awake on Willy Nilly Farm
September 13, 2024 - a CSA letter
“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another.”
― Thomas Merton
I have been working on being present, I have been working on staying calm. We built a small screen house, it is almost done. It sits atop our ski hill (“Widowmaker”) and will double as a high class chalet, replete with bubbling fondue and bear skin rugs. Really it will be a place to camp out, escape the heat in the summer. Marina demanded it be made with a cat door.
Im reading books about Buddhism and Christian mysticism, books about weightlifting, and books about Han Solo - all are pretty interesting, all connected. Got the old Volvo fixed up, its a 1998 Cross Country, the kind that everyones mom had in High School, plastered with NPR and land trust stickers. A true classic.
Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has this famous quote about love. It goes “When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence.” Totally radical in its simplicity and truth, this quote keeps popping in my head.
Every day I am a mess of distractions from farm stuff to family stuff to looking at my phone or thinking about the next meal. I am a whirlwind of distraction and half thoughts and obsessions: I think we all are guilty of this to some degree. You can see it in my handiwork on the farm: the disorganization, the half finished projects, the unweeded everything. I actually have a long running joke that I wanted to call our farm Willy Nilly Farm.
It is incredibly hard to be the person you know you should be. In fact, it is probably the challenge of our lifetime. That is what being a good person is all about I think. That is what being a good farmer is all about or hell, a good anything. Giving people and things, projects and aspirations, dreams and plans our full attention. Here and now. The gift of effort.
Really respecting the preciousness of every person, every moment. That is the kick I am on and hope to stay on until my number is up.
Oh and sign up for the Fall CSA if you havent yet, its very cool.
Stowell P Watters
This week the large share includes lettuce, kale, the wonderful delicata squash, sweet peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and onions. The small share gets lettuce, kale, squash, and some sweet peppers.