Yesterday was our first harvest box pickup. Three weeks ago I was in a mild panic as there was no way we were going to have anything to give our customers, or so I thought. I met with 2 separate experts and they both said we were in over our heads. One of them literally put his hand over his mouth when he found out how many customers we had and just shook his head in dismay. A that moment all my fears were confirmed. I knew it was a bad idea. I knew we couldn't do it. I knew I would fail. But then....God.
The irony is I thought even if my vegetables didn't grow, I had those two farmers as back up. Turns out, the first farmer's produce failed badly. She got a bug infestation and her lettuce all bolted due to too much heat. The other farmer grew vegetables, but not for sale, just for himself. So, if I needed vegetables, I was up the creek. So, I did what you can only do in that situation and I called on every single person I could think of to pray and did they ever pray. I also did what you can only do in that situation and I spent hours in that garden with every person who was willing to come. And we weeded and I replanted and we weeded some more and replanted some more. I just pretended and acted with very little faith that God would work. And work He did.
As we harvested on Friday, my hand was over my mouth this time. We had such big leafy greens coming out of the garden that we were all in absolute awe. We had WAY more than we needed for one week. How could I have been in such doubt? The rain sprinkled down that night as we tried to harvest, but it didn't stop us. We somehow got it all in and packaged. It looked amazing. I did have to clear out my entire fridge to hold it all as we needed to keep the veggies crisp, but that wasn't a problem. We'll buy a fridge probably this week for next week's harvest. In the back of my mind I want to say something like, "IF we get vegetables this week..." but how can I say that when I saw what I saw this week? I need to say something like, "I can't wait to see what vegetables we will get each week" instead or "What is God going to do this week?".
As each customer came - we had it staggered all throughout the day - I just found myself having THE BEST TIME EVER. One of my favourite things to do with new families or old friends is to just talk and walk around the farm. So many wanted a quick tour and that is always fun for me. Old friends from high school that I hadn't seen in 100 years were one of the first ones to come. That had to be the highlight of my day. I could have chatted with them all day. RM even pulled out a quick wine tasting which was the most fun ever as well. By the end of the day, 15 customers later, I was sitting on the couch with RM and we were just so thrilled, so happy, so exhausted, but all in a good way. As we reflected on the day and all the hard work...we felt so incredibly fulfilled. We were feeding families! We were providing not just food, but organically grown food, that will fill people's stomachs, that will help heal them, provide nutritious meals in their homes, give a destination for their young families to visit and see animals, jump on trampolines, walk around the property....it was an amazing feeling that only comes from God. We felt His blessing on our farm and all our prayers. We kept praying throughout the Spring that God would use our farm, our family, for His glory. Well, we have 13 weeks left and we are still praying that and wondering how God will continue to use us this Summer. A few weeks ago I was dreading the 14 weeks, but now I'm wondering what God will do and I'm trying to anticipate it. Truly the Christian life is an exciting one.
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