Tamarack Farm is a place where work is valued. Hanging on the outside wall of the farmhouse is an excerpt from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, which begins, “Work is love made visible.” Throughout the summer teens here spend time weeding, hammering, chopping veggies, harvesting, caring for children, and doing dishes to show their love for this place and its people.
Last Saturday we celebrated creative work. This year our M.O.F.A. (Museum of Farm Arts) event was beautiful. It’s amazing to see the creativity that lies in our community. With a theme of “dreams” our teens curated a beautiful event showcasing paintings, drawings, sculptures, and colorful foods. After consuming fancy finger foods while taking in our community’s art, we gathered outside for performance art (including opera singing, original songs, magic tricks, and a violin solo).
At Tamarack Farm we endeavor to foster creativity daily. One of the beautiful things about living with teens for 6.5 week is we get to facilitate the process of taking and idea from beginning to end. For example, we needed a door for our new art barn that our teens are building this summer. Our TFers began by drawing sketches and planning dimensions, inviting artists for creative flare, and finally hanging it yesterday. This process happens all over Tamarack Farm when we give our teens space (away from their screens) to imagine and create.