I am a teacher in this incredibly woke system. I have been thinking about taking an early retirement, but my other voice says to stay. So I close my door, and teach the way I feel is best, and ignore all the pronouns and rainbows. I use terms like “boys and girls”, and refuse to put a pronoun behind my name on emails. I believe I’m making a difference, so I’ll stay. Thank you for your magical words, Tara! They help keep my ship pointed to the truth.
Petra, I am so glad you're sticking it out! You will make a difference, I know it. The great worry is that as more people are squeezed into repeating and enforcing beliefs they don't share, they will just leave. It's happening at institutional levels like in corporations, the military, and as you well know, the schools. What then? Universities are captured. Without dissenting viewpoints and opinions, I fear we are ill preparing our young people to have the ability to understand and accommodate the diversity of beliefs and opinions in our world. Will the intolerance continue unabated or will there be a breaking point?
Their mission is to take God out of the world and the sea captain is Satan.
I got to visit with a friend yesterday who I haven’t seen in months. I was aware before that our ideals and paths are very different but was made even more aware of it yesterday. If I can’t talk about Botox, lip fillers, giving myself a shot in the belly to loose weight or the new b12 b-skinny injection then I don’t have much worth talking about. No one wants to talk about milk goats, cleaning the greenhouse to start seeds or UFOs. (Had to add the last one) lol
The last time I was with my twin sister the conversations were the same. I leave filling deflated and confused. They have bought the lie, and they still aren’t happy. Nose job, not happy, lips filled, not happy, gotta be heroine chic, not happy. It’s a bottomless pit of lies that leaves you empty! There is a God sized hole in all of us and it won’t be filled with anything but Him!!!
On a happier note, love the book rec’ we have that one, so we will read it soon. I just finished reading the Endurance to my son. Wow talk about having nothing to complain about for the rest of your life. That story will make you feel like a wimp!!! We also read Treasures in the Snow, so wonderful!!! Highly recommend!! Homeschooling has given us years of wonderful books to read through that most kids won’t find in their school library!!! We read Ben Hur two years ago when my son was 8 and people mocked me because “he’s too young for that”, he loved it and why do we have to dumb down children’s minds? They are so smart and inquisitive! We are about to start the Corrie Ten Boom story and be studying the World Wars. Which book did you mention Tara, about World War 1?
Love hearing from you Tara, another soul who likes to color outside the lines!! ❤️
Oh my, Nikki. What a deflating sign of the times. Everyone a narcissist madly obsessed with the outside while they wilt inside. How do you do you stay in those relationships? It must feel so draining. I mean, it's your sister, I get it, but how challenging that must be.
Thank you for the book recommendations! I will add them to my list. That's one of the things that moved me so much in "Rascal" - how capable, mature, and determined that young boy was. He wanted a canoe so he built himself a canoe. And in the end... well... I won't give it away, but I wonder if even adults today would be able to offer such great acts of selfless love.
The WW1 comment was just in relation to the Rascal book. It plays as a back drop to what's going on in the small town and the young boy's older brother is in the war at the time. If you read it, I'd love to hear what you think about it.
I was just chatting with a friend about setting healthy boundaries. It's a common thread - how to respectfully distance ourselves from family members who's narcissism and victimization cause this leeching of energy and resources. I guess in my case, I have been asked, like Terra mentioned, to give up the very person that I am to go along and get along, with my own sister. Silenced at family gatherings for asking questions that were provoking feelings of uncertainty. In the end, it's not up to us to determine when or how someone else owns their role complacency and deception anyway. A sad realization, but as mothers we need to do what we need to do to protect our family and our hearts. We are having the same experience with homeschooling as well! The other night I started reading White Fang to my 9, 6 and 4 year olds. I stopped one paragraph in thinking they "must" have had a hard time grasping it, but they wanted more! It's so amazing what they take away from complex literature. Some others that they enjoyed despite my hesitations-- Animal Farm and Watership Down. Glad we get to come to this forum and find inspiration from eachother 🧡
That sentence, "...for asking questions that were provoking feelings of uncertainty" made my jaw drop. What a world we are in when questions are threatening! I can't. I won't. We all have the right to take up space and have opinions. Nobody should be made small and quiet to comfort the delicate sensibilities of another. Of course we are respectful and kind but that goes towards others AND ourselves.
I got misty at the mention of White Fang. That was one of our youngest daughter's favourites when she was young as well. Awesome book!
Animal Farm is on our list for the coming months. Now I can’t wait to read it! I have had very little support from friends and family when it comes to homeschool. I talked to my sister the other day and her kindergartner is required to do after school tutoring. 😡 my advice was shut that down now!!!!!
She has already learned that learning is work and she hates it. Such a sad disservice to children!!!!
I completely agree and see the same thing! Since we've moved though (from California 😖), it's refreshing to find that more families are homeschooling than not! It feels reassuring to be seen and heard! If you ever need support or encouragement, I'm here! It sounds like you are doing amazing things for your son 💛
Thank you Tara. So often you articulate what I'm thinking and feeling so well. I needed this paragraph this morning... "The power you have is in controlling what you can control in your life. And those things? They’re a lot. If you think otherwise, really dig into that perspective. Is it yours or is it one you’ve adopted somewhere along the line? Is it truth or is it serving you in some other way? Is “easy” getting the better of you? What you can control may seem, when held up against the illusion of the machine, trivial. But you, good human, are not redundant. God does not create for entertainment. Each of us, every single one, is here for a purpose."
Your last paragraphs and injunctions bring to mind Galatians 6:9: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
It has been a bewildering and upsetting journey to watch friends with whom I so deeply aligned (and still do in many ways) buy directly into the lies being sold about diversity/equity/inclusion, victimhood nonsense and feminism (one of the most pernicious lies of our time, I think).
I’m actually spending this weekend with my three best friends from college, 2 of whom have gone that way. And it’s extremely difficult to get decide how to spend this time. Do I bring up those conversations s about matters in which we will inevitable disagree? And perhaps lose one another over?
I’ve opted to lean into the richness of our lives beyond just the ideologies- children, books we are reading, new herbal and dietary things we are learning. But I’m troubled with the knowledge in the back of my mind at the baseline ideologies they hold.
I too really enjoy children’s books. “Wind in the Willows” by Graham Greene is a particular favorite as is the Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.
Mallory, it's so true. There's this little dance we have to do to accommodate and continue with our relationships if we want to keep them. I think we all acknowledge this, especially with family. We are always deciding on our battles and on what can simply be let go. I think what's different with friends, especially friend when we're younger, is we often accumulate them from a time when we were different people. Then, as we age, we change and grow (hopefully) and maybe they do, too, but in different ways.
To be honest, I'm not friends with a single person I grew up with. Who I was then, is not who I am now. And, I'm sure it's the same for them. If we grow with people alongside us and we can continue to challenge and have meaningful relationships, I think that's wonderful. But what I found as we aged is that with three kids and doing the things I wanted to do, my time for socialising and friendships was limited. If that time wasn't meaningful and enriching for all of us, what was the point? I would rather be with my family or even alone with God or walking in some forest somewhere. I guess I've always liked solitude over people that I felt I couldn't be myself around.
