Farmer's Market
It is a beautiful Sunday Spring morning in Virginia. Everything green and abloom, driving through the countryside, I can't stop remarking how romantic the pastoral landscape is. Deer, hawks, groundhogs, bluebirds, cardinals, and inumerable squirrels all amidst the wild tangle of newly green trees and vines growing along the forest's edge... its no wonder I have chosen to volunteer today at Forrest Green farm. The nature is superlative and there is nothing like being way out in the middle of the country at the height of Spring.
morning at the farm
This being my second visit to the farm, I now get to enjoy the fruits of my first day of volunteer work in late February, which is when, along with several other volunteers, we installed 3 raised beds for vegetables. Today, we are helping the Rahms prepare for their first farmer's market. The family is new to farming and are fast becoming a model of sustainability. Rob Rahm, the primary breadwinner, recently resigned from his full-time engineering job to focus on his 100 acre farm and living the lifestyle of a self-sustained family. His wife Krista homeschools their two children, Shanna and Dylan, and often meet with the other homeschooled children and mothers in the area to exchange lessons and encourage social networking amongst the homeschoolers. Together, they work full-time planting herbs, vegetables, and flowers to sell at the farmer's market as well as manage the flock of free-range chickens and herd of miniature Hereford cattle that roam the fields. On one hand, it may seem like stepping back in time but, on the other- it makes a lot of sense especially in today's economy. Growing your own food and making the home your source of nourishment, education, and strength seems a healthier option than outsourcing all of your needs to grocery stores, public schools, and a job that may or may not be terminated by way of current trends in the recession. Whether or not you have a 100 acre farm in the center of pastoral paradise or not, everyone can incorporate a little more "do it yourself" when it comes to food production and natural healing. Working with two herbalists all day, Krista and Therese, I learn a lot about the teas, tonics, and incorporation of herbs into meals that work as preventative as well as curative measures, against illness and ailments.
farmers and herbalistsWe begin the day by loading a flatbed trailer full of the plants and flowers that are ready to be sold at the market. Hanging baskets of flowering yellow and gold nasturium, baskets of an assortment of herbs made for both culinary and medicinal uses, lavander, basil, tomatoes, and much more. The sun is shining bright and hot and the plants are simply brim with good health! We are working primarily out of the three greenhouses which contain hundreds of seedlings ready to be re-potted into larger containers. Just outside the greenhouses are three tables with mesh tabletops that we work on, taking the little plugs of baby basil and jalapeno plants and potting them into 4 inch square pots of soil that Shanna and Rob have prepared. The sun is tremendous and we all become instantly sunburned before lunch, despite hats and sunscreen. We sit down to a lunch of salad straight from the garden and burgers made of a blend of deer meat and one of their miniature Hereford cows. Rob is an avid hunter and surrounding their expansive fields is a thick layer of forest. Everything from the table comes directly from their farm.
potting baby basil plantsAfterwards, it is back to work and Krista talks of all of the new regulations and restrictions at the local farmer's market, making it more difficult and costly to sell. I'd read recently in a local magazine that while the United States produces the majority of food in the entire world, less than 2% of America's population are farmers. That is simply astonishing! Naturally, the bulk of the farms are run by big corporations that use pesticides on their crops and inhumane treatment of their livestock. The scale of these practices, becomes enormous, when you put it into context. Supporting local farmers, family farms, local gardens, community gardens, school gardens, anyway you can- is a huge statement and contribution to the general well-being of yourself, your community, and the world. Your kitchen herb garden in the window and the tomatoes you are growing in pots on the balcony, make a difference. Helping local school children turn a vacant city lot into an apple orchard, makes a difference. Buying from the farmer's market or joining a CSA program, makes a huge difference. Consumerism dictates all, your dollars speak for you.
We live in a time of such critical environmental concern that some are getting burned out with the continuous montage of 'Save the Whale' slogans or 'Recycle or Perish', and so on. I've noticed that there seems to be a new intolerance or resistance to environmentalism as if to care isn't "cool". Whether it is fear, laziness, or the apathetic consumerism of the American status quo that has had the whole world spitefully laughing at as for the last 50 years.... matters not. What does matter, is that we are not only now in an economic recession, we are at a crossroads with our planet which is threatening to implode from all the abuse we, America, have been dealing to its water ways, atmosphere, and intrusion from the earth's surface to its very core with invasive drilling and mining. Acid rain, the extinction of polar bears, coastal flooding, and increasing storm severity refuse to be ignored. Even amongst those who persist in burying their head in the sand will have to face the connection between the food we choose to eat and the environment. Who wants swine flu for dinner? Pass the mad cow disease, please!
Connect with your local farmers. Support them. Grow your own food, help others to grow their own food. Use sustainable practices and organic or biodynamic techniques. Remember, you are what you eat. Food goes beyond the fast food wrapper or the plastic bag at the store. Food ties into the earth and how we are treating our planet. If you say you don't have the time, make some. It feels good to be a part of the living world.
spring stormWe wrapped up the day just as a spring storm rolled in and heat lightening began to strike the horizon. The trees along the fields edge sent up white clouds of pollen in supernatural columns of smoke, lowlit by the suddenly darkened wisteria colored sky. Covered in dirt and sweat, painfully sunburned and thoroughly exhausted.... I surveyed the hundreds of green plants we had been planting and transporting all day. Deep inside, I smiled, feeling gratitude and joy for having been a part of something bigger than the trials of my own personal life. For eight hours, I was part of an imminent solution and I felt the harmony of working close to the earth. It is truly an amazing feeling.
