WHAT’S IN A NAME

WILD WELLSPRING FARM

In 2014 I found myself learning how to become a farmer as an apprentice at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. My journey to that point had already been long and winding. One that started in my youth in California, brought me to Boulder for university studies followed by years in magazine art direction, then pastry production. 10 years of living in Boulder had started to instill a sense of home and place, but I was still unsettled in my search for purpose and work. It wasn’t until I found agriculture that the pieces truly started to fall into place. By 2014 I had been learning and growing at Stone Barns for almost three years when the time to pick a place and a path towards long term farming was approaching.

It was at this pivotal moment that I was introduced to the book Nature and the Human Soul by Bill Plotkin, who has studied cultures around the globe that are deeply connected to the earth and natural cycles. “He describes the challenges and benefits of the eight nature-and-soul-centered stages of life. Each illuminated by the pairing of a human archetype with and Earth archetype: the Innocent int he Nest (early childhood), the Explorer in the Garden (middle childhood), the Thespian at the Oasis (early adolescence), the Wanderer in the Cocoon (late adolescence), the Soul Apprentice at the Wellspring (early adulthood), the Artisan in the Wild Orchard (late adulthood), the Master in the Grove of Elders (early elderhood), and the Sage in the Mountain Cave (late elderhood).

As I read the wisdom he had collected, and reflected on my own path and journey, I recognized that I was right on time with my process. I had spent the last 5 years “Wandering in the Cocoon” when I left my home in Boulder, searching for the work that would help my soul sing. This helped me recognize that the next step on my path was to return to the place I felt most at home to begin the true work of “Soul Apprentice at the Wellspring”. I knew I wanted to return to Colorado, to return and begin my journey into ‘adulthood’. It was with the guidance in the language of archetypes that I created the name of my farm business Wild Wellspring. In my work I try to remain in the mindset of the ‘Apprentice at the Wellspring’, always learning and seeking, and recognizing and honoring that this path of farming will always have a Wild side to it, with so many factors outside of my control.

In 2016 I returned home to Colorado, with a renewed sense of place and a commitment to the work I wanted to do in the world, and Wild Wellspring was born. The farm has undergone many changes and iterations, and is now at a new location. I am so humbled and privileged to have the responsibility of helping transform the old Haystack Mountain golf course into a regenerative landscape with a working farm. We will continue our winter-only CSA, always with a focus on encouraging local eating year round. We still grow using low-till, hand-scale, intensive systems, integrating cover crop rotations and prioritize soil health into every planting. We grow only open-pollinated vegetables that can adapt to our region, to emphasize the importance of and respect for this place we get to grow, live and eat. Thank you for joining me on this journey of feasting into the depths of winter, while embracing the hard and heartfelt work of working with and for community and the land. What makes your soul sing?