We say yes to farming, we say yes to participating in the rapid evolution of farming. We dedicate our fields to dissolving the stories and history that separate nature and human beings. We decide to farm through passionate conversation with the ecosystem.
The day we planted it was 98 degrees and not a cloud in the sky - it was brutal for us and the plants.
The mulcher did not work ~
The planter did not work ~
We thought it might take 5-6 hours. It took 14 hours to hand plant 8000 plants.
At 10:30pm we started watering. Friends and family appeared magically and helped and stayed and helped some more.
The plants struggled that year ~
We struggled that year ~
Two twin baby deer came and ate the plants over and over again. It was so much easier to have conversations with nature when your livelihood did not depend on it.
But we kept going - breathing - surrender - prayer - and guidance. We took care of every plant by hand - watering - feeding - encouraging. Listening to the eco-system's needs. We could feel the lineage of farming, the heartbreaks, the toiling; we felt the history of slavery - the dominion of one human over another. We vowed to be supremely generous to all our helpers.
We felt the history of humans that believe they have dominion over nature rather than colleague, friend, partner, mirror ~
We attended to the fields through dreams, guidance and conversation with the eco-system. But quite honestly it was brutal - physically, emotionally, spiritually - we were challenged in every possible way.
Our crops were pretty limited that year, and at the end of the season I was daunted and unsure.
But when I asked Don "Are you clear about this being what you're called to?" he did not hesitate, his face was beautiful.
"I love this, and I am so clear."
So we continued......