Looking back on 2007 by Ann Rader This year has been full of surprises - and of blessings. Last January my mother went to the emergency room here in Middletown for intense pain and a week later was diagnosed with cancer. Mom and Dad had to stay at home in Dauphin, Pa., away from the chaos at Freedom Farm to get through surgeries and chemotherapy. We were faced with the challenge of moving forward without vital members of our family/community. They have helped with everything from changing diapers to fixing broken screens, not to mention preparing snacks and leading small garden groups with our summer youth. I had really relied on their company during Edgar’s long shifts at the firehouse. So, we prayed that God would send us help. Soon after Mom and Dad left for Pa., Deborah and her husband Ken Bontrager, who directs Camp Deerpark, a Mennonite camp ten miles away from us, invited us to dinner and introduced us to Kim and Sean McConaghay, Camp Maintenance Director. Like us, Sean and Kim were relatively new to town, so we began eating meals together every Tuesday. Dawn Rojas and her son Tyler from our church started joining us and “Soup Tuesday” has become a community meal for all interested folks. The seeds of connection between Freedom Farm, Camp Deerpark, and our local church, Otisville-Mt. Hope Presbyterian, had been planted. In the early spring, Sean arranged for a number of volunteer groups who came to Camp Deerpark to help out at Freedom Farm. The groups planted countless trays of seedlings, picked rocks, pulled weeds, created garden walkways, and prepared beds. Volunteers from our church, such as Bill and Dottie Byrne spent hours and hours helping to tape and paint the Freedom Farm Barn. The Camp Deerpark summer program director, Celmali Jaime came to meet with us and brought along her friend, Hannah Misir, who had worked at camp for several summers and just completed graduate school. During our meeting I mentioned that we were looking for an intern, and Hannah leapt at the opportunity. She was truly a God-send, jumping right into farming, despite the heat and bugs and hard labor. She was open to all of Freedom Farm’s changes and challenges. What a blessing it was to have such a brave and gracious woman to help with the garden, mowing, the summer program, the barn, the children... to be part of our family and keep me company when no one else was here to help. Hannah continues to stay in touch with us and we keep her in our prayers as her mother fights Parkinson’s Disease and cancer. After talking about Freedom Farm at our church here in Otisville, a 19 year old college student from our congregation, Chris Putnam, volunteered to intern with us as well. Chris, who has a heart of gold, has freely given many many hours of his time. We’ve been blessed with his critical thinking and conversation and our little sons, Josiah and Micah, thoroughly enjoy him as well. It was a great relief this summer to have a team of four of us to prepare and facilitate our summer sessions with the young people and staff. We held orientation for Camp Deerpark summer staff at the end of June. And then on Mondays in July and August we had approximately forty children in three groups, 7-8 yr. olds, 9-10 year olds, and 11-12 year olds, consecutively. During the 7th week, the teens came. Most Camp Deerpark campers come from New York City, especially from Brooklyn and the Bronx. We also continued our connection with Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in the Bronx, and had 20 13-18 yr. olds come every Thursday. With both the Monday and Thursday groups we explored issues such as racism and acted out parables, such as the Good Samaritan, and then discussed its significance for our lives. Some youth shared stories in which they felt like a “Samaritan” or an outsider. Most of the young people really enjoyed gardening and harvesting, and we often visited our neighbors’ Jersey cows and chickens. Rick and Julie Vreeland have begun a wonderful dairy farm, Freedom Hill Farm, which welcomes visitors and sells raw milk. It was exciting for the youth to see where milk and eggs come from and visit the calves. We ended a few scavenger hunts in their dairy barn, and had several closing reflections there. Thanks Rick and Julie for all your help and good hard work! We hosted many other groups at Freedom Farm this summer, including groups from Celmali’s and Hannah’s churches, both of which are in the Bronx, and our church’s Junior High Youth Group. We loved being able to share the harvest with the groups of young people, neighbors, friends, church members, and our local soup kitchen. We have been surrounded with blessings this year - community, interns, youth -- and the prayers of people in our church, in Rick and Julie’s Bible study, and friends and family. Mom is in remission now and we are so grateful!

