Seeds of Hope - Soils of Regeneration

Resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness

Salvation Farms mission is to build increased resilience in Vermont’s food system through agricultural surplus management. We have described this as seventh generation work designed to serve the grandchildren of our grandchildren’s grandchildren. However, in recent days there has been a remarkable acceleration in the need for a regional systems response – one that embodies that which we’ve been working hard to inspire and model through cross-sector collaboration and resource leveraging here in Vermont.

Salvation Farms has very real and important work that we do every day: serving farmers and helping our community engage with and eat from their local farms. But at its core, Salvation Farms has sought to create connections, leverage assets, and build needed links in our supply chain that help local farms feed people today and increasingly so in the future, with all of the food they produce, regardless of its perceived marketability.

Salvation Farms’ long range view and intent has been to create systems level change to ensure a critical human need is met: to eat. While we all become acutely and increasingly aware of the uncertainty surrounding us, we are seeing in real time, on a global to local scale, how the predominant structures we have been working to transform are very quickly showing their weakness. This can be overwhelming and anxiety producing but can also be an opening to a different way of being and doing.

Emma Korowotny – Gleaning Coordinator

I think that the first step in community resilience is acknowledging the human connection we all share with each other. Our society is hyper-connected, but at the same time we easily disconnect with the world around us. Now more than ever, look people in the eye, chat with folks while you’re waiting in long lines at the grocery store. We’re in this together. Revolution starts at the local level!

Acknowledge the fact that these are extraordinary times, but that doesn’t mean that we have to lose sight of the ordinary – the sun is still going to rise and set each day. Take this time to pause, slow down, and do things that you may not always allow yourself the time to do: read a book, watch a movie, call your family/friends/loved ones, go for a walk, listen to music. 

The work of Salvation Farms reaches all corners of the community, and hearing from our colleagues, partners, and volunteers these past few days has been a source of hope for me: Community is at the heart of Salvation Farms mission, and I continue to be moved and motivated by the depth of knowledge, skills, and energy that makes up the fabric of this community, however you want to define it. If the trucks were to stop coming into our state, we have the collective power to do something about it and support ourselves and each other.

Liz Calvert – Director of Operations

I appreciate what was recently expressed by a fellow team member about how at times like this our survival response kicks in and speeds us up, but that in actuality we need to slow down to carefully consider the new environment. So, as I mourn and surrender to our new circumstances, when I look out the window I see what I saw a few days ago or even the previous week. This is a source of comfort . . . the birds are migrating north again, the crocus bulbs are pushing up through the ground . . . this is a familiar cycle. My external circumstance has not changed greatly, but my internal landscape is changing.

So I see this as a time to set intentions about how I wish to proceed and how I want to proceed in the future. Not to get too far ahead of where I am, but to let my mind wander and imagine what I might not have been able to imagine before. I certainly never imagined we would be here. So it is an opening up of possibilities. Regardless of how Salvation Farms weathers this situation, how does Salvation Farms want to come out on the other side? What kinds of celebrations can we look forward to when we are through this?

Morgan Wickstrom – Vermont Commodity Program Manager

Passing by some somewhat barren grocery store shelves yesterday I couldn’t help but feel an extra surge of importance in regard to our work. We are each dependent on so many systems beyond our control, and in this commonality there is a lot of collective power and strength to be found.

The human response to this crisis, our move to socially isolate to protect the entire population, and having so much foresight via science and worldwide communication, for me is inspiring. I can’t help but wonder where humanity could go if we collectively saw climate change or other social/ecological imbalances as similar threats to our livelihood.

I think, now more than ever, is a time to come more deeply and fully into ourselves and our micro level community, and to take control of that which we can see, touch, feel, hear and impact.

Caelan Keenan – Director of Programs

I am motivated and inspired by the “flatten the curve” philosophy right now. It calls on all of us to do something and change our routines in consideration of others – stay home and keep distance from others so that we slow the spread of the virus, lessen the number of people infected, and allow health practitioners to treat each person who is infected comprehensively and with enough resources. I find the graphs and scientific reasoning relatively easy to understand. In the end, it gives me a sense of control of the situation, and I think that’s all anyone is after in times like these.

