A dear friend of ours, Susana, lost her father last week. Many of you know her well, many of you may have just met her at our wedding, and others may just know her by reputation. Owner of Salamander Springs Farm, she is an incredible farmer and a great source of knowledge and inspiration for not only our farming practices, but for the hundreds of other farmers she’s taught over the years. She built a dang farm on top of a mountain and grows an unbelievable variety of fruits, fowl, and veggies galore, all without a pinch of poison or tillage. It’s an astounding utopia. She also lives incredibly simply; no electricity, spring fed water, composting toilet. She eats beans and home ground cornbread nearly every day and makes a very modest income from her farm produce.
While
many of us love and respect her dearly, the modern world often treats her, there’s
no gentle way to put it, like shit. Her
family is far east of Chicago, a good 12 hours from here and Josh and I had her
over before her Mega bus trip there last week, and this morning off to the
funeral. Unfortunately my well meaning
advice to rent a car this time turned into a complete disaster. She used the site Hotwire to make a
reservation, and this morning at the airport for pick up was told she could not
rent the car due to funds-she had plenty of money to rent the car, but she does
not carry a credit card and apparently didn’t have their required astronomical
minimum in her debit account to allow for the rental. The visitation is this evening and with no
other option, and overwhelmed by grief, she still hit the road in her farm
truck for the long trip, and I’m just sitting here worried sick all day. Hotwire will not refund her three day rental
despite her not being able to get the car, and with no notification prior that
her funds would be an issue, and that kind of money means a lot to someone who
lives so simply.
I don’t
know why exactly I write now; guilt, grief, incredible sorrow for the sad state
of the world and how people are treated. Not only has she just lost her father, but she
has been cast off as riff raff and treated so poorly by those whose job is to
provide a service. It’s not a situation
anyone can fix and I’m not asking for anything in particular. But maybe respect for your fellow human
being, some loving energy to this deeply sad woman who has the wealth of love
and knowledge of the earth that we need so desperately right now. If you have the means go support her at the
market, or if you would like to send a card or gift let me know. I have been so blessed lately with beautiful
happenings and just want to pass some of that loving energy and support to
someone who really needs it right now, and pray that she has a safe trip.
She would totally kill me for writing this by the way, and I hope I
haven’t overstepped any boundaries, but the boundaries of love you all have are
limitless so please share it! Love love
love you all, till the end of time.
