Want to Learn about Love? Spend a Day with Prema Farms
Prema Farms is right on the border of Nevada and California, but the landscape is not split between state lines, it is all high desert.
On a hot Tuesday morning last summer, Max, Holden and I drove out to the farm, down the winding dirt road, and spotted the greenhouses framed by the still snowcapped mountains behind them. Walking onto the farm is an experience in surprise and transcendence. There is so much life. The desert feels more alive because of the quiet abundance of the small farm tucked into its vast landscape. The greenhouse tomatoes, started in January, were bursting with perfectly ripe fruits. Holden ran along the rows unable to resist the harvest of these vibrant orange and red orbs and discovered huge cucumbers, snow peas, beets, bok choy, basil and other crops interplanted. The outdoor fields are full of purple and red lettuces, kale, onions, carrots and radishes. We popped tomatoes in our mouth, crunched snap peas and cucumbers and talked to the owners and operators of the farm, Zach Cannady and Kasey Crispin, and played with their two daughters, Anjali and Rishi.
What you learn from talking to Zach and Kasey about the farm and farming, is that there is no separation between life and the farm. The physicality of the farm, its inherent lessons in acceptance and connection to sense of place, soil health, abundance, challenges and constant learning mirror and give shape to the deep values that they graciously live by.
AH: Can you tell me about the farm and how it started? What roles do each of you fill?
ZC: I was working at the Great Basin Food Coop as a produce manager, and my friend Andrew was working there also. We knew there was a deeper need for food from this area and we knew it was possible to grow it. What started as a conversation between us turned into a collaboration where we sat down with a group and started to imagine what was possible. We looked at land and sites around the city and ran soil tests. The results were poor, some land was recently sprayed and we wouldn’t be able to grow on it for years. This land out here chose us. I dug a nine foot hole and didn’t hit clay pan. This land has the best soil in the area.
Everything you see was done by hand. It is clean and meticulous and the systems are our own design. The soil health is paramount. We bring in 10 yards of compost a month and put in 100 pounds of compost and soil per 50 feet. There are so many insects, like lady bugs, and hundreds of earth worms in each cubic foot.
KC: Our skill sets are complimentary. I’m good at the aesthetics, PR, and little details. I don’t have as much time to physically work at the farm since I’m with the girls most of the time so I can put the time in on the computer and behind the scenes. Zach’s priority is good looking vegetables. He has a mind for efficiency, systems and organization. He’s a big picture thinker and he can make predictions and insights about the future that turn out to be accurate.
AH: How is this place and farming a representation of who you are, how you parent and your values?
ZC: This land and farming is about the interconnectedness of all beings. You are everything, this soil is no different than you. We don’t treat farming like a separate experience. It is the same as raising a family. We’re not telling the girls one thing about life and values, and then showing them something else, this is our way of life. When we teach to our highest values, there are inherent contradictions, but living life with purpose through our example and actions allows them to absorb the experience and meaning without overwhelming them with words.
With customers, or people in general, when you start bringing in too much philosophy and your own perspective, it doesn’t work. You have to allow them to experience the love, passion and value of the work and let it speak for itself and not superimpose our own ideals on the community. People are perfect where they are at in the moment and everything is as it should be, the good and the bad.
There are two types of love. One is conditional. Prema is the Sanskrit word for supreme love. This type of love understands, sees the big picture and is compassionate. Softness is needed from me in this work. I come back to patience and ease. We’re so invested in the farm and failure is not far from us, it feels close, but I remember failure doesn’t exist, just opportunity.
AH: You told me about Advaita Vedanta. Can you tell me more about non-dualism and how it guides your everyday life? How does a grounding philosophy shape the big and small moments of your day, your life and work?
KC: Advaita Vedanta is at the core of Zach's & my striving and focus. Ultimately this ancient teaching is aimed at freedom. The freedom one gains when s/he unravels the limiting perspectives of who we are as non-dual beings and awakens to the Awareness that precedes (and is aware of) everything in our reality.
The simplest way to describe this Awareness is to inquire who it is we are. Are we our name? Our profession? Our role in our family structure? Are we our thoughts? Or, are we the awareness of our thoughts and all of those labels we temporarily affix to ourselves? And if we are indeed the latter (which Vedanta systematically proves that we are through a process of logical inquiry), then are we subject to the winds of time and waters of emotion? Or are we simply observers of all that is happening (to us and around us) in this fascinating cosmic adventure?
As we begin to actualize the knowledge of who we really are, life's true priorities emerge in our minds. Our choices are no longer dictated by desires and fears because a hard and fast knowledge that "I am whole, complete, unborn, unconcerned, eternal awareness" alleviates the need to become anything “more.” Few people are fully realized in this way, and many who were are immortalized by us as saints and masters. Rightly so, as anyone who works through the tacky web of “vasanas,” or latent tendencies engorging the subconscious is absolutely a hero. According to these ancient doctrines, achieving self-realization is as hard as “taming the wind,” and is considered the most difficult feat a human can accomplish. So yeah, we're chipping away at that one day at a time!
AH: Can you tell me about your approach to mothering and parenting? How did becoming a parent change your life and impact your choices and beliefs? What teachings or people guide you along this journey?
KC: Pregnancy was trying to warn me, or prepare me, even. But I missed most of its cues and ending up learning hard and fast that parenting (and mothering in particular) was a crash course in s u r r e n d e r. The first year of being a mother challenged me in ways I couldn't predict. I didn't realize how slow the days would be, how very little alone time I'd have, and that'd I effectively handed over my daily schedule to a brand new baby. I was humbled by how attached I was to “getting things done” each day—that my own sense of worth was tightly tangled to my perceived level of productivity.
My first child was as demanding as she was adorable, and I affectionately (mostly) referred to her as my little velcro baby. As she grew older and her newborn cries evolved into more articulate demands, things got easier, but I still faced a very strong-willed child. Despite the challenges that can present, I deeply value her sense of herself. I relied heavily on RIE teachings (Respectful Infant Education) the first 3 years with my first child, especially from author and parent guide, Janet Lansbury. Sometimes called “reconnected parenting,” this teaching focuses on the inherent need for children to have a safe space to express the full spectrum of their emotions and to be compassionately guided on how to navigate the world. I liked it because it asked me to confront my own conditioning about what is appropriate for our emotional health. It helped me see how I'd learned to push away uncomfortable feelings in my own self because I deemed it inappropriate to express and process them. Instead, as I embraced this parenting approach and welcomed whatever my child needed to share with me, I also embraced my own full spectrum of experience—however lovely or awkward it might be.
Ultimately, as we get good at this, we begin to understand that all emotions come and go. I consider this realization fundamental to leading a healthy, balanced life, free from the escapist or overly ambitious pursuits rampant in our culture.
AH: What are your favorite foods to eat right now? What are your favorite farming resources (for people who farm, or want to learn how to get started).
KC: Hakurei turnips straight from the ground still blow me away. Something happens just 10 minutes after being uprooted that begins to change that magical buttery experience. Celery also holds a special place in my heart. We drink a quart of its juices everyday and are considering creating an altar for it alone. Sweet potatoes come in as a close third. We haven't mastered growing them (they're notoriously hard up here), but we consume 4-6 everyday, so you might say we're obsessed.
Farming resources include anything market gardening oriented and also pre-WW2 farming books. There's a solid Market Gardeners group on Facebook that proves to be a helpful resource for all kinds of farmers. We also highly regard anything by Elliot Coleman and Connor Crickmore.