 Once upon a time….about 4 years ago I began a journey of carefully choosing my food intake, my liquid intake and paying more attention to the foods my body craved…..and began taking store bought meat out of my diet, along with regular stops for fast food, yes that includes my favorite...donuts….and as time moved on and my body responded positively along with doctors checkups for my anemia…The next journey of my life is to have the very special pleasure to move next door to 3RF and receive an invitation to join the CSA and to give service to the farm as well. My willingness to serve the farm is driven by my desire to help feed the CSA members and ourselves it has become a journey of understanding the importance of the words, Less is More.
We all need to eat and we all have choices to choose what we eat. With my now vegetarian food choices and I love to cook. This diet has so many delicious ways to create a vegetarian and a vegan diet, that I now considered cooking an art. Yes less is more, I have found that the less processed big farm meats I eat the better I feel.. My body has responded very positively to this change of diet and only miss eating more... donuts. Back to the farm, here in Michigan we are in a deep freeze....the spigot is frozen on the largest rain harvester I have ever met....and that is one place to get water for the chickens and ducks. As Gate Keeper one of my jobs is to be very flexible, farm work is ever changing and in the winter freezing temps increases the frustration to overcome this I have learned that learning to appreciate all you do with little expectations solves many stress filled situations and one I learned a long time ago, as a kid that carrying water is a pleasure! About every other day, I will be carrying water about a 2.5 gallon bucket from the house to top off the heated water buckets for the birds....this won't last long as warm weather descends upon us and I like to be overly optimistic with a compassionate heart. I was raised on a farm. The youngest of six and I quickly learned from mom and dad especially to ‘tinker it out’! He lived by this, when you need to solve something on the farm its best to tinker it out, figure it out with what you have, ....ahhh my first introduction to recycling. My Dad taught me that even though we could turn the on the hose attached to the house to draw water out of the ground via a pump, he convinced me it is better far better to save on the cost of electricity and simply carry water. During my young years as soon as I could throw the bucket in the creek that ran through our farm, pull it up and carry the bucket of water to the plants we would be living our cost would be less. Living with less became second nature even back then and continues for me today...finding ways to use less electricity is good for all of us. The service of carrying water is the same whether to care for the chickens and ducks or with the holding rain barrel workshops to help others use less and have more.  If I had more time on earth...I would not hesitate to farm on a scale that supports my family with a consistent diet of organic foods as my neighbors and owners of Three Roods Farm have accomplished, I surely would. The owners and farmers Greg K and Robin M are on vacation with their family in Malaysia enjoying warmer climes.
This year, once again I am what I am calling the Gatekeeper of 3RF, Karen Page their neighbor, CSA member and farm worker. What I do is to provide the much needed care 26 chicken, collect their eggs daily, sell eggs and feed and water the 3 ducks and 1 kitty. This will be a daily adventure, I may not post daily because of other jobs responsibilities I have. One of the best things I really enjoy is my walk to and from the farm. It is about ¼ mile away….and walking has been one of the many ways I have stayed strong and healthy over the past 30 years, another payback is that I can enjoy so many other activities I enjoy. I don't refer to being the gatekeeper as work, it i truly a service that I provide, to not only the owners, chickens, ducks and kitty and it’s a service to me as well. I will be posting here for the next 39 days of my service. With my list ready, I have eggs to collect. Enjoy! |
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