Counting My Blessings

for every drop of rain
for every ray of sunshine
for Cinderella pumpkins (did you see one at the stand on Sunday?)
for every blessing of the field
for every act of kindness
for every twist of fate
for every helping hand and volunteer
for so many names I can’t remember them all
for the creatures underneath our feet
for every creature in the air
for Irving who inspired me with his early on vision of avocado forests in San Francisco
for over 80 pounds of avocados
distributed for free at the Free Farm Stand
from one tree that he and I planted
30 years ago
for friends and family
for a roof over my head
for an extra bed to share with someone in need
for abundance of the apple tree
for Tom and his generosity who picked  314 pounds of apples
from an orchard in Santa Rosa and brought them to the city
to share with us
for Produce to the People and Sue who both brought us more apples
for everyone who took home apples
to make apple sauce or a pie
or just to eat fresh
for the Free Farm
and St Paulus Church who loans us the land
for all the blessings too numerous to count
I am thankful

These are some photos that didn’t make it in time from
last week’s Free Farm Stand that help illustrate my thankfulness:

Here are photos from this week:

The stand this week had a lot of special attractions. Mike brought his homemade pumpkin spread. The Emily and Mike put on quite a wonderful cooking demo, showing people  a way to cook pumpkins and winter squash by stir frying it in a wok. The pumpkin was served on top of rice and wrapped in a banana leaf. She also made handouts in English and Spanish that talked about other ways of preparin the squash.The avocados and olives were a big hit too (our small Thanksgiving treat).

We have two more Free Farm Stands before we close on December 12th and then we reopen 4 weeks later  January  9, 2011. We are also closing the Free Farm this Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but will be there on Saturday Nov. 27th.

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One thought on “Counting My Blessings”

  1. what a wonderful bounty we had this week!

    regarding the canned food the chinese women brought, i had a beautiful conversation with mrs. lee last week about the gifts they brought. she told me that they receive the canned food (yes a little scary to look at, but food nonetheless) from the government, but they never use it because chinese cooking doesn’t use canned food, it relies on fresh vegetables instead. mrs. lee told me that many people who are part of these food programs try to sell the food instead or even throw it away, but they wanted to bring theirs to the free farm stand to share with others who could make use of it. sure enough, i saw people picking from the cans and taking home what they could use. even though it wasn’t produce from a backyard tree, it was just the kind of sharing spirit that we try to encourage. i know a lot of people get frustrated sometimes with the chinese women because they seem to be impatient in line, but through my conversations with them i’ve been able to understand some of the cultural reasons behind their actions, and witness the incredible spirit of perseverance and generosity they bring each sunday. one of the many many many blessings that the farm stand has given.

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