Newsletter 5/21/20

Greetings Friends and Neighbors, 

As the first string of warm days sets bud and leaf into unfurling motion, memories of last week’s snowstorms and heavy frost take on a distant, dream-like quality. At the Farm and Bakery, it has been a week of Endings and Beginnings. We welcomed a new life here – a glossy Dexter calf named Franklin – on the very same evening that we sang our farewells and our many Thanks to our memorable companion Nigel, a well-grown steer who will fill the freezers and perhaps the summer soup pot. Nigel’s mother, Natalie, is a generous and fine-boned Jersey Cow. As we were milking Natalie at the time, newborn Nigel was raised on a bottle, and so he joined the sheep flock for company. Within days, he was napping and playing with the young lambs. You can likely imagine the scene – endearing to say the least. Come fall, as he outgrew his flock-mates and his roughhousing grew less welcome, Nigel re-joined his older sister and mother and learned for the first time how to be a cow. He took to life on the cow side of the fence just fine. But through his days, whenever the sheep flock moved out of his sight, he would call to them. And so, as wintry spring suddenly gives way to summer this week, and the sheep and cows begin their grazing rotations around the neighborhood, we might remember Nigel’s specific song – full of longing and love for life – as much by its absence. See if you can notice the spring chorus missing a tenor, memory carried on the silent note.

Would you join us on Friday to pick up a loaf of bread and extend welcome to a glossy newborn calf named Franklin? He rode in the back of my hatchback across the Ferry from New York on Monday afternoon. He will be grazing next to the Bread Pavilion with his adopted mother, Tigger.  Many heart-warming stories were posted last Friday on the GIFT STORY BOARD, and we will invite you to expand this community message board when you stop by. 

Here is what you will find in this letter:

1. INVITATION: Bread Distribution Details
2. BUDGET UPDATE:  $1388 remaining to meet this month’s Financial Gift Request
3. WORK PARTY SUNDAY:  Invitation and Details

With Great Care, 

Adam and the Brush Brook Community Farm Family

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INVITATION: Bread Distribution Details

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

Friday 5/22/20, 4:00pm – 6:00 pm
Brush Brook Community Farm & Running Stone Bread
4582 Main Road, Huntington, VT.

Look for parking signs when you arrive, and please respect precautionary distancing guidelines.

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?

BUDGET UPDATE:  $1388 remaining to meet this month’s Financial Gift Request

Many heartfelt thanks to all who have responded to these invitations by sending in Financial Gifts.  With 10 days left to go in the month, we are asking for $1388 to cover the remaining portion of the budget, detailed below.  Any balance will be carried forward to next month, at which point we also plan to offer some year-long projections.  Many thanks for your consideration.

Brush Brook Community Farm and Bakery Budget
	April 14 - 30	May (gifts as of 5-20)
Balance Carried Forward	-	$                    963.89
Financial Gifts - Thank you!	$ 4,152.00	$                 2,925.00
Estimated Expenses
Production Expenses
Bread Ingredients & Packaging	$     557.75	$                1,115.50
Bakery Overhead (Insur., Electric, etc.)	$     277.93	$                    555.86
Bakery Rent	$     150.00	$                    300.00
Farm Expenses	$     525.88	$                1,051.76
Farm/Bakery Team Requested Gifts
Adam Wilson Personal Living Expenses	$     324.04	$                    648.08
Adam Wilson Rent	$     100.00	$                    200.00
Erik Weil Rent/Housing	$     250.00	$                    500.00
Collin McCarthy Utilities	$       50.00	$                    100.00
Investments
Bread Distribution Pavillion Construction	$     750.00	-
Bakery Deferred Maintenance Fund	-	$                    400.00
Fees
Estimated Federal/State Taxes	$     175.61	$                    351.22
Paypal Fees (actual April, est. May)	$       26.90	$                      55.00
Total	$ 3,188.11	$                5,277.42
Balance	$     963.89	$              (1,388.53)

 

WORK PARTY SUNDAY:  Invitation and Details

There are lots of non-monetary ways to support the work of giving away food.  Here is one opportunity:

Brush Brook Community Farm Work Day

Sunday 5/24, 2:00pm – 5:00pm

Projects:  Planting in the Hoop House, Fence Building & Brush Clearing. 

What to Bring: Work gloves, long pants and long sleeves for brush work, and tools if you have them:  loppers, a pruning saw, hand pruners. 

Want to picnic? Pack a picnic basket and a blanket and stay after with us. There is plenty of space to spread out.  

RSVP by emailing to brushbrookcommunityfarm@gmail.com.  

Many thanks to those who responded to last week’s requests. We are all set now with cedar posts and Farm bikes.