I started working at Natick community
organic farm when I was 11 years old I
was sent out to harvest aeneas which are
flowers for bouquets which I did
extremely thoroughly by cutting every
single one of those plants right to the
ground which means that we had no more
zinnias for the rest of the summer when
I was 13 I was given more responsibility
one day I was sent up to the garden with
the farms very large mower to cut the
grass on the paths between the crops and
I thought I had things really under
control until he got up to the garden
and I realized that I had forgotten how
to steer yeah when I was 16 I was asked
to feed the animals on the weekends one
Saturday afternoon I'm sitting in the
barn on the milking stanchion milking
out the goat when every single creature
in the pasture went nuts and he couldn't
figure out why it turned out the boar
had gotten out and he stuck his nose and
all 400 pounds of himself in the front
of the barn and he looked at me and he
snorted and then he turned around and
started to trot happily down the
driveway towards route 16 followed by
all four of our sows good times now let
me tell you some more about our farm in
case you're not familiar we're in the
suburbs here in Natick on 27 acres of
conservation land sandwiched between an
elementary school and a lot of really
nice home Lots we have a beautiful
timber frame barn
and recently renovated Sugar Shack and a
lot of buildings that were best
described in style as DIY we have
woodlands and wetlands pastures and
stream and we have beautiful stone free
soil that's been drawing farmers to it
like a magnet since three hundred and
fifty years ago and before had we farm
in the public eye our farm is open every
day during daylight hours with no
admission fee for visits and purchases
and over 21,000 people come every year
to see it for that very reason parents
bringing their toddlers hundreds of
school kids on curriculum tight field
trips and scouting overnights and summer
programs and vacation programs cooks who
know we have the best asparagus in town
and grass-fed beef jeans dozens of teens
looking for good-paying jobs doing
something other than running a cash
register senior so we're looking to
reminisce about childhood and immigrants
who are delighted to know that we have
live chicken and a taste of home we say
that education is our number one crop we
exist to show people that farms exist to
produce food every crop and creature on
a farm has a job to do chickens give us
eggs bees give us honey
pigs give us bacon and pork chops and
ham bones and barbecue we also exist to
show people how to farm in harmony with
nature not against her we farm
organically we take every food scrap and
manure scrap we make it back into
compost we put it back on the land by
the truckload it's better for the soil
it's better for the plants it's better
for the people who work the soil
it's better for the environment and we
make fresh food accessible beautiful
nutrient-dense fresh food available to
absolutely anybody who wants to come
down and purchase it we like to remind
people that you are what you eat that
the freshest food you can get is your
best option because it's the most
nutritious and the most nutritious food
you can get is local food the main thing
we do though is we grow people by
letting them get dirty and involved we
take everybody and every day on the farm
starts exactly the same way if you're
here on a day when you're gonna pick
beans then you're gonna pick beans and
if you're here on a day when we're gonna
shovel out the turkey coop here's
yourself we take everybody we take the
jocks and the theater kids and the young
adults working towards their GEDs and
the adults with multiple PhDs and the
coaches and the job coaches and we mush
them all together doing work that is
unfamiliar unexpected and at times
unpleasant why because we need that work
done but the other reason why is because
it levels the playing field and it gives
them all common ground so the farm
teaches people where food comes from but
we also teach basic life skills we teach
people to think to listen to tests and
to try to work together to figure out
how to figure it out or as we like to
say when you have a question first ask
yourself then ask a friend then ask a
farmer
that does save some questions but we're
really good at doing is teaching people
how to fail
why because farms are incredibly complex
places one day your lettuce is thriving
the next day it's wilting and looks
horrible and those plants they're not
going to tell you why what to do next
has to be figured out and that
information is not born in anybody's
heads it has to be put there through
trial and error and usually by a front
row seat in the school of hard knocks
but farms are really good for showing
people what failure actually is which is
a moment when something did not actually
go to plant being on a farm gives you an
experience of being able to process
those negative feelings that come with
failing and then let them wash away and
then to be able to face it with new
resolve saying I will now come up with a
plan B and a Plan C and a plan D because
it turns out that failure is just like
anything else you get better at it with
practice and we're better to practice
and outdoors under the Sun getting
really sweaty surrounded by farm animals
and heavy farm equipment but also
surrounded by really accepting people
who also have failed probably doing the
exact same thing that you just did
maybe something worse but only decades
earlier who helped you learn to laugh at
it our farm has helped grow so many
people kids like James who first came to
our farm as a second grader with very
little self-confidence and a whole lot
of self doubt but where he fit in and
where he found a community where his
skills which are working with his hands
and running a chainsaw safely and being
able to do tough physical work with a
group of people and make it light and
fun
our real considered assets James used
the farm to get through high school he's
now trying College today he's a leader
we're talking about kids like Jackie who
first came to our farm with a job coach
and turned into the one of the most
observant caretakers of animals that
we've got Jackie so good that when she
graduated out of her job coach program
she got a job with us and she works with
us independently and earns a paycheck
that's her getting her first paycheck
right there
Jackie shows up for work every day on
time with a smile on her face ready to
make a difference and she models the
behavior that we want to see in every
worker we've got and she raises the game
and it's kids like Henry who discover
that they're extremely good at working
with their hands and haven't a
mechanical aptitude that I have never
seen in a young person for Henry through
high school saved us thousands of
dollars in tractors repair he is now
running a thriving small engine repair
business out of his parents garage
during college vacation and summer days
off and yes if you really need it I will
give you Henry's number
and kids like me I'm sorry well yes
kids like me but not just kids who want
to farm but but kids who go on to be
plumbers and electricians and doctors
and lawyers and yoga instructors and
teachers and assistant professors and
store clerks and journalists and CEOs
community minded people who understand
the importance of people place and
purpose and yes kids like me that point
right okay good who are still at the
farm 37 years later I know and they're
now the adults who are the ones sending
the kids out to pick the zinnias giving
instructions on that mower telling
everyone to round up the loose livestock
and providing basic instructions
permission to experiment and permission
to fail within reason I'm the old lady
of the farm now it's my job to repeat
the adages never walk with an empty hand
need a job
check the whiteboard unsure how to solve
something ask yourself ask a friend and
ask a farmer a lifetime of being around
this farm has taught me so much I've
learned that you have to work with
people even when you don't want to
sometimes and that's sometimes you have
to shovel poop sometimes it's proverbial
poop of your own making
you have to own it you have to fix it
you have to laugh at it native community
organic farm does not work miracles for
everybody but for those of us who find
ourselves there and I mean find
ourselves with a capital F and a capital
o it's a magical place it's a place
where we belong and we're always welcome
it's a place where we discover who we
are and who we're meant to be
even if we're all works in progress we
have another saying at native community
organic farm you never really leave the
farm in some cases that's literal but
the reason we say it is this because the
farm and the life lessons it teaches you
you take those with you thank you
you
[Music]