I’ve been looking back at photos from when we put the first baby lettuce plants into the ground this past March, and thinking about the hopefulness of the beginning and the arc of change and the worries of this season so far. One thing I’ve noticed is how many days we’ve had over 85º. Since May, the entire summer has felt like the heat of August. For the first couple of months we had a drought so severe that if Peter hadn’t built out our irrigation system, we wouldn’t have any plants now. And then lately, torrential downpours and power outages in the past several weeks have made things challenging in the other direction. Because we work outside, we experience the changing weather extremes at a visceral level. And the picture from this vantage point is very different from my previous obliviousness in my temperature and humidity controlled office life existence.
Worries are a constant at the farm and in life - from the existential to the banal. And the question is always where to take action. How to do one positive thing. Take one step in the right direction. What do we weed out or plant today? See, while farming is certainly a physical challenge it is also and ultimately philosophical.
In addition to creating a beautiful farm, one thing I’m proud of this season is that we’ve been able to start accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) benefits. It’s been a long and difficult process to become an authorized SNAP and DUFB vendor, and I understand why most farms are not able to cope with the expletive deleted frustrations to do it.
Last week I was using our SNAP card reader to check out someone making a purchase, but because the machine was charging I couldn’t get it to turn on. She had $46 worth of lovely produce that she had harvested and was so gracious and patient while I was trying everything. Finally I accepted that I wasn’t going to be able to figure it out and told her to take the groceries. She said she would come back to pay for them, and wanted to know if I needed her name and phone number. I told her no, either she would come back or she wouldn’t.
One step at a time may be the only way. But there also has to be something to balance out all the worry. Maybe beauty. Appreciation. Acceptance. I’m not sure what exactly needs to sit at the other end of that teeter-totter, since worry is such a heavy and omnipresent demon. But yesterday, that lovely woman came back to pay her $46 bill and with her help, the SNAP card reader worked.