Love Letters

“If you want to find God, go to the garden.” -Farmer Reyna Ortega

I was an Abundant Table Intern in 2013-2014. I suppose it is not a given to find a community in your mid-twenties that pushes you in the direction of the rest of your life. But, that is precisely what my year on the farm gave me: people and place that gave me language and experience for relationship to sacred soil, to the work of accountability and justice, to a life of meaning, connection, and joy.

I was drawn to the farm by powerful, articulate, inspirational leadership and was held there in the flow between the sacred and hard work of the fields and the liturgical space that we co-created on Sundays. The Abundant Table gave me an embodied sense that I took with me to seminary and continues to inform how I weave my life.

So often I think what holds people back from doing truly visionary, risky, love-centered work in the world is that they do not believe that it is possible. Being at the Abundant Table taught me that it is. That God’s dream, that is found in the garden, is always available to us. I received the gift of sharing that dream with a community that nourished, nurtured, and challenged me.

Farmer Reyna was always so gracious to my slow, clumsy, often goofy process in the fields. A day that stands out is when my parents came to visit (on vacation!) and just happened to join us on a day that we harvested 400 lbs of carrots; one of the more grueling days I ever had on the farm.  My dad and Reyna shared an easy camaraderie and kept repeating, tongue-in-cheek, “It’s wonderful!” to one another as they knelt side-by-side, pulling the carrots from the beautiful earth.

Farmers Reyna and Guadalupe generously shared their stories, expertise, patience, and power with us interns. The heart of this work has always been the farm team. As we journey alongside, or support from a distance, the next steps that these hardworking, patient, adept leaders will take, I hope you share the conviction that their work continues to be worth investing in. Offering a financial foundation for whatever comes next for them is the exact way to honor what the Abundant Table has tried to be all along.

Marigolds, carrots, toads, shining spider eyes, delight, dirt: I will love The Abundant Table forever. I am so grateful to our Abundant Table leaders, the ones that I  worked closely by, and the ones that came after me, all drawn to the soil and the community by a common spirit. I know from the depths of my stardust and garden-dirt heart that this was work worth committing to, work that changed the course of lifetimes.

Thank you, Abundant Table. Thank you for feeding me, teaching me, and pushing me.

With love,

Sarah Holst

Note: Ched & Elaine live and work in Oak View in the Ventura River Watershed with Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries, on unceded Chumash territory.

(To view the images referenced in the love letter, please visit our newsletter archive)

It was, we think, sometime in 2006 that we met Sarah Nolan (far right, IMG1) at a bar in Pasadena, and learned about a project she was hatching out of her chaplaincy program at Cal State Channel Islands University. Her vision was in part, she claimed, animated by an article of Ched’s she’d come across about food justice in the politics of Jesus. We had recently moved from East Los Angeles to the Ventura River Watershed, and were eager to find kindred gospel-rooted folks in our new bioregion. So we were excited to support the experiment in agricultural, ecological and labor justice that Sarah and her colleague Julie Morris were talking about.

This began our accompaniment with this Project, if from the opposite side of Ventura County. Its first seven years were marked by a lively internship program, in which mostly 20-somethings (almost all female) learned how (and how not) to farm. We helped curate gatherings for Bible study, social analysis, and conversations with elders (IMG2, gather-ing with Liz McAlister and Martha Hennessy, Dorothy Day’s granddaughter; IMG3, dialoguing across generations with local Maryknoll Sisters). Our small nonprofit organization enjoyed being a site where TAT interns were also deployed part-time. So many of the young folks we met in those early years became fast friends and colleagues, for which we are deeply grateful (IMG4, three of the first class of interns, 2009).

We did stints on the TAT board in those first half-dozen years, Elaine serving for a while as Treasurer and helping with the books. We admired the tenacity and im-provisation of this upstart program as it built a viable CSA, integrated field work with social and ecological justice engagements, and wove together worlds of faith and food equity. We collaborated in several women’s retreats (one that included a trip down to the U.S.-Mexico border to participate in the annual Posadas sin Fronteras), and were delighted when one intern was baptized at a local beach (IMG6). We witnessed so much beautiful maturation, transformation and real community unfold among the cohorts of interns, even as the project itself evolved and changed.

