A farm where food would not be treated as a commodity but as a nourishing gift and where many souls would work collectively to care for these living soils. A farm full of compassion for all of the residents of this valley (mossy Boulder, towering Silver Maple, wandering Bear, foraging Beetles, Old River, etc.) while also being a place where we can grapple with the death wrought at our request, those of our ancestors (settlers or not), and by our neighbors to satisfy this insatiable machine fed by bodies and capital. A farm where we go beyond sustaining a ravenous lifestyle that appears to be dreaming of outdoing the Siberian Traps in terms of damage to life on this green Earth. A farm where people could learn to reforge links between their home and all the beings that have been patiently living alongside of them. A farm where the joy of toiling is on full display and perhaps could inspire others to dream for more connection to their plate, the clothing on their body, and the shelter they reside in. Every day, I see my co-managers and neighbors inching forwards towards these lofty ideals. To actually be on this journey with so many members of this community and friends from elsewhere is a truly incredible privilege that is worth reflecting on.

This farm and family has pushed me farther than I ever thought I could go without owning much or having to sell my soul to some hideous bank. It is hard for me to express this difference between my previous years of work and these 9 or so months of solely working for this farm family and the community at large. This connection and bond I feel with those who are fed by this project is intense and tangible. In a previous life I was cloistered off on a windy hillside tending to hungry cows wondering who out there truly understands what it takes to get them their quart of yogurt. Brush Brook Community Farm means many things to me and a large majority of those feelings are indescribable in written or spoken form. One aspect of my profound love for this little project and narrow valley is connection. Connection like I have never felt anywhere else. Even in my own so-called “hometown", I felt nothing like the relationships slowly being built up over these months of hard work and joyful sharing. I feel that my cup is constantly overflowing from my interactions with this community. Thank you for reading and loving whatever aspect(s) of this farm organism speak to you.

---

Here is what you will find in this Letter:

1. FINANCIAL GIFT REQUEST – Detailed August 2021 Budget

With Great Care, 

Adam, Collin and the Brush Brook Community Farm Team

---

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