What Exactly Is 8th Day Farm?

posted by Emily Meade, May 28 2013

The dreaded question: “What are your plans after graduation?”

My excited response, relief that I have an answer: “An internship at 8th Day Farm!”

The appropriate inquiry: “What’s that?”

My hesitation: “Um, it’s a farm…garden…that helps the community…there’s a CSA…and, yeah…”

The vague nod: “Oh, well, that sounds nice.”

I had no idea how to explain 8^th Day Farm, mainly because I did not understand it myself. It is one of those phenomena in the world that you have to experience first-hand to be able to fully comprehend its significance. After one week filled with three potlucks, morning prayer, 8 hour days of weeding, shoveling, and thoughtful conversation, I feel completely immersed into the 8^th Day family.

8^th Day Farm is more than a farm/garden in the middle of an abandoned parking lot. It is more than the vegetables it grows and it is more than a CSA program. It is, in its essence, a community. A community of families from the area and genuine, caring people; intentional people that care about and understand the importance of what they put into their bodies. These people put ‘the table’ above all else. This ‘table’, is not only the catalyst of food and nourishment, but the place where conversation and life-giving occurs.

Preparing fresh, nutritious food grown from love with your own hands and gathering around this food breathes a freshness into the soul. Being around people who live out their lives in this intentional way has struck me and sparked within me a desire to be like them, to be fully present, in a way that exudes contentment and joy.

When someone asks now, “What exactly is 8^th Day Farm?” I still hesitate. Not because I don’t know what to say, but because I know I cannot do it justice, trying to explain it in one or two sentences. Where do you begin with something so beautiful and complex, filled with people and veggies and love? Instead, I’m inclined to say, “Why don’t you come to our next potluck and see for yourself?”

Only seven days here and I have been overwhelmed in the best possible way. Can it continue, will my mind continue to be blown? For some reason, I do believe it will.

Learn about 2013 intern, Emily Meade.