Sometimes You Have to Let Others Fill Your Well

The last few weeks have been a lot.

When we first found out what was happening with our well, I knew it was going to be stressful. What I don't think I completely understood was just how much water touches every single part of our life here.

You know water is important. We all do.

But until you don't have full use of it, you really don't realize how many times a day you turn on that faucet without even thinking about it.

And when you have a farm, water is everything.

It's growing vegetables. Washing produce. Cooking. Cleaning. Canning and preserving. Keeping plants cared for. It's feeding ourselves.

But for us, it's also about feeding other people.

The food we grow here doesn't just stay here. It goes home with our CSA families and customers. It goes into meals. It goes into our classes. We've donated food and plants when we've been able to.

A lot of what we do at Hubbard Hope Farm has grown into sharing food and knowledge with other people.

So losing the full use of our water wasn't just a household problem.

It affected the farm and the people we serve too.

And I'll be the first to say, this has been stressful.

When Nothing Goes the Way You Think It Will

When we realized how big this well problem was going to be, we started doing what I think most people would do.

We started looking for the logical solution.

We looked into programs. We asked about financing. We made phone calls. We researched different options. We tried all of those traditional ways you think you're supposed to handle something like this.

And they just weren't happening.

One door would close, so we'd try another one.

That one wouldn't work either.

There were definitely times when I thought, Okay...what are we supposed to do now?

We weren't looking for some big new project. We just wanted to fix the well!

But while all of those things weren't working, something else started happening that I really wasn't expecting.

People started showing up.

Friends reached out. Businesses started asking how they could help. People offered food and supplies for a fundraiser. Others offered their time, their kitchens, their talents or connections.

Some people simply shared our story.

And I have to tell you, this part hasn't always been easy for me.

I'm Usually More Comfortable Being the Helper

I'm much better at giving help than receiving it.

I'm usually the person asking someone else, "What do you need?"

I'm comfortable sharing what we grow. Donating plants or food. Helping someone figure something out. Bringing people together. If I see a need and there's something I can do, I'm usually trying to figure out how to do it.

Being on the other side of that is different.

It's hard for me to ask people for help.

And it's even harder sometimes to just receive it.

But maybe that's one of the things I'm supposed to learn from all of this.

Community can't only work in one direction.

You can't spend your life telling people that we're supposed to help each other and then, when it's your turn to need help, say, "No, no, I've got it."

Sometimes you have to let people show up for you too.

And people really have.

That has probably been one of the most humbling and beautiful parts of this whole thing.

Something Bigger Started Happening

The funny thing is, the more people I've talked to about the well, the more the conversations have started becoming about things other than the well.

I've connected with businesses and people I may never have connected with otherwise.

We're talking about food.

We're talking about agriculture.

We're talking about families in our area.

We're talking about ways small businesses can support each other.

We're talking about things we might be able to do together in the future.

And somewhere in all of those conversations I realized...

Maybe something much bigger is coming out of this than what we originally thought.

All we were trying to do was get our water back.

Instead, we're building community.

This is how Fill the Well Started

Fill the Well started because we need help putting in a new well at Hubbard Hope Farm.

That's the truth of where it began.

Our first Fill the Well Spaghetti Feed is this September, and the money raised will help us get closer to getting our water situation taken care of.

But I already know I don't want Fill the Well to stop there.

I want the spaghetti feed to continue in the years ahead.

This year, people are coming together to help fill our well.

Next year, maybe we can help fill someone else's.

Maybe it's another farm. Maybe it's a family. Maybe it's a nonprofit, a school program or somebody in our community who suddenly finds themselves in a situation they never planned for.

Because I'm starting to realize that a well can mean a lot more than water.

We all have a "well."

Sometimes it gets low.

Sometimes we have plenty and we're able to give from it.

And sometimes we're the ones who need somebody else to pour a little back in.

Not What I Would Have Chosen, But...

Would I have chosen for our well to have problems?

Absolutely not.

I'd much rather be worrying about tomatoes, what's going in the next CSA bag, what I'm canning or what we're doing next on the farm.

But I also can't look at everything that has happened over these last few weeks and not see something good growing out of something really difficult.

People are coming together.

New relationships are forming.

Businesses are asking how they can be involved.

People are volunteering.

And ideas are starting to grow that I don't think would have happened without this.

For years I've wanted Hubbard Hope Farm to be about more than growing vegetables.

I want it to feed people.

I want people to learn here.

I want people to gather here.

And I want it to be a place that gives back to the community around us.

Maybe this is another part of figuring out what that looks like.

It's strange to think that something as stressful as losing the full use of our water could be the thing that opens the door to something bigger.

But that's exactly what it feels like is happening.

Water gives life.

We need it to grow our food. We need it to feed ourselves. We need it to take care of the people we serve.

But over the last few weeks I've realized something else.

Community gives life too.

And right now, I'm learning what it feels like to let my community fill my well.

Someday, I hope we get to do the same for someone else.

Fill the Well Spaghetti Feed September 12, 2026 4-6 pm

— Janine Hubbard Hope Farm