Newsletter 10/27/21

Greetings Friends and Neighbors,

Come Frost. Paint the Meadow glitter-bright before Sun crests the Ridge. Come hard Frost. Turn frozen footsteps black by mid-day. Early morning movements marked for all to see. Bend down the leaves of Tomato and Basil, Nasturtium. Translucent, wilted. Cooked by cold. Come Rain. Come Cold Rain. Bend our hood-covered heads to the way this place has of being itself, willfully obedient to the season. Send us to fetch kindling for the woodstove. To befriend Fire as companion. Bones of Forest as fuel and shelter. As cloak. Come South Wind. Greening Wind. Forest-bone-rattler. Sing the leaf-bare woods through the black night. Shake us to wakefulness. Surge the house with your stampede song. I hear you in the stovepipe, pulling. Air rushes across Coals. The stove warms. I sit the night watch, listening. Trying to touch the Wind with these words. Less afraid than alert, attentive. Willfully obedient. Alive.

On Friday we will host our last scheduled Soup and Bread Gift Distribution. Gratitude arrives this week in slowly breaking waves. It has been quite a run. Take a moment to consider that any reasonable – or reason-bound – person would have to agree that the work we have done together over these past years – all of us who have participated in some way – should have been impossible. Magic seems resolutely uninvited to Reason’s table. So perhaps you could say that Brush Brook Community Farm has served as a persistent invitation to abandon reasonable behavior – at least for a few minutes every week. For some this has meant stopping by for Soup and Bread and suddenly feeling strange as they are forced to decide how much money to leave in the box. Others have given whole swaths of their waking lives over to growing, preserving and cooking food to give away – or mowing Hay by hand. Others have taken a hard look at their belongings – land, buildings, vehicles, monies, etc. – and then taken a close look at their longings – community, meaning, even the word belonging itself – and made some big moves, given some remarkable gifts. Others have read these weekly Newsletters and wondered whether the place described is real or just a story. Here’s the answer: It’s just a story. What else would it be? What else is there? Say for a minute that reason-addled reality is itself just a story, and that the stories we tell one another make the world as it is. Imagine that stories carry great – even grave – consequence. If so, then stories of human independence and stories of human indebtedness make very different worlds. Stories in which the plants, animals, winds and waters are mechanically inanimate make a very different world than stories in which they are watchful, sensing, alive. Greeting each day with the question “What do I want?” leads us down a different story-path than the question “How can I be of service?” So perhaps we could attend to our questions and our stories as we contend with our rapidly mounting consequence. It’s not a solution, but it sure is a lot more interesting than shopping for an electric car or, for that matter, trying to quit shopping altogether. Thank you for building stories with us. Shopping-free stories, no less. The work of re-storying continues as we complete one epic chapter here at the Farm and, with some trepidation on the tip of a licked finger, we peel back the page to what comes next. We look forward to gathering with you in newly unruly and unreasonable ways.

Here is a list of invitations:

1. Join us as we Walk the Cows Home. Next Sunday 11/7 at 11am we will depart on foot with the Cows to walk the two miles back to their winter home. Think: Parade. Cow bells and musical instruments will be involved. And a celebratory potluck lunch. More details to come in next week’s Newsletter. 

2. October Budget Request: $1112 left to go with four days left in the month. If you are willing to make a financial gift, you can do so HERE.

3. Work Day this Sunday 10/31, 1-4pm. Warm Soup and Bread will be served once we finish clean up, around 4:30pm. Bring: A bowl and spoon, warm clothes, a cutting board and knife to join the Kitchen Team or work gloves for field and garden projects.

4. Final Soup and Bread Gift Distribution this Friday 10/29, 4-6pm. The Bread has been going fast, and so we encourage you to stop by on Friday rather than waiting until the weekend. The Brush Brook Soup this week features Roasted Cabbage, Apples, Onions and Squash, a whole leg of Lamb, as well as fresh garden herbs: Parsley, Fennel and Basil. The Vegetarian Soup is made from pureed Eggplant, Peppers and Tomato, seasoned with fresh Garlic and garden Herbs. All food is offered as a gift to anyone who is hungry for any reason.

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Here is what you will find in this Letter:

1. FINANCIAL GIFT REQUEST – Detailed October 2021 Budget

With Great Care, 

Adam and the Brush Brook Community Farm Team

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BUDGET UPDATE: Thank you for considering the October 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.