My sons came home from college for spring break in 2020 and have been here working on the farm ever since. That year, I painted them harvesting pears. The skies were smoky from nearby wildfires. There were many unknowns during the covid lockdown time, but we were lucky to be rural and working outside. We were rooted in love and beauty. Abundant life. Essential Work.
Full Circle
Some of my favorite memories were days, in my teens and early twenties, spent with the Novy women (my grandma and her kin) harvesting pears and then putting them by and baking together in Aunt Lillie's kitchen. Ditto pecans, homemade noodles, preserves, kolache. That's the way my family did things.
I felt this sort of energy when I arrived at Full Belly farm in 1995, and it drew me in -- community, working and growing together.
All these years later, I say that I am the luckiest. It gives me SUPREME joy to see my sons working on the farm. They are so skilled -- driving tractor fast enough to disc asparagus rows effectively but carefully enough to avoid damaging the spidery underground crowns; working as a team with one guy on a forklift and the other using hand gestures and agility to maneuver wonky tractor implements into a packed barn; solving conundrums, inventing solutions, welding; managing soil and plant health, and so much more. it makes me smile to see them working overtime regularly to get the job done and to hear the occasional polka music blaring from their trucks.
My sons came home from college for spring break in 2020 and have been here working on the farm ever since. That year, I painted them harvesting pears. The skies were smoky from nearby wildfires. There were many unknowns during the covid lockdown time, but we were lucky to be rural and working outside. We were rooted in love and beauty. Abundant life. Essential Work.
Full Circle
Some of my favorite memories were days, in my teens and early twenties, spent with the Novy women (my grandma and her kin) harvesting pears and then putting them by and baking together in Aunt Lillie's kitchen. Ditto pecans, homemade noodles, preserves, kolache. That's the way my family did things.
I felt this sort of energy when I arrived at Full Belly farm in 1995, and it drew me in -- community, working and growing together.
All these years later, I say that I am the luckiest. It gives me SUPREME joy to see my sons working on the farm. They are so skilled -- driving tractor fast enough to disc asparagus rows effectively but carefully enough to avoid damaging the spidery underground crowns; working as a team with one guy on a forklift and the other using hand gestures and agility to maneuver wonky tractor implements into a packed barn; solving conundrums, inventing solutions, welding; managing soil and plant health, and so much more. it makes me smile to see them working overtime regularly to get the job done and to hear the occasional polka music blaring from their trucks.