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Dear Friend, At Whole Harvest Farm we not only give away for free our whole harvest to children in need in Santa Barbara County, we give children an opportunity to lessen the estrangement of their faces. But what does that mean? The italicized phrase above is a reference to Francis Thompson’s “In No Strange Land,” a poem that calls us lovingly to the things of this world. Here are the lines that move us most: The angels keep their ancient places; Turn but a stone, and start a wing; ‘Tis ye, ‘tis your estranged faces That miss the many-splendoured thing. All of us at times have faces that are estranged. Though we are incurably mortal and though if we but move a stone we startle an angel’s wing, we’re often inclined to stay inside when we have free time, stay inside and scroll. Troublingly, this is especially true for many of our children. “Our disconnection from our land and from each other,” says Mary Berry, “is ruinous for country and city alike.” By bringing local children—students and neighbors—to work here on the farm, we not only receive their help (needed help!) but we help lessen their estrangement from oaks, zucchini blossoms, tadpoles, roosters, swallows, red worms, yellow-fleshed watermelons, and bees carrying their saddlebags of pollen. Exposing young people to the Earth’s splendors is part of passing on the craft of culture; it’s how we go on. It’s eminently practical. For if the children don’t know about such splendors, they won’t think to care for and protect them. Perhaps this is what Fyodor Dostoevsky meant when he wrote, “Beauty will save the world.” Perhaps this is what Percy Shelley meant when he wrote: “The power that awakens the mind of the reformer to contend against the tyrannies of the world is first seen as the star of love or beauty.” Click on this link should you care to help us not only feed children but connect them with the Earth’s beauty: Whole Harvest Farm In gratitude, Teddy and Laura Macker
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