Bring on the gratitude, I say.

I wanted to take a moment to say how I got started with gratitude Friday, since a few of you have asked.  Last winter, during a particularly rough patch with Ella, I read an article in the wonderful Yoga Journal about keeping a gratitude journal as a way to open your heart to gladness, even a way to battle depression.  I think my simultaneous reactions were “Wouldn’t that be nice!” and “No way this will work, no way it can be that simple.”  Well, I decided to give it a try, even though I’ve never successfully kept a journal.  You would think I would learn, eventually, that the simple things are always the ones that work.  Long story short, I still keep that journal, I love it, and it provides a wonderful antidote to stressful or gloomy times.  I discovered Gratitude Friday posts on Shelley’s blog a few months back, and thought it would be a perfect extension of the journal.  So here we go!  (One of my favorite things about listing gratitudes is that, even when it’s hard to start, soon they come pouring out.  It really is an amazing exercise.)

This week, I’m grateful for all of you who’ve joined us for the Ten Steps.

Grateful for the community we live in, our neighbors and friends (old, new, and ones we haven’t met yet!)

Grateful that we get to go visit family next week for Thanksgiving – my favorite holiday!

Grateful for Bill McKibben’s Hundred Dollar Holiday, which I just finished reading.  It has a totally fascinating history of Christmas – not what you’d expect at all .

Grateful for the chance to make our special cranberry-pecan sourdough, pumpkin tarts, and cranberry-caramel tart next week.  Yummy!

Grateful, always, for the chance to work with my hands and my heart.

Grateful that we (and our animals) are all healthy.

Grateful for the chance to dance in the living room with my girl.

Grateful for the chance to count my blessings.

Have a great weekend everyone!

(a bouquet from Sunday’s sewing bee)

Have we mentioned that we love you, our shareholders, supporters, friends, our community?

We do.

Today’s bean harvesting party started out a bit depressing.  It was discouraging that we had to have a bean harvesting party at all – the combine is broken and under serious repair by Arnie, Captain Bill, Adam, and Ben.  And the bean field is nearly buried under weeds, because earlier this season the cultivating tractor broke, and despite our best efforts at the weeding party, and Adam’s continuous work, the weeds did some damage.  (As all of you with home gardens know, this was a particularly vicious weed summer.)  It was so sad and frustrating to think how amazing the bean fields would have been if only .  . .  I took a break to nurse Ella, and when I gave a big sigh she said, “Mama?  You’re sad?”  “Yeah, sweetie, I’m a little sad about the bean fields.”  “Oh, Mama,” she said, standing next to me to give me a hug and kiss, “You need special love from me.”  My sweetest girl.

Down at the fields, we got out our recycled coffee sacks and started picking . . . a few volunteers arrived to help, and the weather was stunning.  And then, lots more help arrived, and we filled bags and bags of beans, and everyone had a lovely time.  The two tiny tots and two big girls present were amazingly chill about letting us harvest, and we got in a lot of Hutterite Soup Beans and Charlevoix Red Kidney Beans. We had some fresh local cider, some local beer, some chips and homemade salsa.

(photo by Ben Lester)

Ben’s still down at the shop with Adam, Arnie, and Bill, working away so we can get the combine out to bring in the rest of the kidney beans and the Boston Favorites.  Keep your fingers crossed, otherwise, we might see you down at the Contours for another bean harvest real soon!

(photo by Ben Lester)

So many thanks to the folks who came to the sewing bee Sunday, and to the harvest Monday- you remind us all what it means to be a part of Community Supported Agriculture.  Thank you to our friends, shareholders, Jarrett and the crew at Stone Soup Farm CSA – also located at NESFI.(Jarrett Man, owner/manager of Stone Soup Farm, Volunteered as human strapping to keep the load of beans from flying out the truck. Don’t try this at home…Jarrett is a professional)

As Ben said this evening, this is not about agricultural perfection.  It’s about connecting to our fields, connecting to our food and our community.  We’re doing our best for you.  (Oh yeah, and giving the middle finger to the industrial food system, ahem.)

And now, I’m gonna go make some more grain bags.