This past week, Lauren's and my absence at the farm meeting was due to a presence in a different past of the world called paradise. Or at least that's what it appeared to the bleeched white, Portland soaked due that vibrantly reflected the sun's gaze from a lounger. However, 'paradise,' it turns out, is a relative global destination.
On the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas is a small local farm business aptly named, 'Island Farm.' It covers about 2 acres of land, all of which had to be tiringly prepared due to the amount of rock in the soil. The island that is only a kilometer or two in width faces the monstrous atlantic whose winds continually blow & whose salty moisture make mostly all vegetation coarse and tough. Throw in a dry season lasting longer than I have ever seen with temperatures that make you want to melt rather than get out and farm, well, you see the evident challenges.
However, given the tough environment, this little farm seemed to be thriving. They grew all things from coconut trees that sprouted from their giant nuts to good old fashioned lettuce. Water conservation was a top priority and the farm's helping hand, a rather stern young lady, patrolled early clippings of plants in order to encourage much needed growth. While the project was small, it exuded success and positivity in a paradise that really wasn't a paradise at all.
Visiting another farm, especially abroad, while being a new farmer was a completely different experience for me. I had a new appreciation and affinity for what these people were doing. This has left me with the hope that we as a group, as we mature and get stuck into growing our own produce, will take the time to visit other farms, if not for hard sought lessons, for the appreciation and communitas it engenders.
With farming affections,
Jonney
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