A Farmers' Market and Food Thoughts

"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."

~Emerson

My father and his girlfriend, Sheila, have been visiting this weekend from Massachusetts and it has been a joy to spend time with them and watch our children enjoying their visit and my father's new puppy, Lilly.

Yesterday, Sheila, my two oldest boys, Abby and I went down to Stowe (about a 50 minute drive) because Sheila had never been. Our first stop was the Farmers' Market. Our family had been once before the previous season and knew it to be a good sized one.

Here are some pictures ~

~annual flowers and herbs~

~live music

~

~our Abby~

~sheepskins~

I was struck, however, with a feeling of sadness to find there was only one vegetable grower represented among the approximate 30 vendors... just one. Has it become that hard for a small organic vegetable grower to make a living? Is it not even worth it for diversified farmers to grow vegetables along side other products? Or maybe a lot of farms have become CSAs and don't bother attending markets?

It made me just a bit more grateful for our organic vegetable and strawberry farm located right here in our little town and for the hard work of the owners. Yes, the food costs a bit more, but it is grown just four miles from our home, is grown by a family that cares for the land and makes their living from the farm.

I leave you with a quote from one of my favorite authors, Wendell Berry ~

This old sun-based agriculture was fundamentally alien to the industrial economy; industrial corporations could make relatively little profit from it.... [But] as farmers became more and more dependent on fossil fuel energy, a radical change occurred in their minds. Once focused on biology, the life and health of living things, their thinking now began to focus on technology and economics. Credit, for example, became as pressing an issue as the weather."

Warm wishes for a beautiful week,

Tonya

New Year

I am so grateful for all the joy and wonder of the past year and am excited at the possibilities of the new year.

While I appreciate that each moment is a gift and all we truly have is the present, I do like the feelings that the new year brings.

Our family is committed to treading lightly on this earth, giving thanks to God for our blessings, and making a difference, even if it is only by a series of small changes.

So for the first month of One Small Change, we will be no longer making our coffee on the electric stove in the morning, but instead will be more patient in the and let the coffee brew on the top of our woodstove. Just six months ago, our family lived in a mobile home, off grid, for a period of 2 years and 3 months. We must not forget the lessons we learned and how little we truly need.

This seems like such a small thing to do, however, even this step will make a difference.

From "A HandmadeLife, In Search of Simplicity" by Wm. S. Coperthwaite ~

"Each time we learn to live more simply, we aid the world in two ways:

1) We use less of the world's resources for our own life;

2) We help set an example for others who are now striving to copy the affluent life of their neighbors.

The greater the striving for affluence, the more wretched will be the poor, and the greater will be the chasm between the haves and the have-nots. Violence will be inevitable... Not only do we need to simplify in order to be able to share more of the things the world needs, but we need to distribute power, authority, and freedom as well. The more decentralized we become, the more opportunity will there be for individual decision-making."

Wishing all of you a beautiful, joyful and peaceful new year.