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.
Up here in Vermont, this season of winter has the potential to be something wondrous or something to endure.
Even in normal years winter can be difficult for those who lack a strong connection with the outdoors, whether through their work, farming or joyful recreation. This year, concerns about health and social responsibility have kept even more people inside.
“We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it.”
This weekend we lost a shining light in the organic farming and food movement: Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm.
Jack’s personal history and journey are worth reading about and can be found in his books. He and his wife Anne worked tirelessly for 50 years to create Butterworks Farm, which is one of the most regenerative and biodynamic farms I have personally encountered. Jack always strove to cultivate a harmonious vision of what farming and food production could be.
Above all, Jack was a very dear friend, colleague and inspiration.
I will begin with a cautionary word. We have all gone through difficult and trying times and continue to suffer losses of every kind. As December approaches, it feels like the beginning of a dark Covid winter. Every morning, I have been working hard to remember my farmer’s perspective: an outlook that sees these coming winter months as a time for healing and introspection.