Pizza, Peace, and Open Mic
By Daisy Roberts
I have been at TGE farm for about 7 weeks, but the ever-perplexing mysteries of time make this fact hard for me to believe. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been at the farm my whole life, and in other moments I feel like the summer has raced by since the day I arrived, sweaty and nervous, nearly 2 months ago. Where has the time gone?
I guess it’s gone to the sustenance of the garden, to the feeding and watering of precious animals and to the community bridging events on the farm like pizza nights and firework shows and hosting campers. The time has gone to long, hot, tiring days and yummy vegetarian dinners and bike rides on the Sioux Falls bike path. To strategizing each new dream and the many possibilities and considerations of each with Jeff and Nancy (and Syd and Buck, and Pearl, when she graces us with her grape-craving, tortilla chip-loving presence).
It has been pretty amazing to witness the realization of Jeff and Nancy’s wood fired pizza dream-- not only is the pizza delicious, perfected through long practiced recipes and countless practice pizza dinners (and plenty of pizza for the pigs, too 😁 ), but perhaps more importantly, the way pizza nights serve as a catalyst for community building, something the Kirstein’s have long prioritized with their lovely space. Nancy and I have had many talks about the motivations behind bringing people out to the farm. I think in our rapid-paced and overly stimulating human world, it’s easy to find oneself chasing frantically after the next event, the next distraction, the next photo-worthy experience. But the farm, we hope, is a space where people can release this chaotic and exhausting business to instead find some grounding, some pause, some peace. And I keep thinking that maybe we don’t need to always create scavenger hunts and activities to fill people's time on the farm-- maybe it is enough to invite people to the space where they can sit on the deck and watch the birds flit in and out of the pig house, see Harold lazing happily in his mud pool under the cabana, watch T-bone flicking away the flies and grazing with his bestie Rex while Maria and Rita lay with their heads resting on each other. Maybe it is enough to walk the grass trails, watching the prairie ripple in the wind like the sea, feeling the breeze and looking for beavers in the creek. This seems so necessary, and so lucky, to have a space where people can come just to BE, and breathe, and commune with nature for a moment, before returning to the hustle and bustle and crush of the day to day. Maybe people can even take some of this peace with them, letting time on the farm serve as restoration and rejuvenation. It’s always been said that food brings people together, and in the case of TGE pizza it couldn’t be more true. So I hope that anyone who could use some peace, time in nature, meaningful community, pizza and drinks, good conversation, and face time with the one and only Pearl, (which, who doesn’t need more of all these things??) can find some time amidst the business of life to come out and share in the love with us.
Lastly, I feel called to share a bit about our Open Mic Night this coming Saturday. I am a singer songwriter, and I got my start performing at a wonderful open mic in my hometown Columbus, giving me a great appreciation and tenderness for the power and capacity of open mics to provide people with a safe and free space to explore the wonders of artistic self expression, which, in my experience, is one of the most satisfying and healing practices in self care. When I had my phone interview with Nancy before coming to the farm, I told her I wanted to have an open mic on the farm. So I am really excited for this Saturday, and I hope it can be an event of community, a celebration of creativity, and the start of an ongoing engagement with music on the farm. I’ve never hosted an open mic before, but with the wonderful environment of the farm and our safe and uplifting community, I think it’ll be a wonderful night. Plus, there will be pizza and alcohol (-: