Come and Go
End of summer at Merry Lea’s Rieth Village is a strange series of highs and lows. The Agroeocology Summer Intensive ends, then comes a lull when students are not around. And just when we think things are getting too quiet around the farm, the return of undergraduate students enrolling in the Sustainability Leadership Semester (SLS) at the end of the month changes everything. What a rollercoaster!
The first day of August was a big day, as it was the final day of theAgroecology Summer Intensive this year. Joy, laughing, presentations, storytelling, and a flurry of move-outs and goodbyes filled the day. Students creatively presented their final thoughts on the experience: videos, PowerPoint presentations, cooking creations (kambucha or mullein tea, anyone?), and poetry are all media used by students to express their reflective thoughts and gratitude for a life-changing summer. Tears were shed, I’ll say that!
But life continues at Merry Lea Sustainable Farm, even after the summer students move out. Our interns and volunteers (Natasha and Janel) are busier than ever, and smiling, even with the heat and a heavy workload. Students in theMasters of Arts in Environmental Education program are more acclimated to life at Merry Lea, even trying their hands at giving walking field tours of Merry Lea’s ecosystems (see prairie tour photo to the right). Three of the MAEE students volunteered to help with chicken and guinea care this year in exchange for a weekly basket of farm-fresh veggies and eggs. New faces at Rieth Village become more familiar, although there are still the random visitors who show up at the parking lot and ask for orientation towards the trails, eager for a hike past blooming prairies or a stroll through the woods. August beckons many to this sacred place.
August can be intense as the upswing of harvest happens at the same time as helping hands become fewer and the approaching Goshen College faculty/staff retreat inches closer. It can be a month of mixed feelings. This year, the GC retreat occurred on a day of brilliant sunshine that mitigated some of the sobering topics the confronting the college. We at Rieth Village greeted our campus colleagues with anticipation and pride, giving those who normally work in Goshen a glimpse of the goodness of creation care and earthly bounty we at Merry Lea bear witness to each day. Many came away refreshed, a bit more ready to start a new academic year.
On August 19, our very first WWOOF volunteer appeared on the scene, coming from Virginia to live at the Rieth Village community. Rachel’s arrival came on the heels of Natasha finishing her internship, as she moved on to co-lead the Seed To Feed project in Elkhart, coordinating the donation and marketing of food grown in community gardens for a countywide food bank and pantry network. Again, hello-goodbye.
After a quiet first week for Rachel, who had recently ‘WWOOFed’ at two other farms, the voices of four eager undergraduates moved into the cottages, ready to delve into all things sustainability. She soon became part of the SLS experience as well as a reliable and hardworking member of the farm’s working team.
If the Sustainability Leadership Semester is beginning, that means students have returned to Goshen College’s main campus for classes as well. And when they do, we at the farm bring our produce for sale to students, staff, and faculty from a pushcart on sunny afternoons, a welcomed means to interact with our mother institution to the northwest. It is gratifying to see the happy and surprised faces when our produce stand arrives on their doorstep. Conversations and relationships emerge quickly.
And like in 2013, the offerings at the Saturday morning Goshen Farmers Market continue through the month of August. After four months of being at the market every Saturday, friends and familiar customers become a source of energy and renewal. As pictured here, a group of young folks from the *Culture Is Not Optional organization in Three Rivers, MI came by one day to support their farm vendors to the south. *CINO is a destination in the ASI program’s summer field trip schedule, making their appearence in Goshen all the more special.
People, a big sub-plot at Merry Lea Sustainable Farm at summer’s end.
August: welcome!
– Jon Zirkle, Farm Manager & Agroecology Instructor