A Letter from our Farmer Ted
The coming of fall usually corresponds with the departure of several people on our staff. Farm work is something that people can afford to do only because they are good at stitching together different parts of their economic lives. Sara, who has been with us for seven years, normally leaves us in October to join her family in their seasonal wreath-making business. (This year, however, she left us even earlier than usual to travel through Europe for a few weeks before wreath-making season.) She also does portrait photography. Three staff members returned to college – including my two boys and Mack, who is at FIT in New York. Mack is interested in sustainable dwellings and has helped fellow staffer Daren design the cabin he’ll be building on family land not far from here. Daren grows celeriac and garlic for the market, and works with us on various winter projects. He has been with us for eight years. Aidan will be heading to Telluride, Colorado soon to work at a ski resort for the winter season. Sisters, Victoria (a nine-year veteran) and Naomi (seven years), will be leaving us soon, Victoria to have a baby (!) and Naomi to retreat to the deep Maine woods to draw and read and hike. But we expect to see them over the winter for winter share packing and, in Victoria’s case, to take possession of the jams she’ll make for our winter share. Andrea, who started working with us ten years ago, makes teas in the winter from herbs she grew and dried during the summer. Andrea also works on weekends on the farm of a friend in Columbia County. They are a creative group of modern day homesteaders whose outside income not surprisingly is mostly food or farm-related.
For the last seven or eight years we have employed an extended family from Mexico. Some of the Medinas return to Mexico for the winter. Martin and Monica will join the corn, bean and squash harvest back in Laguna Prieta, their home town, where they also plan to participate in the many celebrations that take place throughout the winter. They leave five children behind to work on our farm each summer, and, as you can imagine, they are counting the days until their reunion. Monica calls home almost every day. Martin has been coming to the states for nearly 20 years under H-2A visas. Although I think they would make excellent neighbors, there is no path for citizenship (or even that type of visa we call a green card) for their side of the family. Salvador and Candelaria remain in their small house in nearby Cambridge during the winter. Because of a long, clean record of employment in the US, much luck, and by spending many thousands of dollars in fees and payments, they have managed to obtain green cards for their entire family. I am happy for them, but find the arbitrary nature of the visa process maddening. The cold has taken getting used to, but they tell me it has been worth it. Their youngest children are in the local school and maintain full schedules. Their oldest daughter and her husband, Gabriel, also work with us, and they will be heading to Juarez, Mexico in three weeks for an appointment to procure for him, too, a green card. With that they can start a new chapter in their life together, part of which includes attendance at the local community college and, perhaps, a clearer path to the American dream.
Have a great week, Ted
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