The last seven years have focused on trying to build a sustainable business plan even as the farm had to migrate to several different sites (in the absence of land owner-ship). Field operations were professionalized under the leadership of farmers Guadalupe and Reyna (far right in the TAT staff photo below, ca. 2018). Navigating challenging race and class dynamics, staff and board explored various organizational models, including a short-lived experiment as a worker-led Collective.

Meantime, innovative programming was curated (such as Farm to School partnerships with local school districts), and community celebrated (such as annual tamaladas). An ecumenical “Farm Church” worship circle evolved and will hopefully continue on (IMG8, gathering at a local sacred site; IMG9, kids at a solstice bonfire).

As supporters, donors and collaborators with TAT over this decade and a half journey (below, a party after a fund-raiser), we developed enormous respect and affection for its brave attempts to curate cooperative small organic farming, as well as community-based education and advocacy, all on a shoestring. Both commitments swam against powerful currents of convention in a region and economy dominated by industrial agriculture, its market imperatives and abuses of land and water.

As happens to so many “demonstration projects” providing alternatives to capitalist production and consumption, TAT’s model could not be sustained in the short term. We lament it closure, and urge our community to support a just transition for employees. But we’ve been in the Movement long enough to know that such experiments are invaluable laboratories for learning the lifetime art of prophetic social change. And we know that seeds planted in the course of this frontline work will yet bear more fruit—indeed are incubating in everyone touched by the Abundant Table. We honor all those involved in this noble experiment: we see you, and know you busted your asses swimming upstream together. It was good work that continues to make a difference. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not yet seen” (Heb 11:1). May we all continue laboring to build a world we want to see, to realize God’s dream of justice and abundance for all!

It feels a little too soon to find the words to fully express my love and gratitude for the way The Abundant Table has formed, reformed and transformed my life and heart. My own reflections underscore and build upon each of the intentional and loving words written so far.

I went looking through photos and experienced a deluge of sensations as full-body memories emerged from deep within. I let them wash over, like the water flowing so freely from the sky these early weeks of winter in Ventura County. Abundance surrounds me.

I will always remember…

• The smell of farm soil after longed-for rain…the sweet warm decadence of picking (and devouring) strawberries in spring…ginormous sunflowers: seeded, sun-facing offerings…the peppery, earthy musk of the tomato plants as my hands reach for their juicy red delight…the enchanting spice of cempasuchil (marigold), field altar to the ancestors.
• The solidity of the earth beneath my feet as I walk the farm, however dry or muddy. Feeling held with each step. 
• Breathing in the light. The beauty and possibility of the fields in the bright morning hours and the deep exhale during the golden hour before sunset.
• The distinct sweetness and crunch of an Abundant Table carrot. 
• Butterflies of excitement and anticipation in my belly before welcoming a group to experience the farm for the first time. The Abundant Table changes lives…what an extraordinary invitation.
• Little ones and young people toddling or frolicing freely through the rows of crops. Tiny fingers and eager taste buds ready to try what the earth has offered.
• Back aches, body groans, weed after weed. Hands sometimes discover intended crop and alleged weed are inextricably intertwined. We leave them to work it out, trusting the earth knows best.
• The awe and wonder of listening to Farmer Guadalupe share ancient knowledge of tending the land, a sacred inheritance he brings into his daily work, moment-by-moment weaving the wisdom of his ancestors.
• Heart beating faster, swells and swirls from within… on fire for justice and healing as Farmer Reyna teaches and preaches the gospel of soil, seed and sun…created, sustained and redeemed by a love embedded in and embodied by Madre Tierra.
• Gasp! Sigh! Glee! Opening up my CSA box with childlike delight…what deliciousness would I find? Always snacking right out of the box and noticing the sensations of being truly fed, perhaps for the first time in my life…
• The comfort and joy of years of delicious and nourishing meals around our family’s table, sourced by food from a farm tended by farmers we know and love. We have connected with the land, put our hands in the nutrient rich sandy-loam soil, harvested food and built relationships with our incredible farmers. I want my children to know what a gift this has been. I think that they do, because as we shared our final meal using our CSA box contents, they lamented aloud what meals would be like without produce from The Abundant Table. The relationships, of course, remain for us to treasure and tend.
• The full body “yes” of sharing communion for the first time (and every time) in this community. Earthen sacrament: on the farm, in a backyard or a living room. The joy and deliciousness of an ensuing Farm Church potluck, often with a hearty salad (and chips and salsa!) at its center. Advent, Lent, tamales, carols, Día de los Muertos, Pride in the Watershed…older traditions and those emerging. I hope this part of The Abundant Table continues to grow and evolve.

