Resilience Boot Camp 2

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Week 2: Cultivating Mindfulness

Onward to week two of Resilience Boot Camp, delivering ideas and inspiration to keep our women farmer community healthy and focused during the busy summer season. This week, we explore mindfulness and how to cultivate more presence and awareness in our farming work. We all probably first connected with our farming livelihood because we felt a calling to the land and a passion for growing healthy food. So, how can we keep ourselves grounded in those passions when the heat and the harvest demands kick in?

Please connect through our Facebook group and share ways that you foster mindfulness in your farming practice. If you have ideas for future resilience topics, please email me.

Lisa Kivirist, MOSES In Her Boots Coordinator

Thoughts on Mindfulness
By Venice Williams

Alice's Garden Urban Farm
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1. Focus on today.

I wake up every morning during the growing season and tell myself: ‘You will not be able to do every single thing you want to do today at Alice's Garden Urban Farm. So be mindful of what you're are able to accomplish in this one day.’ I always purchase or save way more seeds than I'm able to put into the ground. But that just reminds me that there is going to be another season and there is going to be another timeframe and you don't have to do it all at once.

2. Embrace herbs.

I am a walking herb. That's what I like to tell people. I am this combination of all of this herbal goodness and magic. And for me at soon-to-be 59, I just don't know what I would do without herbs on my life journey. I always like to say that the ancestors sent the herbs to find me. The ancestors recognize that with my pace of life and with my sometimes superhero cape on, we need to send this girl some things that are going to be able to sustain this life that she's claiming. Right at this very moment, I have some rue and sage brewing in a double boiler for a cream. I am dehydrating banana mint and spearmint in my oven. I have a cup of hibiscus and cinnamon and yarrow and sage and rosehip tea in front of me.

3. Connect with women.

As women, our lives are so abundant. I don't say "busy" because cause it's not just busywork, it's abundance. Not to diminish the role of men, but I think we, as women, do a better job of holding that abundance. What we're not always good at is taking the time amongst ourselves to have conversations about that abundance. I would love to see us cross these bridges literally, to come to tables together and feed each other more, and have simple conversations. I want to come weed with you or sow seeds with you. Even though I have my own work to do, there is something incredibly inspiring and holistic that happens when I am able to put a seed in the ground on your land and you on my land. Then when I come back home and you go back home, that alone connects us. I just want to be at the table more. I want to feed and be fed by more women farmers. I want to be in the presence of more women who understand and who have always cultivated soil and people and goodness.

Podcast:
Venice Williams on Mindfulness in Farming

Listen in for Venice William’s full story this week to our Resilience Boot Camp podcast series as she gifts us with a boost of inspiration on keeping grounded and present in our farming work. As the Executive Director of Alice’s Garden Urban Farm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Venice connects the land with people, building community and connections. She shares her insights on tapping into the power of herbs – including the farm’s unique herbal CSA.

Listen to the podcast

Resilience Tips from the Field

Venice Williams
Alice’s Garden Urban Farm

“When I think about resilience, there's no way that I cannot reflect on my ancestral heritage that is all about resilience. Whether I'm looking at my African descent roots as an African American in this country or whether I'm looking at my very strong Choctaw roots, both of those ancestral lines define resilience. In spite of all that was done and even continues to be done, I am still here as a woman. I'm farming land that was really used to dehumanize us. Instead of rejecting — instead of eliminating us totally — here I am in 2020 cultivating soil and food and herbs. That within itself, my ancestral legacy, is my definition of resilience. In spite of all that was attempted to erase me and my people and our humanity, here I am with my hands in the soil.”

April Jones
Pinehurst Farmers Market Farm

“Farmers are a gift to the world. Make sure you cherish yourself. It’s important that you take care of yourself so you can care for your customers. Before you go out to your market, make sure that you have eaten a hearty meal and pack lots of water with you to ensure that you stay hydrated. Packing a kit to have in the car that would include sunscreen, wet wipes, extra water, a large sun hat and snacks for the ride home will help to ensure you're prepared and will have a successful market day.”

Charlotte Smith
3 Cow Marketing

“I got to a point on my farm about five years ago where I was working very long days and really not enjoying it and thinking that all I do is work all the time, there’s never any time for me. Then I realized I was the only one who could make that happen. Now every Sunday afternoon I take time while the house is quiet to look at my week ahead and schedule daily personal time just for me. Planning it intentionally in advance is the only way it will happen and this has made running the business so much more fulfilling. And it's not personal time to do laundry or anything for others - it's for me to read a book, have a cup of tea on the back porch enjoying the flowers, or go on a trail ride on my horse.”

Recipe for Resilience:
Curry Potato Salad
by Beth Dooley, Food Writer

Each week, we share a change-of-taste recipe that blends healthy nutrition and seasonal vegetable abundance with a dash of simplicity. This week’s Curry Potato Salad is from Beth Dooley, author of The Northern Heartland Kitchen. Make a bigger batch and keep in the fridge for a quick flavorful bite. Add cooked chicken for an easy meal.

“Be sure to start the potatoes in cold water, not boiling, and to salt the water generously. The potatoes will absorb some of the salt so that they’re seasoned from the inside out. Be sure the potatoes are cooked thoroughly so that they’re firm, not crunchy or overcooked and mushy. They should be barely tender when pierced with a fork.”