You know it wasn't until I read book on feminism in my forties that I even realised how it had affected my life so much. My mother was a product of those messages and I, a product of her and that time. I brought so much of that into my young mothering years - not the ideology but the effects of it. I remember feeling such shame when other mothers would ask me "What do you do for a living?" I was embarrassed to stay I stayed home with my babies and would always need to qualify my contribution with courses I was taking or side hustles I was participating in. I'm so glad that's changed somewhat (at least in some circles).
I think I'm going to do a discussion thread for kid's books. So many good suggestions in here, we need one spot to collect them!
I’m so appreciative every week of your work, how you “bring it”! Love it. Your use of the voyage / ship metaphor here is so perfect.
What you share about your reading adventures reminds me of the Little House series we used to read to our girls. They are 19 and 22 now... we still talk about the books and remember certain passages and happenings. Talk about having no choice but to live in reality!
Other thoughts brought on by this wonderful piece:
None of this DEI stuff actually calls to any of us... it can’t. That’s not who we are, it’s not what “being” is about. I remember reading Mere Christianity when I was in college... I love CS Lewis , and others will remember better than I will , but he describes in that book a sense of “longing” that is part of the human experience. We don’t long for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion... we long for the fulfillment of what is unique in each of us. For me it manifest in a deep sadness and, yes, longing as I would walk or drive through or look out the window upon the beauty and wonder of the natural world from my “job” indoors or my commute to and from... nothing short of the fulfillment of my soul pulled me to where I am now and what I’m doing. We all need to listen and follow that pull, but first we must learn to hear.
Steadfast.
What a word. What a world view. So much there... it’s more than perseverance or “getting through”... it implies a foundation, a rock on which your feet are placed.
I accepted as true a long time ago an idea that I try to remember and hold on to everyday. While I did not initially accept it, over time I came to see its truth and the power it contains. It’s the idea that everything present in your life was brought there by you. Good or bad, healthy or detrimental, positive or negative... it’s all on you, always. One way or another. It is simply not possible to ever last long in a mindset of victim or helpless pawn of forces outside your control coming from this place.
I still struggle.. we all do. There are still things I want to change and relationships that are not where I want them... but I’m grateful to know that’s all on me. There is peace in that, peace and agency.
Last thought: who you surround yourself with also matters so much. What you see, hear, read, and experience every day. None of us are “there yet”. That’s one of the things I love so much about this community. A bunch of strivers up in here! So thanks again Tara... you are practicing what you “preach” in a big way and that’s another thing missing as we all look around these days, integrity.
Not to mention giving me, personally, this week a sense of the wonder and joy of snuggling to sleep a child born to one of my own children. ❤️
I love your thoughts shared here, Joe. Wouldn't it be wonderful to sit under the sun, all of us seekers and just chat away on all these things?
Agency is a big, beautiful, powerful word. I see that word as a gift, but many see it as one out of reach for so many. What a thing to think so little of another human being.
OH, Little House! I love those books. It reminds me of the other weekend when I was antique shopping with my friend and I told her that when I was a little girl I was given "Tasha Tudor's Christmas". It was an illustrated children's book, if I'm remembering correctly. I remember reading about the homemade gifts they made each other and being absolutely enamoured in the simplicity and wholesomeness of their lives and their connections to one another. The Little House books did the same for me. It seems now these books are our evidence and guide to lives pre-screen when children were so much more capable of things beyond being entertained.
Thank you for articulating that feeling that's in there, that hunger. I think many people see that as something to squash (as if that can ever really happen). But when we listen, and then act, home is only over yonder.
I am in complete alignment with your thoughts on what comes into and out of our lives. And in everything, gifts, sometimes very painful, sometimes exploding with joy. I so enjoyed learning from your comment here, too. It's so wonderful to have these exchanges.
Just came to chime in on Tasha Tudor. I don’t know how I found pictures of her and her property on the internet, but let’s just say I fell down a rabbit hole of aesthetic bliss. She is my style and vibe icon 😁 I know she was a children’s book illustrator and author and I’d love to find some of her books.
Karla, you know I didn't even know she had books on gardening or an "aesthetic vibe". It was a friend of mine who told me that. I had grown up thinking she was just a kid's book author. You're right, her stuff is so darn dreamy!
So beautifully written Tara. Thank you. I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks also for the book recommendation. Another excellent read for kids as well as adults is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George about a boy who runs away from his family in NY City to move to the Catskills and live in the wild on his own. I read it to my son when he was 8 or 9 and we both loved it.
Love that book! All of our kids read that one, too. I think I should open up a discussion thread for kid's books. We need some good resource sharing there. Too many depressing, weird books out for kids now.
I love this separate thread idea for great kids books. I'm a new mother, my little girl is 4 months old, but I would love to start a reading library for my little one now. I have several mentioned in these comments already but love the idea of having all these suggestions in one thread!
We too have noticed how the new group think issues are in every new movie we watch. So tired of it and you have to be blind not to see it. Or in agreement with it. Our list of things we can stand to watch is getting smaller and smaller
Same here, Linda. Maybe we should start a movie club that's officially non-woke. We've reverted to old movies. We've always loved cinema and live theatre but we gave up our memberships to our local small theatre when they wouldn't let us in for not having the jab. So, now it's us in a living room watching old flicks as a special treat every now and then.
This was powerful and so well written! We jumped ship years ago and try to live on our own terms, but I hear the call that it’s time to contribute or offer more when we can. It became easier to just avoid the old system as long as we were left alone, but now we need to get involved in our new system. I support local, as in within 100km, as much as possible and that’s pretty important. I also make my own herbal remedies and have begun sharing that with others if asked.
The other message I had this week is to stand more in my truth and stop hiding what I’m feeling or thinking in order to make others comfortable. This comes from the conditioning we all just went through over the past years about holding certain unacceptable views. It’s time to return to having some of these conversations again as things are now much different.
I like the idea that this is a place where we can discuss ideas on how to get started in an alternative way of life as there are many younger people who want it, but are shut out due to real estate being too expensive or needing that steady pay cheque now.
I totally agree with you, Connie. I'm also inclined to just do my own thing and stay out of the fray, but I think I'm asked to do more so I'm stretching.
It's younger people that I feel so determined to help in whatever way I can. You're right, with the cost of living and land, I think alternative ways of living can seem insurmountable, but then I have met so many that are doing things in such creative ways. Even young single mothers that have created such interesting ways of creating side incomes or getting their kids out of the cities. I think I should open up some discussion threads for more chats like this. The one on the chat was really interesting, but I know that not everybody likes the chat function.
Definitely agree with this! An “alternative/creative income” thread would be a real boon to a number of us youngsters searching for a way out of the systems and webs that be!
