Dear families, farmers, producers and staff of Farmers To You,
This has been a very trying year, and what I always notice when I look back on trying times is that there were also beautiful gifts revealed.
You have all given me a very special one this year: community. Not the sound-bite, social media-amplified, paper thin kind of community. Rather, the kind that looks out for you, brings you food, makes sure you are okay. The kind you can lean on and that makes you feel whole.
Fourteen years ago my family and I moved up here to Vermont in search of a community that valued agriculture. Over these years I have found it in many different places and ways, but never before like I did this year. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the resilience, strength, and compassion of this community.
Families in Boston have told us how important our weekly food deliveries from trusted friends have been during the pandemic. For some, a literal lifeline.
Our farmers and producers have told us of their new appreciation for these relationships in which we feed and support one another. Moreover, I have watched them selflessly uplift fellow farmers, renewing bonds of partnership.
Our Farmers To You team in Vermont and Boston, while always completely dedicated and committed, are now downright passionate about what they do. It is so clear that we are making a profound difference for each other every day.
It is said that true wisdom does not come from books, universities and teaching, but metamorphoses from that which we feel and experience in our body. This notion that the giver receives the biggest gift feels truer this year than ever before. So does the dream that each of us in this farming community has so much to give, and that in the giving we all grow stronger, healthier and happier.
With deep gratitude from—and to—all of us, may our gifts in the new year be as beautiful and authentic as this closing year’s.
Wishing you all food- and family-filled holy days and nights.
Graciously,
Greg
