It's OK to NOT be OK

Here we go again. Store shelves stripped bare in panic for the second time in less than two years. Happy to report that our girls are all fine and for now our feed supply is also safe.

Jeff just left to attempt a delivery to the abattoir in Chilliwack. Fingers crossed they can make it. If they do - we will have a fresh round of pork in two weeks. Till then, the freezer will be looking a bit spare.

Just a reminder that, as always, YOU - my lovely Farm Family - come first.

You come first before hoarders, first before panicked Costco shoppers, first before fair-weather farm friends.

We are so grateful for your consistent support over nearly a decade now. It is because people like you who show up week in and week out that we're able to keep going, through good times and bad.

Thank you.

The past week has been, to put it plainly - the absolute shits.

(We will be starting to collect monetary donations this week - I've asked some farm friends to help us find a farming family impacted and we will sponsor that one family directly via the farm, rather than overwhelm the donation centres further with things that may or may not be needed. More updates to come and I get some more info from on the ground.)

I admit, more than any emotion this week - anger has been at the top of the list. Anger and grief.

But here's the thing. Anger - despite the power it has in the hands of humans like Greta Thunberg - isn't what we need. Greta has every right to her anger. But she's young. She doesn't have the wisdom yet to know that anger is the wrong tool for the job.

We won't heal our planet or our society with anger.

The only thing that will do that is LOVE.

It wasn't anger that propelled regular folks out into boats and planes to help this week. It was love. Love of their neighbours, love of their community, love of this place we call home.

What is needed isn't committees or government advisory panels or any of the rest.

What is needed is for each of us to fall deeply in love with our places, to root ourselves there, fully and deeply - committed, communing with and open to the wisdom that resides there, that has always resided there - if we just listen.

(For those of you feeling overwhelmed by all the bad news - Here is a lovely little balm for the soul from one of my favourite writers and thinkers, Wendell Berry. Enjoy.)

Love is the whole thing. We are only pieces. - Rumi

As always.

Best,

Stacey

P.S. One last reminder - the farm is an "I'm fine" free zone. It is ok to not be ok, and it's ok to say so.

We can't control how the world unfolds around us, but we can control how we manage and unpack our emotions. If you feel like you need to have a cry - don't worry - you won't be the first to cry on my front porch, and you won't be the last! - Big Hugs, S