Friends of All Ages: Veggie Share 2021 Week #2 – 6/16/21

Young Friends

One of the gifts Covid gave me was to break the barrier a bit more between being the farm boss and being friends with my crew.

Pre-covid, I usually didn’t try to socialize with my crew. We chatted it up in the fields of course, but I would rarely hang out with crew members outside of work. My having young kids, the power dynamic of me being the boss, and the age difference was always something that made me not really cross that barrier too much.

Covid changed all that. Last season the farm crew was my social circle. Allowing myself to not get caught up in the constructs of age and power dynamics was one of the most freeing things Covid did for me. Last season I made some really wonderful friends from the farm, and I am so very grateful.

It’s funny though, I age and my crew stays mostly in their 20s. And while I have many friends my own age that are raising kids out in the Mt. Horeb area, I so enjoy hanging out with the younger farm set. I get turned on to so much new music and hear their perspectives on life, which are often different than mine due to that age difference.  At some point maybe I’ll get too old for this difference but not yet.

Last night I went out for drinks with one of my dear friends who I met through the farm. She just turned 24; I just turned 42. I ran into some folks closer to my age and they asked me who my friend was. “Wow, she’s just a baby!” they said.

I understood their comment, but it made me sad. They took one look at her and wrote her off because of her age. And well, frankly I felt sad for them that they were missing out on getting to know a wonderful human being. Age doesn’t necessarily give people more wisdom than a younger person. And if even if one possesses some wisdom or experience that another person does not, it’s not grounds to decide not to be friends with them.

Friendships come in all shapes and sizes. Our culture, mostly through schooling I believe, really groups us in  cohorts of similar ages and we don’t necessarily learn how to have friendships with people of different ages. It’s unfortunate.  Having friends of different ages is such a gift – a little Covid silverlining that I am grateful for.

As always, thank you for your support of our farm.

Sincerely,
Farmer Cassie