THANKS.
Hannah and I have much to be thankful for.We're heading up to our farm this weekend, which we're deeply thankful to the Smith's for offering us. We've had a crazy year and we're thankful to our friends and family for helping us hobble through the bad times, and celebrate the good. We're thankful for all of the supporters we met during our campaign and we're thankful the new community it helped us create with you.And of course, we're thankful for this guy, who through all the moving and chaos has still for some reason put up with us, so long as we set aside time each day to play his favorite game: chase. Thank you, goof.
photo by Klara Ferrero
So Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We'll be back next week with a full farm and cabin report. Have a great weekend, be safe, and no matter what you're eating, don't forget to thank your farmer!- Jesse.
CHRISTMAS CARDS ANYONE?
Since Jesse is working most days and I am still on the hunt for a holiday job, I have had a lot of free time lately...and I do mean A LOT. I have spent most of it applying for jobs, looking on craigslist for wood cook stoves and cast iron tubs, drawing, and generally trying not to go insane. Just the other day I started working on these Christmas cards using an amazing photograph of Wendell taken by the lovely Klara.
I really love how they are turning out. I thought about perhaps selling sets of Wendell notecards to make some extra money...but then I thought that maybe there might be some folks out there interested in their own personalized holiday notecards using their pets. Yes, no, maybe? If you are interested, send me an email at roughdraftfarmstead@gmail.com and we can talk about the specifics. Not only would you be supporting the farm, but you would be keeping me from going insane. AHHHHH I'M SERIOUSLY LOSING MY MIIINDDDDD GIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO- Hannah.
THE CEDAR PORCH.
Some more cabin details: To protect the plywood until we can get the cabin sided, we covered it with tar paper - basically a thick, waterproof, tar-coated material. It's not the prettiest - but it works! Instead of buying siding - we are hoping to mill our own from the countless cedar trees we have been clearing as we make pasture space. Jesse already cut down two cedars to make beams and floor boards for the little front porch - it is our favorite part of the cabin so far!- Hannah.
FEELING THE BURN.
We as humans learn primarily by reaction: touch the stove and it's hot––OUCH!––ok, don't touch the stove; kitten puts ears back, hisses, then bites––OUCH!––fair enough, don't touch kitten when hissing. Then we constantly test and retest until we're absolutely certain about our observations, and our boundaries.This collection of information teaches us how to behave in the world. But what if something doesn't hiss or bite you back?––at least not immediately. How are we supposed to learn how to treat it?"Because of climate change," reports the Boston Globe this week, "scientists predict the frequency and intensity of [super] storms will only increase in years to come." Couple that with a forecast for a century of droughts, as recently reported by the New York Times, and we have some potentially serious concerns facing us, and facing our children.If the first time we did something destructive to the land, the land slugged us back, the world would probably be in much better shape today. However, though the Earth has always got around to punishing us eventually, the repercussions have never been immediate. And like little children, we push and push to test those boundaries, but when we push the planet, the planet doesn't hiss. It doesn't cuss us out or take a swing. When we do something that irritates the Earth, the planet reacts slowly. POWERFULLY, but slowly.So we're left to assume we don't affect it. The same goes for the human body. Although it's barely even food at a squint, you could hypothetically survive on fast food alone––and thousands do––for several years before the human body started to shut down. If the effects were immediate, though––say, eat a Big Mac get a belly ––then no one would likely eat Big Mac's. But they're not, the effects are slow. DISASTROUS, but slow.With all the problems we're going to be facing in the next few generations, and in the wake of a terrible drought followed by a devastating storm, I'm simply struggling to make sense of why we all haven't dropped everything, changed our diets and our lifestyles and become more sustainable. Quick. Is it possible we are simply not built to learn from long-term mistakes? Are we (horrifyingly) biologically apathetic to climate change? If we felt the burn from touching the stove several weeks, or months, or even years later... would we ever learn not to touch it? Would we still touch the stove, knowing in a few years it would burn us, or our children? Looking at the shape of the planet right now, and the forecast, I'm terrified of the answer.- Jesse.