The changing time of year is written on the landscape.

Cloud shapes we haven’t seen for a while denote changing pressure systems and converging wind directions that haven’t been here for a few months. The beehives are strong and growing as more daylight hours mean more nectar and more heat for them to forage with.

I don’t know what the goose-like marrow is indicating, but it’s here anyway.

As the season is changing, I reflect on the changes in the world and our environment. So much of what we experience in the modern world is closely linked to ideas and information, rather than experiences arising from interacting with physical realities.

But since I’ve started this food-growing journey (around 2017), I’ve seen an ever-growing movement of people connecting their thoughts, feelings and ideas to the physical realities of the world they inhabit. People visiting the farm, asking about different crops, about soil and compost, wanting to learn more about growing food and living close to the earth.

And the great thing is, that it’s not some Luddite, escapist journey of taking a stick to the soil and eking out a living by slogging away endlessly at producing crops and doing nothing else.
The reality is that we can integrate small farms into our modern societies and city or suburban landscapes. If 4 people can produce enough food to feed only 100 people*, then we can start talking about significant additions to our food supply chains coming from human-scale, community-integrated farms.

But more important than the produce itself, is the awareness that grows from engaging with the processes. Even though small farms like ours won’t replace the current food system, I believe it’s an absolutely fundamental positive force in any society to engage closely (and joyfully!) with it’s food. And therefore with farming. And the seasons, and the soil and the weather and the rain.

So actually I just wanted to thank you and say that your support of our small farm (and that of the other small farmers), I see as more than just support of a business, but that you’re helping to grow a fundamentally strong and essential service in the form of a connection to nature and soil and food that will keep us all healthy in body, mind and spirit in our rapidly growing modern world.

Here’s to soil, sun, mind, body and soul! Thanks for your support over the past year and here we go into the new season!

*this is something that I’m constantly trying to figure out. Given our access to modern techniques, how many people can a team of 4 farmers provide a wholistic, organic diet for? Without breaking backs or burnout, I’m sure the answer is at least 100 people, if you consider a full diet to consist of root, fruit and leafy vegetables and a weekly protein consumption of at least one chicken per 2 adults.