"Thanksgiving" is a noun, right? Study further and you see it is also a verb. The "giving" of thanks is all about action.
The ingredients of our Thanksgiving Share (being delivered this week) are ingredients for the feast of Thanksgiving, the noun. To plant, nurture, harvest, deliver, prepare and eat - these are contributions we offer toward Thanksgiving, the verb.
Our Thanksgiving Share is all about the partnership between farmer, farm, farm member, and farm member and farm member friends and family. We are all intimately connected to the steps that make a Thanksgiving feast, the noun, possible. We are also intimately connected to the meal that is the embodiment of Thanksgiving, the verb. The simple act of eating is the final step in a chain of relationships stretching from fork to farm. The food you chose reflects the thanks you chose. As you prepare your Thanksgiving feast with vegetables from our farm (or another local farm), know that food cared for and relished with great thoughtfulness is a powerful giving of thanks all by itself. ~ Happy Thanksgiving
Let me say a few words about my experience of today. Besides that fact that it has again been one of the most beautiful days of late, it has also been a day of incredibly rich textures around local food and farming for me.
I left the farm around 7:30 a.m. to participate in a Regional Food System Working Group meeting . The focus of the meeting was the development of the Iowa Food and Farm Plan. The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture has been charged by the Iowa Legislature to develop and submit a Food and Farm Plan complete with recommendations to create a more robust local and regional food and farm economy in the state.
Genesis and I attended the initial meeting to launch this planning process in Ames on June 24. September 15, Mark Schutt, Coordinator for Prairie Winds RC & D, organized a north central Iowa listening session for this process. Today’s meeting was the next step of bringing the ideas from 15 statewide listening sessions down to more specific, actionable recommendations. The meeting was, for me, a fresh reconnection to big picture visioning work on the heels of finishing our farm's weekly delivery schedule. The meeting was fast and furious as small groups fell into intense conversation about how suggestions generated over the summer might translate into this dream we pursue called Iowa’s local food system. It was a great honor and fun to be part of the discussions today. I’m always so impressed with the diversity, the energy, and the commitment to local food development this group witnesses.
The Regional Food System Working Group is a unique learning community that Rich Pirog of the Leopold has helped develop. This working process has fostered a rich culture of collaboration. Rich, who has wide contacts all over the U.S., had fun several times today waving an “Iowa Rocks!” bumper sticker, as he shared his enthusiasm for the group and tasks accomplished. Admittedly the bumper sticker was printed on behalf of a geologic organization, but Rich’s point was to emphasize to the group just how tall Iowa stands as a leader among local food leaders across the nation. We may still have plenty of roadblocks to overcome, but this state “Rocks!”, Rich said, for how it approaches its local food work. The culture of collaboration is hard at work and producing great works!
Upon my return home, I turned into the farm yard to be greeted by the flatrack piled high and almost audibly groaning under the weight of the final squash harvest. I knew that task was on today’s to do list, ahead of the predicted frost tomorrow. And then immediately Lion (our grinny farm dog) got up from his resting spot in the lawn to greet me and I spotted the hens scattered around the yard checking out bugs and seeds.
I was suddenly transformed from the vision work of the meeting to the real world color and texture of our own farm. I was struck immediately with a sense of having gone through a portal from the development discussions into a tiny piece of the dream we had been working on all day.
I absolutely love farming and its incredibly rich textures – the people, the food, the land, and the possibilities.
A farm blog from One Step at a Time Gardens . . .
After much consideration, we start the conversation.
As our crew fleshed out the blog framework, we set ourselves some parameters: The blog is not going to be by a single writer, but by a community of writers – farm crew, farm members and friends.
You may see your own name in that list of possible contributors.
The story we’re trying to capture is that of the farm. We all experience the farm in different ways - whether it’s from the lens of managing it, living with it day in and out all year long, working here, eating from the produce of the farm, enjoying a farm sunrise or sunset.
All of these perspectives together (and more) help capture the spirit of this place. We’ll also have a critter feature as there are many that creep, crawl, and flap on, over and around the farm.
Members and friends are invited to contribute to our blog. Our crew will start things off, but we invite you to share how you experience the farm as well.
What does the farm mean to you?
How has the produce raised here contributed to your relationships – with this piece of land, but also with other people.
Give it some thought and drop us a line. It needn’t be long. Reflections and stories make great blog fare. Pictures are good too. Contributions should be sent to libland@peconet.net, note “farm blog” in the subject. We do reserve the right to edit your contribution.
I want to publicly thank Drew Landgraf for his artful design of this blog site – it’s beautiful! (A little PR plug for him. If you like his work – he manages our farm website as well – he does handle some free lance web design), and I want to credit Becky Ahrendsen, whose photographs appear in our slideshow. Becky’s persistent curiosity and delight in life is captured in this wonderful set of farm images.
