Many hands make for light work, and many friends make for a truly blessed farm. I am overwhelmed with the blessings that the animals & I received today, and I am tremendously grateful for my amazing friends who support me & the farm through thick & thin.
On Friday, I received an update from our local Farm Bureau office that a company was seeking a farm that could take in produce no longer fit for human consumption. I reached out to this business, and learned that they had been engaged to clean up a semi truck and its load that had tipped over & spilled on the highway. With that highway cleanup complete, the company now had a giant load of old produce of which they wished to dispose. I told them that we would be delighted to use it, but we were limited by our ability to transport. Their representative then said that they would bring it to us, if we would agree to take it all. With that unexpected good fortune, I was next faced with the query of how we could efficiently unload a 53’ trailer that was supposedly packed full of produce.
I am very bad at asking for help. I hate to impose on people, despite my friends reinforcing with me that I need to get better at asking for help. After being told that it took five men with a skid steer an hour to load up the semi trailer, I realized that it would take a ridiculous amount of time for just me, herd manager Alex, and student assistant Austin to be able to unload it. I put a post out on the Harrison Farm Facebook page asking if anyone might be able to assist us with unloading . . . And I was completely overwhelmed with the response by our farm community!
A semi trailer full of produce in real life is even more gigantic than what the mind can imagine. While the driver & I unstacked boxes from the truck, an amazing team of volunteers helped unload and re-stack box after box after box. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Heidi, Aubry, Rebecca, Amber, Haylie, Natalie, Helen, Josiah, Enzo, Julie, Olivia, Tiffany, Kendall, Kristin, Michelle, Susanne, and Marissa for pitching in! Their generosity of time, positive attitudes, and absolute grit made a Herculean task manageable.
Sustainability is very important to me: environmental, financial, and social. It was deeply gratifying to know that we were gifted with such a massive stockpile of beans, cabbage, and greens for the animals to savor through the winter months. This will be quite a help financially. The amazing byproduct of this effort is that we kept a whole semi load of produce out of the landfill, which is fantastic. Having our farm community respond so generously to make this possible truly reinforced for me that people value farms in our metropolitan area.
Over the holidays, with temperatures falling on this winter morning, it would have been easy for my friends to stay in their comfortable homes. Instead, they showed their support through word & deed, making this great blessing possible for the animals. I want the farm to be a place where we live as if the world were what it should be, to show it what it can be. Today our farm community truly made that possible. The animals & I are so grateful!
