Coming Back to the Farm

I’ve been away from the farm for 2 months. Whenever possible I like to work for Elections Canada or Elections Ontario. It’s fun, short-term work which makes use of some of the skills the farm doesn’t always need, allows me to work more directly with people and be part of our electoral process. This year I was the Financial Officer for the riding of Huron Bruce. I had the opportunity to work with an incredible team of people in a great office.But – what that means is that I spent 2 months almost completely away from the farm. I wasn’t worried about it. It was in the incredibly capable hands of Fran, Tony (when he wasn’t campaigning) and Ben. They took care of almost everything while I was gone, from the day to day running of the farm including the chores, as well as the never-ending (this year) picking of the apples for our apple butter and fresh sweet cider.

It was hard to be away, but it is also good to get some perspective. I missed the farm. I missed the animals, the physical body labour of the work, being outside and the self directed pace of things. Since being back we’ve pressed 3 batches of apple butter, had a 2 day board meeting for the Ecological Farmer’s Association, dealt with a pig with a prolapse, weaned piglets, bred goats, done the final garden harvest, moved firewood, dealt with over a foot of snow, had to unfreeze the feed auger and much much more! It’s a never ending adventure of dealing with the unplanned yet urgent needs of a biological system and living creatures.