The Grateful Gardener

Someone in line yesterday at the Free Farm Stand told me coming to the Stand was their favorite thing to do during the week. I think we put on a pretty good act. It starts out with a bang and now ends with a bang. The tables this time of year are more than overflowing when we open at 1pm. Then we get a huge crowd and a line down the sidewalk.  We usually run low on most produce by 2pm and the stand sort of fades to a close. Now with our connection to the Sunday’s farmer’s market at Stonestown, we basically start over with a new crowd of people. A new line forms and we refill the table with fresh produce straight from the market. It is a little unreal and this week must have been a peak of produce. Although at the around 2pm there isn’t a lot of Hecka Local produce, it is from Marin and super fresh: boxes and boxes of nectarines, peaches, apricots, cherries, strawberries, squash, lettuce, kohlrabi, and greens. I am so busy hauling produce and setting up the table I don’t have time to photograph it and I wonder if a photo can capture the excitement in the air when that kind of show goes on.

Some new produce was on the Hecka local table this week. We started harvesting the potatoes at the farm and brought 42 pounds of the spuds. They looked beautiful. We also had green beans and some radishes from the farm. Of course we are still harvesting collards and the last of the lettuce lawn was cut and harvested. I brought garlic from the Secret Garden and some kale from Esperanza. I had about 2lbs of yellow zucchini from 18th and Rhode Island garden. The Secret Garden and the Permaculture Garden are to me sad places to visit these days. The Secret Garden has been put on hold until Robert teaches his summer class there that lasts I think 6 weeks. Then I don’t know who will garden in the space. The 18th and Rhode Island garden I have stopped working in and just go there to harvest, when there is something.

I don’t think I can repeat myself too much in this weekly blog how grateful I feel for all the people that make this project so great. We now have two new summer interns Jacob and Susannah and a third one will be coming on board soon at the Free Farm, and their help and positive spirit elevates me so much.

Someone recently sent me an email with a quote at the bottom. I liked it and thought I would share it:

I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore

This really sums it up where I am at these day.  I am happy just quietly working with those fellow karma yogis, feeding all serving all. At the end of my work day though usually exhausted I feel joyful. Like yesterday there was a ton of left-over soft and squished fruit. With two friends who were visiting from out of town and had just come back from the Gay Pride march, we cut up all the fruit for making jam. I was really running on empty, but I had such a great day at the stand, meeting all these great people, and giving a lot of food away to people in need, it gave me the energy to do a little more later in the evening.

I am going away to the Midwest for a week, but thankfully the stand will be open next Sunday July 4th. Also, the regular workdays at the farm will continue.

One thought on “The Grateful Gardener”

  1. Thank you for a wonderful project! I've been struggling financially for weeks, and was down to my last $5, when I remembered to visit the stand this Sunday. The generous bounty you put out, makes me feel like, in turn, being generous with my loved ones who feed me when times are tight. You quietly inspire me to spread some of the love.

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