<div>As you may have heard, two farms in the Northfield area experienced a string of emergencies these past two weeks. First, <a href="https://www.fieldstonefarmvt.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Field Stone Farm</a>'s new caterpillar tunnels were <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/156qpMwTJJ/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">destroyed by wind</a>, then <a href="https://eatstayfarm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Green Mountain Girls Farm</a>'s farm stand display freezer failed, and, last but not least, GMG experienced every farmer's worst nightmare, a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BiredLG9K/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">barn fire</a>, likely caused by a chance electrical short.
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<div>This rapid sequence of events led to numerous offers of help from the community, including the offer to start up this gofundme, which prompted FSF &amp; GMG to consider reframing these emergencies from "our next crisis to address", to an important opportunity to tighten their weave within community, deepening resilience not only for these two farms, but for their community at large.
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<div>This is the kind of applied systems thinking and community care regularly practiced by these farmers, and I'm so glad to be able to share it with you today, even under these circumstances. My name is Lauren, I apprenticed at GMG many years ago, and will always hold that farm, and these people, close to my heart. Everything they do, and the way they do it, is the product of<strong> rigorous integrity and a heck of a lot of heart &amp; soul</strong>. This isn't my secret...it's readily apparent to so many of us in their orbit, from tasting their food, attending a community event in their barn, or even driving by and catching a glimpse of happy pigs on healthy pasture, year after year. But let me underscore, as an old team member, that the rigor these guys bring to their farm is truly bar none. If a production practice isn't right and good to its core, they're simply not doing it.
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<div>So of course, when I reached out about this gofundme, they started thinking critically about it. Their reflection brought them beyond the opportunity to recoup financial losses that I had proposed, and encompassed a deeper vision, one inclusive of FSF, the farm they've partnered with for a decade, and the community these two farms are nestled in, here in the Northfield hills. Farmers are systems thinkers, and GMG &amp; FSF's response to this string of emergencies is no exception!
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<div><strong>Solidarity among farmers, especially here in Vermont, is incredible. </strong>Indeed, GMG &amp; FSF have <a href="https://eatstayfarm.com/2018/02/joining-forces/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnered together</a> for the past ten years, seeing strength in collaboration over competition, as two farms in the same small town. They've shared staff, sold each other's products, and informed &amp; inspired one another. So it should come as no surprise that when crisis hit, the ties binding these farms buffered tragedy and even bore this idea for collective action.
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<div><em>Imagine the work it took to put that new tunnel up, just to have to clean-up the wreckage and do it all over again.</em>
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<div>Of no fault of these farmers' own (wind! fire! we're just missing earth?!), they're collectively facing an initial projection of $15,000 in clean-up and repair costs, beyond insurance coverage. We all get hit by a bad luck streak from time to time, but farmers, whose small businesses depend on increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather, are especially exposed.
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<div><strong>In this era of climate change, it's more important than ever to support our local farms</strong>--both in crisis, and before it hits--so they're resourced to withstand the challenges that are sure to arise. And the more we support them, with some portion of our food spending, the more they're able to support our households and our community with healthy, fresh food, build healthy soils, slow and sink flood waters into the soil, keep our waterways &amp; airways clean, foster native biodiversity, and forge cross-community relationships--a crucial multifaceted, reciprocal offering that deepens our community's food security and resilience in tangible ways that deliver.
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<div>Climate change projections are dire, and it can feel impossible to imagine how we'll tame this beast. And yet...the answers are here, right before our eyes, at the farmers market, the town hall meeting, the working landscape alive with care. <strong>We have everything we need to build the future we need</strong>, and farms like GMG &amp; FSF are no small building blocks. To add to that a little--it'll probably come as no surprise that living out an example of the future we need, with full rigor &amp; integrity, is <a href="https://streaming.uvm.edu/watch/54715/green-mountain-girls-living-the-sustainability-paradox/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">no easy feat</a>. We have the solutions we need--let's make sure we support them as the critical resources they are.
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<div><strong>More details on the barn fire,</strong> from Mari &amp; Laura:
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<li>In the middle of a sunny and calm Sunday morning, <strong>we noticed smoke </strong>and found fire in our South barn.
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<li><strong>The first minutes were frenetic. </strong>We called 911, opened the adjacent electric fence holding a sow and her 11 (2-week-old) piglets, moved vehicles from the surrounding area and warned arriving neighbors and passers by that we were concerned the fire, already smokey, hot and loud, might cause the tractor inside to blow up. 3 piglets went with their sow who resumed grazing right where she left off 2 weeks earlier the night before farrowing. The remaining 8 piglets ran chaotically in the opposite direction.<strong> Neighbors and strangers </strong>set fences to contain but the piglets kept running towards the one place they had known all their short lives. Into the fire! The<strong> Northfield Fire Department arrived in what seemed like a blink</strong>. Time is strange in an emergency.
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<li><strong>Fire was close to catastrophic</strong> (the fire dept shared that "fire doubles in size every minute"), but luckily while there are things to figure out, and quite a bit of short-term and long-term work to bring our barn back to functionality, the barn's structure appears to still be sound, and <strong>we are grateful</strong>.
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<li><strong>The tasks ahead include:</strong> clean-up, setting-up temporary housing for the animals who were otherwise headed into this barn for the winter, tackling the immediate repairs needed to get the barn ready for winter animal shelter, and then tackling the ultimate repairs needed to get this beautiful barn back on track for its remaining 390 year lifespan.
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<li><strong>Our first response to folks who want to help is please do all you can to buy from farmers near you.</strong> For those in our neck of the woods, learn more about the Northfield Farmers Market <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NorthfieldFarmersMarket" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>, and check-out its winter online ordering platform <a href="https://northfieldfm.eatfromfarms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.
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<li><strong>To express our gratitude &amp; share what we've learned w/others, we would like to:</strong> 1) Prep farm gift boxes to present to firefighters and 2) Host an event in 2025 that includes a farm fire safety tour, featuring proactive tips we've picked-up before and after this fire, and to have a community pig roast to thank everyone… ideally with the pig that the young firefighter did a diving catch to keep from running straight back into the flames…the soccer team needs to recruit this kid for goalie.
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<div><em>Endless gratitude to the Northfield Fire Department and neighboring Fire Departments, who saved the day and then some with their fast &amp; thorough response.</em>
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<div><strong>And a final note from GMG: </strong>
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<div>As we enter Thanksgiving season, our gratefuls have never been so big. Our South barn still stands strong, thanks to the rapid response of Northfield and neighboring towns’ volunteer Fire Departments. Amidst a late fall drought, and weeks of weather app fire danger warnings, this fire started in the middle of an ideally calm, sunny day; we were nearby to notice the smoke; the Fire Departments were able to respond quickly; and neighbors and hunters, who just happened to be passing by, jumped in to help contain the sow and her 11 piglets. We are so deeply grateful that, by chance, this fire happened at 10AM on a Sunday, instead of in the middle of the night. We are also left speechless, on any given day, but especially on a day like last Sunday, by our incredible neighbors on Loop Rd, and the deep value of this community.
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<div><em>Neighbors and strangers, including hunters who just happened to be passing by, came out of the literal wood work to help. And finally...everyone safe and sound with mom.</em>
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<div>P.S. In the event that any funds are raised beyond our goal, which represents emergency-related expenses for both FSF &amp; GMG beyond insurance coverage, we'll donate any surplus to <a href="https://www.nofavt.org/farmer-emergency-fund" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NOFA-VT's Farmer Emergency Fund</a>.
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<div><em>GMG's barn before the fire. It has a little more "character" now, but will be back in action w/some TLC.</em>
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