Chaos continues at the federal level — from cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture programs critical to farmers, to sweeping reductions to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding, to widespread violence, fear, and intimidation through immigration enforcement actions. Things are bending, breaking, and building at a rapid pace, and each day feels both like an ending and a beginning.

MOFGA, at its core, is about community resilience, finding common ground, and creating a food system that helps us feed, nurture, and take care of one another. One of the best ways to take action is to look locally and focus on what can be done at a community level. If we look back to MOFGA’s roots in the 1970s, many individuals came together with a unified vision of leading a better life connected to the land and community. In 1977, MOFGA hosted the first Common Ground Country Fair to celebrate — and share skills related to — rural living. This year marks the 50th annual event and 50 years of building common ground together. Since our first Fair, held in Litchfield, Maine, MOFGA has helped educate hundreds of thousands of fairgoers, encouraging connection to the land and also finding joy in collaboration. Last year alone, over 5,000 school group members (including students and chaperones) visited the Fair. We know that for many, the first Fair experience is a spark that fuels lifelong engagement with the organic movement, in one way or another.

MOFGA, through its 50-plus years of supporting farmers, empowering people to feed their communities, and advocating for an organic future, has become a keystone for creating a resilient Maine food system. As Elspeth Hay writes in her essay on the ecological significance of oaks in this issue, “A keystone species is one that’s as important to its ecosystem as the keystone in a Roman arch; if you take it out, the whole system falls apart.” We are creating opportunities to share knowledge, connect, and advocate together for the world we want to see. Feeding our communities is key to our collective wellbeing, and there are so many ways to get involved with MOFGA to nourish yourself, connect with others, and build community.

Whether that means participating in the Fair (there’s a list of ways to engage in this issue), or planting nut trees now for future generations, or supporting local producers by shopping at your local farmers’ market, we can all look for ways to engage with nature and our communities to help foster resilience. We hope you find inspiration in the pages ahead.