One of the reasons that I wanted to get into this farming thing was to engage my hands with my heart and my head. My organization consulting life in the business world was full of working with people with my head and my heart cajoling them to see more life giving ways of working with others. My retirement years continue to be full, but in a different way.
A farmer’s life, while seemingly, simple and all about physical work is far from simple and, yes, there is physical work. The learning curve is unusually steep particularly when you are a certified organic operation. The “cannot do” list is long as one combats invasive weeds on which poisons are not an option, sick animals where antibiotics are not an option and one must develop a repertoire of homnepathics and vitamins, etc., etc. And when you throw in the sun, the moon, the stars and the cosmic parts of biodynamic farming it definitely engages me. What makes BD (biodynamic) farming most intriguing is that it works. It is countercultural cultural and probably just suits this child of the 60’s. For most of us farmers if something does not work we stop doing it. So if it works, we continue. I try to engage with the mental gymnastics of the whys, but ultimately I need to keep it simple for myself. Yes, my life in this world is full of surprises and many confirmations, and it is full of daily learning on so many levels.