It often amazes me that the very thing you are writing about is a current conversation Nicolas and I have been having.. We have just arrived home from a 3 day small organic farming conference in our state where we left feeling more like outsiders in this world of organic farmers, than included... and my husband has been at this 30+ years now. It used to be in years past that we would leave feeling connected, energized and with a renewed sense of community. However, this year there was more focus on right and wrong political 'correctness' at this conference than farming. The masked farmers glared at the unmasked amongst us while pronoun stickers were encouraged for your badges upon arrival. Our 2 farm employees attended a 'farmhand' breakout session where twenty something year old farm employees yelled that they all should unionize and another demanded that the sharing go in a counterclockwise circle because that's the way the indigenous people of that land would have wanted it. Our farmhands left the session a bit bewildered to say the least. When did the small organic farming community change? What happened here?
All of this to say, thank you for sharing and capturing our feelings so well in this essay...it answered some of these questions for me. Your words and this group help us feel so much more connected given the current state of this world. We are grateful.
Jeni, as soon as I read this I sent it to my friend who's a lifelong farmer. Her and her husband have a diversified, organic dairy farm. She used to be very active in our local farmers union (not a union at all but you know, a farming organisation).
Here, in Canada we have to belong to a farming organisation in order to be a farm at all (and benefit from the reduced land tax rate). In our area, there are three farmers unions to choose from. Two of them are more inclined towards the big, commercial farmers with much of their work and positions slanted in favour of what they're trying to achieve. The other organisation, the one we, and most of our smaller, organic farming friends belong to has traditionally been the champion of small farms, regenerative farms, a voice for the farmer not the big corporations. Alas, it appears that this is now the very thing that has left many of us feeling disenchanted.
What you wrote of here is exactly what we've been seeing within our farming collective. The ultra-woke virtue varnish that pervades every single topic. One can't speak of anything, it seems, without someone qualifying your privilege or a land acknowledgment or one's coloniser mindset. The thing that astounded me most was that during the lockdowns and hysteria around the whole last few years (especially in Canada) was the vehement passion that many of these young people in our farming groups expressed in their ready adoption of masks, lockdowns, and injections. They were, quite literally, foot soldiers for the government. They even went to so far as to monitor other farmer's social media and warn them when they made an infraction against the party line. At farmer's meetings, we witnessed twenty-somethings wearing two N95 masks with sanitising gels in their pockets.
These were organic farmers! These were young healthy people! These "leaders" in our farming community contacted friends of mine via social media to inform them that something they may have shared painted the farming community as a whole in a bad light. And when I say that, I am referring to simple things such as an image of my friend walking in her fields with the caption, "Such a beautiful day to have the sun on my skin. Sun is such a healing, helpful friend." Imagine the pompous audacity of a 20 something year old writing to a woman in her fifties and telling her something as simple and beautiful as admiring the sun was ignorant and dangerous in its "obvious inflection". Huh?
When you have a life dedicated to looking for the ugly, you live ugly.
The whole thing is exhausting. After I sent your comment to my farmer friend I sent it to a few others. Everyone got it right away. It's a good question, "when did the small organic farming community change"? I think it's when the products of our modern schooling, especially those coming out of university, started moving towards farming as a cause and a way to enact social justice. Maybe believing you are more powerful as a virtuous soldier of DEI than as a lowly farmer growing potatoes brings them a meaning they feel is absent otherwise.
It's mostly sad for me on that level though. That instead of immersing themselves in the work, in the earth, in the simple wonder and good honest work of raising food for another human being, they are in their heads, stuck in a perpetual loop of looking for offence and looking for a way to signal their goodness. It's such a terribly lost and confused position. You're supposed to be lost and confused at that age, but this woke stuff is giving these young people a sense of belonging. I don't think we're supposed to feel belonging at that age. I think we're supposed to be uncomfortable and searching and coming to our own unique places of worth so that we can contribute in the ways we were created for. And the farming, the missing out on the endless lessons and gifts of the land in a quest to de-colonize and whatever else they come up with, is just so tragically sad. They're missing everything.
p.s. I wanted to add the story of a young woman that I had great affection for that came to me as somewhat of a mentor or elder figure in her life. I spent a great amount of time with her, listening and encouraging her. I gave her boxes of farming books and answered her many questions. Awhile back she found a farmer on Instagram that has a feed of this woke, angry messaging. His feed is all about getting white people off the land and those flavours (like your farming convention). She started asking me questions about whether I would ever "give my land back". To who? It rapidly declined from there. She stopped talking to me entirely and, to be honest, I was relieved. I wish her well in her path. I hope her good heart will find channels of expression that bring more beauty and love into this world. She was so full of that goodness, but for now at least, it's being funnelled into the angry and critical.
All that to say, I am glad you have young workers with you that you are able to show another way to. There are far too many people in our community accommodating these unrealistic ideas that are trying to take hold.
This hits so true.... so sad, but so true. My husband and I have been ranching and raising our own meat for the last 10 years together. We are in our late 20s. I have been itching to do more gardening and expanding my skills in that area, as well as doing a little bit more community volunteering, etc. So I decided to check out the community garden. I figured it would be a great way to learn from some seasoned gardeners, meet some people in the community (we are pretty recluse lol), and do a little volunteer work. What I was met with is more of this woke, woke, woke. Not just young people either, from the later generation too. All of the things you've discribed. I feel very lacking in mentors, and just want to find someone that I can learn things from and connect with in a spiritual way, but not get hit with these agendas alllll the time. Trouble is the mentors I'm looking for are probably just as recluse and hiding away in their couple acre homesteads, doing their thing. I am grateful to platforms such as this, it is the best way I have found to connect, share and learn. It feels like full time work navigating away from all those people, agendas, etc. And even more so now that we have a little baby girl blessing our lives, I want so much more for her than what those agendas offer. Thanks for helping to keep my fire going!
And, I just want to say, the work y'all are doing in raising your own meat is awesome and you are creating such a wonderful life for your sweet babe. It's incredible that you've already been at it for 10 years at such a young age, wow!
Kendra, we'd be happy to connect on the phone or email to share some veg growing knowledge and insight anytime! Email me if you'd like: jeni@crystalorganicfarm.com
And yes, it's becoming more and more that way here.. not as much (but still some) in the rural parts of GA where we live, but certainly in the cities.. with the young and older farmers alike. As Tara mentioned above, it's almost as if farming has become their platforms for 'social justice' instead of just, you know, doing the hard work. A lot of talk, not a whole lot of action.
Thank you so much Jeni. We love raising our animals and can't wait to share that with our daughter. There are so many wonderful things to be learned in nature, you just have to spend the time. I sent you an email!
Kendra, I hear you. I mentioned this above, to Jeni, but I really think that being courageous at this time, in leading strongly in your position will open you up to the people, your people, that are out there trying to figure it out, too. You guys are up to some amazing things at a young age. You are already leaders and trailblazers! Speak with love and confidence and just watch how things open to you.
