When we decide our value
Farming and organizing pay for themselves
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We’re unwrapping and cutting ice cream sandwiches to freeze dry.
“Unwrapping ice cream sandwiches…” Paul mutters as if it’s the strangest thing he’s ever heard of. He breaks open the fourth box.
Maybe it’s strange because we’re standing in front of a fridge overflowing with three kinds of cherries, two kinds of mulberries and gallons of serviceberries, all harvested in the last few days.
We refer to ice cream sandwiches as UPF – ultra-processed food. They’re welcome in our kitchen because running a diversified food farm in Iowa means never having to call yourself a purist.
We recently sprang for a freeze dryer. Not its country cousin the dehydrator. This baby produces astronaut food. It’s a large, heavy machine that deep freezes and then sucks all the water out of food. One batch can take up to 24 hours.
A good farm pays for itself. I’ll be dead before the new barn pays for itself, but I think this freeze dryer is within reach. If it’s going to happen, though, it’ll have to run a lot more.
Our favorite freeze-dried treats are sweet corn, ice cream sandwiches, and of course Asian pears and apples from the farm. We might expand to candy when the fresh food slows down. Trust me, there’s nothing quite as decadent as a freeze-dried Milk Dud.
Now that I’ve learned Iowa’s cottage industry laws and how to make labels, the world is our box of chocolates. We sell to Hipcampers and visitors. Every time someone tastes one of our Asian pears – fresh or freeze-dried – we change a life.
I’m thankful it’s paid for. No banker can come take my freeze dryer away. He can’t look at my books and tell me I failed. We’re lucky that way, because no banker would ever understand the value of that look when someone bites into a freeze-dried slice of apple.
It’s not all about the numbers.
Last Saturday our local Indivisible group did not organize rallies for No Kings Day. We put on a Mutual Aid Day instead, explaining that we serve no kings, we serve community.
We can’t afford to be political purists. There’s too much ground between homes out here. West Liberty, (Pop: 3,858) will never pull off an aerial shot of thousands of people marching for miles. So, when 35 people showed up in Tipton (Pop: 3,022) to wave signs before donating their goods, we were thrilled.
And when volunteers collected more than 1,000 pounds of diapers, feminine hygiene products and food for local pantries in 3 small towns in just 3 hours, we raised a glass over burgers among friends.
Good organizing pays for itself, most of the time. The number of people who show up is one measure. The amount donated another. But so too are the courage of first-time demonstrators, the kindness of people driving miles just to donate and the generosity of locals gathering goods from home to hand out the windows of their trucks.
You can say 5 million or 12 million people marched. You can laugh at Trump’s sorry parade turnout. I say either way, counting only goes so far.
Because neighbors letting me pick a year’s worth of serviceberries, eating from a tree that produces 2-inch mulberries, standing by my husband unwrapping ice cream sandwiches – these can’t be quantified. (Neither, unfortunately, can the truth that Trump is still president.)
We get to decide the value. It’s ours, like an education, experience or love.
And value they can’t measure is value they can’t take from us.
See you next week!
Congratulations, Suzan! Inventing a cooler way to make and be cool is so freaking cool! And, I’m old enough that I still use the word to describe things that are.
Loved this. Thinking about getting a one of those fast freezers!