I first visited The Abundant Table before it was so named, on a field trip hosted by co-founder Rev. Julie Morris at its first farm location off Hueneme Rd. some 12-13 years ago. My now 16-year old son was so little, and enjoyed sitting with the chickens after harvesting carrots in the fields. At that time, we lived in Pasadena and got our CSA boxes from South Central Farm in Los Angeles, where TAT co-founder Sarah Nolan was also our CSA coordinator. 

Seven years ago, I returned to Ventura County to live, and was lucky enough to complete my graduate field education with The Abundant Table. I was studying at the intersections of social & ecological justice, contemporary spirituality, emerging ministry and liberation theologies. I had no idea how all of those components might come together in any particular place, but The Abundant Table was already a vibrant exploration, brilliantly and courageously weaving threads of racial, economic, gender, language, ecological and food  justice into something that moves beyond description, or rather has become something slightly different and deeply personal to each person she embraces. The collaborative leadership has always been almost entirely women-led, an energizing and empowering shift from a world and industry so dominated by men and patriarchal systems/values.

At a time when I found even the most progressive and radical forms of christianity tiresome and inaccessible, here the gospel became fully alive and animated by the healing and transformative power of intentional relationship: To the earth. To each other. And to the dynamic, creative, mysterious, nurturing and generous source of it all. 

Personally, I came into this community at a time when my own life was completely shattered and broken-open by grief. I yearned for something I could not have named, but found on the farm and in beloved community. 

Over the years, I have been so fortunate to work part-time on staff to help try-on hybrid internship models; co-create farm immersion programs (such as the intergenerational spiritual formation program: “Journey Together at The Abundant Table Farm”/ JT@theAT: 2017 image below on the right); and to support an initiative to regularly invite the public to experience the farm, for the first time or again and again, through the Open Farm program (October 2019 Open Farm weeding pictured below on left) .

I was also generously welcomed into the Farm Church community and have found friendship, connection and spiritual nourishment there. Mutuality is a value I have found to be so life-giving in The Abundant Table.

I have witnessed seasons of conflict, pain and ever-moving change. Agonizing choices, broken relationships and opportunities for moment-by-moment reconciling to truth and to justice. I have seen growth, resilience, death, new life, transformation and transfiguration, each a stunning mirror-like reflection of the seasons of the earth.

Some of my most treasured memories have been listening to stories of The Abundant Table, its origins and its evolutions. Joyful stories, hilarious stories, heartbreaking stories…the fullness of life manifested.

On the farm and in community spaces, we often talk about systems of oppression and control, domination and conquest, and the ways we want to resist, raze, re-imagine, re-create, re-vision and build anew together. What a brave and beautiful journey this has been to be some small part of living and loving into the dream of another way. 

I have seen, time and again, the ways that the staff, board and community have tried to find just and feasible paths to make this small non-profit organic farm sustainable within the framework of capitalism. I know it has been a layered, nuanced, complex and painful learning of just how entangled we are in unjust and oppressive systems. The intention to live into values of justice and integrity does not preclude our complicity in the harmful impacts of racism, classism, sexism, cisheterosexism, ableism and other devastating and dehumanizing systems. As we move forward, I pray that wherever we have caused harm, personally, communally or organizationally, and where there is mutual desire for healing, that we can continue to create opportunities for accountability, restoration and transformation.

