August 12, 2021
The Lettuce Rejoice!
Firmly Rooted Farm's Newsletter for their Veggie Loving Farm-ily
On the Farm: A Place for Life
As many of you know early this week the farm to the west of ours was being sprayed with a substance by airplane. We cannot be certain until we receive confirmation from the Ministry of the Environment, but we’ve been advised that the substance in question is an insecticide called Voliam Xpress.
We are investigating, and don’t know if our crops are contaminated, but we are operating under the assumption that they are and so should you.
The investigative process is slow and I still don’t have any additional details. I wish I did.
In my statement yesterday I expressed that Brian and I are devastated by this incident. For those of you who have reached out with your support, it means the world to us.
The potential consequences to our business, and to our ability to continue to provide certified organic food to all of you are fairly obvious. The sadness I’m feeling about the ecosystem of my farm is perhaps less clear. There is so much I don’t know, and perhaps this concern is completely unnecessary, but I can’t stop thinking about this part of the farm that we seeded to wildflowers two years ago. I take all of my visitors there, even though it’s at the very back and sometimes time is tight. It’s my favorite spot because it’s beautiful, yes, but even more because it’s so alive. Observing for only a moment you’ll see a handful of butterflies; monarch, swallowtail, and others I can’t name, dozens of fat bumblebees, sleek honeybees, sweat wasps, and so many others. The little birds seem to be playing a game with each other, darting from one chicory stem to the next. I see it all over the farm but back there it’s concentrated, it’s the loveliest parts of nature acting out a story for you.
I love the living things on our farm, and so do the people that work here. Tiny frogs are fawned over and so are fat toads. Work came to a full stop earlier this week because we found a sweet red salamander and we all needed to gaze at her in adoration. We plant pollinator strips, and native shrubs. Brian keeps bees. We spent thousands of dollars on our snake hibernaculum. We’ve moved entire planting plans for killdear nests. We still have protection over snapping turtle eggs that were laid in a bed at the beginning of June. It’s damn inconvenient, but that’s ok because these creatures need a place and even if we are just a postage stamp of a farm, I want to be that place for them.
I hate that this happened, but I hope that in telling the story, in showing up with integrity and transparency, in fighting to make it right, and in continuing to do the work we love, that we might make a difference for someone else.
Thank you for continuing to stand with us and support our farm, we’ll continue to feed you the best we can.
Your farmers,
Tamara, Brian, Jack and Ruby
