Tag: farming

Mute gospel

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Party aftermath. #tulips #maidenhairfern

We are going to see Gran this weekend, and Kelsey and Alex are coming to meet us here for the trek to Ohio. We will be in the car more than we will be out of it, but I am trying to see this as a positive thing. When else will we have so much uninterrupted time to talk with the Grays?

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“What is a farm but a mute gospel?”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature”

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Due to various reasons (Dylan Farrow, various other reports and anecdotes about rape, among them), I have been thinking about the rape culture that we live in. And how it is impressed on you, even as a little girl, that you are never truly safe. My default mode of thinking, even now, is to assume that all unknown men are evil (or mostly evil). And that’s how you keep yourself safe. You are always on guard, never trusting, always keeping them at arm’s length or further. Yes, it’s a sad way to live. Yes, I wish that wasn’t my mindset. But it is.

This is why, whenever I hear people say that we don’t need feminism, that the sexes are equal enough, I cannot hold my tongue (or my rage). Are we equal? Ask a man when he last felt afraid to walk to his car in a parking lot at night. Ask a man if he’s ever felt frightened to take a walk by himself. Ask a man when he was last nervous to walk on a heavily trafficked street or by a construction site or by an idling truck, waiting for a barrage of sexual obscenities to be screamed at him. Ask a man when he last had to fear sexual harassment from a boss, a coworker, an authority figure.

Yes, men experience rape, harassment, and violence, too, but I’d wager that it is not a reality that’s constantly lurking in the back of their minds — as it is for women. So tell me: If we were equal, would this be the case? Would rape kits go untested? Would victims of sexual violence be blamed for their actions? Would 1 in 5 women report having been raped in their lifetimes?

I don’t have a conclusion for this rant. I just had to put it somewhere, to file it in a long list of grievances at the state of the world.

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It is not pleasant to live in fear. Ask Pyrrha; she knows.

Portrait of a lady. #germanshepherd #vscocam

My heart swells when I think about how far she has come. Come May, she’ll have been with us for two years. And what a different dog she is now! She is still afraid of many things, and she always will be, but this gentle, daily work of teaching her that she is safe and loved has been therapeutic — to both of us, I think. Even when the progress seems infinitesimal. Progress is still progress.

Recent realizations

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My first sun flare
Something we are inadvertently growing.

Realizations I’ve come to recently:

  1. The danger of developing a specialized skill is the corresponding growth of one’s sense of superiority over those who do not share said skill.
  2. Maybe I don’t want to be a farmer after all. I don’t think I have even the faintest idea of how hard real farmers have to work, just to make ends meet, just to feed themselves, much less the rest of the country. I like the idea of farming. I like that mystical, Wendell Berry-notion of being one with the earth and God and family, but it turns out that I’m not even that interested in gardening. Pulling weeds is really boring. What makes me think I could be capable of running a farm?
  3. Guion could run a farm if he wanted to. I regret that I will not make him a better farmhand.
  4. Heartbreak seems to run in a seasonal cycle.
  5. I suddenly identify very strongly as an Episcopalian. Never thought that would happen in a million years. Husbands, it turns out, and husbands’ families, are very persuasive.
  6. That mug Kathryn gave me as a joke, back in 2007? I want it to become reality.
  7. Pyrrha might be simultaneously unpredictable and perfect.

Calligraphy and nature

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Guion, tending to his hop “tree.”

Exhibit A: Guion vs. Cat

The photograph above shows Guion tending to his deeply beloved hops. As you can see, he’s constructed a makeshift hop maypole running up the dead evergreen tree. Every time he climbs up there, I expect one of those branches to break, but he assures me that it’s very sturdy. He’s very adept and quick up there and the hops have been thriving, thanks to his ramshackle fence.

