Eggs, Ashes, and Live Music: Life and Death Experienced at Merry Lea

We at Merry Lea Sustainable Farm emerged in April to find spring peepers, shiitake mushrooms, and budding fruit trees, all of which brightened what had been a tough winter. As is becoming a regular tradition, we offered a farm open house on April 10, which brought together students, farm neighbors, folks from the local food pantry in Wolf Lake, former interns, and friends of Merry Lea. Over 40 people showed up, and just in time to show our new chickens (seven Silkies, and ten larger hens of various varieties). One of our graduate students in the Masters of Arts in Environmental Education program was particularly excited to have chickens (and thus eggs!) back at the farm.

Between the farm open house, spring break day camp with elementary school kids from nearby, and the return of May Term students at the end of the month, April was a busy month with more sounds of laughter and activity all around. The greenhouse was bursting with trays of green. And there was much to celebrate. Thank you, Theory Expats, for performing live music in our new barn for the first time ever!

Perhaps most memorable was burying Dale Hess’ ashes in the Osthemo orchard at the farm on April 27.

His son and other Goshen College students sang a few songs at the service, and attendees places shovels of soil into the whole where the ebony wooden box was placed in the ground. Even Dale’s grandson Elias got to participate. That day was sacred, as was the space we shared in the orchard that day.

– Jon Zirkle