Backyard Birds Saturday, September 8, 2012 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.Join our friends and neighbors with Alice Ferguson Foundation, Naturalists Ann Bodling and Chris Ordiway, as they introduce you to the backyard birds of Maryland. Basic birding skills will also be taught. Introduction to Biodynamics Monday, September 17, 20126 p.m. - 8 p.m.In this introductory lecture we will take a look at the essentials of biodynamic agriculture, particularly from a home scale, gardening perspective.

field notes

Hello CSA Community,

The season has waxed and waned. We have received injury, drought, heat, and now I seek peace in the cooler weather and gentle river breezes that have accompanied the last few weeks. We are marveling at the kaleidoscope of colors that indicate the fruits of our labor, at the same time that we are missing those of us that are currently absent. It is a bittersweet time. Fall planting and field preparation has begun, a reminder that life does not miss a beat. In this progressive mindset, I also remind myself that this is our only given life, in rough and smooth times, and it is all too precious. I hope you find this compartmentalized in each beautiful tomato gift you enjoy this week.

With gratitude,Farmer Becky

Farm ManagerBecky Seward

Apprentice FarmersSusan Cook, Sky Harman

Farm AssistantsSarah Carts, Blain Snipstal

when the fruit is plucked

the branches may break

with the force

Volume 17 | Number 13 | August 17 & 21, 2012

For details on any event, please visit www.accokeek.org.

upcoming events

EcosystEm FArm At AccokEEkwww.accokeekfoundation.org

three-season Pick List:• cherry tomatoes• figs• garlic• pea shoots• Genoa basil• Heirloom tomato mix• lima beans, in shell• sweet peppersSave the

Date!

Vol

unte

er, P

otluck & Movie

Sunday, Sep 9th

The Patterns of the FarmBy Sky Harman

The seasons turn. The sun rises and moves through the sky in a great arc overhead before it sets beneath the horizon. Clouds circle and swirl overhead as they pass. Time passes. Our labors are more methodical as it becomes second nature, our routine the same. We learn the rhythms of the day, the week, ourselves, our fellow workers.

That day started like any other—we spoke of the work to be done, we divided tasks between us. We prepared potatoes for planting. We cleared beds. We set up water lines. We attended a staff meeting. In the afternoon we were to prepare our fall planting schedule. It was nearly perfect weather—warm, sunny, just a bit of a breeze. High tide was around 1:15 pm, so after the meeting the rest of the farm crew went to lunch while I rushed to the river’s edge to continue my struggles with the pump.

There was an accident.

With one single moment, one moment that might have gone just like the others in our farm life, the rhythm was changed. The dance had stopped. When I arrived everyone from the foundation was there standing, watching, waiting, praying I imagine.

Such is life. The rhythm changes. We learn to dance to a new tune.

That is not what this is about. This is about meaning. This is about the moments of our lives that are stitched together into tapestry. This is about what was and what is and what shall be.

For us, I believe, farming is a calling. It is not easy work. It is not profitable work. It can be painful, stressful, and at times too much for the nerves to bear. But it is the moments of warm sunshine, of birdsong, and the swirling of clouds overhead that lend a sweet melody to our days. It is the sharing of labor. It is knowing our fellows, in hand, heart, and mind, in an incredibly intimate way that lightens our burden to make them bearable. We farm for love. We grow things to nurture them with the same feeling of care and of kindness that we feel in our hearts with the hope that someone else might share this gift with us. That is what we try to give you—our love.

I think towards moments like the accident, with a detached sense of meaning. I don’t believe in fate. What I do believe is that we choose to live as we do for a reason. We make choices and they have consequences. Some consequences are out of our control, but the choices are our own. We at the Ecosystem Farm choose to farm because we hope to share our love with you. We farm to grow, within ourselves and of the land.

No one can predict the future. Things happen. The multitudes of individual choices that intersect to create a moment in time are beyond our grasp and our control. But what I choose, and what I urge you to choose as well is love. Make life a conscientious and loving act now, so that whatever may come tomorrow, we can be proud of what was today.

Farm Assistant, Blain snipstal, and Accokeek Foundation employee, Brittany Barnes, head out to the fields to cultivate the earth.