Holiday greetings from the board

Janie Whiteford, Board President

Blueford rests on farm implements.

As the holiday season has begun, we are so glad to see next year’s strawberries planted out and watered by recent rains. Our fields are cover cropped and now is our time to catch up on all our repairs, organize both our greenhouse and our files, maintain our animal enclosures, and more. All the while, Mother Nature does her work in our soil, along our creek, and in our newly planted fruit trees now gone dormant. Even Blu, our livestock guardian dog, is taking in the break from peak season deadlines!

As a young farm, Common Roots is a work in progress and our progress this past year has been substantial. Our Board of Directors is pleased to share with you a snapshot of our season’s highlights here . We hope you can help us continue to offer opportunities for purposeful engagement to those with disabilities here in our beautiful natural setting. We were founded to focus particularly on young adults who have completed high school and have too few places to come together, to learn new skills, or to contribute to their community.

Gifts of any size help us in this mission. Thank you for taking an interest in Common Roots Farm and I wish you and those you love a very happy, healthy holiday season.

Getting creative about our work

Heidi Cartan, Executive Director

The work of farming never really ends. Seasons create cycles with their own unique demands. A diverse group of farmers means getting creative with all the different ways farm tasks can be accomplished.

Here at Common Roots, we don’t aspire to be fast or perfect! Our aspirations are about inclusion — offering ways people with disabilities can be part of an enterprise that accomplishes real solutions to the real world problems of local food security and climate change. If we can make it fun and satisfying, then we’ve hit the mark! And, of course, at the heart of our work is addressing the shortage of places and chances for those living with disabilities to come together, collaborate with others, learn new skills, and make a difference in our world.

As 2022 comes to an end, I want to share just a few images from this past year featuring our farmers with disabilities.

 

Each farming season, we learn and grow, working to expand both the number of people we engage, as well as deepen their on-farm experiences. Our staff takes time to reflect on the previous year and brainstorm about how it could be better. We invite you into this conversation to share your thoughts and ideas. Please email me with your input. I can’t guarantee we can do it all right away, but I can assure you that we are open to innovation and want to keep growing.

I hope all our readers, farmers, volunteers and donors enjoy a wonderful holiday season. Best wishes from all of us at the farm.