A recently transplanted field of onions!
Every family has their own set of Thanksgiving traditions. One thing my family often does is go around the table and each of us reflect on something we’re thankful for. A natural pessimist, I appreciate the opportunity to look past all the things going wrong and instead focus on all that I have to be grateful for.
If you were to invite Full Belly Farm to your table this year, what would we say? On Friday, I checked in with some of the Full Belly Farm team to see what we’re feeling thankful for this year. There were a lot of similarities in our answers, lightly edited and condensed for you below:
- health: the health of our families, friends, and the Full Belly crew
- family: a healthy family (especially family working in hospitals and health care), kids who say funny things
- other people: good co-workers, the customers who buy and eat our produce, a supportive community
- weather: the end of fire season, fall colors, cooler weather and shorter days, crisp autumn mornings, the rain we got last week, carrot season!
- animals: puppies (from two different people!), our happy and well cared for chickens and the eggs that they lay
- bigger things: “todo” (everything) – from a particularly peppy crew washing produce in the shop, “dios” (God), good food to eat, our homes, “a place to live that is beautiful and healthy”
And the thing everyone mentioned, from those of us that have been at the farm for 23 years or three weeks like me: that we are thankful not just to have a job in a time when so many don’t, but that we are specifically thankful to be working at Full Belly Farm. Why? Meaningful work feeding people, good leadership, good coworkers, doing tasks that we like, opportunities to learn and grow, and a collaborative, supportive environment where you feel cared for as a person.
Thanks to Andrew, Antonio, Bonafacio, Brenda, Francisco, Heather, Hector, Isabel, Jan. Jenna, Judith, Maria, Panchi, Paola, Sierra, Shannon, and others for sharing. And thank you CSA members for your support of the farm! Wishing you all a healthy and happy Thanksgiving.
— Elaine Swiedler, CSA Manager
