Rock & Roll Farm

Saturday! Oct 29 2005 // 1:58 pm //

The people on the farm

Today I am sick. This was the first time I’ve stayed home from market because I didn’t want to go. They have three people going which is one more than usual anyway, so four would have been a crazy luxury. This puts my total to 38 out of 46. The next closest total is like 17. There have been jokes about me being the Face of Tantre, or the market rockstar. I don’t know about all that, but I sure do love to be at market.

As much as I hate not being at market I’d hate even more to miss the Halloween festivities tonight. Almost all the interns will be going out to parties together in town. My coworkers have been one of the more positive unexpected aspects of living and working here. As I make my plans to leave, I realize that some of these people are like family. Reid and I interact as siblings. I swear he can read my mind, and I his. Christine and I are even more like siblings as our personalities clash and spark, but at the end of the day we can’t help loving each other. Together with Tracy and Nora I feel like a pack of friends from the high school lunchroom. Adam and I aren’t as close as others, but we surely have the camaraderie of working side by side on the crew. We’ve all been through some challenging days here and I know some of us wouldn’t have made it without the support of the other crew members.

Richard, Deb and Ari have welcomed us all into their lives and made working here an unrivaled experience. Spending time with Ari has changed my mind about a lot of my feelings about kids. I’ve never lived with a kid before, and I hope to continue to strengthen my connection with this little person after I leave.

I’ve also met a lot of people off the farm, at the market, at other farms, through our wholesale clients, and through other interns on this farm. It’s difficult to admit because I’m planning to leave but I am truly part of a community here. It happened quickly and totally, so much so that I almost didn’t realize it was happening. Sure, it’s challenging and sometimes more than I can take to live so close and open to so many, but I know I could turn in any direction and get help for anything I may need. And sometimes I can’t believe I’d want to leave this. It will be hard, come Thanksgiving, to walk away. But I know I can always come back to visit, or lend a hand, or maybe even stay for good.

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