“The grower of trees, the gardener, the man born to farming . . . to him the soil is a divine drug. What miraculous seed has he swallowed that the unending sentence of his love flows out of his mouth like a vine clinging in the sunlight, and like water descending in the dark?”

–Wendell Berry, poet & farmer-philosopher

What is it about tending one’s own plants that so wholly captures the senses, emotions, muscles and intellect all at once? The truth is, there is just something about it. At 10:00 one recent morning, a group of colleagues who would usually be found behind desks in the High Mowing offices trickled into parking spaces along a dusty roadway leading to a field of pepper plants. The office staffers were amenable, snatching up tools and heading straight for the pepper beds with hardly a word of training or advice. They had only allotted an hour of time to help the High Mowing Trials field crew with the task at hand – weeding six rows, 200 feet each. As the sun rose higher in the sky and the lengths of healthy, newly freed pepper plants increased, the group’s satisfaction was palpable. Soon the hour was past, and yet in the heat of the midday sun, they remained – smiling, laughing, exchanging stories and knowledge. And before long, what would have taken the usual three-person field crew the better part of a day was well on the way to being finished in just a couple of hours. August on a farm means weeding. Weeding, harvesting, planting, managing pests, more harvesting, more weeding, more pests . . . on and on and on. And that list doesn’t even encompass all the little steps that go into each of those larger tasks - like washing, packing, storing, irrigating, composting, bed prepping, seeder calibrating, putting reemay on and pulling it off, breaking things, fixing things, storing things, buying new things, retiring old things. So, August on a farm means lists. Long lists of hard tasks. In fact, there’s so much to do that it can be easy to lose sight of why we do it. For the staff at High Mowing, as for many growers, this question of “why” speaks to our very core. There is a joy in laboring to provide good food. It is this joy that motivates a farmer to hoe just one more row before the sun sets; the joy that motivates a gardener to sow just one more planting of lettuce before the frost; the joy that motivates the eater to say, with pride, “I grew this” as they sit down to enjoy a meal. It is important to us to take the time to reflect; to engage not only our hands, but our hearts. We are dedicated to this work that is so essential to maintaining the foundation of a healthy, sustainable food system. This idea of why we do what we do is one that High Mowing has been discussing and collaborating on as a company this summer. We are excited to share some of this visionary work with you. We’re in it for the long haul – committed to our task until that last bed of peppers is finally weeded.                     Here’s what some of our staff have to say about why they love what they do: “I believe in High Mowing’s philosophy that healthy environments, healthy economies, healthy communities and healthy bodies all start with the seed.”  –Julie, Sales & Customer Service “At High Mowing, we get to participate positively in the evolution of organic food systems by addressing a part that is essential and universal: the seed.” –Jacob, Contract Seed Production & Product Development “The belief that we can change the world one seed at a time is very alive and in practice at High Mowing.” –Susanne, Human Resources & Accounting “Passion and commitment are at the heart of what each person brings to High Mowing. We’re working towards a mission so much greater than ourselves. I’m motivated by the energy of my peers, their faith in the mission that drives each person to bring a positive, engaged energy every day they come to work.” –Kristen, Commercial Grower Sales “High Mowing challenges me to help create sustainable solutions to the problems we face. I consider it work that really matters.” –Tom, General Manager “I love farming for a million reasons, but farming at High Mowing is special. Our impact goes beyond just growing seeds. We are modeling a new way to grow seeds that fits with our values in a changing world.” –Molly, Seed Production Keep an eye out for our new seed catalog - available November 1st, 2017 - for more highlights from High Mowing about why we love what we do.