Looking back on 2007 by Ann Rader

This year has been full of surprises - and of blessings. Last January my mother went to the emergency room here in Middletown for intense pain and a week later was diagnosed with cancer. Mom and Dad had to stay at home in Dauphin, Pa., away from the chaos at Freedom Farm to get through surgeries and chemotherapy. We were faced with the challenge of moving forward without vital members of our family/community. They have helped with everything from changing diapers to fixing broken screens, not to mention preparing snacks and leading small garden groups with our summer youth. I had really relied on their company during Edgar’s long shifts at the firehouse. So, we prayed that God would send us help.

Soon after Mom and Dad left for Pa., Deborah and her husband Ken Bontrager, who directs Camp Deerpark, a Mennonite camp ten miles away from us, invited us to dinner and introduced us to Kim and Sean McConaghay, Camp Maintenance Director. Like us, Sean and Kim were relatively new to town, so we began eating meals together every Tuesday. Dawn Rojas and her son Tyler from our church started joining us and “Soup Tuesday” has become a community meal for all interested folks. The seeds of connection between Freedom Farm, Camp Deerpark, and our local church, Otisville-Mt. Hope Presbyterian, had been planted.

In the early spring, Sean arranged for a number of volunteer groups who came to Camp Deerpark to help out at Freedom Farm. The groups planted countless trays of seedlings, picked rocks, pulled weeds, created garden walkways, and prepared beds. Volunteers from our church, such as Bill and Dottie Byrne spent hours and hours helping to tape and paint the Freedom Farm Barn.

The Camp Deerpark summer program director, Celmali Jaime came to meet with us and brought along her friend, Hannah Misir, who had worked at camp for several summers and just completed graduate school. During our meeting I mentioned that we were looking for an intern, and Hannah leapt at the opportunity. She was truly a God-send, jumping right into farming, despite the heat and bugs and hard labor. She was open to all of Freedom Farm’s changes and challenges. What a blessing it was to have such a brave and gracious woman to help with the garden, mowing, the summer program, the barn, the children... to be part of our family and keep me company when no one else was here to help. Hannah continues to stay in touch with us and we keep her in our prayers as her mother fights Parkinson’s Disease and cancer.

After talking about Freedom Farm at our church here in Otisville, a 19 year old college student from our congregation, Chris Putnam, volunteered to intern with us as well. Chris, who has a heart of gold, has freely given many many hours of his time. We’ve been blessed with his critical thinking and conversation and our little sons, Josiah and Micah, thoroughly enjoy him as well. It was a great relief this summer to have a team of four of us to prepare and facilitate our summer sessions with the young people and staff. We held orientation for Camp Deerpark summer staff at the end of June. And then on Mondays in July and August we had approximately forty children in three groups, 7-8 yr. olds, 9-10 year olds, and 11-12 year olds, consecutively. During the 7th week, the teens came. Most Camp Deerpark campers come from New York City, especially from Brooklyn and the Bronx.

We also continued our connection with Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in the Bronx, and had 20 13-18 yr. olds come every Thursday. With both the Monday and Thursday groups we explored issues such as racism and acted out parables, such as the Good Samaritan, and then discussed its significance for our lives. Some youth shared stories in which they felt like a “Samaritan” or an outsider. Most of the young people really enjoyed gardening and harvesting, and we often visited our neighbors’ Jersey cows and chickens. Rick and Julie Vreeland have begun a wonderful dairy farm, Freedom Hill Farm, which welcomes visitors and sells raw milk. It was exciting for the youth to see where milk and eggs come from and visit the calves. We ended a few scavenger hunts in their dairy barn, and had several closing reflections there. Thanks Rick and Julie for all your help and good hard work!

We hosted many other groups at Freedom Farm this summer, including groups from Celmali’s and Hannah’s churches, both of which are in the Bronx, and our church’s Junior High Youth Group. We loved being able to share the harvest with the groups of young people, neighbors, friends, church members, and our local soup kitchen.

We have been surrounded with blessings this year - community, interns, youth -- and the prayers of people in our church, in Rick and Julie’s Bible study, and friends and family. Mom is in remission now and we are so grateful!

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