Seasonal Changes Nurture Personal Growth

As this summer fades and fall and winter approach, I am filled with a melancholy. The days become ever shorter, the nights longer and colder, and the friends I have made on the farm begin to take their leaves for their winter lives. Some I plan to see again next season, some I never will. Change, ironically one of the only constants in life, has never sat well with me. I have always done my best to avoid it, and the reminder of it as seasons change has always pressed itself upon me like an unfortunate weight. But here, on the farm, change is unavoidable, but it is also not a bad thing.

As one season changes to the next, so to do our crops, and our working days with them. Where we once placed cauliflower and turnips in your shares, we will now place pumpkins and other squashes. Using the hours we once spent watering beans and flowers, we now spend our time collecting potatoes and other root vegetables. Our field hands, especially new ones like myself, are assuming more leadership and responsibility as our staff begins to shrink. And as our wonderful delivery driver Frank used to deliver your CSA shares weekly, I will now be assuming his role.

Change is not easy for many of us. Change means fear, newness, and discomfort. But change also means opportunity. Opportunity for new lessons, new paths in life. This week will be my second time delivering our delicious produce to you, our wonderful CSA community. Though I know I will never meet many of you in person, I am greatly looking forward to serving you for the rest of the CSA season. Change is still not my favorite. But it is easier on the farm to find the silver linings, the opportunities at the edge of the changing spaces. It is understandable to miss the way things were, but I hope that never stops us from looking forward to what comes next.

~Jake