This newletter is a big one so make a cup of tea and “dig” in!!! First of all just a practical reminder that our March market is this Saturday March 12th. As usual we will have our friends for Baloo Bakery, Raincoast Woodturnings and Sarah’s Staples with us from 10 am to 2 pm here at 9420 West Saanich Road. Come say hi!!! To welcome spring here on the farm please have a look at our video above..Turn on your volume as it even has music!
Now for a few big thoughts and plans…..
2022 is the year of acceptance and change for our little piece of this blue Earth.
I have recently been equating my reaction to the realities of climate change to a kind of grief and all its stages. In 1969, Elizabeth Kubler Ross (1) wrote “On Death and Dying” in which she describes the loss experienced by patients with life threatening and terminal illnesses. This was not, as we have come to think, “research” about the bereaved as it was a series of case studies about patients facing their own mortality. (2). While not as generalizable as originally intended, the Kubler Ross 5 stages weirdly match my own psychic response to the potentially life threatening illness faced by this planet and those of us who inhabit it:
Denial: “There is no such thing as climate change caused by humans; this is just a normal cycle of nature.
Anger: “Why did generations before me and “others” in my own generation set out to destroy this planet through greed, capitalism, materialism and all other evil attributes etc etc etc.”
Bargaining: “I will recycle and reuse and try to be careful about the packaging I choose in the grocery store but don’t expect me to be one of those outspoken militant people like Greta Thunberg.”
Depression: “What’s the point of all this effort I’m putting in when the Political and Financial forces in this world are too big? We are all going to die anyway”
Acceptance: “My Earth has a problem. Its a really big one and it is the reality my family and I are living in.” The key word here is living. Living with climate change means being an active participant in my life and the lives of others. Acceptance is not passivity; it is recognizing that climate change is occurring and making my own intentional and realistic changes in response.”
So what does this acceptance mean on our little farm?
Community: It means we cannot do this alone. Far from taking on a “bunker” mentality, it means we must create more connections than ever with family, the local community and the the global community. So we are changing our tagline to “Sustainability through Community”. I (Chris) am now on the board of the North Saanich Farm Market and we are entering into conversations and collaborations with several young agrarians in the community to understand the changing landscape.
Sustainabilty: This year, we are going to invest in a solar conversion for the farm, a transition to full no till gardening in the market garden and a water conservancy (rain garden) project.
Stewardship: We finally have decided to finish the developing our beautiful loft in the barn into a fully heated and insulated bright airy studio… It will be multipurpose as it can house farm workers, family and occasionally be an air “barn and breakfast”. Stay tuned formore news on this
Acceptance. And change.
Taking on this kind of transformational change scares us. It sure does. And we can’t do it by ourselves. So maybe the real change is in the deeper and more authentic relationships that are built along the way.
Staying the same is no longer an option. We want the legacy we leave to our children and grandchildren to be one characterized by focussed determination and an unrelenting but realistic commitment to sustaining the only planet we have.