We have less friends but more quality relationships now. That feels good. It feels right. I have no patience for small talk about repeated mantras. I want original thinkers and flawed, uncurated human beings. But in order to get that, we had to be that. And in order to do that, we decided to live authentically despite the reactions of others. xo
Also, whenever I get down and out over the years about this shift in the farming community and all the 'politics' around it, Nicolas always says to me: 'All we need to do is put our heads down, get in the dirt and do the work to take care of ourselves and our customers/community'. He is one of the hardest working men I've ever met and that's what attracted me to him. As a lifetime farmer, he always says to anyone who asks: 'the easy part of farming is selling the food.. the hardest part is growing the food because someone has to do the work.' And as you mentioned, I don't see a lot of these young woke farmers doing the work or even wanting to do the work. That is what scares me most about the future of small organic farming. Who will actually do the work?
Oh how we wish we were near you and some of your farmer friends that are experiencing the same. I am saddened but not surprised to hear that this 'woke' movement is taking hold amongst so much of the community.
Ahhh, yes... the foot soldiers. This part really hit home for us... As we watched the organic farmers in our region post social media photos of their vax cards, bandaided arms and masked faces in outside in their fields, we couldn't help but shake out heads at the outrageous contradiction of it all. Organic farmers who go to great lengths and costs (not to mention the hard work) to avoid chemicals at every turn, not only willingly lined up for all the injections into their bodies, but they also attacked and shamed those in the farming community who didn't make that choice. How can they not see the irony of their choices? Young farmer friends of ours were awarded a grant by a local farming organization which included an appreticeship program, but the program director refused to come to their farm to work with them unless they had the jab. They had to lie in order to participate in the program and alas, not be ostracized from that particular farming organization.
We could not make any sense of any of it at all. Once back in 2020 I shared a photo of my unmasked husband on our farm and was attacked that he was not masked. For those asking I wanted to say, have you ever worked in the fields for 8+ hours a day under the August sun of Georgia? Not to mention that we did not mask up, ever.
I will say that your comments here have inspired us even more so to continue to help nurture and grow the young farmers around us that are not buying into this woke narrative. Nicolas and I have both already set into action some meet ups and gatherings with local like minded farmers. I pray we can all find comfort and community in knowing that we aren't alone in this work or the way we feel. Thank you for the extra inspiration here, we really appreciate it <3
I don't know how they can't see the irony of their choices. It's a good question and one that plagues me the most. I think that's the most fundamentally concerning part of it for me. If we forego our ability to self reflect and just take on the refrain, what else is possible in the hands of those that manipulate for power and control?
Imagine that... seeing a wholesome image of a a man on his farm and being attacked for his face not being covered. My word. That leaves me breathless...
I am grateful that you will continue on. I know we are not alone. I see it all around me. People may be quiet in their positions, they may need others that are more courageous or have less to lose to blaze a path. It's always that way. That's okay. Blaze away, dear Jeni!
It's interesting because I was raised in a counter-culture fashion - homeschooled, no TV, vegetarian for several years (followed by gardening & raising our own meat animals for many years) - which received a ton of flack from extended family. I have striven to continue going against the grain, joined by my husband who thankfully LOVES resisting the 'normal' life that everyone around us wants to shove down our throats. I have a brother who, even though he was raised the exact same way, has fled to Europe as a Socialist who believes he can no longer live in America because America is not liberal enough for him. (In an interesting twist he now lives mostly in Croatia, which culturally seems to be conservative/traditional with a heavy emphasis on family...but I digress) Trying to have a conversation with him requires stepping on eggshells. He and my sister in law expect to be able to express all of their opinions, no matter how zany, but others are not allowed to disagree under threat of their anger/tears. They claim to be happy with their life choices, and yet are angry and easily triggered. I can't confirm 100%, but I know a lot of this started in college - they both attended a 'Christian' college, which nevertheless taught the typical fare found in most liberal US schools - and my SIL has since become not only non-religious, she is diametrically opposed to any kind of religious based morality. I feel sorry for their children who are being dragged around Europe under the claim of finding freedom from the dastardly American way, but which seems to be doing more harm than good.
For me, the jumping off hasn't been so difficult (thankfully because I was set up for success by parents who jumped first) - it's the knowledge that people close to me are still in the deadly cycle, fooled into a false sense of freedom that won't last. I hope they will wake up, whether by my influence or someone else - only time will tell.
It's funny you should mention Sterling North - I read 'The Wolfling' last year. Such a lovely little book. I've read excerpts from 'Rascal' but now I suppose I should find and read the whole thing. I don't have any children but I like to collect classic children's books and keep them on hand for nieces/nephews/future children, while also reading them myself. I believe it was CS Lewis who said something like "when I was ten I read fairy stories in secret, because I was ashamed. Now at fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the desire to be very grown up." I aspire to be as 'childish' as Lewis.
It's really been something to see how people within the same families have reacted, are reacting, so differently to what is happening in the world today. With covid we all seem to have witnessed families pulling apart, some irreconcilably, because of personal health decisions. Now, as politics replaces religion in our ever-growing secular society, we see that people need to hold onto positions and ideologies as if they are their very salvation.
You're so right, this rabid propagating of these beliefs and self flagellation in a desire to be good is somehow still in alignment with the exclusion and disgust of others who don't share the same belief. In the name of inclusion, it's okay to exclude. And, like you said, there's this perverse belief that they should be able to speak, yell even, but others either accept or keep quiet. It's like there's no ability to self reflect or anything. It's bizarre.
I love that quote by CS Lewis. Thank you for sharing it with me. I'm going to keep that one tucked away in my heart. I think I need wholesome in this time. It feels good to be reminded of the best of us instead of being shown all the worst. That's what I'm most hungry for and comforted by. What I hope we can all hold onto and feed in this nutty time.
I'm printing this out to share with my children in the future. It so eloquently exemplifies this moment in time. A beautiful work of inspiration that not only captures the stark acts of darkness taking form, but highlights... promise. We can live a beautiful and inspired life right this very minute. And that the real gamble for comfort and ease is with our soul. Thank you for sharing your gifts, Tara, of narrating a story rich with complexity and truth. I'm so thankful for you and this group of "strivers" and "seekers"💛
Thank you so much, Megan. It's this community here, and in the sharing of our efforts to create our families and communities to be ones built of resilience and loving, real inclusion that is the antidote to the madness that pervades. I'm honoured that you will print out this essay. My hope is one day, your kids will read it and say, "Really? Did you come that close? What a weird time!". I think they will. There's just too much goodness in our species to not move through this and come up with something altogether better.
You write so powerfully and beautifully. Thank you. I wish I didn’t have to read your words on this infernal screen. But I’m thankful for them nevertheless.
Oh, Pradeep, I wish I didn't have to write the words on this infernal screen! Gah! Thank you for your kind words. Maybe, when this book is done, its paper pages can bring reprieve.
I'm not sure why I'm getting double replies by substack. I will try this again...
I think that would be such an excellent way to communicate. I love the idea. Maybe one day. I have a few other things on my plate right now but I do believe that paper and snail mail may return sooner than many of us expect if censorship continues to pervade.
