A time for valuation and reflection

Sun after rain..

Thanksgiving day is just around the corner. We have so much to be grateful for, the rains have come, replenishing our drought plagued farm, we have hay in the barn for our winter needs, the cows are giving us buckets full of warm, creamy milk everyday. We have our health, the happiness of being with friends and family. To 'Be' is wonderful, yet to 'Be' in the midst of all this bountiful good, is a joy beyond wonder.

Our WWOOFer friend, Jesse, came and went. We had a great time and made cheese almost everyday, plus he helped us, with a host of other things as well, not the least of which, was helping get the metal building prepped for the indoor market project we have begun!

The geese take flight at my approach, in the frosty morn.

The wild geese have come back just in time for the first frost, they are already jousting for the best nesting spaces, honking and squabbling, night and day. over who will get the best places to nest in the spring. There is something so primal, about the noise they make and they inspire one with their beauty, as they come in to the pond, circling in flight, lower and lower to skid, gracefully along it's length, till they settle into its quiet waters, or taking off, with a noisy, flapping, spiraling out from it, in an ever widening span of cyclic spread, announcing to all their intent. Honk, honk...honk, honk, honk... 

The honk of the goose calls to the wild 'something' in me, and reminds me of all that is untamed and undomesticated in this world. We have our neat domestic rows, which are beautiful also, garden rows, labeled rows of canned goods, hay rows stacked in the barn, we make such perfect symmetries. The wild is asymmetrical, honking in flight, spiraling upward and outward, like the heart does, in its crazy way, toward the highest parts of ourselves. Compassion, and open warmheartedness does not come in neat rows, it comes forth, in the face of our own selfishness, in the face of our own covetousness, twirling love unconditionally and overwhelms our heart with generosity, pushing out of us, almost unasked for, what is best in our selves. Yes, the wild sound of the geese, reminds me of how connected we are to everything, and especially how connected we are to each other.

We find the wondrous, beauty of Nature, quiet and simple, echoing in our own heart, when we take the time to listen. 

We bought a beautiful turkey for thanksgiving dinner, produced and processed on a local farm, pasture, raised and fed organically. We paid much more for it than if we'd bought one on sale at a box type grocery, we paid what it was really worth. For the fact that it was allowed to live a life un-caged, scratching under trees, taking dust baths with its buddies, flapped its wings in joy, it was allowed to go roaming through sun and shade, in a big pasture, as it pleased. It was cared for, and valued by the people who raised it, it was not just a number, inventory... a meat weight to be sold. The money we spent on it goes into our community, to our neighbors, not to some huge impersonal corporation, looking ever, to increase bottom line at the expense of individuals, of family, of community. To understand that there is something very fortunate in being able to actually live somewhere where we have the opportunity to express a monetary, valuation for the individuals in our community, growing food for themselves and others. In this world it is a rare opportunity, where so many people, have so little choice, as to the quality of what they eat, or the way in which it was grown or processed. We are blessed by our local farmers, who dare to compete with subsidized, factory-grown food. Our local farmers challenge us, to see through the artificial low prices of such food, and pay fair prices so our local farmers survive. Understand the Truth behind cheap food...that subsidized factory food-stuff, has a higher hidden cost, than we imagine, for all it is priced so cheaply. A cost hidden in subsidies coming out of our wages, the cost of the loss of nutritional quality, the cost of the loss of our country's viable farm lands, due to shoddy factory farming practices, the cost of good, would-be farmers, who are forced out of business, unable to compete, with their local produce, in the market place, against the artificially, manipulated, lower costs of factory foods. In the end, everyone must bare the burden of these hidden costs, eventually. So we, at least, try to buy locally, when we can and encourage you to do so also...and to pay fair value. Value the local farmer, help them compete, pay fair value for the work he or she does! Better yet...become a farmer yourself! Embrace what is essential in yourself, for what can be more essential, than sharing Nature's bounty, with your friends? Happy Thanksgiving!