Friends of the farm,
Happy New Year, and hello to 2025. I’m writing this letter while cramped on an airplane (middle seat). I’ll schedule this email to go out in the very early morning for all of you early birds, so it can be read and enjoyed with a cup of coffee or tea, in those quiet moments of a new day, the ones that ooze life and possibility. The words and pictures could unfold in tandem with the rising sun and blossoming level of caffeine. Although, I think that’s way too optimistic for a silly farm newsletter with amateur writing, at best.
Out of 2024
Learning the basics of shooting film photographs in 2024 was magical. On a film camera you can’t “chimp,“ or check a photo in the digital camera display. The “decisive moment” of pushing the shutter button, as Henri Cartier-Brasson coined it (French artist and pioneer of street photography), becomes even more “decisive” when you’re only taking one shot, versus 20. And getting a roll of film back, usually after a painfully long wait, feels reminiscent of being a kid again on Christmas morning.
My makeshift SoCal “winter” runs from October to December, and this is when (between frantically clearing garden beds and planting for spring) I scratch the violent travel itch I have, which directly opposes my equally strong desire to be rooted in a place to farm. My off-season has taken me on a few different journeys: San Francisco, Green Bay, and Baja. My film camera has traveled with me to all of these places, and I’ve included a selection of my favorite photos from the aforementioned trips in this letter.
All to say, trips have been had, and I’m feeling ready and excited for another nine months of being joyously tethered to the land and our amazing community, eking out a gritty existence farming.
I ran 947 miles, and read 50 books in 2024. I ran a similar amount of miles in 2023, once again, just short of the ever-elusive 1,000-mile mark. Maybe next year. Writing about running seems a bit too niche for this farming community, so let’s talk about books!
I shared a few of my favorite reads from the first half of the year in my summer reflection.
My top 5 favorite reads from August through December:
I have a robust reading list coming along for 2025. I love the idea of having the scaffolding of a reading list already constructed at the beginning of the new year to help with decision fatigue, library holds, and riding that joyful wave of momentum of finishing a book, into the often-difficult job of starting a new one.
In 2024, I read a handful of Pulitzer Prize-winners. This year I think I’ll read a splattering of National Book Award-winners – ones that pique my interest, anyway.
2024 time-saving favorites, which gave me more time for sleeping, reading, running, and snuggling children on the couch:
Into 2025
Business-wise, in 2025 I’m aspiring to continue to grow the farm. We’re shooting for slow, sustainable, “human” growth. For us in the past this has meant increasing our flower production and sales by around 25 percent.
I’m looking forward to awe-inspiring moments in the gardens and in nature while running. I can’t wait to be pierced in the heart by arresting prose. I want to be a good friend, mother, partner, and present for my childrens’ lives. I’ll simultaneously be holding onto the awareness that my personal accomplishments — like miles run and books read and business achievements — are entirely meaningless: dust in the wind.
My question for you in conclusion as we set out, together, on a new year fraught with unknowns:
When does beauty become a matter of urgency?
With love and gratitude,
Rachel Nafis
Let’s stay in touch, yeah?