The fence keeps the deer out, but it hasn’t been successful in prohibiting a more malevolent animal: The domestic cat. We have noticed a tabby cat prowling around the tree and the hop plants and we didn’t think too much of it. But the other day, Guion comes in, huffy and disgruntled. “Cats are evil,” he says. The cat, apparently, dug up one of his precious hop seedlings, pooped in this hole, and then covered it back up, leaving Guion a special little present when he went to check on that lingering seedling. This made me LOL all over the place, but yes, it’s also proof positive that cats are evil. And that they potentially share my father’s sense of humor.

Exhibit B: Escaping calligraphy

I was positively exhausted this weekend by demanding calligraphy jobs. I shouldn’t complain–I am so grateful for the extra cash–but spending one’s entire weekend hunched over a desk, slave to the pen, is not necessarily my idea of a good time.

I was desperate to get out of the house, so we took a brief hike through Pen Park for my Saturday reprieve. A hot day, but the trails are so shaded. We met an equally shy German shepherd puppy, saw three deer crashing through the woods, and lost Pyrrha for a few minutes (turns out her recall is not as good as I thought it was). And then we came home, tired dog in tow, and ate and… did some more calligraphy.

Pen Park walk.

Even though I get easily stressed by these little things, at the core, I feel very peaceful. We have a good life.

Monday Snax

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Liz and Matt, getting married!
Liz, the beautiful bride.
Cocktail hour
A chilly, glamorous cocktail hour under the oaks.
Us
Us!

Our last wedding of 2011 was certainly one to remember: Matt and Liz got hitched at the gorgeous Castle Hill Cidery in Keswick and threw a lavish, memorable party for everyone. We love them so very much and are so delighted that they will be sticking around. Life in this town is way more exciting when it involves the two of them. More photos on Flickr!

Snax:

Meet Our Vendors: Polyface Farm Tour. We just started using Relay Foods for the first time and it’s a totally wonderful thing; you should be justifiably upset that it doesn’t exist yet in your town. Here, the Relay Foods staff takes a photo tour of Joel Salatin’s beautiful and much-lauded Polyface Farm. We just bought our first Polyface chicken this week! (Relay Living)

Farms Need People, Not Machines. Another great push to move away from factory farms and to raise employment levels. (The Atlantic)

How Manure-to-Energy Projects Make the Best of a Stinky Situation. Another factory farming-related issue: A fascinating initiative to make use of one of factory farming’s biggest and stinkiest problems. (Good)

Harry Moo-dini. If you ever thought cows were stupid, you need to watch this one. (Animals Being Di*ks)

American Gothic. Amazing. The now-famous man (the artist’s dentist!) looks none too pleased about it all. (All the Mountains)

American Modern. If pressed to describe the style I’d like to cultivate in my house one day, I think I would just have to point to this book and its pictures. (Cottage Farm)

The Cure for Math Anxiety Might Be in Your Head. Well, it’s good to know that my math phobia is grounded in mental instability. (Good)

Calligraphy Inspiration: Emilie Friday. Oh, to be that skilled with a flexible nib! (Oh So Beautiful Paper)

Why I Write. Why Orhan Pamuk, one of my recent favorites, writes. (Lit Drift)

Sundance Rings. Oh so pretty. (Unruly Things)

A Visual Anthropology of the Last Living Nomads in the World. Riveting photographs. It is hard to believe that there are still people who live like this in these places. (The Atlantic)

Yellow

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I am having a very yellow lunch today: banana, mango, and a yellow bell pepper. And I was going to have grilled pineapple, too, but I left it at home. Color! Yes, I could live purely off of fruit and vegetables (so long as dark chocolate counted as a vegetable).

Guion and I finished watching “The House of Flying Daggers” last night and it was exquisite. SO dramatic and beautiful. Ziyi Zhang has to be one of the most gorgeous women alive, too. I told Guion I generally hate films filled with fight scenes, but these fight scenes are more like dances than anything else.

I met a girl at our church on Sunday night (a fourth-year veterinary student in London) who is working this summer studying Joel Salatin’s chickens at Polyface Farm. I was, simply, jealous. I love what their website says: “We are in the redemption business.” Wendell Berry would love these people. Practicing resurrection all day long.