Volunteering at the Gibson O'Connor Farm was a great experience. I learned all types of new things about dairy farming. From the everyday tasks involved with working on a farm to the workings of the machinery that enables everything to happen, I have come out with a wealth of practical skills. The farm taught me new things about life as well. If there is one thing I am sure working on a farm can teach anyone it is patience. Farm work is never done. There is always something that happens that changes the plans you make during the day: a piece of machinery brakes down or the power goes out. It is therefore important to have the priorities of the farm in order. The farm is a system itself and each part is dependent on another part. In this case the dairy milking takes the highest priority since it is the primary source of income. Farming can also be really fun. After the work is done each day, it feels great to relax with a few of my favorite pastimes.
A farm is a good model for society. Society is hierarchical in nature just like a farm. It can be hard to accept that coming from a seemingly unimportant nitch. Within most societies, premier importance is given to a small percentage of "highly skilled" people, usually CEOs, bankers or surgeons. The hierarchy of most societies is financially based. Nitchs which are no less important in the long run but seemingly less important in the immediate future such as small farmers, naturalists, teachers, are often underpaid and under-appreciated. Volunteering the last few weeks has rewarded me with an appreciation of all the parts and how they fit together. A farm needs the money which dairy cows provide, but without the vegetable gardens, the chickens, the lovely flowers and trees a farm seems colorless and empty. The plant life connects the farm to nature. Unless one wants to live a monotonous farm life, milking the land for all the money it can provide without putting anything back, all parts of the farm are equally important. The same can be said of society. All the parts are important in the long run. The social hierarchy is based on fear and misunderstanding. It seems that humans are destined to live in a state of panic that prevents them from thinking long-term.
I love how farming gives me time to reflect on myself and my life. Nature's rhythms are therapeutic to me. I find connect to these rhythms readily when I spend the day outside working in the elements with one of the most basic essential human needs, food. Farming is, after all, the basis of civilization. If I remember my history books correctly, the techniques of rural farming spread west out of the area that is today Iraq. While I work, I have been contemplating my future in an American society that is far from ideal. My instinct to travel and the connection to my ancestral and spiritual homes are new found strengths. One question I have been pondering is how to incorporate this strength into my future, and do so harmoniously with the planet? Thinking about the future can be a scary prospect. There are not allot of options out there that satisfy my needs. I need to be able to see my family; I need to be able to travel; I need to support myself; I need to live harmoniously with the planet; I need to have time for myself, and I need to have time with others. The best thing I can do for now is too keep an open mind.
Next my journey takes me to one of the centers of Irish traditional music, Ennis, County Claire. I will stay there a few nights before heading to the Willie Clancy Festival of Traditional Music, the biggest traditional music festival in Ireland! I am very excited to immerse myself in this fascinating festival that brings people from all over the world to Ireland for the noble cause of Irish music. I am sure I will try to play the fiddle with a bunch of other musicians I have never met. Am I nervous, oh yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment