Community

A few weeks back, I attended an event sponsored by Slow Money Southern California, a great group of people dedicated to building an environment where sustainable businesses can thrive, particularly those associated with our besieged food supply. Looking at my notes from that evening, I noticed repeated references to one particular and powerful word, COMMUNITY.

In this era of social media, my take is that our sense of community is being severely strained. The public discourse has, by and large, taken an "us versus them" mentality. I find that attitude very troubling. I'm from the camp that believes no man is an island and that we all benefit from the combined effort of an engaged populous. Take last week's FIG Santa Monica Farm Dinner for example. Chef Ray Garcia's dinners are all about reinforcing our sense of community. The success of these dinners is predicated on his guest's desire to feel a connection to the land, to those whose efforts produced the ingredients, and to the culinary expertise it takes to ultimately produce the delicious dishes that are presented to them. Community efforts benefit everyone involved. In this case, Weiser Family Farms benefits from this process through the direct feedback we get from conversing with our customers, food preparers and end users alike. How better to know what they like and understand what they do with our harvest?

  

It's our good fortune to be a member of the larger "foodie" community. We are a close, connected, and caring community. Next month's Alex's Lemonade Farm Dinner at our Tehachapi farm illustrates this point wonderfully. You can't overlook the selfless contribution of everyone connected to the event, including some of the leading chefs in the south land. It is as staggering as it is fulfilling. Alex's Lemonade bespeaks community. You can almost see little Alex Scott's smiling face as she offers her neighbors a cup of lemonade, the sales proceeds earmarked for children, like herself, fighting childhood cancer. Alex proved that one person can spark a movement. We expect, on Saturday September 21 in Tehachapi, to prove that it takes a community to pick up the torch and carry on the cause. We hope you can be part of it.

 

Thank you for indulging me and for your support of our farm and this cause. ~Dan Weiser

Comments

[Patrick Briggs]

I really think COMMUNITY is an important and meaningful component of living. "No man's an island" indeed. How boring and dull a life it must be to be somebody who believes they can live it without the interaction with others, particular those unlike him/herself. I really respect what your family farm and business is all about. Great timing to read your blog post the same day the Los Angeles Times did a story on your form business:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-himi-weiser-20130825,0,4127525.story

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We are living in different communities. It is good to understand how people behave.