09/02/2025
Monday Musings: It has been a while since I wrote more than the bare minimum post about the farm stand. It is frustrating because I love to write and I love to share the marvelous adventure that urban farming is. Not a day goes by when I don't find myself awestruck by the beauty of the garden. Nevertheless, this has been a challenging year, and most days by the time the sun goes down I have nothing left to give to writing. Don't get me wrong, I love my labor. I love that I am doing labor that gives me both joy and satisfaction and beauty that I can share in so many ways. But on this holiday, Labor Day, I find myself reflecting on how hard this life is and how little it offers in terms of security and economic well-being in these uncertain times. Last December I caught covid for the first time and since then I have struggled to get back to anything like a normal routine. In ten years I have never had so little to harvest. If I don't have things to harvest I don't have produce to sell. If I don't have produce to sell I don't have money to pay the bills. I have found other ways forward so that I have been able to continue, and at last I am beginning to find energy to do all the farm tasks that once came so easily. (I just made it through an entire week without needing a nap to get through the day). I don't know what I would do if I couldn't do this. And yet despite all the challenges, the real gift is that every day I am not just surviving, but also part of an incredible community of people committed to making our labor matter in our local food systems.
