Embracing Change
A Personal Update from York Meadow Farm
In our last blog post here at York Meadow Farm, we were thrilled to share some exciting updates regarding our partnership with Natural Ferments. We discussed our collaborative efforts, focusing on cooperative work arrangements, the preservation of culinary legacies, and ensuring sustainable sales and distribution. Additionally, we hinted at more updates to come throughout the 2024 season.
One of the highlights from that last post was our commitment to quality. We announced our desire to improve the quality of our lacto-fermented foods, using state-of-the-art food processing equipment. Our aim is to deliver products that evoke the traditional production methods of yesteryear. We also emphasized the health benefits of lacto-fermented foods, rich in probiotics, vitamins, and enzymes.
We're truly grateful for the ongoing support from our community. We have received support in terms of feedback from the changes we’re implementing for the 2024 season, and we’ve received support in some other ways as well…and I’d be remiss if I didn’t share them with you. As many of you know, I have a chronic neurological condition known as epilepsy, or a brain condition that causes recurring seizures.
While I’ve been having seizures since the age of 13 – the nature of my epilepsy has changed recently. My neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic has updated my epilepsy diagnosis to “intractable” – which simply means that a patient’s seizures fail to come under control with treatment. Over the past few months, I’ve had more seizures than I’ve normally had, along with additional testing performed to monitor it all.
Moreover, some of the seizures have resulted in falls which required trips to the emergency room and CT scans to ensure no bones were broken or damage was incurred. I am very grateful to my mother and my sister for being there to help me out during these challenging times. Furthermore, I am grateful to the customers who are understanding about the delays in orders on account of these setbacks.
Besides all the action that has taken place on account of my epilepsy over the past few months, there has been some other exciting news on the homestead which has resulted in some delays in production and delivery. For example, we’ve experienced some challenges with our septic tank system – and now consider ourselves to be quite well-versed in this arena now…so if you have any questions about septic systems and local providers, please feel free to reach out and we’ll be happy to discuss this with you.
In addition to the epilepsy and challenges with the septic system here on the homestead, the past six weeks took place during Great Lent, or the period of preparation leading up to Holy Week and Pascha. Great Lent is a time of renewed devotion: of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is a time of repentance, a real renewal of minds, hearts, and deeds in conformity with Christ and his teachings. The original purpose of the pre-Pascha fast (now known as Great Lent) was the fasting of catechumens who were being prepared for baptism and entry into the Church. Last week, on Holy Saturday, I was received into the Orthodox Church with friends and family at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Akron.
That time during Great Lent allowed me to focus on and better understand what is truly important to me in this life…which is my faith in God. After decades of searching and seeking, I’m now able to understand that what I was looking for this entire time was perhaps the best kept secret in the Unites States among Christians – the Orthodox Church. If you want to know more about it, let me know.
Furthermore, my faith has allowed me to come to grips with and fully accept my epilepsy. What I once viewed with resentment and loathing, I’ve come to understand that it may be one of the greatest blessings in my life. I may be able to use these experiences to be of service to others who are suffering. What a blessing to have such a dramatic shift of perspective in such a short amount of time. The way in which I’ve grown over the past two years since transitioning to the homestead full-time is remarkable.
While this blog post was something that I wasn’t really looking forward to writing and sharing, it has turned into something that’s difficult to explain. This blog post is effectively my “re-entry” into social media for the 2024 season…something I stepped away from during Great Lent. In what seemed like such a short amount of time – it’s been full of changes that feel quite dramatic…and since York Meadow Farm is such a big part of my life, I wanted to share where I’ve been, where I’m at, and why I’m there. Being fully transparent with all of you who’ve helped to support me will help me be of better service to my family, my community, and better understand, accept, and execute upon God’s will for my life.
Sharing all of this with you is liberating. I am learning who and what is important in life. I am also beginning to learn to say “no.” A respected friend of mine has encouraged me to understand that “no” is a complete sentence and that I can say it without feeling guilty. Understanding my limitations and setting boundaries is important. While it often feels as though I may not understand who I am – I am beginning to understand who I’m not. This is a critical step in one’s growth and development. Not only do most accept it, but many even seem to respect it…and that is quite humbling. Thank you.
As the 2024 season continues, look for updates on social media as well as here in the blog. We’ll be covering projects taking place, the new Google Business Listing for Natural Ferments, updates to our tenant farmer and internship programs, and more! It’s going to be another exciting season here at York Meadow Farm, and I very much look forward to sharing it all with you on behalf of the family.
Thank you all for your understanding, prayers, and well wishes.
I sincerely appreciate all of it and I sincerely appreciate you.
Christ is risen!
Rob