To the staff, board and community, past and present: I thank you and celebrate your time and your gifts to The Abundant Table. I have been forever changed by the open invitation into this community.

To the farmers and farm team, especially. Your gifts of tenacious and steadfast labor, immense love, intentional teaching, prophetic wisdom and modeling a new way…words really aren’t enough. My/our gratitude is so big and wide. May you know and experience our continued support, in every way, as you transition into the next chapter.

To everyone who has been a part of this journey: I see and honor the imprint you leave. The labor, the love, the time, the learning, the care, la lucha/the struggle, the rage, the gratitude, the joy, the loss, the grief, the surrender, the departure and the ending.

Tonight, I roasted the remaining gems from the last CSA box in December: two gorgeous butternut squash which have graced my holiday altar for the last month. I sautée onions in butter, thyme and a bit of rosemary, then add the squash, letting the orange heartiness melt into the onion. I add broth, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then remove from the heat. I blend until smooth and stir in just a touch of cream, a little spice and then top with some crumbly cheese…

I am terribly sentimental, so I also shamelessly weep while I wait for the soup to cool enough to take my first of many “last bites/slurps.”

I remind myself this isn’t only an ending, it is a beginning as well. The grief is profound, but so is the love. 

Radical, rooted, emergent love. And that, I know, will sustain us into whatever comes next.

With heart- and body-filled love and gratitude,

Lisa 

Lisa Devine lives in Oxnard  with her spouse, Mike, and growing-so-fast kiddos, Aidan & Lainey. She is a chaplain, writer and practitioner of somatic & healing arts, providing compassionate bereavement care and spiritual accompaniment to individuals and groups. 

Meenal Kelkar and her husband Kris Kelkar are long time CSA subscribers and supporters of our farm education and Solidarity Shares programs.

Back in the days before the Camarillo Farmer’s Market became the bustling place that it is now, it was a handful of stalls with a few die-hard shoppers, such as myself. I had heard about CSA (community supported agriculture) programs and how prevalent it was in other parts of the country, but try as I might, I couldn’t find one in Ventura County. I had such a deep longing to develop that deeper relationship to a farm, to make that commitment to both the farm’s well-being and my own via a weekly box. 

So that first day I saw The Abundant Table’s stand at the Camarillo Market, my attention and my heart were captured.  Vibrant. Vibrating. Both the stand and my body’s reaction to it. Erynn, Catarina and that first batch of interns … their youth, their passion, their knowledge, their voice … it was like a pulse that lit up the market. The huge bunches of greens that were saturated in color.  My body lit up as well.  And then to discover that they had a CSA program?!  Swoon!

Though I was already a firm believer in the nutritional value of fresh produce versus store-bought shipped from unknown locations, saying yes to a weekly box was a leap for me. Would I like what I got? How would I even plan a meal not knowing what I would get? I realized I could either squish the box into my habits or allow the box to be the invitation to develop new ones. Since the former would result in a no to the box, I realized I needed to lean into the latter.  In those days, well before food blogging was a thing, I began to rely on Google to discover new recipes.  What to do with the radishes?  Slice them thinly like the French do with a little sprinkle of salt and a schmear of butter.  What about lettuce when it is cold and I don’t have any desire to eat salads?  Who knew that braising lettuce could be so delicious?  My box became a source of creativity, taking me out of my box so to speak!

One of my favorite memories of TAT is a site visit that my husband and I did for a grant the Social Justice Fund had given to TAT.  We met Erynn at University Prep Elementary School in Camarillo, which contrary to its name, was not a fancy private preparatory school as I used to see in Connecticut where I grew up, but was a public school whose primary population was of low income, farming neighborhoods. We were there to see the final project that the 3rd graders had devised after a semester-long joint program between TAT and the teachers around growing food. The room was buzzing, because there was so much excitement!  The kids on their own had decided what they wanted to teach to their kindergarten counterparts. In one corner of the room, they had a station with medicinal plants. The 3rd graders asked, “Who has an owie?” A bunch of kindergarten hands went up, and they cut an aloe leaf and applied it to the owie. In another corner, they were teaching the kindergartners a song about the different parts of the plant you can eat, along with hand gestures. “The roots, the stem, the leaves, …”  To this day, absolutely no one believes me when I say that what impressed me the most was the game where they had to choose whether a food was sourced locally or globally!  3rd graders teaching this to kindergartners!!!

The goodness that was seeded by TAT, that was nourished and tended by Reyna and Guadalupe and the rest of the team, for so long will continue to flourish in Ventura County for years to come! It is hard for me to find the words to fully express my gratitude. “Thank you” just isn’t enough.

Jerome Kahler was a Board Member from 2012-2023 and Board President from 2018-2023 as well as a loyal CSA member and supporter of the Solidarity Shares program.

I am a weaver. I thought it started when I first encountered Shaker basket making decades ago. I was intrigued by the supple feel of the eighth inch brown ash weavers and simple basket design; the countless oval, round and kitten head baskets I fashioned for gifts. At the same time I wove chair seats with webbing for the dining room Shaker chairs I finished and assembled. Then came a group of chairs with broken cane seats that needed the twisted fiber rush replaced. Eventually Beth bought a four shaft floor loom to reclaim the memory of her grandmother’s weaving room. Since then Beth encourages me to make towels, napkins, runners, and even yardage that she has cut up to sew a jacket to match the dress she bought for a nephew’s wedding. Weaving, whether with strips of wood or reeds, webbing, twisted fibers, or yarn is a regular part of my day. Gardening is a close second.

A weaver gathers ordinary material, interlaces them into a strong network, to create something new. Even a gardener assembles a variety of plants for food for the table as well as for birds and insects, in various configurations of color and texture, that please the eye for all that look upon it. It dawned on me that weaving has been my vocation as an Episcopal priest as well: gathering the assembly at the table and weaving together the gifts and talents of the many into a dynamic group of people answering God’s call to serve others beyond themselves.

My experience of The Abundant Table since its origin has been of an organization that invites individuals to a table of abundance. This is not only a table where healthy foods in rich colors, textures, tastes and smells provide an invitation to eat and be merry. It is also the people gathered around the table who bring their hopes and dreams for a better world. Early directors, Julie Morris and Sarah Nolan, were the weavers who interlaced the personalities and talents of interns and farmers, educators and nutritionists, board members and staff, into an effective web energized to serve a county-wide school, restaurant and CSA membership. This woven work has touched and changed lives, from the interns who arrived knowing nothing about farming, to school children and elders learning and enjoying how our food grows from simple raised bed planters to visits to the farm site and getting to know our farmers. Eating habits have changed. Justice for farmworkers has become common language. Our world has become a better place because The Abundant Table has crossed paths with everyday people.

We are all weavers. This story does not end, praise God.

Thank your for being a part of The Abundant Table.

-Jerome Kahler, board member since 2012

This is a tribute to the sweat and tears that helped the Abundant Table serve Ventura County families and children for years with nutritious, locally grown produce, agricultural education and a spiritual connection to the land. This is not poetic writing, but a glimpse into the grit it took to sustain the Abundant Table for a brief period in its rich history. I admit I write with a heavy heart. Recently I returned to Ventura and have enjoyed my bountiful, colorful CSA boxes again. However, for a couple of years I had the honor of helping steer the Abundant Table from near collapse to a new era of USDA and social action financial support. These grants were necessary to subsidize the labor and sacrifice of our farmers and educators and offset the very real, and very significant costs of farming sustainably. I had an intimate look at what it took to sustain a small-scale farm in a Big Ag world. It was eye opening.

