If you know me well, you know that I have a particular distaste for inspirational quotes. While I seek inspiration from reading the likes of Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver, or Robyn Wall Kimmerer, I appreciate a writer who can keep it real. So when I saw the above quote, I had to share it.
You can find messages everywhere you look that say plant-based diets will solve the climate crisis, you can also find proponents of eating meat to save the planet, and you can find individuals from both parties that have waged a vendetta against the other. I believe that food choices are contentious because we are what we eat. To attack someone's diet is to attack their very existence. I try to read widely and avoid proselytizing, so consider this simply my story of navigating our complicated food system.
I have been thinking about the mundane. The daily rhythm of farming. There are many interpretations of the above mentioned Buddhist proverb, but what I take from it is a lesson about mindset. The everyday acts of living are the same before and after enlightenment, it is only the mind that changes. I try to find a beauty and sacredness in the chores of caretaking for our chickens, horses, and cows. After all, these daily tasks make up the majority of my life.
When I began to seriously consider raising grass-finished beef one year ago, the advice I found in every corner was to start small. So here are I am, a year later, with eight Lowline Angus cattle and a plan for gradual growth. But this is certainly not a one woman show. Despite the small size of my operation, the day-to-day labor, soil building processes, and decision making include many people, plants, and animals pitching in.
Thanks for joining me on my cattle-raising journey! In these newsletters, I hope to share slices of life as a beginning farmer — beef updates, photos, thoughts on our food system, poetry, failures and successes.
