Adventures of an Agoraphobic Farmer

 I've been home for a week, and my mom only just discovered that, since we traveled out of state, we must either get negative COVID tests or quarantine for ten days. A little after the fact, she scheduled rapid COVID tests for us this morning.

I'm enjoying being at home again. My mom extracted me from the farm without issue and we got home in time for me to see my sister's boyfriend before his visit ended.

When I got home, I found a present from my wonderful neighbors sitting on my desk. It was a GoPro, and their accompanying note proposed that I start a YouTube channel. The idea has certainly crossed my mind before. They suggested an adventure/teaching channel, but I'm leaning more towards a slow living channel such as The Cottage Fairy or Girl in Calico. If you have thoughts on this, write to me in the comments! Whatever type of channel I decide to start, it will be strictly for fun (which, I realize, is kind of an oxymoron).

In other news, I have my farm visit for March scheduled! It's in the southwest corner of Virginia and I'm thrilled at the prospect of planting trees and learning how to make goat cheese there.

One thing Nick said to me in the week I was at his farm keeps niggling at me. He said, "If you're not outraged, you're not informed." 

I would love to lead an uninformed, soporific life (in the sense that hearing about my life would inspire others to go to sleep), but Nick pointed out that if we're content to be ignorant of the events going on and the policies being made in our country, we silently acquiesce to live unquestioningly with those events and under those policies. We have voices, he said. "I may not have a voice anymore [due to his laryngectomy], but I'm going to speak out louder than ever now." 

If January's events so far have taught us anything, it should be that the democratic process is precious, and that we, the people whom it works for, must work to protect and uphold it.

How do we learn what's going on in our country and world, work to change it for the better, and still protect our own minds and hearts from being poisoned with cynicism and dragged down by sadness on a day-to-day basis?

I don't know. I can only hope that, by being a farmer and using permaculture methods to regenerate my small portion of land, I can somehow make my own voice heard and stand up for the values I believe in.