My last day working with Wivey Grows is tinged with sadness, appreciation and gratitude.
I am moving away from the Ten Parishes for a new life-chapter near Okehampton in Devon. As a Market Gardener I am excited and relieved to be part of setting up an Organic Growers Workers Co-Operative business down there, to share the workload and have more company with it. And after living a very transient adulthood for the last thirty years, I have finally bought a house (with my partner) and am settling down in a small, historic, Devon market town.
And yet to achieve this I am moving away from all I have become fond of in and around Wiveliscombe.
I joined Wivey Grows a little over a year ago because I needed more work and income and really needed to meet more people. And I wanted to work for a local organisation with whom I share values and interests. So that's how I came to join all you Wivey Growers; Team Veg, Team Flowers, Team Bees, Team Trustees and everyone else.
As a veg grower I didn't really want to be doing more veg growing work, so have barely touched the soil over at Langley House. But I have tried to bring a bit of my experience and perspective to the Steering Group when and where I could. Regular Steering Group members might possibly remember me for making suggestions for radical change from time to time. Sorry about that! And though admin is not the kind of work that I do cartwheels over (I actually said that in my job interview!), I knew I could do the work and I wanted to support what you are all doing and why you do it.
I'm going to miss you all.
Wivey Grows might be a small organisation and might have less volunteers right now than at any time since inception, but you have all given me what I was looking for. Thank you. I have felt welcome, included and valued. We have shared stories and laughed together and this means a lot. Thank you.
I believe very strongly in the necessity of local food growing and sharing as a core response to the challenges of today. Because we have to respond urgently to the serious inequalities that our society has created. Because we have to increase the flow of compassion between, through and around all of us. Because I believe that we have to cultivate local resilience (with the things that truly, really matter) that the global markets undermine (and stop sucking the food out of financially poorer countries that we continue to colonise in these ways). And because we have to take responsibility for climate change in our own backyards. You are the ones doing this in Wivey, no matter how few of you there are. You are the ones getting your hands dirty doing it, come rain or shine. Thank you.
Good luck with your stewardship of Wivey Grows. Take care of her and each other. It's definitely all worth it.