Farm Talk Notes from your farmer

It's been a strange few weeks on the farm. I (Mel) had a surprise appendectomy a couple days after last CSA pick up and let me tell you, spring is a hard time to hear, "you need to rest a lot, and don't lift more than 10 lbs ". Adam says I looked at the doctor like he was crazy. It reminded me of how fragile we are and how every year I seem to meet the moment in life that says, slow down! On Saturday we took a short family float to "reset" and recharge. It was lovely. All the trees and flowers were blooming, the water was clear and the fish were present but not biting. 
When we got off the river we received the devastating news about the death of Tom Billionis. I imagine a lot of you knew Tom, at least I hope you were fortunate enough to know the dude. The Billionis Family have been CSA members for many years. He and his wife Michele played an intricate role in starting the Midtown school garden, which led us to start SUAC. I wrote the business plan for the farm in his Coffee shop and we began our first year of CSA with 25 people, many of which I met at Coffee Ethic. Since then we had the pleasure of becoming friends, duck lovers, and compost buddies, but most of all I proud to be his farmer. 
In the busy life he led, he would frequent the compost pile with buckets of coffee grounds. As many times as we offered to come get them he always said, "I don't mind bringing them over here at all, its a breath of fresh air to visit the farm". I was glad he didn't take me up on the offer, because his visits were a breath of fresh air for us too.
I haven't been able to make sense of his passing or our communities great loss, so I just keep turning to the soil. Farming is something we understand. Tom was passionate about local agriculture and farming in general. He understood the importance of having a relationship with the people that feed you and knowing where your food comes from. With him it went beyond teaching children about their food. The last conversation we had he was expressing his excitement and gratitude for having recently traveled to meet his coffee farmers and he had big plans for enriching those relationships via business and education. He was excited, and exciting. Tom was a great friend to the farm. We will miss him a lot.

His family has set up a memorial fund, if you feel inclined to donate, follow this link.
http://www.plumfund.com/memorial-fund/tombillionis


-Farmer Mel