July 14th, 2020
What’s in your share?
Cucumbers
Summer Squash
Cherry Tomatoes
Radicchio
Fennel
Carrots or Radishes
White Sweet Spanish Onions
Sugar Snap Peas
Beans
With backgrounds in philosophy and the social sciences, we at Village Farmstead regularly find ourselves lost in the weeds of debate, pining for the most critical analysis, rational explanation, and best way forward. Generally, we come to this place of collective thought on accident, by way of our shared interests and similarly inquisitive personalities; but to be sure, we wrote it into our business member agreement, each of us literally being contractually obligated to “be thoughtful, observant, and critical of ourselves, our actions, and our effect on our surroundings and others.” Honestly, it’s a tall order and life-way; one that requires ongoing recommitment and exercise.
To be sure, our Midwestern hospitalities, niceties, and “you betchyas” do not lend themselves to disagreement. Against the grain of our culture, learned and proud, we seek to establish an environment of frankness, accountability, and integrity. It helps that, in lieu of an HR Department, we engage in a daily multilevel farmer-themed gladiator style obstacle course complete with challenges such as: shoveling shit while being swarmed by bees; gripping a large piece of parachuting greenhouse plastic against squalls of driving rain; and of course, the 16 hour no sit.
An old friend once challenged me, “how can you trust someone if your relationship has never been tested?” Luckily, farming is rather crisis prone… Through this work, a trust is developed; we sweat together, bleed together, and slowly burn alive under the sun together. Circumstance maintains and matures our shared communicative virtue. And I can’t help but be grateful. To be crudely honest is an increasingly unwelcome characteristic - especially in the workplace, few are free to do so, and, fewer still, are encouraged.
In a time with increasing political polarities, disagreement, and exacerbating stakes, actual discussion and debate is urgently pertinent. Disagreement, testing and being tested, asking and being asked “what d’ya do that for?” is a good thing. We’re all human and most of us are probably genuinely trying to figure things out and do our best. Ask, listen, shovel shit.