Addressing your concerns

Our campaign is live and I've been blown away by the support.  It is extremely humbling to expose yourself in this way and your generosity is breathtaking.  Not just on the campaign site but by the local farmers who have delivered tanks of water for us.  Our neighbour who is helping us to temporarily hook into one of his wells to water the back field.  To the elderly lady who drove to our farm from Abbotsford to hand me $3 which is what she could afford.  I didn't want to accept her money but she insisted and my heart broke.

On the flip side of that is the hate mail following the aricle in The Province newspaper.  Yes, that's right, people have taken the time from their day to both comment on the article and send e-mails to my personal inbox.  Being a kind of "live and let live" type of girl, I was surprised. I had thought that not everyone would want to support the campaign but I hadn't considered this would happen.  To be honest, I didn't care until my friend texted me to say she was upset by what she was reading, and upsetting my friends evoked a reaction.

However, I'm not angry or upset by these comments but it has made me think about peoples legitimate concerns about donating to this kind of campaign.  Some of the comments, although not eloquent and presented with a degree of vitriol, raise valid points which I feel I need to speak to.  Not because I think I can convert the haters or enter into a game of oneupmanship, that's not my bag.  I'm writing this to my customers, the genuine supporters and most of all, my family and friends who are upset by the comments.

So here goes:

"Wow. I was a single female trying to keep my farm after a divorce. It was 5 acres. I had to replace well pump. It never cost that much. Still a very hard time trying to hang on to my farm. I did it for years. I had no financial help. I could never ask other people for help. Five acres in Aldergrove is worth a lot of money. I ended up having to sell after many years of struggling. It was not other people's jobs to help with my finances. Just my opinion".

I'm not sure what the point is here.  She didn't ask for help and lost her farm so we should do the same?  I am amazed that we live in a society that has forums like indiegogo and kickstarter.  We hear so many criticisms of the world we live in and yet there are strangers who will love somebody elses ideas or work and support them.  It's astounding.  I'm not going to apologise for utilizing this platform.  I've supported campaigns and now I've launched one myself.

I have a very difficult time feeling sorry for these people.  My father was a fresh new immigrant many years ago when he came to Canada. ..he worked his ass off for many years and never once asked for a hand out. ..he never lived beyond his means.  Time for this family to consider some major downsizing.  Canadians are nice people but most of us aren't stupid enough to pay for someone else's dreams. 

To be honest, I'm not really sure how the immigrant thing is relevant. Canada is our forever home.  Would it be different if we were third generation Canadian?  We don't feel like we are asking for a hand out.  We feel like we are asking for an investment from our community after we have invested so much into the community. For sure, we could give up and move our family to a condo.  I had a call today from a developer who had read our story and made me an offer for the farm.  And that's the risk.  We work hard as environmental stewards here and take our time to educate people who come here.  We strive to promote environmental awareness in the elementary school children who have their (free) garden here, that I tend and fund.  We paid for our own dream and we're asking for help to enable us to maintain our status as a community farm. If we go, what happens to the land?  It's unlikely that it will be anything good given that the vulchers are circling already.

Are we supposed to pay for it?

Errr, no.  Support the campaign or don't.  This is not a heist and you will not be hurt if you don't pay up. Anyone who would like to see copies of the quotes for the new well, please send me an e-mail and I will forward it to you.

Now for my personal favourite, received by e-mail:

"I watched the video you fat b#*ch.  Why don't you eat a few less burgers and then you can afford to pay for your own S#*T.  F#*k off back to where you came from.  Hope the plane crashes on the way home".

I'm sorry but that made me laugh out loud.

Look, here's the thing, let's wrap it up.  Even the best piece of journalism in the world can't encapsulate every angle of every story.   We are a farm, we're not making money from farming, that's not our agenda. We make quality, organic food accessible.  It's hugely under priced.  We don't take a wage.  We think in terms of acres not hours or money.  We love this lifestyle and we work harder than we ever have before. We not claiming we're any worse off or harder working than anyone else and we're not asking for sympathy. This farm is our dream but it's also a valuable community hub working with schools and non profits and sometimes just people who have no where else to go during holidays.  I extend a warm invitation to anyone who has an opinion, positive or negative, come and visit us and make sure it's an informed opinion.

