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Farm Festival

So many people, so much help, and a whole lot of fun went into creating a pleasant atmosphere for our fall farm festival. The weather responded well, too, and the maples in the yard changed hues all weekend. We asked “How can we make land and training easily available, and the work fun and profitable, to encourage youth in agriculture?” We had many visitors all weekend long.

Every year it gets a little easier to turn my home into a conference center. Food is the main thing and the cooks out did themselves with six homegrown and homemade meals, feeding up to 150 each time. Happy people heaped their plates full and went back for more.

The kids played with clay and made wreaths. Older kids walked around the farm looking cool. Young adults sat with the elders absorbing what they could. Confused, middle-aged people went to the lectures. And we had plenty.

Mark and Steve gave interesting biographies of Rudolf Steiner and Alan Chadwick, respectively. Chadwick, a student of Steiner’s, created beautiful biodynamic gardens during the late 60’s in California, and spoke poetically about soil life. Ed and Dennis were stirring barrel compost with their two different flow forms, and horns got stuffed with manure.

Susana talked homesteading while Gunther explored the world of bees. Young people shared their experiences getting into farming and Harvey talked about working with the nature spirits.

After lunch, Hector gave an emotional talk “peace and farming” while Crazy Owl led an herb walk. Both are in their 80s, and Harvey is 93. Again, young people shared, listened and learned. Gunther described elemental beings and we dug up the horn silica. Farm women chatted and the garden was a popular place to rub shoulders with each other.

The talent show offered us a chance to get to know one another better, and rock-n-roll barn dance ended the evening, although a few of the youth saw the sunrise. Sunday we relaxed with a long breakfast and then read a few passages from Steiner’s “youth’s search in nature”, a lecture given especially for young folks attending the agriculture course in 1924. A thoughtful discussion followed, then more food with Journey’s raw class, and finally the farm tours.

A crowd here on Monday got to help get our CSA delivery together and off by noon. Sweeping, mopping, washing dishes and rearranging furniture quit early so we could dig sweet potatoes. The potatoes were out by Tuesday evening, and the house was soon put back together, with frequent fly swatting.

The gardens looked wilted from a two-month drought, and I believe folks prayed fro us to get some rain. Two inches fell on Tuesday night. Blessings and thank you to all who came.