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The Need of Community...
There are so few times I’ve read something that moved me to tears. But yesterday, we came across some folks expressing their deepest condolences to Klaas and Mary-Howell Martin, incredible family farmers who built and own Lakeview Organic Grain in New York. These people are nationally famous – the story of how they bought the abandoned grain elevator in their town, and turned it into one of this country’s foremost organic operations, is fascinating.
Why bother sharing their story? Because their barn, along with much of their equipment, seed, feed, and livestock, burned to the ground last week, and the mother’s response to the outpouring of support they received truly stopped me in my tracks.
It may seem unusual for me to dwell on them when I spend every moment touting the benefits of your neighborhood producers and truly local food… but Mary-Howell’s words really hit home, as she responded to a fellow farmer who, having just lost his soybeans to a recent hail-storm, sent his condolences to the Martins after their fire.
“For us, our yard looks like a war scene in our yard, piles of smoking round bales, twisted metal, burned out hulks of our son’s pickup truck, one car, 2 tractor trailers, the old Ferguson tractor an old beloved neighbor gave us before he died, piles of the oat seed we were planning to sell next spring, burnt bones of our spelt dehuller, twisted frame and sheets of charred roofing of the barn, what remains of the pen where the pigs were trapped with echoes of that awful scream of pure fear when the fire hit them still lingering.
We’re trying to make a list of all the things that were in the barn for insurance, but we can’t list the memories of our daughter’s FFA cow project that consumed the entire family, feeding pigs with our oldest son in the baby backpack, laughing as we (poorly) sheared sheep as a young couple, Klaas feeding the heifers each evening, watching our youngest son when in high school sitting beside our intern from Kazakhstan learning a few words in Russian as they milked the cows, the Hassidic rabbis camping out beside the spelt dehuller as we dehulled their kosher spelt overnight. So much of our lives and our children’s lives revolved around that old barn, and it is gone. And the kids are grown.
But remarkably, the bin of Kosher spelt that was right beside the worst of the blaze, complete with its full propane tank, is not even charred, and when the rabbis got here from Brooklyn late yesterday afternoon and checked the grain, it looks fine! Somehow in the midst of the destruction, it still stands.
And the amazing number of friends and neighbors who stopped by yesterday, offering help, standing with us beside the smoking battle scene, bringing enough food for a funeral, hugs and caring, and our community firefighters of all ages, sizes, and genders. What a group! Knowing that so many people gave their entire night and much of yesterday to help us, support us, love us. We are humbled beyond belief. We are strengthened beyond belief. This is not a tragedy – this is actually an opportunity for us to feel and appreciate our community, both in Penn Yan and literally (thanks to Facebook) around the world!
But honestly, you won’t get any of that when your field of soybeans get hit by hail, you won’t get it when your milk market collapses, when your spouse gets sick, when your teenage child gets in trouble, when your key employee quits.
Our ‘event’ will give us all sorts of support and kind words, but most events that farmers deal with get hardly any notice, totally alone, without any support, without any caring.
We understand that very very well, and in some ways, this excessive outpouring toward us right now makes that even more stark, and a little embarrassing. Most bad things, we go through alone. And community/friend support means so very much. Having people around yesterday was a truly wonderful thing.
So Tim and Kris – here are our hugs, our caring, our understanding – for your loss and discouragement. You have no idea how well we understand! You too will be dealing with insurance today, the clinical humiliation and dissatisfaction of that. You too will be wishing there was some way to wind back the clock, change something, make it not happen. You are not alone in understanding this.
Perhaps that is the most important thing we have learned in the past 48 hours. We need to go through these things with a community.”
More than 200 firefighters from 7 stations fought that blaze. And yet she’s so right – had their vegetables rotted in the field when the spring rains just wouldn’t stop, had their grain all laid down and ruined in a thunderstorm, had coyotes made off with their chicken flock, or had their best milking cow die suddenly of a twisted stomach after the vet gave her a clean bill of health…
no one would’ve known the loss – yet they would’ve had to do exactly as they are doing now, picking up the pieces to try again. I’ve heard so many times, when the going was terrible, “well, that’s farming!” but it’s easy to say when you shop at a big box store and your livelihood isn’t contingent on so many uncontrollable variables. You plan as well as you can, yet 5 minutes of inclement weather can destroy weeks, months, years worth of work.
Where do you find Mary-Howell’s optimism, the day after such devastation? In love of the life and its challenges. And especially in community. In the face of customers who understand sweet corn doesn’t grow in Ohio in April, who want to learn why you don’t have the variety to sell that you would’ve liked, and who are willing to exchange chard for kale because the cabbage worms decimated the kale last night. In the encouragement from a new vendor who’s bursting with enthusiasm. In the brand new customer who’s thrilled to find a convenient source for truly local food.
We couldn’t be in business without you, and I hope you realize how appreciative we are of your support, and your eagerness to help us build this community we so desperately need.
www.miamicounty.locallygrown.net!