We are so grateful you’re writing a book! And then maybe hopefully snail mail can be a realistic near-future goal. I can see my future grandkids coming and raiding my stack of carefully archived and lovingly preserved newsletters from you…..what a beautiful call from the past to call them forward to the ancient ways💙
Another homesteader I follow started a printed newsletter last year. A letter each month for a couple of bucks. It’s been so great and I can save these in a binder and refer back to her words and homesteading info. I would pay for one from Tara for sure!😊
I am a teacher in this incredibly woke system. I have been thinking about taking an early retirement, but my other voice says to stay. So I close my door, and teach the way I feel is best, and ignore all the pronouns and rainbows. I use terms like “boys and girls”, and refuse to put a pronoun behind my name on emails. I believe I’m making a difference, so I’ll stay. Thank you for your magical words, Tara! They help keep my ship pointed to the truth.
Petra, I am so glad you're sticking it out! You will make a difference, I know it. The great worry is that as more people are squeezed into repeating and enforcing beliefs they don't share, they will just leave. It's happening at institutional levels like in corporations, the military, and as you well know, the schools. What then? Universities are captured. Without dissenting viewpoints and opinions, I fear we are ill preparing our young people to have the ability to understand and accommodate the diversity of beliefs and opinions in our world. Will the intolerance continue unabated or will there be a breaking point?
I'm glad you're out there.
This comment warms my heart. Thank you!
Their mission is to take God out of the world and the sea captain is Satan.
I got to visit with a friend yesterday who I haven’t seen in months. I was aware before that our ideals and paths are very different but was made even more aware of it yesterday. If I can’t talk about Botox, lip fillers, giving myself a shot in the belly to loose weight or the new b12 b-skinny injection then I don’t have much worth talking about. No one wants to talk about milk goats, cleaning the greenhouse to start seeds or UFOs. (Had to add the last one) lol
The last time I was with my twin sister the conversations were the same. I leave filling deflated and confused. They have bought the lie, and they still aren’t happy. Nose job, not happy, lips filled, not happy, gotta be heroine chic, not happy. It’s a bottomless pit of lies that leaves you empty! There is a God sized hole in all of us and it won’t be filled with anything but Him!!!
On a happier note, love the book rec’ we have that one, so we will read it soon. I just finished reading the Endurance to my son. Wow talk about having nothing to complain about for the rest of your life. That story will make you feel like a wimp!!! We also read Treasures in the Snow, so wonderful!!! Highly recommend!! Homeschooling has given us years of wonderful books to read through that most kids won’t find in their school library!!! We read Ben Hur two years ago when my son was 8 and people mocked me because “he’s too young for that”, he loved it and why do we have to dumb down children’s minds? They are so smart and inquisitive! We are about to start the Corrie Ten Boom story and be studying the World Wars. Which book did you mention Tara, about World War 1?
Love hearing from you Tara, another soul who likes to color outside the lines!! ❤️
Oh my, Nikki. What a deflating sign of the times. Everyone a narcissist madly obsessed with the outside while they wilt inside. How do you do you stay in those relationships? It must feel so draining. I mean, it's your sister, I get it, but how challenging that must be.
Thank you for the book recommendations! I will add them to my list. That's one of the things that moved me so much in "Rascal" - how capable, mature, and determined that young boy was. He wanted a canoe so he built himself a canoe. And in the end... well... I won't give it away, but I wonder if even adults today would be able to offer such great acts of selfless love.
The WW1 comment was just in relation to the Rascal book. It plays as a back drop to what's going on in the small town and the young boy's older brother is in the war at the time. If you read it, I'd love to hear what you think about it.
I was just chatting with a friend about setting healthy boundaries. It's a common thread - how to respectfully distance ourselves from family members who's narcissism and victimization cause this leeching of energy and resources. I guess in my case, I have been asked, like Terra mentioned, to give up the very person that I am to go along and get along, with my own sister. Silenced at family gatherings for asking questions that were provoking feelings of uncertainty. In the end, it's not up to us to determine when or how someone else owns their role complacency and deception anyway. A sad realization, but as mothers we need to do what we need to do to protect our family and our hearts. We are having the same experience with homeschooling as well! The other night I started reading White Fang to my 9, 6 and 4 year olds. I stopped one paragraph in thinking they "must" have had a hard time grasping it, but they wanted more! It's so amazing what they take away from complex literature. Some others that they enjoyed despite my hesitations-- Animal Farm and Watership Down. Glad we get to come to this forum and find inspiration from eachother 🧡
That sentence, "...for asking questions that were provoking feelings of uncertainty" made my jaw drop. What a world we are in when questions are threatening! I can't. I won't. We all have the right to take up space and have opinions. Nobody should be made small and quiet to comfort the delicate sensibilities of another. Of course we are respectful and kind but that goes towards others AND ourselves.
I got misty at the mention of White Fang. That was one of our youngest daughter's favourites when she was young as well. Awesome book!
Animal Farm is on our list for the coming months. Now I can’t wait to read it! I have had very little support from friends and family when it comes to homeschool. I talked to my sister the other day and her kindergartner is required to do after school tutoring. 😡 my advice was shut that down now!!!!!
She has already learned that learning is work and she hates it. Such a sad disservice to children!!!!
I completely agree and see the same thing! Since we've moved though (from California 😖), it's refreshing to find that more families are homeschooling than not! It feels reassuring to be seen and heard! If you ever need support or encouragement, I'm here! It sounds like you are doing amazing things for your son 💛
Thank you Tara. So often you articulate what I'm thinking and feeling so well. I needed this paragraph this morning... "The power you have is in controlling what you can control in your life. And those things? They’re a lot. If you think otherwise, really dig into that perspective. Is it yours or is it one you’ve adopted somewhere along the line? Is it truth or is it serving you in some other way? Is “easy” getting the better of you? What you can control may seem, when held up against the illusion of the machine, trivial. But you, good human, are not redundant. God does not create for entertainment. Each of us, every single one, is here for a purpose."
Thank you, Carol. I always love hearing what resonates with people. I'm glad there was something in there for you. 🌞
Your last paragraphs and injunctions bring to mind Galatians 6:9: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
It has been a bewildering and upsetting journey to watch friends with whom I so deeply aligned (and still do in many ways) buy directly into the lies being sold about diversity/equity/inclusion, victimhood nonsense and feminism (one of the most pernicious lies of our time, I think).
I’m actually spending this weekend with my three best friends from college, 2 of whom have gone that way. And it’s extremely difficult to get decide how to spend this time. Do I bring up those conversations s about matters in which we will inevitable disagree? And perhaps lose one another over?
I’ve opted to lean into the richness of our lives beyond just the ideologies- children, books we are reading, new herbal and dietary things we are learning. But I’m troubled with the knowledge in the back of my mind at the baseline ideologies they hold.
I too really enjoy children’s books. “Wind in the Willows” by Graham Greene is a particular favorite as is the Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.
Mallory, it's so true. There's this little dance we have to do to accommodate and continue with our relationships if we want to keep them. I think we all acknowledge this, especially with family. We are always deciding on our battles and on what can simply be let go. I think what's different with friends, especially friend when we're younger, is we often accumulate them from a time when we were different people. Then, as we age, we change and grow (hopefully) and maybe they do, too, but in different ways.