I remember Reyna at the Social Action Network awards luncheon, speaking her truth of finding herself at a young age in the farm fields of California, far away from her home in Mexico City. She described the crippling and backbreaking work of toiling from sunrise to sundown in such vivid detail and the American nightmare—not the American dream—she had found herself in. To this day I cannot drive along the 101 past our fields without pausing in reflection of Reyna’s experience. I remember Guadalupe teaching me about the toxicity of celery harvests and the burning it can leave on the skin. Both shared these stories as an inflection point, to contrast the very differing level of support and working conditions they enjoyed at AT compared to other commercial growers’ farms. We could feel good that we were helping to grow food ethically and using sustainable practices that shielded our farmers from harmful practices. We could approach our farmers with compassion when winter storms made the fields inhospitable and mud chocked and we could also come together as a team to frolic in the fields and pick pesticide-free marigolds for Dia de Los Muertos, adorn our farm hats with pea tendrils in the Spring and enjoy lonche in the shade next to a bin of melons warmed by the summer sun.

But what I quickly learned is that as a society, we do not pay the true costs of our food—especially not if grown with the goal of supporting farmworkers with a decent wage and benefits. I also learned something that seems painfully obvious, but I had never thought of before: farmers take on incredible risk and upfront costs to prep the land, sow the seeds, and tend the crops before they get that critical payout for the produce they have harvested. What we see is the colorful, vivid, juicy farm stalls bursting with seasonal fruits and vegetables. Maybe we balk slightly at what can seem like a pricey heirloom tomato but we are seduced by its fragrance, heft and a feeling of supporting local. And community-supported agriculture is critically important to help defray those upfront costs! Shopping local does matter! But so do subsidies—whether owning your land outright, actual tax breaks, grants or emergency bail outs for inclement weather—which Big Ag benefits from in monumental ways.

What was a little farm to do? The Abundant Table drew upon its faith, its community, and its vision to push for change. In the era I worked for the farm, Reyna and Guadalupe in addition to Sarah Nolan, Jeannette Ban, Erynn Smith and Angela Schultz rolled up their sleeves and got dirty and got vocal. There was so much community organizing and engagement, Farm to School steering committee meetings, Ventura County Farm Days, site visits with grant-makers and social action groups to share this farm’s unique story and gift to the community. We wrote grants—(and won grants!)—to bring healthy cooking classes to monolingual Spanish-speaking communities featuring fresh farm ingredients, farm visits for school children, and the ability to make our CSA boxes SNAP/EBT-approved. But here is the hard truth: without your own land, without enough economies of scale, it’s really, really hard to make it all balance out and so many large farms make it balance out on the backs of its workers.

So, during this difficult time of closure, my thoughts are immediately with our dedicated farm workers; the sacrifices they made to grow our food over the years and the hard reality of the farm’s closure. The ones who during this painful transition must contemplate their next move, their next employment option, the decision to go back to commercial farming or dream and toil for something else. The Abundant Table is still accepting donations to support the staff and I hope you will consider making a gift. In gratitude to the AT staff,

Amy

Cristina Rose was an intern in the first year of The Abundant Table farm internship program. She lived in the DeBusschere farm house with four other interns. Together, the interns, Julie Morris, Paul DeBusschere, Augustin and Juan, and Sarah Nolan started Join the Farm CSA which evolved into The Abundant Table Farm.

My year at the Abundant Table from 2009-10 was life changing. Sarah Nolan and I had been chaplains for the episcopal church, and when she invited me and Oliverdog to be a part of this beautiful community, I couldn’t have imagined all the gifts that would come. I went from profa and chaplain to intern and part time doctoral student. And, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. 

I can only say that the magic lies in the simple space we created, that there is something magical about embodying a love for sister circles and Mama Tierra at the farm while deep in scholarship on gender, ethnic studies,  philosophy, and religion. I got to truly live into my studies and let my lived reality at the farm shape my research. There were literally  new pathways in my brain and new movements of my body.  And, what I gained was a fundamental trust in the Earth’s abundance and communal living. A trust in myself as well. 