Well well well, we need you.

Good things and bad things have happened at the farm this last week or so.

The good things include a lot of new customers joining our farm family.  We have taken on a new delivery route to the White Rock and South Surrey area.  This, combined with our existing delivery route, Ian's work colleagues and supplying Webbs Holiday Acres takes us to full capacity.  We have around 16 regular delivery customers which is fantastic.  Not only is our client base increasing but in the middle of the growing season, we have been thrilled by the quality and range of our produce.  I have to say, I didn't expect this.  As you know, we didn't really ever have a plan, everything that has happened as happened organically.  And that's exciting, and somehow seems appropriate for this venture.

Last time I wrote a blog post about feeling overwhelmed, you came to my rescue.  A few people showed up here ready to weed, plant and harvest.  It amazed me, and Ian and I learned something.  We learned the value of asking for help.  We needed you and you came.  A couple of hours of your time makes a massive difference to us, and you volunteers are more than happy to reap your rewards in the form of produce.  That was definitely the highlight of the last few weeks.

Today, I'm embracing this lesson and doing something that usually sits uncomfortable with me.  I'm asking for your help again.  All of you.

We have faced a lot of challenges on this farm in the last year.  Some have broken the bank but none have broken our spirit.  Mostly, we have faced the ups and downs with good humour.  This week, that resolve is being tested.

Our well pump died.  The poor thing was put in 40 years ago and really only meant to service the house. We added a huge irrigation system to it's workload.  It tried.  It battled.  It groaned.  But now it's resigned.  So, a mere $7000 to our already exhausted credit and we have a new pump, not sure how we are going to pay for it but hey, we'll get by with our optimism.

The saga deepens.  New well pump and still no water.  The prognosis is bleak.  We have a well drilling company coming tomorrow to clean the existing well at a cost of $250 per hour.  It will probably take 10 hours.  However, we will probably have to drill a new well.  Estimated cost: $10,000.  Within a week, we've been assaulted by $20,000 worth of essential costs.

We're not crying yet though.  Permaculture has taught us to focus on solutions as opposed to problems.  We have tested the limits of our creativity and commitment when it comes to keeping the produce watered in 30 degree heat.  You would laugh if you saw the tank of water in the back of our truck with the old pump in it and rigged up to the electrics that is attached to a make shift sprinkler system.  Really, even we are laughing about it.  You'd probably roll your eyes at us walking around with our watering can and buckets in the dark trying to hydrate the abundance of tomato plants.  And you'd certainly chortle of us trying to sparsely utilize the rain water we've harvested in barrels to water the animals.  Oh and we never let a drop of water go down a drain in the house.  It's caught in pots and taken outside to a plant.  Anything non essential on the farm is going without and dying (RIP rose bush).  The peas that were coming to the end have been pulled out prematurely to conserve our resources.  It's operation survival here.

That is not what is hurting us though.  Physical challenges and hardships are like a hobby to us now. Whatever.  It's the financial aspect that's terrifying me.  I don't want to sound over dramatic by this could be the thing that ends the dream.  And so, I'm shamelessly using this forum to ask for your help.  You've followed our journey through this blog, you know our story, you know what we've achieved here and you know what our goals are. You've already invested in us emotionally, I know that because you tell me.  You message me about enjoying the produce.  You call me to ask if you can come and visit.  You offer me feedback about the blog.  And I know I have no right to ask for more, but if you can help us raise awareness and generate support, you can keep Laurica Farm going.

I've launched a crowd funding campaign.  Click here.  Anything you can do, either financially or to promote our cause is hugely appreciated.

I'm going to end this post here because I hate this!  Forgive us for putting the Laurica Farms future in your hands.  We are forever in your debt.