Sustainability. It’s become a buzz word of sorts, up there with resilience. And, yet, Sustainability and Circle go together, expressing an unbroken commitment to vitality, to sustenance. I choose to be in Farm Discovery’s Sustainability Circle because I believe that the goodness, nourishment, and lifelong wisdom cultivated at Farm Discovery should continue in perpetuity! Monthly donations not only allow me to express my values using my financial resources, but simultaneously help Farm Discovery’s team by offering a stable revenue stream – among the most prized types of financing for any nonprofit or business. Practically, this looks like sustained opportunities for young folx to experience the mind- and heart-expanding freedom of outdoor education – planting, tending, and harvesting their own food; meeting, eating, and learning under clouds and stars. With my monthly donation, I can cultivate safety and belonging for kids growing up in the age of disconnection, isolation, digitization, and uncertainty. I can contribute to an experience that nurtures purpose, joy, and ease while shaping skills for living that don’t come from online classrooms or textbooks.
Among my favorite experiences at the farm is wandering from the orchard, with its feast for the nose and eyes, to the hen house and goat pen, a delight for ears and touch, to the cow paddock!! Oh, to linger and swim in the big brown eyes and marvel at the seemingly soft pink tongue of an animal that ALSO makes milk and whipping cream, butter and cheese. Just a short walk away, I feel that I’m riding the escalator to heavens as I stand in the tent circle, a spiral of lightbulbs overhead, and gaze 360 degrees around me at the fecund agricultural landscape, studded with scrub oak and redwood, bay laurel and chestnut – our home. What better way than to invite young people to dwell in that sense of belonging to something more vast and beautiful than any classroom imaginable?
Join me in the Sustainability Circle! It will be among the best decisions you’ve made this year – I guarantee you!