Distilled

We are in the final wrap up’s here on the farm, but that doesn’t mean that the markets will end full stop at the end of the month. Mill City, Northeast and St. Paul will continue with winter markets after October, of which we are signed up into January. That’s right!! You can get your carrots on way into the winter!! It does mean however, that the farm crew is only here for one more week, right up until All Hollows’ Eve.

After we wrap up, Mar and Tommie will picking up other posts in the Twin Cities. You will still find Mar at some winter markets though. Daisy will be headed to NY State to continue on with the second half of her visa stay, working for a legit tomato greenhouse business (not this silly dirt farm). Daisy has been a delight to have here! I’m sure we’ll cross paths again. This greenhouse in NY is lucky to have her headed their way!

I’m very much wishing for all the best for all three. It’s certain that the season would have fallen quite flat without any one of them.

The closing of the season is bitter sweet on my end. I enjoy the daily and their company in particular, the generational/international debates, and the frank silliness. But equally, I am ready to not be Jefe for a little bit. It’s always a mix, a trade off. If this were a “traditional” job, I would find the time to recharge. But the intense seasonality of this work doesn’t allow for that. So it is…

When they depart, the 2021 growing season essentially becomes a thing of the past (not that time exists, which we covered last week, in which we are currently in an extension of the big long now…) in which no one can say for sure who did or said what in what order and ohh, but the food was good. And we will forget the bad parts, as we are wont to do, and say, “those were the days”, “2021? Golly, wasn’t there still that pandemic thingy? Gosh, I just don’t remember!”.

The past is a dream, of which 2021 is joining.

So, here we are. The crew is nearing the end of their stay and I’m fit to sleep for a long while and then reflect. To say things went well or badly is really a cherry pick either way. It’s always been a flavor swirl of the two with sprinkles of ambiguity. I’ll focus on the good parts, but it seems impossible to separate the two. You can only adjust the soft serve machine.

But no matter, it becomes less about the good and bad anyway, and more about keeping motivation. Every year I shed old motivations that just didn’t hold up in the season that has come to pass. I’d like to say that I gain new motivations, and…sometimes I do. But more than anything things get distilled.

So, one more week of the growing season. Momma Nature, you can bring it as always. One way or another, we will stumble across the finish line.