To be honest, I'm not friends with a single person I grew up with. Who I was then, is not who I am now. And, I'm sure it's the same for them. If we grow with people alongside us and we can continue to challenge and have meaningful relationships, I think that's wonderful. But what I found as we aged is that with three kids and doing the things I wanted to do, my time for socialising and friendships was limited. If that time wasn't meaningful and enriching for all of us, what was the point? I would rather be with my family or even alone with God or walking in some forest somewhere. I guess I've always liked solitude over people that I felt I couldn't be myself around.
You know it wasn't until I read book on feminism in my forties that I even realised how it had affected my life so much. My mother was a product of those messages and I, a product of her and that time. I brought so much of that into my young mothering years - not the ideology but the effects of it. I remember feeling such shame when other mothers would ask me "What do you do for a living?" I was embarrassed to stay I stayed home with my babies and would always need to qualify my contribution with courses I was taking or side hustles I was participating in. I'm so glad that's changed somewhat (at least in some circles).
I think I'm going to do a discussion thread for kid's books. So many good suggestions in here, we need one spot to collect them!
I’m so appreciative every week of your work, how you “bring it”! Love it. Your use of the voyage / ship metaphor here is so perfect.
What you share about your reading adventures reminds me of the Little House series we used to read to our girls. They are 19 and 22 now... we still talk about the books and remember certain passages and happenings. Talk about having no choice but to live in reality!
Other thoughts brought on by this wonderful piece:
None of this DEI stuff actually calls to any of us... it can’t. That’s not who we are, it’s not what “being” is about. I remember reading Mere Christianity when I was in college... I love CS Lewis , and others will remember better than I will , but he describes in that book a sense of “longing” that is part of the human experience. We don’t long for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion... we long for the fulfillment of what is unique in each of us. For me it manifest in a deep sadness and, yes, longing as I would walk or drive through or look out the window upon the beauty and wonder of the natural world from my “job” indoors or my commute to and from... nothing short of the fulfillment of my soul pulled me to where I am now and what I’m doing. We all need to listen and follow that pull, but first we must learn to hear.
Steadfast.
What a word. What a world view. So much there... it’s more than perseverance or “getting through”... it implies a foundation, a rock on which your feet are placed.
I accepted as true a long time ago an idea that I try to remember and hold on to everyday. While I did not initially accept it, over time I came to see its truth and the power it contains. It’s the idea that everything present in your life was brought there by you. Good or bad, healthy or detrimental, positive or negative... it’s all on you, always. One way or another. It is simply not possible to ever last long in a mindset of victim or helpless pawn of forces outside your control coming from this place.
I still struggle.. we all do. There are still things I want to change and relationships that are not where I want them... but I’m grateful to know that’s all on me. There is peace in that, peace and agency.
Last thought: who you surround yourself with also matters so much. What you see, hear, read, and experience every day. None of us are “there yet”. That’s one of the things I love so much about this community. A bunch of strivers up in here! So thanks again Tara... you are practicing what you “preach” in a big way and that’s another thing missing as we all look around these days, integrity.
Not to mention giving me, personally, this week a sense of the wonder and joy of snuggling to sleep a child born to one of my own children. ❤️
I CANT WAIT!!!!!
I love your thoughts shared here, Joe. Wouldn't it be wonderful to sit under the sun, all of us seekers and just chat away on all these things?
Agency is a big, beautiful, powerful word. I see that word as a gift, but many see it as one out of reach for so many. What a thing to think so little of another human being.
OH, Little House! I love those books. It reminds me of the other weekend when I was antique shopping with my friend and I told her that when I was a little girl I was given "Tasha Tudor's Christmas". It was an illustrated children's book, if I'm remembering correctly. I remember reading about the homemade gifts they made each other and being absolutely enamoured in the simplicity and wholesomeness of their lives and their connections to one another. The Little House books did the same for me. It seems now these books are our evidence and guide to lives pre-screen when children were so much more capable of things beyond being entertained.
Thank you for articulating that feeling that's in there, that hunger. I think many people see that as something to squash (as if that can ever really happen). But when we listen, and then act, home is only over yonder.
I am in complete alignment with your thoughts on what comes into and out of our lives. And in everything, gifts, sometimes very painful, sometimes exploding with joy. I so enjoyed learning from your comment here, too. It's so wonderful to have these exchanges.
Have a beautiful day.
Just came to chime in on Tasha Tudor. I don’t know how I found pictures of her and her property on the internet, but let’s just say I fell down a rabbit hole of aesthetic bliss. She is my style and vibe icon 😁 I know she was a children’s book illustrator and author and I’d love to find some of her books.
I read Rascal as a kid and I need to find a copy for my 10 year old son, whose favourite animals are raccoons. He would love it!
Karla there's a gazillion used versions on Abe Books or Thrift Books!
Karla, you know I didn't even know she had books on gardening or an "aesthetic vibe". It was a friend of mine who told me that. I had grown up thinking she was just a kid's book author. You're right, her stuff is so darn dreamy!
So beautifully written Tara. Thank you. I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks also for the book recommendation. Another excellent read for kids as well as adults is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George about a boy who runs away from his family in NY City to move to the Catskills and live in the wild on his own. I read it to my son when he was 8 or 9 and we both loved it.
Love that book! All of our kids read that one, too. I think I should open up a discussion thread for kid's books. We need some good resource sharing there. Too many depressing, weird books out for kids now.
I love this separate thread idea for great kids books. I'm a new mother, my little girl is 4 months old, but I would love to start a reading library for my little one now. I have several mentioned in these comments already but love the idea of having all these suggestions in one thread!
That’s a great idea. My kid is grown but would still love to read them I think. I would too.
We too have noticed how the new group think issues are in every new movie we watch. So tired of it and you have to be blind not to see it. Or in agreement with it. Our list of things we can stand to watch is getting smaller and smaller
Same here, Linda. Maybe we should start a movie club that's officially non-woke. We've reverted to old movies. We've always loved cinema and live theatre but we gave up our memberships to our local small theatre when they wouldn't let us in for not having the jab. So, now it's us in a living room watching old flicks as a special treat every now and then.
This was powerful and so well written! We jumped ship years ago and try to live on our own terms, but I hear the call that it’s time to contribute or offer more when we can. It became easier to just avoid the old system as long as we were left alone, but now we need to get involved in our new system. I support local, as in within 100km, as much as possible and that’s pretty important. I also make my own herbal remedies and have begun sharing that with others if asked.
The other message I had this week is to stand more in my truth and stop hiding what I’m feeling or thinking in order to make others comfortable. This comes from the conditioning we all just went through over the past years about holding certain unacceptable views. It’s time to return to having some of these conversations again as things are now much different.
I like the idea that this is a place where we can discuss ideas on how to get started in an alternative way of life as there are many younger people who want it, but are shut out due to real estate being too expensive or needing that steady pay cheque now.
I totally agree with you, Connie. I'm also inclined to just do my own thing and stay out of the fray, but I think I'm asked to do more so I'm stretching.
