What motivates you?

In the midst of a Thursday transplant moment I found myself shuffling down a row, tucking delicata squash starts into the earth for the season. (If you pass by the farm on Center Road, the rows closest to the road will be one of our delicata squash lands this year.) I was amazed at how quickly my fellow farmers were hustling down the bed and got curious about what motivates them to do such hard work so well. So this week, I’d like to share with you all a little bit about what motivates this small but mighty crew.

The first response I got came as a desire to help push back against a greater movement towards unconscious consumption. In a world full of ever increasingly brighter and shinier distractions, to do work that truly nourishes a community and destabilizes in some small way our reliance on unsustainable food systems feels like one thing we can do that truly matters. I really believe that to grow our own food and support local agriculture is one of the simplest yet most effective radical acts we can participate in. Another person shared that they believe that it is the only honest living there is for them. Every facet of what we do is for the betterment of the earth and our community.

The next answer I got was that “we” are the motivation. That to work alongside dear friends towards a common goal, and a wholesome one at that, is the dream and the motivation. One of the things that first amazed me when I came to Red Dog Farm is that it seems that the harder one of us works, the harder we all work. Inspiration is contagious.

Then there is the infinite of it all. There is really no end to what there is to learn in farming, it just never stops. Boundless curiosity as motivation. This spring alone has been a perfect example that at the end of the day, we are nothing more than stewards to Mother Nature. What we focus our attention on as farmers depends entirely on the elements we are working in. The climate IS changing. And it’s really easy to feel a sense of not knowing what to do if I try to hold it alone and all at once. But I believe small scale agriculture holds answers in that the very basis of it is motivated by strong community and day-to-day adaptability. We are all learning, endlessly, to care about each other and the earth and what that looks like as it infinitely unfolds. This work in this place with these people is changing my life on a micro and macro scale and it motivates me to keep showing up.

And we are grateful for whatever motivates you to support us in this work. Truly.

~Máti