Dear Friends,
It is with a spirit full of gratitude that I share the news of my departure from Ironwood at the end of this fall season.
For almost a decade now, I have lived and worked here. I’ve made bosom friends, grown as a farmer, and collaborated in every season with this particular land. Sharing the joy and challenge of building Ironwood, together with Aliyah and Lauren, has been one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I’m so very grateful to this entire community for supporting us and helping bring the farm into existence. For a long time it was my dream, and now it is made manifest. I don’t know that you get to have that experience many times in life.
In early December I’ll be heading West to Idaho to be with my partner. It’s bittersweet because I’m leaving so much here, but I feel joy and excitement about moving towards love, and leaning into the unknown.
When we three started Ironwood, we had a specific and unified vision that has naturally evolved and shifted for all of us individually over these five years farming together. I’m looking forward to taking what I’ve learned from the systems we invented together to inform a new vision, and potentially to feed folks from another radical farm out West. And I’m equally excited to witness Ironwood as it continues to evolve with Aliyah and Lauren at the helm, alongside the young growth of their new families.
When I first thought about the intention and tone of this letter, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be a tool for maudlin lingering, have some kind of award speech vibe, or be a kind frame around an Instagram version of life. The truth is, farming is hard work. It is hard, but it is beautiful and nourishing, and it is something we – all of us, and nature - create together. So thank you for helping build Ironwood, for helping me to have a life that I really like and for the opportunity to do work that I have been proud of: to feed myself and others.
I’ve been surprised to find that the muscle that farming has exercised the most has been my heart. It feels pretty full right now.
With love and gratitude from your farmer,
Jenny
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