It's younger people that I feel so determined to help in whatever way I can. You're right, with the cost of living and land, I think alternative ways of living can seem insurmountable, but then I have met so many that are doing things in such creative ways. Even young single mothers that have created such interesting ways of creating side incomes or getting their kids out of the cities. I think I should open up some discussion threads for more chats like this. The one on the chat was really interesting, but I know that not everybody likes the chat function.
Thank you for your kind words.
Definitely agree with this! An “alternative/creative income” thread would be a real boon to a number of us youngsters searching for a way out of the systems and webs that be!
It often amazes me that the very thing you are writing about is a current conversation Nicolas and I have been having.. We have just arrived home from a 3 day small organic farming conference in our state where we left feeling more like outsiders in this world of organic farmers, than included... and my husband has been at this 30+ years now. It used to be in years past that we would leave feeling connected, energized and with a renewed sense of community. However, this year there was more focus on right and wrong political 'correctness' at this conference than farming. The masked farmers glared at the unmasked amongst us while pronoun stickers were encouraged for your badges upon arrival. Our 2 farm employees attended a 'farmhand' breakout session where twenty something year old farm employees yelled that they all should unionize and another demanded that the sharing go in a counterclockwise circle because that's the way the indigenous people of that land would have wanted it. Our farmhands left the session a bit bewildered to say the least. When did the small organic farming community change? What happened here?
All of this to say, thank you for sharing and capturing our feelings so well in this essay...it answered some of these questions for me. Your words and this group help us feel so much more connected given the current state of this world. We are grateful.
Jeni, as soon as I read this I sent it to my friend who's a lifelong farmer. Her and her husband have a diversified, organic dairy farm. She used to be very active in our local farmers union (not a union at all but you know, a farming organisation).
Here, in Canada we have to belong to a farming organisation in order to be a farm at all (and benefit from the reduced land tax rate). In our area, there are three farmers unions to choose from. Two of them are more inclined towards the big, commercial farmers with much of their work and positions slanted in favour of what they're trying to achieve. The other organisation, the one we, and most of our smaller, organic farming friends belong to has traditionally been the champion of small farms, regenerative farms, a voice for the farmer not the big corporations. Alas, it appears that this is now the very thing that has left many of us feeling disenchanted.
What you wrote of here is exactly what we've been seeing within our farming collective. The ultra-woke virtue varnish that pervades every single topic. One can't speak of anything, it seems, without someone qualifying your privilege or a land acknowledgment or one's coloniser mindset. The thing that astounded me most was that during the lockdowns and hysteria around the whole last few years (especially in Canada) was the vehement passion that many of these young people in our farming groups expressed in their ready adoption of masks, lockdowns, and injections. They were, quite literally, foot soldiers for the government. They even went to so far as to monitor other farmer's social media and warn them when they made an infraction against the party line. At farmer's meetings, we witnessed twenty-somethings wearing two N95 masks with sanitising gels in their pockets.
These were organic farmers! These were young healthy people! These "leaders" in our farming community contacted friends of mine via social media to inform them that something they may have shared painted the farming community as a whole in a bad light. And when I say that, I am referring to simple things such as an image of my friend walking in her fields with the caption, "Such a beautiful day to have the sun on my skin. Sun is such a healing, helpful friend." Imagine the pompous audacity of a 20 something year old writing to a woman in her fifties and telling her something as simple and beautiful as admiring the sun was ignorant and dangerous in its "obvious inflection". Huh?
When you have a life dedicated to looking for the ugly, you live ugly.
The whole thing is exhausting. After I sent your comment to my farmer friend I sent it to a few others. Everyone got it right away. It's a good question, "when did the small organic farming community change"? I think it's when the products of our modern schooling, especially those coming out of university, started moving towards farming as a cause and a way to enact social justice. Maybe believing you are more powerful as a virtuous soldier of DEI than as a lowly farmer growing potatoes brings them a meaning they feel is absent otherwise.
It's mostly sad for me on that level though. That instead of immersing themselves in the work, in the earth, in the simple wonder and good honest work of raising food for another human being, they are in their heads, stuck in a perpetual loop of looking for offence and looking for a way to signal their goodness. It's such a terribly lost and confused position. You're supposed to be lost and confused at that age, but this woke stuff is giving these young people a sense of belonging. I don't think we're supposed to feel belonging at that age. I think we're supposed to be uncomfortable and searching and coming to our own unique places of worth so that we can contribute in the ways we were created for. And the farming, the missing out on the endless lessons and gifts of the land in a quest to de-colonize and whatever else they come up with, is just so tragically sad. They're missing everything.
p.s. I wanted to add the story of a young woman that I had great affection for that came to me as somewhat of a mentor or elder figure in her life. I spent a great amount of time with her, listening and encouraging her. I gave her boxes of farming books and answered her many questions. Awhile back she found a farmer on Instagram that has a feed of this woke, angry messaging. His feed is all about getting white people off the land and those flavours (like your farming convention). She started asking me questions about whether I would ever "give my land back". To who? It rapidly declined from there. She stopped talking to me entirely and, to be honest, I was relieved. I wish her well in her path. I hope her good heart will find channels of expression that bring more beauty and love into this world. She was so full of that goodness, but for now at least, it's being funnelled into the angry and critical.
All that to say, I am glad you have young workers with you that you are able to show another way to. There are far too many people in our community accommodating these unrealistic ideas that are trying to take hold.
This hits so true.... so sad, but so true. My husband and I have been ranching and raising our own meat for the last 10 years together. We are in our late 20s. I have been itching to do more gardening and expanding my skills in that area, as well as doing a little bit more community volunteering, etc. So I decided to check out the community garden. I figured it would be a great way to learn from some seasoned gardeners, meet some people in the community (we are pretty recluse lol), and do a little volunteer work. What I was met with is more of this woke, woke, woke. Not just young people either, from the later generation too. All of the things you've discribed. I feel very lacking in mentors, and just want to find someone that I can learn things from and connect with in a spiritual way, but not get hit with these agendas alllll the time. Trouble is the mentors I'm looking for are probably just as recluse and hiding away in their couple acre homesteads, doing their thing. I am grateful to platforms such as this, it is the best way I have found to connect, share and learn. It feels like full time work navigating away from all those people, agendas, etc. And even more so now that we have a little baby girl blessing our lives, I want so much more for her than what those agendas offer. Thanks for helping to keep my fire going!
And, I just want to say, the work y'all are doing in raising your own meat is awesome and you are creating such a wonderful life for your sweet babe. It's incredible that you've already been at it for 10 years at such a young age, wow!
Kendra, we'd be happy to connect on the phone or email to share some veg growing knowledge and insight anytime! Email me if you'd like: jeni@crystalorganicfarm.com
And yes, it's becoming more and more that way here.. not as much (but still some) in the rural parts of GA where we live, but certainly in the cities.. with the young and older farmers alike. As Tara mentioned above, it's almost as if farming has become their platforms for 'social justice' instead of just, you know, doing the hard work. A lot of talk, not a whole lot of action.
Thank you so much Jeni. We love raising our animals and can't wait to share that with our daughter. There are so many wonderful things to be learned in nature, you just have to spend the time. I sent you an email!
