"today we are possible"
The opening line of Lucille Clifton’s poem "birth-day" was offered as a writing prompt by the wonderful teacher, writer, and creative Rebecca Pacheco. It surfaced this past week as I womanned our Pharmstand; the market was the opposite of hopping, and my mind had a chance to continue down the path of this prompt.
“Today we are possible...because today we exist. Holy cow, Urban Pharm exists!” At that moment, there wasn’t a whole lot being generated, but there was a there there. I started looking around, noticing all of the ways that Urban Pharm IS: a banner with our name and logo, a website, a POS system, a legit-labeled-food lab-tested-made-and-bottled-by-our-own-four-hands product, and a spot at this farmers’ market.
We exist in a community with Donna Lee of Hickory Nut Farm (goat milk-based goodnesses) and Fran of Busa Farm (his granddaughter might be one of the more delicious things we’ve encountered recently). “Today, we are possible because we are a part of so many ‘we’s,” I thought. Bre of Rowan Made whose genius process helped us not only design our labels and logo but hone in on what Urban Pharm wanted to be. Laurel of Nectar and Green who had no reason to respond to an email from two people she’d never heard of but did anyway with extraordinary generosity, grace, and buckets of food business knowledge and wisdom. Cam of the Copley Square Farmers’ Market whose quiet generosity always makes our day. Tanya of Techretaries, whose fluency in a language we don’t speak, allowed a website to exist. Basha with her artist’s eye and gorgeous photos.
All of you who give us a reason to do what we do with as much heart and care as we can—your support and interest and feedback are everything. And at the root of it all, there is the we that is us, Anne and Jill. Our hands are all over every aspect of Urban Pharm, and we hope you feel that human touch.
❤️ Jill