While we sat drinking tea and coffee after breakfast, Jason shared a memory that came up on his phone for today from 2019. It was the day we put up the plastic on the Big Tunnel.
As Silas and I scrolled through the photos, we chimed, “There’s Angelica! There’s Garrett! There’s grandpa!”
On that March day, Angelica returned to the farm early to pitch in with the plastic. And Garrett, of Fat Hawk Farm, is community-minded, and well known to set aside time to help when he’s needed. Another person who has always been the first to volunteer a helping hand is Gene. He spent a long, frigid December day with us in 2018 putting up the trusses for the Big Tunnel. My dad, Gary, spent many cold days working with us on that project, too. And we couldn’t have done it without my mother, Darlene, caring for Silas. Friends of ours from Bradford, Fawn and Greg, drove down one day to help dig holes in the cold and snow before we realized we really needed to rent an auger! It is a credit to all of their natures that they lent us their time and labor.
Seeing the photos this morning whipped up feelings of gratefulness. They were a good reminder as we embark on Season 8. Few people reach their goals by sheer will alone, even when it may seem that way. The kindness of others helps lift trusses along the way.
~ Stella
That’s Garrett, of Fat Hawk Farm, in the air in March 2019.
There’s Angelica! Spring 2019.
Grandpa Gary and Jason drilling the post holes in November 2018.
Grandpa Gary, left, and Gene working on the frame in December 2018.
Jason giving his father-in-law a much-deserved coffee and doughnut.
From the time he could help, he often has. But on those days when it’s just too cold, or the work will be too dangerous or long, we’re lucky to have the support of his grandmothers.
