Coming Up for Air

After the storm, there's the physical work: assess the damage, salvage what you can, figure out what's gone for good. That part is hard, but it's visible. You can make a list. You can check things off.

What nobody tells you about is the fog.

The mental recovery of rebuilding a farm — of rebuilding anything you've poured yourself into — is a different kind of labor. It moves slower. It doesn't show up on a to-do list, but it touches everything on it. Updating the website, posting to social, sending the newsletter, responding to the emails that piled up while you were just trying to keep the roots alive all find you when you're still finding your footing.

Being ambitious is a hard job. Having your phalanges in the soil most of the day is even harder. And somewhere between the two, the simple things — like just stopping to enjoy the flowers — become the hardest of all.

But then — a volunteer day happened.

Farm veterans and first-timers alike pulled up, sleeves already rolled, ready to help reset the field ahead of what would become the third Kona low storm. We knew rain was in the forecast. We just didn't know how much. So we spent the day back on the broadfork, working the soil the way it deserved. Leftover Love showed up with a gracious 4 cubic yards of compost as a relief effort, and together we got the field back into gear.

All of that sweat equity paid off. The third storm came through and kept things mildly wet, but not soaked. The aerated soil received the rain well. What we were left with? Straight cake batter. The good kind.

We're getting things back in order, one item at a time. The social pages are waking up. The site is getting the attention it's been waiting for. The farm is coming back into focus — and so are we.

Thank you for being here while we found our way back. There's a lot coming, and we're finally ready to share it.