The first two days of this three month venture has been an absolutely mind blowing experience. I feel like I haven't even processed what I've done or learned already. The internship program that Green String has established has been operating for four years now, and it's really incredible the work that they have done and the legacy that past interns have left behind. Some have started a bike shop, spun wool and made yarn, built a composting toilet and a brick oven, and more. This experience is equally balanced between doing actual hard farm work (like scraping chicken shit, harvesting produce rain or shine for the farm store and restaurants, bottle feeding baby sheep and goats, planting seeds, making beet juice...etc etc) and then learning as much as possible about soil science, plant health, the agricultural industry, the business aspect of farming...there are around 70 or 80 lesson topics planned for each semester. You also get to take the knowledge you gain and apply that to a project that you want to do for the farm and leave behind your own legacy. There is time to explore and figure out what you want to get better at, and learn more about on your own time.
Yesterday our internship coordinator Misja gave a lesson on holistic nutrition, and it was like everything just fell in place for me. The current approaches in our industrialized and modern society to health and nutrition are failing us in so many ways. We are living in a nutrient deficient world where the soil and our bodies are lacking essential minerals, vitamins and nutrients. A lifestyle that centered around bringing health to your body and the earth is the only way to go in my mind. Green String is a manifestation of this in so many ways. Everything that they do on the farm is with the mindset: 50% for nature, and 50% for human consumption. If something you are planting is not giving back the same amount of goodness and nutrition to the soil and the environment as it is to you, it is unbalanced. It's a critical mindset change that is needed to actually create a more sustainable planet. The earth and the soil and the things we eat and walk on everyday are made up of the same things that make up our bodies. We should treat the natural environment in a fashion that allows it to flourish and become whole - not chemically treated, degraded, polluted, and destroyed.
All of the chores and tasks and harvesting that occurs on the farm as part of our workday as interns are mindful activities, keeping in mind the larger picture of treating the land and resources with respect. There's also a satisfaction in what you are doing and being part of something bigger. I was hoeing a strawberry patch yesterday (which feels like days ago now because of how long the days are) and just was in awe of the beauty around me and how my actions clearing the patch would help produce amazing strawberries for the next harvest. Then when I've been actually harvesting vegetables it's almost intoxicating to breathe in the freshness and taste fresh picked goodness. We're encouraged to just eat any edible plant that is growing in the fields and it's just...awesome.
More soon...I'm exhausted and am waking up early to wash all of the dirty produce boxes from today. Yay!
No comments:
Post a Comment