Why Rebuilding Our Connection With Our Food, Our Environment CANNOT Be Underestimated
G’Day Folks,
We finally did it!!
We had our first ever 'Meet the Farmer' event!!
We had such a wonderful few hours with a great bunch of enthusiastic people.
The weather finally played ball and the sun was shining bright with blue skies!! and perfect temperatures.
Huge thanks to everyone who made it! We loved sharing our little slice of heaven with you!
If you missed this event or couldn't make it, don't worry we are making plans to do this again! Watch this space…
Here’s some pic’s from the event:
Why These Events Mean So Much To Us
We decided early on after exploration into the local farmers markets...
That it would be difficult for a 2 family farm to make enough income on a single stall each week.
The travel, setup and wasted product that didn’t sell on the day... Meant we were likely to barely cover costs of wages and transport for the day, let alone the biggest cost ‘growing and harvesting’...
Online has been the best option for us…
But....
This means we miss out on building the in-person relationship we would love to have with our customers…
Or so we thought...
The open day on the farm has changed the game!
It was like a breath of beautiful fresh air...
We felt re-charged by the community of people who chose to spend some of their weekend with us.
We realise now, that we can still build the same connections despite being Online Farmers.
This is really great news!
It means we farmers can use modern technologies to compete with supermarkets in offering the same online shopping and home delivery experience...
But without losing the important connection between the people who grow the food and those that eat it! Wooooohoo!
Speaking of people who grow the food…
Recently We Met Some Fellow Organic Farmers
Comboyne Plateau (approx... 20min from our farm)
Check out this small snippet (below gif) of where the Kiwi Fruit you and your family no doubt chowed down on last week was grown and harvested from. All from Comboyne Orchard who are a family run farm doing an incredible job, especially given the constant rain making their life difficult like it has for so many farmers.
There is something so special about getting to know the people who grow the food your eating...
And witnessing the beautiful environment its grown on...
You feel a connection that has been lost to the majority of us.
It’s effortless to treat the food with so much more respect, let alone ENJOY it when:
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You know the people who grew it,
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How it was grown, and
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The respect the farmer paid to the ecosystem it was grown in.
Why Rebuilding Our Connection With Our Food, Our Environment CANNOT Be Underestimated
We can rebuild, even save our environment and also receive all our body needs from only the food we eat.
Re-building this connection has never been so important...
Our demonstration is the teacher, our actions teach...
There’s a saying ‘first we much teach our children how beautiful the world is, because only then will they want to love and protect it’.
With so much disconnection between people and the land which provides for their existence...
It's easy to see how we can lose touch...
How we can begin to detach ourselves from the things that keep us alive and healthy.
It's through seeing the beauty of small scale regenerative farms...
And getting to know how our food is grown...
That we can learn to love and protect her once again, hopefully in the same way the indigenous people of this land still do today and have done for the past 60,000+ years.
And on that note, we would love to share a beautiful and poetic letter from an indigenous elder from another country who shared the same love and care for the land he existed.
This is an actual letter written by Chief Seattle to President Washington in what is debated to be 1854.
Image of Chief Seattle source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Seattle
Chief Seattle's Letter
"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?
Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.
The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.
If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.
Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.
Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.
When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?
We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.
As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.
One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."
Chief Seattle (more correctly known as Seathl) was a Susquamish chief who lived on the islands of the Puget Sound. As a young warrier, Chief Seattle was known for his courage, daring and leadership. He gained control of six of the local tribes and continued the friendly relations with the local whites that had been established by his father. His now famous speech was believed to have been given in December, 1854. There are several versions of his letter; the above was provided by Barefoot Bob.
This letter is such a potent reminder.
We hope this fuels you as it does us…
To choose to rebuild, reconnect and play our important part in demonstrating the love to care for and protect our beautiful home.
Have an amazing week...
And we look forward to more 'Meet the Farmer' Events that provide an awesome opportunity to connect as a community...
And also reconnect with our environment and where our food comes from!
