The Fall Feast in the Fields Benefit, this year called Element, is a celebration, a celebration of good, hard work being done in our community to address challenges we all face.
None of us are immune to the great issues of our time, and that is why Farm Discovery and Live Earth Farm are working to be a model, a destination, an example, a gathering place, a supporter, a collaborator with and for so many businesses and organizations in this community. That work pays off on nights like tonight when we gather to celebrate.
Food and Farming are an intersection- an intersection of diverse communities, an intersection of diverse opinions, politics, and cultures.
We all have to eat and more and more we are seeing that we all have to eat in a way that regenerates health. A friend, who happens to be here tonight, told me that in his profession as a therapist working with kids, he is seeing more and more anxiety among children. They are scared about the world they are growing up in. They hear about wildfires and climate change, about the great plastic gyre and failing fisheries. They are worrying about the world we are leaving them.
Farm Discovery is offering the types of experiences that combat this anxiety- There are at least 4 things we do here that are known to improve health, both physical and mental.
We get outside. We spend time with plants, in the trees, with our hands in the soil.
We are active. We use our bodies and make them stronger through active work and play.
We eat well. We make snacks, preserves and meals that nourish us, and we eat them together in community with new friends and old.
Lastly, we help kids have agency. We create an atmosphere in which they feel empowered to make choices about how they will live. And we find that they make good choices and feel good having that opportunity. They choose healthy snacks, they try new vegetables, they leave knowing some of the things they can do, no matter what phase of their life they are in, to change, regenerate, improve the world around them.
We invite you to join us and thank those who already have. Support Farm Discovery in not only providing transformative programs, but also in being a place, a space, a farm, a resource in our community where other organizations, agencies, and groups choose to be and do their good work.