Farming Happiness...

This Saturday, we hosted a busload of families from Extreme Kids & Crew, a New York City arts & play center I founded back in 2011, then left in very good hands when my focus turned to Lonely Worm Farm. There is a particular pleasure in seeing an organization that you began thriving long after you have handed over the reins to others. (Thank you Lovisa! Thank you staff! Thank you board!) I got to bask in that as the kids ran around the farm, picking raspberries and weaving with flowers. One mother told me that her son often had difficulties in new places, but not here. We watched him scrambling up a rooty hill, trying to befriend a goat, the picture of engagement, joy, interest. If I may be so bold as to personify nature, I would say that nature doesn’t see disability: nature sees different forms, different energies, different ways of beings, and many kids can feel that. They feel at home.

A bunch of the Extreme Kids folks as well as yours truly and Diane, looking very fashionable in polkadots, in front of the labyrinth.

In our art gallery, wearing Diane’s Lonely Worm, an ever evolving project that may become the world’s largest sock worm ever….

Playing with the worm.

Today we hosted a bunch of great folks from the Columbia Land Conservancy. Jess gave them a tour of the Everyone Garden—after which they treated us to a delicious lunch, promised to volunteer for a day in September and gave us a generous donation. Dang! My cup overfloweth. Thank you Columbia Land Conservancy!

And that’s not all. The gods of generosity seem to be smiling on us. Last week Alba Distillery donated us a case of their clean and delicious New York State vodka for our tincture making. One day we hope to sell tinctures and other herbal goods commercially, for now we are experimenting with different combinations of flavor and beneficial juju…. Here’s Jamila, my old friend and our new kitchen manager, putting together a tried and true favorite, a simple anise hyssop tincture. Give it six weeks of maceration, gentle shaking and good thoughts and we should have delicious, licorice-y folk remedy for colds and tummy aches. Tincture making is a great activity for many of our participants, who are good at shaking things and infusing their spirit into their work.

Thanks Alba Distillery!

Anise Hyssop & donated vodka = good medicine