When the land Speaks, We listen

It is interesting how the Earth, the Sun, the plants and the elements all speak to us. The past couple years we have had the message to move away from offering produce as product. Mainly the message has come in the form of drought and intense heat. What is interesting is that growing vegetables was never really the grandest vision. It was a step in the glorious road to the present moment. 

About a decade ago, David was living in Philadelphia setting up a closed-loop composting system between the farms on the borders of the city and the churches providing meals to food-insecure populations within the city. This endeavor led him to get involved with the local Young Farmers chapter, which led him to PASA, which led him to meet the previous owner of our farm, which led him to get a formalized apprenticeship at an organic farm, which gave him the training to start his own farm. You can see the step by step.

The Highest Intention has always been a spiritual endeavor and Service to the Greatest Good. This rings true through all the steps. Included in this intention is aligning to the harmonies of the natural systems.

This requires time to integrate yourself into the living essence of the land. It takes looking, feeling, and experiencing that ultimately forms a relationship with the living, breathing, intelligent expressions of life from all kingdoms on this piece of Earth.

In the first few years, we grew vegetables, using our training to serve the community organic produce. We also took time to watch, and what we noticed was…the land does not want vegetables.

What we did see was that the land wanted hardwood trees, wild grapes, different kinds of berries and herbs along with animals moving across the pastures. We noticed an abundance of wild herbs and ran an event called Wild Medicine that was hugely popular in the community.

We started aligning our operation to what was naturally expressed in the landscape, instead of plowing it over and leveling it out to forcefully scale vegetable production. The Divine Intelligence gave us more than a few little pushes with the intense heat and droughts over the last couple years. What thrived in these conditions however, were the herbs we were growing/wildforageing and the sheep we were raising. (We want to share more about the sheep in the next email, because this year we implemented some really incredible practices that were game changers for us and our animals.

While the vegetables were burning to a crisp, the Calendula kept producing the golden sunshine flowers every few days. The chamomile flowers were abundant. We planted a small patch of Tulsi, Holy Basil, as a test, which produced more than we needed for this season. We harvested baskets of yarrow, comfrey, and mountain mint. Our test patches of marshmallow, motherwort, and sacred white sage thrived. Our stand of blue vervain more than doubled from last year. Our lavender plants established and grew with no water for weeks. These plants thrive through however the elements express: intense cold of winter, the deluge of water in spring, and the fiery heat/droughts of summer. It’s like the land is saying, “Hey! Grow herbs!” 

From this year's herb harvest, we have created the first of a beautiful line of herbal products. The first of which are herb infused oils for the face, body, hair. 

Each plant holds its own vibrational essence, whether it be peace, regeneration, or beauty. They can be used on the face and body to lock in hydration, or as a base oil for your gua sha. We also love using a few drops for shine on the hair. These gorgeous oils are made from the simplest of ingredients- organic jojoba oil and the whole herb, straight from our soil. The user is just a step away from the plant and our soil- connected to the mission of stewardship. 

We invite you to take a look and see which herbal essence speaks to you.

Blessings from the Farm,

David and Anne