As we enter Thanksgiving season, our gratefuls have never been so big. We are so, so, soooo lucky: our Barn is standing & our livestock are safe.
We are grateful to all who have reached out to see how they can help. At first we thought, we got this. But a 2-week sequence of events, Hannah’s / Field Stone Farm’s new caterpillar tunnels being destroyed by wind and our display freezer failing the week prior to the fire, led us to realize we don’t need to stand alone but instead began to ask how can our response tighten our weave and increased resilience not only for both our farms but also for our community?
Solidarity among farmers is incredible and our decade of close partnership with Field Stone Farm has been a reciprocal lifesaver. Partnered with the consistent & creative community building of Charlie & Cassie Morse lifting our town’s Farmers Market to be a pillar of connection & support, Good Measure Pub & Brewery’s stalwart community support, and amazing neighbors & community members, we are buoyed at these challenging moments. And we are deeply grateful for the initiative of our former staff member and friend Lauren for putting this appeal together.
Our South barn still stands strong thanks to the rapid response of Northfield and neighboring towns’ volunteer fire departments. Three generations of Demasi’s responded. Neighbors nimbly assisted. It felt like folks appeared out of the woods! We later learned hunters with deer in the back of their trucks, on the way to the Elmer’s Mountain Deer Taxidermy, joined the effort.
Days prior and since were very windy. Amidst weeks when weather aps warn of fire danger, the fire started in the middle of a calm, sunny day when we were nearby to notice, Fire Departments could get here quickly and neighbors and hunters were passing by and readily joined efforts to contain and make safe our sow and her 11 piglets, who were just 2 weeks old. If we had a video of the young firefighter in full gear, who made a diving catch of a piglet running back into the flames, it would go viral. Instead it is woven into our minds eye of a chaotic hour, with bad sounds and smells but all the same an absolutely beautiful depiction of the best of community with old and young, familiar and foreign, dropping everything to simply help out.
Timed differently, it could have been catastrophic. Luckily, though there is a lot of work required to clean up the mess, create temporary alternate housing for animals and patch up the sides in time for snow, and really fix the sides in Spring, the barn is standing. And though the barn has a good deal more patina and character, at the youthful age of 10 it’s posts and beams appear okay to live out their anticipated remaining lifespan of 390 years.
In addition to our supportive surroundings, we are also lucky to be well insured. Though as is the nature of such setbacks there are many uncovered expenses and the week that was supposed to be spent making sausage and processing items for sale this holiday season went poof chasing the unanticipated.
All farms need support. And while we welcome those for whom it is EASY to participate in this appeal, our BIGGEST request to all is to do all you can to buy more of your food and gifts this holiday season and throughout the year directly from farms near you. You can shop from us, Field Stone Farm and many more via the online Winter Northfield Farmers Market and at the Field Stone Pizza Shop in Riverton.
All farms produce so much more than food! But as our presentation for recent conferences asserts farm viability is precarious.
For those local, there will be some work days in the next few weeks to get the caterpillar tunnels back up & GMG’s Barn sides patched up for the winter. We’d welcome volunteers to help with the physical labor or to prep farmer lunch, snacks or hot drinks. Email Field Stone Farm or Green Mountain Girls Farm for details.
