This week, we’re building the Pumpkin Patch. We do it every year, bringing in the pumpkins from the fields and sorting them so that people can wander and discover. Each year, we bring out some favorites - the old-fashioned popcorn cobber that flicks kernels off of dried ears with the turn of a crank; the games and opportunities to meet the animals. But each year, it’s also a new experience for us and for the people who visit. We build the Pumpkin Patch from scratch every year, from the ground up. If the pumpkins can go from tiny seed tucked into the earth to huge, sprawling vine, then so can we.

This is a special time of year for us for many reasons. Obviously, the harvest brings a new purpose and focus to the farm alongside our celebration. It’s a sensorially rich time, too, full of the interplay of warm and cool, sweet and spicy, soft and crisp. One of the biggest reasons autumn is special, though, is that it brings people together. We naturally huddle closer, and find the community we need to survive the winter. While we have heat, now, and food brought in from far and wide, that old tendency to hunker down is buried deep in our bones. We know we need each other to make it through.

Humans have gathered for harvest festivals ever since there were enough people to gather. We continue that tradition, honoring what the earth provides - and the joy of knowing each other. This autumn, join us to listen to your own history, speaking through you.

Your Farmer-
Luke