Home Vs. Dwelling, Work and Job

I was having a conversation with some of my co-workers and I was struck with our differing perceptions in regards to home and work and such things. Where is your place of solace? Where do you go to recharge and be at peace with your self and the world? Some people find that inner calmness at church or perhaps a park, a movie theater or the ocean. For Rosie and I, we find that moment at or home. When I finish a shift I have a need to wash off the blood only I can see and silence the screams that only I can hear, my place of solace is my home. The sound of goats chewing weeds and the cluck of chickens brings to an end the sounds of suffering and pain. Running my hands threw the wheat and dipping my feet in the stream cleans off the blood only I can feel. The smell of growing things and the slow whisper of the trees cleans my lungs of the sent of death and decay. Planting trees and collecting eggs reminds me that life is a cycle and that there is more to the world than pain and suffering, more than broken bones and pools of blood. Green shoots and baby chicks show me that the cycle goes on and that an eternal life springs from the soil and decay of the past. To swing a scythe and cut with a sickle is to be baptized by your sweat and aching muscles, to be forgiven of your past sins.

For us, working in our small farm is not a chore or a job. For us working our small plot of land is an act of meditation, cleansing the mind and caring for our bodies. The constant work of plant, harvest, raise and slaughter is a act of worship and our temple is under blue skies and in shaded places. When we must leave our home, our place of peace, we long to return. For it is there in our home that we find a satisfaction and a fulfillment that makes all else in the world seem pale and over wrought with a meaningless substance.

To our friends: If you need that place of solace, if you need that moment of quite, come and be welcome. Friends, our gate it is open to you, enter our home and find the simple joy of good food of rich drink. Come and learn to be a steward of the animals that will offer up their bodies to feed your family and the plants who grow to fill your plate. If you count yourself among our friends then our door will always be open to you. Come and find what we have found.