Gasshō,
A few weeks ago this arrived in the mailbox at A Long View Farm addressed to SANGHA, no return address.
When I opened it I encountered the following:
No salutation. No signature. Just “information,” presented in an admonishing, slightly threatening, stern, authoritarian parent to willful ignorant child sort of way. Everything is a projection exercise, as we know, so those are the best projections I can come up with.
Where do I go with that? Well, it makes me wonder what we’re projecting, what kinds of messages we’re giving that would cause a person to feel they need to interact with us in that way. And, here’s the bottom line: Whatever those impressions are that we are giving, for any and all of those, I apologize.
It’s not my experience that we’re closed, unable or unwilling to take in concerned information. But then, that’s my experience. Clearly that is not the experience of the person who wrote that letter!
Now, here’s the part that remains fascinating to me. The writer did a lot of research. They found out how our property is zoned. They ostensibly looked up the codes and the laws and regulations. And still, they got it wrong.
| We had looked into all of this ourselves before we ever started our first compost pile. We’ve talked to the city, the county, the Department of Health. We got thumbs up and huge enthusiasm. Even from the USDA! Everyone’s comment is along the lines of, “It’s nearly impossible to get good compost, everyone needs it, yes, please, make as much of it as you can and as fast as you can.” |
 The compost pile in question! |
Are permits required? Yes, when the operation gets really large, way, way larger than ours is.
We spent many hours getting through, again, to the people in offices we’d already spoken with in order to confirm the same information we’d already received. I do hope the letter writer does not feel the need to “be right,” or “get us in trouble,” and can simply let the whole matter go.
Again, the part that makes me feel sad and want to apologize is that someone close enough to us to address us as Sangha doesn’t feel safe enough to come right out with their concerns and have them addressed. The reason this matters so much, the reason it’s being included in this communication, is that I want to be very clear that from my perspective there is nothing that we can’t bring into our Awareness Practice. Sex, money, relationship, politics, health and everything else under the sun. Any and everything can be brought up. If there’s something we’re not hearing about, not talking about, it’s because no one has brought up that something!
Speaking of the Farm, when we put it on the market however many months ago a fellow was hired by our realtor to take drone pictures of the house and property. At that time all we had to show for our time as stewards here was the original tree plantings in what we now refer to as the nursery and, no small matter, the pristine quality of the whole 25 acres post our massive cleanup in preparation for full-steam-ahead-serious organic farming. It occurred to me a couple of weeks ago that it would be fun to repeat that process at this juncture when the property is being transformed at such a rapid clip. We’ve shown you lots of stills and there are some videos on the YouTube channel, I think, but here’s a view very difficult to get from ground level.
A Long View Farm---the long view!
A Long View Form---close up!
The nursery fully planted
Green house and tomato beds
The orchard
Bamboos in infancy
Today begins the beginning of the installation of solar panels on the roof. There will be pictures next time, but I wanted to take this opportunity to speak a little about the why of this choice at this time. We came to the 25 acres now called A Long View Farm with a dream of engaging in regenerative farming. The planet is in such big trouble. We, and all else living on the planet, are in such big trouble—becoming more obviously so on a daily basis. What can we do? What small changes can we make in how we interact with our Mother Earth that might be of assistance? Blessedly, we have a Sangha that cares about all of us making all the difference we can, so we have support to get an electric truck for farm chores and to install the solar that will power everything we do plus give back to the local community from the overabundance this system will generate. A huge thank you for that, as always, and please feel very, very good about your contribution to helping the world be as we would wish it to be.
When people visit the farm, they tend to ask about the same unusual behaviors and activities. For instance, why don’t we have a tractor? When we realized that digging trenches across the fields would help pooling water to drain, we began digging them—by hand, with a shovel. Dan, our second farm steward, dug ditches from one side of the property to the other and the bog has turned into useable, plantable land. We could have brought a machine in, another machine that would have torn up the land, spewed unpleasantness into the air, destroyed the peace and quiet; but, as all those involved in these endeavors would attest, a shovel is a marvelous companion in quiet, peaceful, meditative work.
Plus, the clumps of earth removed to create the ditches was deposited near the greenhouse, where raised beds are being made to welcome dozens of tomatoes of various types. We carry the clods of earth across the fields using a “bucket brigade” technique, ferrying them to the raised bed area where they are stacked two or three high. They’re then covered with a layer of mulch, a “bowl” is formed to accommodate the small plant, and it’s all topped off with a dressing of compost for nourishment. These are the beds we’re hoping will respond well to the “dry farming” approach. The roots will make their way down through the bed into the water table waiting not that far below, and they will water themselves through the summer.
We so appreciate this whole process, not just for the great fitness opportunities provided, but because it all meshes so wonderfully with how we want to be with Life in all Life’s expressions, mindful of the gifts, respectful of the value of each gift, honoring Life in all its forms, grateful for all we’re given.
Speaking of which, we are in the process of delivering our first batch of lettuce to the Food Bank. There is so much in that one simple sentence! Months of getting everything ready (remember the cardboard held down by rocks through the winter in an effort to suppress the plants growing in spaces we were hoping to use for other plants?), mountains of wood chips hauled and placed, seeds going into little cubes of soil, the greenhouse built to keep them warm and safe, row upon row of tiny lettuces moving into the nursery and beginning to grow like little weeds, weeding constantly to give them a chance to get to the nutrients first, and now, these many months later, they’re going to take up their role in assisting to feed people.
I/we have learned so much in this process and expect to learn more and more as time goes on. One of the learnings, fitting beautifully in with the mindful, peaceful, quiet approach to working meditation, is scything. Scything. Who knew scything could be one of the most fun and satisfying activities a person could engage in? Certainly not I. But we all love it. Brian, however, has happily become the Scythe Master. He is in the process of scything the entire property. Yes. All those acres. We now have 3 scythes and since the clod-to-raised-bed project is largely completed, we can now begin to assist in the operation.
What does this mean for us, aside from not needing those noisy, polluting machines that deal with grass? Compost. The grasses being scythed, combined with the cuttings from Four Acre Zen Center, are going into a giant pile that, all on their own, will become luscious food for the plants on the property.
There’s more, but this could turn into a novella if I don’t practice restraint and religious observance. I could say that I want to save something for next time, but we all know that by next time there will be at least this much and more. It’s a fast life on a farm!
We’ll be making our way ere long to our old stomping grounds for our first in-person retreat since the pandemic. We’re hopeful that all will go well, with that and with all the chaos surrounding our section of the world currently, and that we can plan another and then others. Our virtual practice is wonderful, a true blessing, and it will be grand to be together in person.
In gasshō,
ch