A rare sight: two farmers, in the surf, in the summer (Casey's on the wave; Andre's head is bobbing behind the wave).
As the mother of two young children, I have thought a lot about the notion of play. I think about this concept in terms of our children’s development, knowing that what adults may dismiss as “just play” is actually one of the most vital activities in our kids’ lives.
I love watching my kids play. In part, these are moments when I can breathe and just be for a moment (rather than putting on shoes, changing diapers, negotiating space, fixing food, etc etc etc). But, even more than giving me a break, watching them play is inspiring, because in their play they are learning how to be in the world.
As a baby, Dottie’s play is almost all sensory and exploratory. “What happens if I bang this stick on this pole?” “Can I fit this block into this basket?” “What happens when I swing the hose back and forth?” She can play and explore for extended periods of time, especially if I help her out by offering new “toys” (i.e. any unbreakable object) periodically.
At three and a half years old, Rusty’s play is almost all narrative based. He literally narrates as he plays, telling stories about the objects (most often dinosaur related). “A juvenile tyrannosaur was resting by the stream. Suddenly, BOOM, a large ultrasaurus appears at the edge of the forest …” I love how stories are already such a huge part of his world, fueled I’m sure by his love of reading books with us. As a former English student, I still believe that we best make sense of our world through stories, so to me his play seems quite powerful in every way.
For us parents, our children’s play is also a daily reminder of our own need to explore the world through fun. Even though they are growing and learning through their play, it is never laborious. It is delightful and stimulating and engrossing. I never have to remind Rusty to play, because it is its own reward. And, in the end, they are renewed and energized by their activities.
There is a way in which our work of farming is play. A big part of kids’ play is seeing their influence and power in the world — “If I push the sand in this direction, what happens?” For us farmers, we can also readily experience the joy and power of our influence — “If I use a chisel plow before the disc when working up ground, what happens?” I think that this is a big part of what keeps us in love with our work. It is endlessly interesting to see how our efforts create tangible effects, and ultimately delicious food. The positive feedback loop is inspiring.
But, unlike our kids’ play, our work can also feel like work. Because, as adults, our efforts do need to take the shape of discipline. This is how we contribute to the world, by moving irrigation pipes whether we feel like it or not. Ultimately, it is this marriage between passion and discipline that makes the world go round — all those opera singers who commit themselves to practicing daily, the surgeons who fine tune their hands’ abilities, the accountants who apply their love of order and numbers to mundane tasks for others …
We feel fortunate to have found work that we are passionate about. We couldn’t have gotten through the hard work of starting up the farm without that joy of tinkering and seeing the awesome fruits of our labor.
But, now, in our eighth season, our children are here to remind us that we also need play. Play that is just play. That means having joy in our life that is bigger than the farm. Joy that doesn’t necessarily require us to make lists or be disciplined. Joy that exists for joy’s sake. In other words: life/work balance.
Children are so good at forcing this balance. Before we had kids, and it was just Casey and me on the farm, it was easy to feel fulfilled by our life of farm work. We were together through it all, and that was a great start. But, I think that even then it wasn’t enough. And, now that we’re in our 30s and have kids in our life, there’s no question that for the health of our relationships, minds, souls, and bodies, we need to have fun. We need balance. The farm is not enough. It is necessary — yes — but it is not, and cannot, be everything.
And, so, Casey and I are slowly relearning how to play in ways other than just farming. We learn from our children. How can we bring more sensory exploration back into our lives? How can we bring more stories back into our lives?
These things weren’t entirely gone, of course, but they certainly were moved to the back burner for many years as we focused our attention on the farm. Slowly, but surely, we’re moving them back toward the center, especially as we can enjoy them with our children, growing in our relationship as a family through play.
All this to say that our trip to the beach was a huge success. As I noted in last week’s newsletter, getting on the road was a lot of work, but it was all worth it. Casey was able to revisit one of his favorite forms of renewal from his earlier life: surfing (joined by farmer Andre Jaillet of Growing Wild Farm — a rare treat for two farming families to get away and play in the waves!). Rusty and Dottie played and played on the beach. Dottie practiced walking on the sand (have I mentioned that she started walking three weeks ago?). Rusty ran in and out of the waves, pretending to be a juvenile Baryonyx catching its first fish.
There’s no question that the farm will always be the focus of our lives — this is our home, our work, our source of food … in so many ways, the farm is the foundation of everything. But it is good to get away sometimes, whether it is to the Oregon beach or just down the road to the river (where we had fun this weekend) or just outside our door to the sandbox. Even here on the farm, we can create space for fun amidst the ‘to do’ lists.
Now that we’ve turned our calendars to August, we can feel that summer is winding down. There is still plenty of time for fun outdoor play, but as Casey and I noted this morning, August is definitely the beginning of the end of summer and the growing season. This is the season of maturation, when the summer fruits ripen and we begin to think about fall harvests (not yet, but soon — the onions will come first). It is a time for play and also a time for work — time to put up food for the winter and prepare for fall’s arrival. Both are important, to be sure. Again, balance. All play and no work would be just as challenging — an ungrounded existence in which play loses its renewing power. So, on summer weekends we play hard, and on summer weekdays we work hard. The two together create a life of deep fulfillment. We are grateful.
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Tomatoes
- Beets
- Plums
- Beet greens
- Potatoes
- Cut lettuce
- Fennel
- Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage
- Carrots
- Summer squash
- Sweet onions
