For the Love of Money

Greetings Neighbors and Strangers,

Yesterday, for the first time since May, we didn’t host a Farm Frolic—our weekly work day and supper.  The Farm closed for a snow day.  Skis and boots came out of storage, the phone stayed at the house, and we headed into the wild white winter woods.  After a slow afternoon I woke with a renewed enthusiasm for the book manuscript, and so I send along a re-worked newsletter with a request for your comments as I discern its fitness for inclusion as a chapter. 

Writing a book is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  And one of the hardest things to write about is the significance of the money conversation to the work of food gifting—the relationship between gifted monies and the re-animation of the modern imagination.  I tend to write about money only when I am actively fundraising.  In between, I recover from the exposure it demands.  Last week, this Farm’s first Budget Request was covered in full.  This is miraculous to me.  The lull before the next Budget Request seems a good time to revisit the money question absent the urgency of an ask. 

Because this piece is being considered for the book it will go out to “Paid Subscribers” only.  If you would like to read and comment, simply reply to this email with the following message: “Please send me a gift subscription.”  The act of asking to receive a gift sits at the heart of the work I am trying to describe.  If you decide instead to click the button to become a “Paid Subscriber” that is fine also.  Your financial gift will be included as a starting balance for the next Farm Budget Request.  

Thank you for entertaining my bending of the available frameworks to make room for the spirit of the gift to slip through.