Happy Independence Day!
On this day that we celebrate the independence of our nation, I find myself reflecting on the INTERdependence of all things. I look back where we started this year, one of the first memorable snow falls in about 4 years. That would have been before we were starting here on raw pasture. Many communities rely on snowfall from the mountains to provide fresh drinking water downstream; filling the creeks, rivers, and ponds providing habitat for many species. We depend on our community of supporters to buy the food we grow while their bodies depend on produce to be healthy. Without the soil we plant our flags on, we couldn’t grow the food we need to eat and sell. The Sun that helps to melt the snow, providing us with the rain, providing the plants with the opportunity to photosynthesize while they clean the air and provide oxygen to breathe, also happens to make our days better. Maybe we need to start a new holiday, Dependence Day where we can celebrate the fact that there is only one thing, and we are all a part of it.
How long of a story would it be to contemplate how all things relate to one another? A story unfolding in front of our very eyes every day. Highly organized living systems on a microscopic level actually keep our sentient selves alive to think about how we are important enough to write our thoughts into a blog onto the interwebs… do we even consider our reliance on them?
As much as we try to consider the micro and macro cosmos that surround us on the farm and at home, we can always do better. There is always less to be done, to do more. Our impacts on the world around us are much greater than we realize, like that bacteria in our gut helping us digest the broccoli that was helped grow by the nitrogen that was produced by the bacteria on the roots of the clover in the neighboring soil. The effects of our actions will always impact our neighbors downstream. We appreciate you all for your roles in every day of life. You parents, teachers, health care workers, plumbers, carpenters… all the infinite things we do to be the amazing species we are, as all species are at what they do and be. Full Circle is the name of what we do because that is what we want for all of us, a closed loop of success and creative processes that help keep us all comfortable and well. If we can all work, produce, and consume in our local communities, we can make a much larger impact than billionaires and the big corporations who got us away from our natural localized customs of life at the expense of Earth and our wellness for their own goals of personal wealth and power.
As we enjoy with gratitude our green beans, potatoes, and zucchini in the freedom of the air and Sun let us also be grateful for one another, for whatever it is we do. Let us also celebrate that we need dependence to know independence. May we decide together we must all do what is right because we know we should, not because we are told to or shamed to. Thank you for following along as we grow, we enjoy seeing you all grow in your own ways as well.
Anyway… here’s pictures from the compost pile over the season <3
