the end

NB - i wrote this post in november, but had trouble posting it...as if posting it made it more real. so pretend it is november while reading this.


seldom does one find a job that they are truly in love with. a job that they would happily pour their blood, sweat and tears into. a job that makes them so happy, so exhausted, so fulfilled. i was lucky enough to have found such a job.

lime valley mill, inc and its property and buildings was ours to love, work, cherish, enjoy and treat as our own. but it was not our own. the owner was a very generous man who let us do as we wished. build a successful business. grow produce and raise animals for meat of exceptional quality. we worked the land as we would our own. we treated the animals as our own. we built a reputation of our own. we had customers who thanked us for our work. but in the end, it was not ours.

the owner decided to sell the farm and with it all its possession - the tractors, the farming equipment, the produce supplies, the animals. it might have been his property to sell, but it was our time, our stress, our pain, our sweat, our plans, our love that went into making that property function.

i loved my job, and because i loved my job, i was good at it. of course, there is always room for improvement, and every year i had ideas of how to do things differently for the next year. this year was no exception. i already had plans in my head for next year so we could be better at what we already did well. every thing was set for winter market produce production. we picked up a third market for winter and we were excited about being one of a very few farms in lancaster county that even tries to grow produce in the winter. we had enough animals to keep our freezers fully stocked well through the winter months. we were a great team - we had fun, we worked well together and we all brought different expertise to the table.

the day i heard that the farm had been sold and we would soon be out of business was the day someone hit me with a ton of bricks. i didn't care that in two months i wouldn't have a job, i cared about all the hard work that i, and everyone else, had poured into this farm was going to be lost...was for nothing. i cared about having to tell our loyal customers that we would no longer be providing them with organically grown, fresh, local food. i cared about the future and well being of our animals.

but who do you get mad at? the owner? it was his property to do as he wished with. the people who bought it? they had a right to buy it. myself for being totally committed to something that was never even mine? i had no reason to think that it would be taken away from me so suddenly and so quickly. nor did i think when i took the job three years ago that i would fall so in love with it.

so...life goes on. you help clean up the property, liquidate the equipment, tell customers...all while harvesting produce, taking inventory of meat, coming to work like nothing has changed. it has been a tough month. most times it feels like nothing has changed. we are all still working our asses off. we have awesome product to sell and markets have been extremely successful this month. but then sometimes you remember that original conversation - 'John sold the farm' - and it hits you all over again.