Looking back on 2008 by ann rader
We finally put the portable basketball hoop away for the winter, after leaving it out to squeeze in our last few reasonably warm Fall games. As we head into the cold months and the end of 2008, its time to look back again at what’s happened here on Freedom Farm this year.
The beginning of the year involved finishing the barn project, including the kitchen, lighting, and removing dust (with major help from Bill and Dottie Byrne from church) and planting seedlings in the greenhouse. Next, Edgar 
created a new six-plot garden layout next to the barn using neighbor Rick’s tractor to plow and a hoe to create rows and rows of raised beds. By the time the seedling trays were overflowing with green, our Otisville-Mt. Hope Presbyterian Junior HIgh Youth Group and Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship came at different times and volunteered to help mulch garden plots, plant grass seed on the construction site, and transplant some seedlings. Later, the barn proved an important shelter when a local Girl Scout troop visited on a sweltering morning and a 4-H group came on a very stormy evening in early June.
Before the beginning of summer, we welcomed my cousin Amanda who turned out to be a fierce gardener (we couldn’t get her out of there) and Marquise Hayes, our thirteen-year-old nephew from Chicago, who jumped right into country life, catching frogs with Micah and Josiah before we knew it. They, along with our very dear local intern Chris Putnam (who studies at Orange County Community College), Ben’s family and their good friends from Germany, and my wonderfully helpful Aunt Linda joined us to prepare for the big barn blessing on June 21. A large gathering of friends, family, and community members came to celebrate and dedicate the barn. We began with a service which included music, prayer, and drama. The service was followed by an open mic “coffee house,” a potluck cookout, and a bonfire. The next day a few energetic planters (among the ranks that stayed the night) planted rows of sweet corn and pumpkins.
Soon after the blessing, we welcomed Angie Hostetler to our base community for a two week stint during her ministry inquiry time with Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship. Angie, who is in her second year of college, helped us greatly in the garden and kitchen and joined the rotating leadership for our nightly reflections. Angie came just in time for our summer groups to arrive. She, Amanda, and Chris helped us facilitate the day’s activities. Camp Deerpark, a neighboring Mennonite Camp that reaches out to youth in New York City, joined us again this year. About 30 youth and 5 staff came every Tuesday for six weeks. On Thursdays, we welcomed back Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice who traveled with 40 youth and about five youth leaders from the South Bronx. Project Angel, a Bronx-based ministry that serves children of incarcerated parents, visited us this year for the first time with about 25 young people and staff. With all these groups we spent time planting, harvesting, cooking, and eating produce from the garden, visiting Freedom Hill Dairy Farm, and reflecting on passages such as, “You are the light of the world... the Salt of the Earth” (Matthew 5:13) and “Love... God with all your heart, mind, and soul...love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt. 22:37-40). Our reflections included creating skits, playing games, listening to music, and relating the message to our lives - that we are God’s children, and no matter what we have been told by society, we are profoundly loved, destined to be great, and called to love one another.
The children and young people who come to Freedom Farm never fail to impress us with their energy, brilliant 
creativity, and love. Many of the youth that come here experience extremely difficult realities including decaying schools in which less than 50% graduate, paralyzing pollution (for lack of green space, the South Bronx suffers from some of the highest asthma rates in the nation), and other forms of violence including disproportionately high unemployment rates, and local drug and gang related dangers. These are just a few of the trials that our youth unjustly endure, and we pray that Freedom Farm can be part of God’s healing these cycles of violence, including racism and hunger.
Towards the end of the summer, when we were in need of help after Amanda and Angie went home, Marsha 
Lewis arrived on the scene, having just finished her volunteer year working at The Harm Reduction Center for people addicted to drugs in Manhattan. We were blessed with yet another short-term intern who, like Angie, loved to cook - a key skill when you are surrounded by things like basil, cucumbers, and zucchini that need to be prepared and eaten. Marsha also really enjoyed working with the young people. During her stay, a junior high youth group from Wheatland Presbyterian Church came with my cousin David, who leads the youth, to do a work camp at Freedom Farm. They stayed in the barn and prepared games and a skit about Jesus’ parable of the sower to share with children from Camp Deerpark. They also helped us stake tomatoes in the garden and cook loaves of zucchini bread that we took along with fresh flowers to share with Camp Deerpark. A few days after the youth went back home to Lancaster, David brought an adult workgroup from Wheatland Presbyterian to refurbish our ancient garden sheds and build a wooden yurt platform to help with future intern housing. They did an amazing job and we welcome donations for the $10,000 needed for the all-season canvas tent and materials required to complete the housing project. Edgar has again expanded the garden in anticipation of greater need for food donations in the coming year, which means we need to house more people who can help grow the food!
This brings us back to the Fall and current events. Aside from the regular flow of guests who stay at the barn, we hosted two retreats in the barn. The first was a young adult voluntary service group from Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship, and the second a youth group from Community Christian Church in the Bronx, the home church of our former intern and good friend, Hannah Misir. The groups enjoyed the barn and used our sleeping bags which have been donated by church members and family, and the washable sleeping bag liners were sewn by Ruth Putnam and Marilyn Komstedt at our church. (Ruth also baked muffins and cookies, and delicious food for us this summer for our groups and staff.)
We gather every Tuesday at the barn for community fellowship time which is open to all. The first Tuesday of the month we have soup around 6PM and the other Tuesdays we gather a little after 7PM for activities such as games, films, and music-making. We’re also in the midst of a 10-week Bible Study on the gospel of Matthew, led by Dad (Bill Rader), in the barn every other Thursday through March.
Well, that’s a whole lot of news for now - Freedom Farm work is never done. Thank you to all of you who support us, those I’ve mentioned and those I have not, who help sustain us through prayer, encouragement, visits, donations, and volunteering your time. We could not do it without you and we are sending you much love this season and for the new year!
Peace,
Ann
