Of course, the deer did not have a watermelon on its head. Indeed the deer was our oldest wildling with a lemon on her head. How wonderful must a world be, where lemons turn into watermelons and deer carry them on their heads like crowns. How wonderful is a world seen through children’s eyes. We are trying to create such a wonderous world every day, it is what keeps us fueled every day to do better, to do wonders, to wonder and live in miracles. Regenerative agriculture and holistic practices are the beginning of our journey to create and live. We are still in our infant stages, just learning how to walk and talk and see our immediate world through curious minds. What we see and imagine to be possible might not be feasible, but in the end, it is the thought that counts as it is always the thought that is the first step to create reality. Where we get in the end, who knows, we for sure don’t but getting there is a wonderous journey and if we’re lucky enough the deer will have a watermelon on it’s head when we arrive.
160 acres of pure beauty
We have taken our second step (of probably a thousand and two hundred) towards a full-blown regenerative farm. We left our 5 acres and moved to 160 acres of pure beauty. We have increased the number of livestock, occasionally decreasing it due to owls, foxes, cats and dogs (everything likes chicken, chickens are the hardest thing to keep alive because EVERYTHING eats chicken) and we have purchased an aerator. At the moment it often feels like we live in a humongous science experiment, we are trying all the things we have researched, others have tried, we have heard in our audiobooks and podcasts but in the end it has to work on our ground, on our soils with our animals.
Taking notes is a good idea
Fortunately, as we go we lose our fear of failure. Unfortunately for both of us we have that terrible student’s attitude where you are certain you don’t have to write this down, you will remember. You don’t. So we make the same mistake a couple of times (leaving the door to the brooder box open, just to make sure our cats REALLY kill the chicks, they do) until we realise that notes would be a good idea. Once it’s on paper the ideal thing to do is to put your paper on the table next to the wildings painting supplies, because it makes things so much more interesting if you read your notes through a thick layer of worm legs, octopi and sunshine.
We make the same mistakes a couple of times until we realize writing things down does make sense. Because if you think you are going to remember it all. You simply don't.
We want to watch the garden grow
We learn, slowly, but we learn and sometimes we even remember what we learned. More than anything else though, we love what we do! In a time where it seems imperative to work yourself to death, eat as fast as you can so you can get back to work and have absolutely no clue what you’re eating and probably frankly don’t even care, we want to slow down. Take our time, watch the garden grow, collect eggs very slowly (because chickens don’t lay where they are supposed to, it’s easter egg hunt every day here, yay! I call it the Zen of eggs), produce not just good food, but food that will remind you that you are eating because it is a wonderful thing to do, because your body will love you for it and not just to survive. We want to get back to being right now, we want our everyday life to be a piece of art that is created with the utmost love and attention to detail and above all we love bacon.
Create instead of destroy
That is not entirely true, we do love bacon but above all we want to live a meaningful life where we create instead of destroy, where we provide and nourish instead of take away and deplete. It is a wonderous world and we are part of it. It is up to use to make the decision whether we want to take part and do our part in this mysterious, cruel, joyous, deadly, regenerative, creative, curious cycle of life. In the end always remember, there might be a deer out there with a watermelon on its head.
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