I had one of the most rewarding experiences last Saturday.
It was seemingly simple.
We are the host family for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) - a group of families pays an organic farmer to bring us weekly food deliveries from May to October.
Every summer they invite members to their home. We tour the farm and share a pitch-in meal. They are “Amish adjacent”, as my husband put it. While no longer technically Amish, they still maintain most of the lifestyle. They mostly don’t wear shoes, they dress like the Amish. But many of them drive cars and they have cell phones and electricity.
Scott and I wanted to go but when the time came, we were conflicted. Well. Not conflicted really. We just plain didn’t want to go.
It’s a 1 hour & 45 minute drive to the farm. We don’t know anyone so it requires social energy. It was a long block of time – farm tour at 2, meal around 4. That’s a 3 hour minimum stay, probably longer. You can’t just eat and run – that’s rude! Plus 3 ½ hours in the car. We were kind of dreading it actually, and sorry we said yes.
I used to be a huge extrovert and loved all social gatherings pre-2020. But I found during the pandemic that I LOVED the more quiet pace of the COVID days. I have never really gone back to my pre-COVID social leanings, which is both good and not. Getting outside my comfort zone always feels good after I do it, but the pull to the quiet couch is strong. Since 2020 it is a bit of a challenge for me to engage.
We went anyway. We started the drive with a conversation about our conflicting feelings and that helped: We hated to commit a whole day (why?!), what if it was boring, small talk is mind-numbing, it was bloody hot and humid. Are we wasting a day?
But we care about where our food comes from, we’re interested in the growing process and how they do it, we’re interested in people and their life is VERY different from ours.
Acknowledging our ambivalence helped a ton, rather than silently fighting our conflicting thoughts and feelings in our own brains, which we both have a tendency to do. We didn’t make ourselves wrong for our negative feelings and didn’t try to look at the bright side. We just verbalized all the good and bad thoughts and feelings we had. Got it all out there.
Then we decided to shift our thoughts to why we wanted to go – why we said yes and thought it was a good idea when we committed to it. Just saying those reasons out loud helped to boost our mood and shift our attitude.
And IT. WAS. AMAZING.
Here’s what was amazing - first the cast of characters. It was an interesting mix – a strong set up for a comedy skit: Elam & Mary, the farmers, their late-teen/early 20s 2 sons, 3 of their cousins. A few other CSAers - an intellect from the city, a wacky-eccentric older lady, a middle-aged woman from the Philippines and her 20-something son, Scott and me, with my wacky hair & my legs showing cuz it was 90 degrees and 84% humidity!, and my dangly brightly colored beaded earrings cuz I love them.
We all seemingly had very little in common. But what we did have in common was interest in our food source and care about the land. And that turned out to be enough.
Mary was preparing a zucchini casserole when we arrived. I asked how I could help. She said – “just pull up a chair and talk to me.” It was awesome.
We were relaxed. The talk was not small. It was curious and open, and that didn’t feel small.
I got to know Naomi and Ruth, the teen Amish-ish girls. They told me how they had 14 kids in their family and they loved it, they told me how they spent their days.
They were all so joyful. The kids flitted about – they played volleyball, talked with us, played with their drone, they even had cell phones, but weren’t obsessed with them.
An old tractor show was in the county that day and paraded by the farm. We stood and watched them for a while.
Scott helped the teens bring the cows in before the crazy storm rolled in. The lightening was awesome. We all gave thanks for the much needed rain.
After our meal we walked back to the spring-fed swimming pond they dug in the woods, with a solid rock bottom, a delightful surprise they discovered about 12 feet down.
We talked about cover crops and birds and pollinators and tree identification and homeschool and recipes. If you told me ahead of time that’s what we would talk about, I would have probably rolled my eyes and said no thanks. But it all felt so rich and real and true and I loved it.
I didn’t look at the clock once.
I shared how I made Kim Chi. The Pilipino woman shared how she uses bitter melon, a crop that was new to Elam and he started growing it at the request of an Indian customer. Scott identified a few trees for Elam.
We had homemade ice cream (from their cow’s milk) with sorghum on it, which of course they grew. It is a winning combination that I HIGHLY recommend!
Their house was simple, there was nothing fancy about it, except that she had a really nice stove and frig! They built it with the help of their community. We sat in a circle on metal folding chairs in the living room. And it was perfect.
As I hugged Mary goodbye, she expressed her appreciation for the part I play in the coordination of the CSA, and the part that Tony plays. I expressed my appreciation for the hard labor that she and her family do to bring us this food, and all the driving John does to cart it all to Indy. She said:
“We all have our parts to play, what we’re good at, what we’re interested in. When you do something that interests you with whole-heartedness, it shows.”
I felt like it was one of the most wise and true statements about life.
What is your heart pulling you to?
What are you good at?
What comes easy to you?
What do you WANT to do?
What are you craving?
That’s the thing. Do the thing you’re drawn to with your whole heart.
We all have a part to play.
When Scott and I reluctantly got in the car to leave - after 6pm! – we were FULL of joy and gratitude. We felt like we got right with the world. Our priorities and our hearts felt reset. There is no greater feeling.
What gives you that feeling? I wanna know! Share in the comments!
If that feeling is illusive, I can help with coaching and/or pranic healing. That’s the goal of my work - to help you uncover the magic that’s inside of you. It’s there. I promise we can find it again. Schedule a call and we’ll come up with a plan.
photo: esteban-amaro via unsplash.com
