Sunday, January 30, 2011

What am I doing here?

Just how did I end up in a chilly cabin on stilts in the middle of the woods?  Pure backlash against 20 plus year of ultra-urban living?  Time will tell if I overestimated my need for quiet and privacy, but a primary reason we ended up here is food production.

For years, Aaron's dream was to have a farm.  I always said living on a farm sounded pleasant, so long as I didn't have to do any farming.  But I wasn't willing to run off to the country with Aaron.  We had a kid, and nothing changed in my thinking until we went to visit my friends' beautiful farm.  We had enjoyed visits there before, but being there in the dirt, the green, the calm, and catching a glimpse of the natural rhythms of farm life while I was still flush with the hormones and emotions of new motherhood changed everything.  In that state I was able to listen to my heart (something I'm not always so good at), and it told me "this is how I want to raise my child."  So I told Aaron, "Ok.  Let's do it." 

Then I went and read Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilema" and got all fired up reading about the elegantly engineered ecosystem that is "grass farming".  And here we are.  (Not that we have the land needed for cattle, and, at this point, we'd be happy just to produce some eggs and root vegetables for our family.)

1 comment:

  1. When spring comes (and this year you will be more than ready for it) you will again see the possibilities and produce food. Until then you get to see all the winter fun and operate on survival mode. Try making ice cream with the snow when it's all new and fluffy. It food even if it's not what most consider necessary; although I am not one of them as I see it as necessary. Hugs! Lets have a play date some night after school!

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