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Love Notes #4 – Solidarity Shares, Uprooting Racism, and Potions

Upcoming Training Events – Apply Now

 

You are also welcome to join us for any of our community farm days this season or see us speak at one of our public talks.

And please come to the POLLY DANCE PARTY on April 1, a fundraiser for our Solidarity Shares program – which provides free and low costs veggies to immigrants, refugees, and those targeted by state violence.

 

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One of the best things about being at the Just Food Conference over the weekend, was connecting with alumni (aka family) of Black and Latinx Farmers Immersion AND youth who have attended our programs. I feel so blessed to be connected to Ashleigh, Assefash, The Green Teens, and hundreds of others who are doing seriously powerful work for equity in the food system.

 

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We have been super busy wrapping up our “traveling season” with talks and trainings all over the northeast. Thank you so much for NOFA CT, Hudson Valley Farm Hub, NE Young Farmers, Montclair State, Brooklyn Movement Center and everyone else for welcoming us! Of all the work though, we probably most enjoyed nerding out with this Miracle on Craig Street crew over crop rotation plans. It’s an honor to do capacity building with such committed grassroots organizers.

 

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Sometimes #farmlife is overwhelming and discouraging – like when you have to get up at 4 AM in a blizzard power outage to turn on the generator so seedlings don’t die. That’s when you need your monk friend Jun San to unexpectedly walk up your driveway drumming and chanting and give you a copy of her favorite Japanese poem to lift your spirits. Magic! (Yes, Emet wears shorts all winter.)

 

Rain Won’t

By Kenji Miyazawa, translated by Arthur Binard

 

Rain won’t stop me

Wind won’t stop me

Neither will the driving snow

Sweltering summer heat

Will only raise my determination

With a body built for endurance

A heart free of greed

I’ll never lose my temper

Trying always to keep

A quiet smile on my face

My daily diet must be simple

Several heaped bowls of brown rice

Some vegetables and miso

Profit must never be the issue

I’ll listen to others, observe carefully

And refuse to forget

I’ll make my home in a hut with a thatched roof

Near a meadow surrounded by pine trees

If a child were to fall ill in the east

I’d run there to help with the nursing

If a mother were to overwork herself in the west

I’d be there to carry the heavy bundles of rice

If a man were on the verge of death in the south,

I’d rush to soothe his fears

If bitter lawsuits and fighting were to break out in the north

I’d urge all parties to come together and talk things over

In days of drought, I’d weep

Just weep

In unseasonable cold spells, I’d walk the fields

And mourn the stunted crops

People may call me a fool

I doubt if anyone will applaud me

Then again, perhaps none will detest me either

All this is my goal-

The person I want to become

 

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Children joyfully helping their parents seed thousands of onions (sort of.)

 

Have a great week,

Soul Fire Crew

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