Many thanks to Jan Buhrman of The Kitchen Porch and Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard for the invitation to the Love Our Farmers brunch at the Chilmark Community Center. We enjoyed the opportunity to speak as SBS — the grain store purveyor of organic and non-GMO feed, seeds and soils — and also to tell stories from our own life on Spring Moon Farm. We felt the love. Gathered was a wonderful and inviting group of folks sharing warm, locally sourced dishes and, as this farmer loves, locally roasted and brewed hot coffee.

On the way home along the North Road, the hay fields lay resting under snow, the cattle feeling the new warmth of early February, and market gardens, orchards and backyard plots lay fallow for the winter. What a bounty of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, honey, milk, eggs, meats, wool and fish that we have here. However, our most beautiful, precious and enduring bounty is open land. Our Island enjoys a committed and ethical group of farmers — some larger, some smaller — who choose to live and farm here for the joy of growing their own. It is so encouraging and fuels our passions to be in the fold.

We care for, work hard for, and cherish this land. How blessed are we, the farmers, to have a community that supports and appreciates our joys and disappointments, our harvests and our stories.

Please support Slow Food MV and their efforts to bring awareness to the importance of non-GMO food labeling and fulfilling the mission of advocating for good, clean and fair food.

Please think of our Island farmers and buy local. Better yet — grow your own!

See you in the thaw!

Elizabeth Packer and Tom Rancich
Vineyard Haven