What Could Be Better?

What could be better than a community of friends working and playing together?

We are so incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by a group of “old” (and new) friends. Yes many of us  are getting physically old and we have known each other for a long time, some for nearly forty years.

What has kept us together? I think, perhaps it is the very land on which we live. This Monadnock Region we call home, with Mount Monadnock as its center, is an attractive place. Not just physically, but also energetically. We feel connected to the land here, and to one another.

These days, as Robin and I find ourselves in our waning years, we continue to farm. More than ever actually, because we finally have more time to devote to this way of life that we love. So once again, as we do every spring and fall, we send out the call to our community to help us spread the biodynamic preparations of Horn Manure and Barrel Compost (Biodynamic Compound preparation). We care for nearly thirty acres of hayfield and pasture, and we spread the preparations by hand. It is our belief that the land and the elementals (more about them another time) appreciate human contact and attention.

We walk across the fields together in a long line, buckets and brushes in hand, flinging this “holy water” over the ground. As the droplets fall upon the earth I imagine the essence of the preparations radiating out from their point of contact. I also imagine the love of each human walker/spreader radiating into the earth as they walk with intention to support its health. 

I look across the field at each individual. This past week our youngest spreader rode in a front pack suspended from his father’s shoulders. We also had a ten year old neighbor join us. It makes me happy to be sharing this important task and tradition with these young ones who will hopefully lead such acts of stewardship in the future.

But that is not all….when we are done, we share a meal, ourselves and our stories with each other. It is a comfortable and familiar gathering. No pretense, most of us have know each other too long for that. I feel warmed by the appreciation and laughter as we sit together at sunset. I imagine the earth feels much the same way.