I will always remember the times at the farm we spent in conversations, the joy of our meals together, and the dancing in local spaces! And these beautiful moments continued far after “my year at the farm.”

In the 2010s, I would go on to complete my doctoral work, become a profa again, and have a child. And, although my studies and travels took me to many new places, I came back and continue to come back to this part of California that is now so dear to me because of the people who are here. 

These last 14 years, I loved visiting and meeting new farmers, particularly Reyna and Guadalupe. Indeed, they are now a part of my chosen family. I hold them and the many others who have kept the land and the community with great honor and respect. 

Altogether, I want to express great gratitude to the Abundant Table family! 

Our final love letter comes from The Rev. Julie Morris. Julie was one of the cofounders of the Abundant Table campus ministry at Cal State Channel Islands which gave birth to the Join the Farm CSA , the Abundant Table internship program, and Farm Church. Julie long served as a “midwife” supporting and facilitating much life that grew from The Abundant Table.

       Reflecting on my experience of the Abundant Table brings me to these words of Jesus: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  The blessing is for those who are hungering, searching, and working for righteousness, not those who have achieved it. The desire of the Abundant Table, from its beginnings as a campus ministry at CSUCI in 2006, was to live in and encourage right relationships (righteousness) with God, others, self, and the earth. Of course, we never achieved it, and there were times when we were painfully far from it, but there were many moments when we really were filled with the joy that comes to those who are longing and trying for righteousness.  The moment in Year Zero when Judy Lucas uttered her famous phrase, “an atomic love explosion,” comes to mind.  With the Abundant Table, I experienced the kind of church I think Jesus had in mind for his followers: a humble, inclusive, joyful, hands-in-the dirt, feeding people, trying-to-live-in-a-different-way community. 

        I will never forget the most nutritious and delicious pot-lucks with the most loving, open-hearted, justice-minded, brilliant, and fun people you could imagine.  I can testify to the micro-healing that comes from pulling a carrot out of the ground and walking with children through rows of radishes, beets, and kale. I received inspiration and grace from everyone who worked on the farm, in its several locations, especially from Reyna and Guadalupe. I am so grateful for their labor and love for the earth and the community.  I desperately miss their beautiful CSA boxes. I’ll never know for sure, but I think thirteen years of eating all those organic greens and coming to truly love them has added years to my and my family’s lives.  The Abundant Table transformed me, and I am confident the same is true for all who are, or have been, close to it.  The main concern around the closure has rightly been support for the farm team as they transition to new work. Please give another gift today to send them off well.  You can donate here:  https://theabundanttable.org/donate/

I’m thankful to have been part of the founding and early days of the Abundant Table, and thankful to every intern, staff member, volunteer, board member, and CSA member who helped develop and sustain the vision.  Although there are many others, I want to mention some by name who will always have my admiration, gratitude, and love:

• St. Columba’s Episcopal Church for seeding the campus ministry.
• Ted and Judy Lucas for jumping into the campus ministry, for being the Farm House parents, and for introducing us to NVC, Nelle, and Rick. 
• Sarah Nolan for naming the Abundant Table, leading us into farming, and doing so much of the heaving lifting.
• Paul DeBusschere for the space and support to incubate such an unconventional and beautiful experiment while we were raising three little girls.
• The first community of interns: Erynn, Katerina, Sarah, Casey, and Cristy Rose. You did amazing things.
• Elaine Enns and Ched Myers for being the radical discipleship godparents to the whole project and to so many of the community members.
• Jerry Kahler for showing me what generosity, perseverance, prayer, and faithfulness look like.
• Lisa Devine for seeing the heart of the Abundant Table and knowing how to tend its soul.
• Reyna Ortega for her powerful work and inspired preaching.
• Erynn Smith for coming as close to righteousness (right relationship with God, others, self, and the earth) as I think I’ve ever witnessed.

God bless everyone who has given to or received from the Abundant Table.  Take the spirit of the Abundant Table and keep hungering and thirsting for righteousness. You will be filled.

Gratefully and Sincerely,

Julie Morris +