Eight Row Field Notes
tales and tell of food, farming and friends

Welcome to our monthly newsletter. This is not merely a vehicle for keeping guests informed about the happenings on the farm and in the restaurant, though it certainly does that. This project is to share the stories of the countless people who work so hard so that we may serve the food we do to our guests at Eight Row. We want to tell you about the members of our team at Sleepy Hollow and Eagle Rapids Orchards. We want you to intimately know the multitude of humans who operate small farms, and who toil the same way we do. We want to humanize food, and provide crucial context and narrative. To reveal the scale of the intricacies and challenges that small farms and independent restaurants face every day. And how it feels to navigate those intricacies and meet those challenges—the satisfaction of cultivating, cooking and serving; of surviving another week, and another harvest; of being in on it together. This is where we do that. As for why we do it? Wendell Berry said it best:

Why do farmers farm, given their economic adversities on top of the many frustrations and difficulties normal to farming? And always the answer is: Love. They must do it for love. Farmers farm for the love of farming. They love to watch and nurture the growth of plants. They love to live in the presence of animals. They love to work outdoors. They love the weather, maybe even when it is making them miserable. They love to live where they work and to work where they live. If the scale of their farming is small enough, they like to work in the company of their children and with the help of their children. They love the measure of independence that farm life can still provide.