I would echo Emma’s sentiment above – what an opportunity to be kind to, and understanding of, others – especially those who are working out in the public to keep the rest of us healthy and happy (grocery, postal, gas stations, government, garbage carriers, school food service – in addition to health care workers). I made a quick run to my grocery store today and was caught off guard by how emotional the experience was. 

Lastly, I have seen suggestions to buy gift cards to your local businesses, so that they are supported into the future even if we can’t visit in person now (restaurants, shops, etc). If there was ever a time to invest in a farm CSA for those who can afford to do so, now seems like the time. Give farmers the signal they need to move forward with this important part of the season.

Dani Smith – Community Relations Coordinator

I woke up to the snow the other day and felt the walls enclosing a little tighter. To combat this sense of what appears to be a rapidly shrinking space of movement and need to stay informed without overwhelming myself, I have a renewed love of a good long walk even if it’s just around your neighborhood. Reminding myself and others that we are allowed to go outside (for now) seemed to provide a chain reaction of relief for myself and friends I encouraged to do the same. Do not be afraid to go outside and take a walk, step away from the screens. Take in the beauty of the world around us – the mountains, the snow-covered peaks, other tracks as signs of life, whatever the weather is up to. Relish in the fact that the sun was out past 7pm yesterday!! We have encountered the equinox – days are lengthening and spring is coming. Breathe it all in.

One thing I am struggling to frame positively but want to share is the idea of returning to normal. While I think stabilizing in the face of this pandemic is important, I have been trying to avoid using the phrasing “return to normal” because I honestly hope we do not return to the system as it has been. It clearly is not working for many. I hope this is a chance for us to see and reimagine how we want community and society at large to function. Let’s use this time of reflect on better ways we can live in community with those around us and the resource we have.

For one concrete and local step to accomplishing this, I echo Cae’s call above to support local businesses and farmers by locally investing where and when you can now through gift cards or CSAs and Emma’s reminder above of the importance in acknowledging our humanity and fellow humans as we all figure this out.

Here’s to hoping the second part of the poem Morgan shared rings true!

Holly Simpson – Bookkeeper

I, similar to Liz, have been identifying things that I do daily that will help me to reconstruct my personal routines. I mean really little things like how the light reflects in a puddle or the way a branch moves when the wind is from the south. Noticing, watching, observing. This health crisis has the potential be a quiet reflective time, an opportunity. We now have an opportunity to change. To change ourselves and how we engage in our community, our state, and even globally by promoting adaptability and fluidity. This is a time to do our best to be present and mindful and to let kindness be our guide.

Theresa Snow – Executive Director

I am inspired by Salvation Farms’ amazing staff and by the heart centered insights they have shared. These thoughts and ideas are being mirrored by those we work with across our state and across our nation. Personally, I take refuge in trust and faith that the path unfolds before us when we show up, when we make ourselves present to receive signs and signals, and when we listen to that small voice within ourselves that instinctually knows the way. Global, human survival is deeply connected with the earth, its health, and its ability to regenerate.

To that end, I share with you words I recently heard from Paul Hawken. “Any system that ignores feedback parishes.” We can respond with fear or love. “… do it out of love […] Fall in love with what’s outside. Fall in love with the critters, the creatures. Fall in love with everything you see right now; springtime is the best of all in some ways … it is out of that love for the living world that we achieve transcendence.”

This time of crisis reminds me of a 2012 Salvation Farms blog post. I invite you to read it here. Please note that since it was written we conducted a food loss on Vermont farms study that uncovered an estimate of 14.3 million pounds of Vermont grown vegetables and berries remain on our states farms each year. Additionally, a graphic has since come missing from the post. It has been provided here – the major truck routes in the US that bring us many of the things we use and eat each day.