weathering the storm

The weather this week turned cold and windy. Clouds have moved and there's talk of snow come the weekend.

I'm glad that my work largely follows the seasons. School running through the coldest months, farm work in the summer - it helps me feel connected to the world in a time where more and more people are living removed from it.

My sister recently mocked my back-to-the-land attitude and lifestyle.

After an hour or two spent making fun of her pseudo-bohemianism I had time to sit back and think about what she said.

It appears, dear reader, that my younger sister may have been right.

But it makes me wonder how I can come back to the land when it seems that I never left it in the first place.

I suppose the answer is that Endiang, Alberta (motto: "Not quite the end of the world but you can see it from here") is not immune from outside trends after all: by extension neither are the farms. The fast-paced, consumerist, technology driven world of the urban centers exists just the same at the end of the road.

And frankly I don't find it very satisfying. I don't want a life defined by the number of digits on my paycheque, the square-footage of my house, the year of manufacture on my car.

I don't want to be made obsolete by a machine, or be reduced to the status of technician.

I want to be able to walk where I please, to see the stars at night, to be independent of municipalities and corporations.

Is that cliche? Is it naive? Should I just admit I can't change the way of the world and hold on for the ride?

Because I really don't want to.

I like the farm. I like how the work changes from day to day with the weather and seasons. I like how I am more and more able to provide for myself.

As it stands I can provide some of my own meat, eggs, and vegetables. Soon I'll be able to provide my own milk and wool. With time, maybe electricity and heat.

It's a lifestyle that makes me happy. It's a lifestyle I'm starting to think more people yearn for.

Will I be able to pull it off? I hope so. But I suspect it will be difficult in the future for people like me, people who value the institution of the family farm, to continue.

Because the powers that be seem to want us to dry up and blow away. Make way for the corporate farms to come.

For now, though, I'll hold out in my little island of sanity.

Regards from Alberta's brush plain.