March Update
Up until recently our family avoided contemplating death as no one close to us had ever died, we had always been healthy, and cemeteries and places that housed sick people were in far off neighborhoods we seldom encountered. We knew little about religion — even at the funeral, we chose only for Anne’s father Bill, not a priest or rabbi, to address the large crowd that gathered.
Anne’s passing has not made us religious, but there is no doubt it has changed us. Looking at photos of the kids from before and after October 9th you can plainly see that smiles are slightly altered —a curl of the lip, a squint of the eye, are signs of a sadness that will be with us forever.
Now when we come across an article or a book about death, we talk about it. We learned Ash Wednesday preaches "You are dust and to dust you will return.” For us, lessons like that drive us — to the best of our abilities — to leave no opportunity unattended, to work hard, and to not complain about meaningless things — all attributes of Anne.
Anne lived a life worthy of imitation! She treated everyone without thought of what she would get in return. She avoided almost every temptation to be lazy and besides a fancy bicycle and nice blue jeans to succumb to consumerism. She shopped from brick and motor, local, and family-owned businesses. She bought food at the edges of supermarkets, seldom in the middle with brands promoting unrecognizable ingredients. She wasted no rind (mac-and-cheese) or stale bread (croutons). She squeezed out every single last bit of toothpaste, scraped out every last bit of yogurt and peanut butter from the jar, and reused every plastic container until it cracked!
These same core values define the family farms Anne worked with — and who now work with ASLF. Our mission is to champion family-run operations built on a human scale that produce only the highest quality foods. We celebrate farmers who know everyone along their production chain and who work hard but without pushing their soil, animals, or team further than what’s right — who understand the concept of limits and what is enough. These farms do not create unnecessary waste or hurt the environment and thus they are good neighbors, even to those they will never meet.
After much discussion, we concluded that the best way to honor Anne’s life and legacy would be to support the next generation of leaders to learn through meeting and working with these farms. Our hope is this will lead to the creation of more sustainable, good, clean, and fair businesses everywhere.
We need apprentices to apply for our exchange program’s historic first year! We have a few applications in already but could use more. You can download the form here. Please send it to your friends, family, and colleagues! The application is open to young adults 17-25, with additional consideration given to graduate students or those in life or career transitions that have led them to a desire to work in food and agriculture. Apprenticeships are fully paid including travel, room, and board as well as pay at $20/hour for 40 hour work weeks. Travel this year is in July or August for 30 days and applications are due April 1st!
Please find our list of host farms here and on Instagram: @AnneSaxelbyLegacyFund. And please save the date September 14, 2022 when Chelsea Market in NYC will host 40 chefs and artisan tables for the first ever ASLF fundraiser!
Moving along!
Sincerely,
Patrick