Joyfield's farmer's market table closeup
Arlene putting the final touches on the display
weekly farm supper on the farm, this week in the big barn
preparing for battle with hordes of morning mosquitos
Wow, what a ride it has been... 3 1/2 months here already at Joyfield Farm! 16-hour workdays are the norm for my hosts. After a month of trying to keep up, overcoming exhaustion and various stresses and strains, I have found a better balance working 8-hour "half-days." I'll be here for another month, before moving on to... who knows?
Next month, I'll be heading south on a delegation with Christian Peacemaker Teams to visit a Depleted Uranium production plant. It is my foray into the nonviolent social activism I have been dancing around for years. I am nervous about it, but it is a big part of what I came out here to explore. My host having been involved with CPT for many years, including long term stints in Iraq and Palestine, I figured there might be some mentorship I could receive here, along with the farming.
I figure I'll either like it more than I expect, and it will set a course for my near-future, or else I will be repelled by the experience into other paths of service. But at 50, it felt like time to focus in on some of the things I want to have done in this life, before I am too old to do them. And amidst the onslaught of overwhelming imperialist militarism and mind-control, I felt something active needed to be done, to at least rekindle some hope of the Heaven-on-Earth I know is possible.
looking out over some of the West Garden
long row of Romaine lettuce
Arlene gathering strawberries, an hours-long task
strawberries began the parade of abundant fruits ripening this month
broccoli head
Farming has been the bulk of the exploration in generating this vision, helping out with a 2 1/2 acre organic farm, which is a vast undertaking when being done with only hand tools and muscle power. I have moved through a series of plateaus to get into working shape, so that in recent weeks, I have no lulls during the long 6-day workweeks. Yes, even if I am not going sun up (6 am) to sundown (10 pm) every day like my hosts, they are still long weeks!
When I began working here, I found I was exhausted and demoralized by about 10 am every day. My prayer practices have gotten stronger, as it would take focused attention on each moment to get through the suffering of each day. Then I found I was able to more-or-less get through a whole day without suffering, and then the days beagn to get more consistent. In the last weeks, I have even gotten to a point where a couple of long days of farming have become the meditation I remembered they could be. Suffering has been replaced by a zen-style just-being with the weeds as I am pulling them for hours, even enjoying the capacity to sweat in the hot humid sunshine.
It has been a rainy year here, with a good couple-inch soaking almost every week. So crops are thriving... and so are weeds, bugs, birds and various varmints on the farm! Being next to a restored wetland probably promotes the local mosquito population, which became nearly unbearable at times this week. My friend in the yurt next door even got out a mosquito hat & netting this week, which I think was a wise move. I was glad yesterday for a little breeze which returned conditions to greater comfort.
I have enjoyed playing music with the Yurtfolk, a homeschooling family who also reside on the farm. We finally cashed in the meals we earned gigging at the local coffeeshop, along with other gigs we've had--an ordination, a Sunday service, accompanying a Suzuki concert, and folk music. I also played viola solo at a recent communion service at the local church, an double-stop-filled instrumental arrangement of Attics of My Life (Garcia/Hunter, 1970). Afterwards, I was enthusiastically greeted with a firm handshake, by Olden Mitchell, the oldest member of our congregation. At 102, his appreciation left me feeling full of wonder to have made an esthetic connection across the generations and cultures that contributed to that moment happening!
My hosts have been fabulous, generous and understanding. They are probably the hardest working people I have ever met. It has taken some adjustment to get used to their rhythm of things--the only down time they take aside from a strictly-observed Sabbath is during mealtimes. Fortunately, there are many opportunities for sharing food, with fellowship groups and farm suppers and other potlucks nearly every night of the week.
prepping for farmer's market
lots of radishes to prep
radishes
view across sweet potatoes and larkspur in Middle Garden
toward Silo and West Gardens
I have enjoyed getting away from some lazy habits, and seeing how fit I can become. There is satisfaction in finding one's capacity for what I call contractility, the ability to contract the muscles effectively. In addition to the farming, I have been working one day a week with a local landscaper, which provides a kind of cross-training, involving a bit more aerobic movement. I weighed in at 172 last week, which is at least ten pounds more than my typical weight in recent years. At 50, it is good to know I can still put on some muscle mass.
I have also found an interesting psychological fitness evolving. My motivational circuits are much more consistent now than they have been in a few years. Rather than pursuing the stimulation common to our modern lifestyles--which then inevitably fades, leaving one disspated and seeking further stimulation--I have been allowed a very simple life here--one of prayer, work, sleep, eating and fellowship. This more contracted state has allowed my dreamlife to become richer. It has allowed for enjoyment of simple indulgences like listening to baseball on the radio. Most of all, it has also allowed a consistent gaining, rather than a chasing, of synaptic well-being.
So now I am seeking what is next on my journey. My agreement with my current hosts is to August, at which point I feel we are both ready for a change. I will visit another farm today, specializing in natural meat production, and have begun talking to another organic vegetable farm nearby. There are a couple of service organizations I am looking into, with a wide variety of possible placements. With the quality of life is excellent, and low cost of living, I am also looking at how I might settle in here, and what I mght do off-season. Between the progressive, service-oriented Church of the Brethren here, local musicians and fellow farmers, old friends and new, I have found many connections here, for which I am very grateful.
I hope y'all enjoyed this update! See ya in the fields--
