Oregon Country Farm

For the past two weeks, Gabriel and I have been surrounded by serious abundance. Hoards of tomatoes, armies of squash, herds of green beans, squadrons of pears, battalions of apples and, most especially, flocks of friends. It’s hard to believe the season is almost over. We’ve been over the stove pickling, processing and drying. We’ve been out in the fields harvesting and putting our beds to sleep with the sun dipping low earlier and earlier each night. This is what happens at this time of year but what makes this time particularly magical for us is all of our friends and family who have been getting dirty, sticky and silly with us. Deja, Josh, Zach, Mara, David, Joe, Christopher, Shiva and Joshua – you have been our abundance!

Here’s a reflection from Joshua – a friend of mine from elementary school who just left to head back to the Bay Area:

It’s my last day on the farm
Woke up with strange dreams
I lay awake with visions of the past year swirling in my head
I’m not home,
it’s better that way,
i’m on the farm for one last day
Hip-Hop-Hurray

There’re few people I’ve known for as many years as friend Serah Mead
She works the land of Oregon Country Farm with her Milwaukee Man,
known as Gabe or Friendly Ears

Good music was to be had the moment we came in a week ago
Magnificent P dropped me and Marz off and even though he was headed to
Barter Fair,
there was a little part of him that wanted to stay

It’s one thing to be plopped down on a 21 acre field o’ nuts, but it’s
a completely different story
when the people running the hoes are quality, choice individuals

Cousin Deja was in town from Chicago
“all my co-workers are jealous of me right now” she would say,
she was staying for 3 weeks

Its an interesting phenomenon, young folks wanting to go pick tomatoes
or crush apples for the cider press as good wholesome ways to work
outdoors and reconnect to where
our food comes from, instead of being locked up in the city, at least
for the whole year

The Farm is blessed in more ways than one, owned by Rod and Sara Feilder patrons
of Brownsville, Oregon

One of my favorite moments of the week was around the fire spinning ‘yarns’
with Rod and extended company of the band Magpie, three young gents
wielding stringed instruments that could be heard earlier in the year
when they played a show in the hazelnut orchard

Sacred stories under the stars,
this is what country living is about, evening times without a TV are
just some young folks,
one old man, surrounded by fields of fruits and nuts
glorious

before I left for Oregon I stopped by my old support group in San Francisco,
which I helped facilitate for 8 years in my rise becoming a
mental health educator and performing artist

I asked a young guy point blank who seemed to be looking for
direction: “if you could do anything with your life, and money
wasn’t an issue what would it be?”

He leaned back in his chair, “be outdoors, work with my hands and live
off the fat of the land”
“sounds like a ticket to go up north and try out some farming ” I said,
“yeah” he said, “what more do you need?”