Our Village

Ok, so hear me out. We really do live in a village - the village of Chesaning. But, that’s not what I’m talking about in the title of this post. You’ve probably heard the words, “It takes a village to…” fill in the end of the sentence.

For the farm, this sentence translates into something like “it takes a village to start and keep a farm running.” Or “it takes a village to realize a dream.” Because to Joe and I, that’s what Section 32 Farms is - our dream. But boy, is it a lot of work.

That’s where our “village” comes in. The people in our lives who help make this dream a reality. The people who pour into the farm in various ways, through their time, encouragement, resources, etc.

When we took over management of the farm a few years ago, we started the tradition of hosting an appreciation dinner once a year, towards the end of summer. It has been as elaborate as a long table dinner in our barn, or a crab boil, to as simple as hot dogs on the grill, or store bought fried chicken (last year when I was too pregnant to move, let alone cook).

And the guest list seems to grow every year too, which is a testament to our village. It’s mostly made of our families, but we also have some friends, coworkers, acquaintances, and people we rent ground from attend. Folks come from just down the road and as far as two hours away.

Our village is amazing. Each person who comes has a whole story of their connection to the farm. For some, they are encouragers. They believe in what we’re doing and cheer us on. For others, they trust us to rent their ground, sow seed and reap a good harvest, and leave the land better than how we found it. There are others who lend and lend and lend to us, because honey, farming is EXPENSIVE! So we borrow and barter and trade, and thank God for people who willingly and cheerfully allow us to use their stuff.

And then there are the work horses. The people out there in 90 degree weather on a Saturday, their one day off, helping dig holes and plant poles in the ground for the pasture. The people running errands for us. The people literally offering us a helping hand.

This past weekend, we hosted our appreciation dinner for this year. Joe always jokes that I get a vision in my head of how the party is going to look and feel, and I can’t get it out of my head until it becomes a reality. He’s at the end of that vision and up on the ladder making it happen. The weather was all over the board coming into Saturday, so my vision had to adjust from a tent out in the yard to our garage. And while it wasn’t quite what I’d imagined, I’m learning more to go with the flow. My heart was still full at the end, so we did something right.

We always try to do a theme for our dinner too, and this year was Mexican. Homemade tortilla chips that we sat up in the driveway making until 10:30 p.m. the night before. Fajitas, tacos, rice, homemade salsas, jalapeno poppers, Mexican wedding cake and personalized churro cups.

We’re always running around like crazy people until the last minute. Cue the village. Seriously, we host a party to thank these fine folks and what do they do? Show up early and help us. Come over and help string lights, set up and tear down tents and tables, put food together, watch the baby. You name it.

I always feel awful every year about how much they help when it’s supposed to be an appreciation dinner for them. But I’ve also learned to shut up, smile and say “Yes, please” and “Thank you”. Because that’s the thing about our village. It’s part of who they are.

We’re so humbled. Every year, we start out planning by talking about scaling back and not doing so much. But it has yet to happen. We want it to be special. It takes us weeks to really bounce back from the work of putting it on. But as we sliced and diced in the kitchen, Joe and I talked about it. All the work over a few days is nothing in comparison to all the help we receive throughout the year. And that’s what I focused on when I started to get tired or frustrated. I could certainly spend a day or two making a meal to express my gratitude. It couldn’t even come close to being enough.

Which is why we always take a few minutes before the meal, once everyone is there and seated, to say a few words of thanks. And then we pray, over the meal, over the people, asking God to bless them. We believe God created the whole concept of seedtime and harvest. He invented it. We see all the help and time and effort as seed being sown, and we ask God to bless it back to our village, multiply it and that they each reap a harvest for what they’ve sown into us.

Our hope every year is that our village leaves this dinner feeling full - full of good food, good conversation, maybe a little motivation regarding their own dreams and visions, laughter, peace and blessings.