Reflect or move on?

Thinking back on 2008 most people are more than happy to turn their backs and say good riddance. No doubt, 2008 was a rough one.

There were some bright spots though. Most importantly we are all happy, healthy and eating well and despite the tough times, 2008 turned out to be the best year we've had to date. People continued coming to the market despite the economic turndown. That's a huge positive in my mind. Even now as the situation has become more challenging, I'm still hearing people say they are committed to eating well and supporting their local farmers. Perhaps our years of building relationships and creating a consistent market are paying off. Regardless, Thank all of you for supporting Maple Rock and helping us become a viable business.

I'm seeing some interesting things happen on Orcas right now. People are coming together a bit more within the community and some creative projects and business's are emerging as a result. That's a positive in its self right there. I hope and believe we can build on that and if we do we'll emerge as a stronger, more resilent community on the other side from the mess we're in right now. It seems obvious we are in for some even rougher times coming up here in the short term. Hopefully they'll be just that: short term.

This will be the time it is most important for us to support each other to keep our lives in tact. Shop local when you can. Support your local farms and small business's for your essential needs. Use or reuse your resources at hand to the best of your ability. Be creative, many of us have lost or will be losing at least some if not all of our income stream. What are you going to do to replace that? Hopefully the answer is not "pack up and leave" We'll need to be creative to come up with a new plan. It can happen. Actually having some diversity may force us to take leaps we were afraid of in the past. Be brave! It will get better.

Ultimately you could say this is all a good thing. How may Linens & things and Circuit Cities do we really need. Oil consumption is down. Maybe Detroit will pull their heads outta their asses and start making a decent car that gets more than 30 mpg! Please... You can't tell me we can put a man on the moon but we can't make a car that gets 100 mpg. It's bullshit! Maybe we'll all buy less crap we don't really need anyway? How about everyone having their own kitchen gaden and more community pea patches. Sorry... starting to rant but hopefully you get the idea.

So in a sea of doom I'm going for the bright spots. The're out there. You just have to pull back a layer and look.

Keep well and may 2009 be most excellent to all of you.

Farmer John