Welcome to the Against the Grain Farm Stand where you can pre-order for pick up at either Watauga Country Farmer's Market or at the farm for Saturday, October, 3rd. If you're reading this in an email, you'll see the items that we have to offer this week below. You can simply click on the yellow button "purchase from the farmstand" to reserve a box, make swaps and add extras to the base box that Harvie will put together for you. If you're reading this in the Harvie platform, navigate over to the "farm stand" to reserve your box.
The ordering period for Saturday pick-up closes at 8pm on Thursday, October 1st.
If you have any questions about your box or the farm stand process, please reach out to Holly directly by email at atgfarm@gmail.com or by phone at 828-406-4439. If you are having any difficulties placing your order or would like to confirm the contents of your box, please do not hesitate to reach out to Holly.
We have also started accepting reservations for Thanksgiving Turkeys. Our birds are raised to high welfare standards, with GMO-free verified feed, as well as continuous access to fresh pasture, water and sunshine. Reserve one with a $25 deposit on our website: atgfarm.com.
This week's newsletter contribution comes to you from M Mueller and is entitled "A Time of Festival."
Look on any calendar and you will see festivals attached to certain dates: New Year’s Day, the Fourth of July, Juneteenth, Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid al-Fitr. In farm life, there are markers other than calendar days that tell us when festival times arrive: the goats bunch at the paddock gate after only three or four hours on pasture; the sun rises and sets 12 hours apart; the long haired Highland cows and the Pyrenees dog, Rhea, are putting on coat.
Now that we are past the Fall Equinox, there is a certain quality of gold in the air that accords with ripening fruits like the butternut squash we harvested recently. The goldenrod attracts its golden honeybees and on clear evenings the sun sets gold, too. It’s as if a being streaming golden light is overlooking all our activities. If we look to a European-based calendar, coincidentally we see on June 29 the Feast of Saint Michael. This was traditionally an important time for farmers in England especially, as it was a “quarter day” when rents were due, wages were paid, hiring was done. A definite transition time.
When we look at pictures of the Michael being, it is often depicted as keeping a dragon at bay at the point of a spear, often under foot. Like depictions of the Hindu goddess Durga, who is pictured subduing a monster buffalo, or the Egyptian god Horus overcoming a crocodile, we never see a killer triumphant, but we see a divine being in the act of subduing—not killing—its foe. What is the meaning of this symbolic foe which is never killed, but only kept at bay?
Well, if you are a farmer, you can feel in your body the shortening of days and the extra power it takes to raise vegetable crops (fruits are simply not a reasonable crop to grow at this time of year). On cold mornings it takes extra energy to get going. Unforeseen frosts with expensive crops out in the field can put you on edge. Floating along on the strength of warm sunny summer days is no longer possible. Now we have to create our own power, our own inner light and warmth as we go through the fall. We must subdue the dragon called fear and anxiety and call forth the forces of will needed to enter the darkening days soon heading into winter.
Fear and anxiety in a time of disease and political and environmental upheaval need to be kept at bay as well, so that we can continue to function and do the job we have set out to do. We can’t do this by ourselves, but if we have strong allies, true friends, trusted companions, if we can get from our food the strength to fight our individual demons, so to speak, with enough left over to look after our neighbor as well, we will find ourselves in the company of that Being, whatever it may be called, which sheds golden light on our labors and shows us the power of will to vanquish whatever is preventing us from becoming truly human. That is the festival we now celebrate. We hope our farm fresh food will be part of your celebration, too!
Until next week, much love and happy eating,
Holly, Andy and the ATG Crew