Kendra, I hear you. I mentioned this above, to Jeni, but I really think that being courageous at this time, in leading strongly in your position will open you up to the people, your people, that are out there trying to figure it out, too. You guys are up to some amazing things at a young age. You are already leaders and trailblazers! Speak with love and confidence and just watch how things open to you.
We have less friends but more quality relationships now. That feels good. It feels right. I have no patience for small talk about repeated mantras. I want original thinkers and flawed, uncurated human beings. But in order to get that, we had to be that. And in order to do that, we decided to live authentically despite the reactions of others. xo
Also, whenever I get down and out over the years about this shift in the farming community and all the 'politics' around it, Nicolas always says to me: 'All we need to do is put our heads down, get in the dirt and do the work to take care of ourselves and our customers/community'. He is one of the hardest working men I've ever met and that's what attracted me to him. As a lifetime farmer, he always says to anyone who asks: 'the easy part of farming is selling the food.. the hardest part is growing the food because someone has to do the work.' And as you mentioned, I don't see a lot of these young woke farmers doing the work or even wanting to do the work. That is what scares me most about the future of small organic farming. Who will actually do the work?
Oh how we wish we were near you and some of your farmer friends that are experiencing the same. I am saddened but not surprised to hear that this 'woke' movement is taking hold amongst so much of the community.
Ahhh, yes... the foot soldiers. This part really hit home for us... As we watched the organic farmers in our region post social media photos of their vax cards, bandaided arms and masked faces in outside in their fields, we couldn't help but shake out heads at the outrageous contradiction of it all. Organic farmers who go to great lengths and costs (not to mention the hard work) to avoid chemicals at every turn, not only willingly lined up for all the injections into their bodies, but they also attacked and shamed those in the farming community who didn't make that choice. How can they not see the irony of their choices? Young farmer friends of ours were awarded a grant by a local farming organization which included an appreticeship program, but the program director refused to come to their farm to work with them unless they had the jab. They had to lie in order to participate in the program and alas, not be ostracized from that particular farming organization.
We could not make any sense of any of it at all. Once back in 2020 I shared a photo of my unmasked husband on our farm and was attacked that he was not masked. For those asking I wanted to say, have you ever worked in the fields for 8+ hours a day under the August sun of Georgia? Not to mention that we did not mask up, ever.
I will say that your comments here have inspired us even more so to continue to help nurture and grow the young farmers around us that are not buying into this woke narrative. Nicolas and I have both already set into action some meet ups and gatherings with local like minded farmers. I pray we can all find comfort and community in knowing that we aren't alone in this work or the way we feel. Thank you for the extra inspiration here, we really appreciate it <3
I don't know how they can't see the irony of their choices. It's a good question and one that plagues me the most. I think that's the most fundamentally concerning part of it for me. If we forego our ability to self reflect and just take on the refrain, what else is possible in the hands of those that manipulate for power and control?
Imagine that... seeing a wholesome image of a a man on his farm and being attacked for his face not being covered. My word. That leaves me breathless...
I am grateful that you will continue on. I know we are not alone. I see it all around me. People may be quiet in their positions, they may need others that are more courageous or have less to lose to blaze a path. It's always that way. That's okay. Blaze away, dear Jeni!
Wow!
It's interesting because I was raised in a counter-culture fashion - homeschooled, no TV, vegetarian for several years (followed by gardening & raising our own meat animals for many years) - which received a ton of flack from extended family. I have striven to continue going against the grain, joined by my husband who thankfully LOVES resisting the 'normal' life that everyone around us wants to shove down our throats. I have a brother who, even though he was raised the exact same way, has fled to Europe as a Socialist who believes he can no longer live in America because America is not liberal enough for him. (In an interesting twist he now lives mostly in Croatia, which culturally seems to be conservative/traditional with a heavy emphasis on family...but I digress) Trying to have a conversation with him requires stepping on eggshells. He and my sister in law expect to be able to express all of their opinions, no matter how zany, but others are not allowed to disagree under threat of their anger/tears. They claim to be happy with their life choices, and yet are angry and easily triggered. I can't confirm 100%, but I know a lot of this started in college - they both attended a 'Christian' college, which nevertheless taught the typical fare found in most liberal US schools - and my SIL has since become not only non-religious, she is diametrically opposed to any kind of religious based morality. I feel sorry for their children who are being dragged around Europe under the claim of finding freedom from the dastardly American way, but which seems to be doing more harm than good.
For me, the jumping off hasn't been so difficult (thankfully because I was set up for success by parents who jumped first) - it's the knowledge that people close to me are still in the deadly cycle, fooled into a false sense of freedom that won't last. I hope they will wake up, whether by my influence or someone else - only time will tell.
It's funny you should mention Sterling North - I read 'The Wolfling' last year. Such a lovely little book. I've read excerpts from 'Rascal' but now I suppose I should find and read the whole thing. I don't have any children but I like to collect classic children's books and keep them on hand for nieces/nephews/future children, while also reading them myself. I believe it was CS Lewis who said something like "when I was ten I read fairy stories in secret, because I was ashamed. Now at fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the desire to be very grown up." I aspire to be as 'childish' as Lewis.
It's really been something to see how people within the same families have reacted, are reacting, so differently to what is happening in the world today. With covid we all seem to have witnessed families pulling apart, some irreconcilably, because of personal health decisions. Now, as politics replaces religion in our ever-growing secular society, we see that people need to hold onto positions and ideologies as if they are their very salvation.
You're so right, this rabid propagating of these beliefs and self flagellation in a desire to be good is somehow still in alignment with the exclusion and disgust of others who don't share the same belief. In the name of inclusion, it's okay to exclude. And, like you said, there's this perverse belief that they should be able to speak, yell even, but others either accept or keep quiet. It's like there's no ability to self reflect or anything. It's bizarre.
I love that quote by CS Lewis. Thank you for sharing it with me. I'm going to keep that one tucked away in my heart. I think I need wholesome in this time. It feels good to be reminded of the best of us instead of being shown all the worst. That's what I'm most hungry for and comforted by. What I hope we can all hold onto and feed in this nutty time.
I'm printing this out to share with my children in the future. It so eloquently exemplifies this moment in time. A beautiful work of inspiration that not only captures the stark acts of darkness taking form, but highlights... promise. We can live a beautiful and inspired life right this very minute. And that the real gamble for comfort and ease is with our soul. Thank you for sharing your gifts, Tara, of narrating a story rich with complexity and truth. I'm so thankful for you and this group of "strivers" and "seekers"💛
Thank you so much, Megan. It's this community here, and in the sharing of our efforts to create our families and communities to be ones built of resilience and loving, real inclusion that is the antidote to the madness that pervades. I'm honoured that you will print out this essay. My hope is one day, your kids will read it and say, "Really? Did you come that close? What a weird time!". I think they will. There's just too much goodness in our species to not move through this and come up with something altogether better.
You write so powerfully and beautifully. Thank you. I wish I didn’t have to read your words on this infernal screen. But I’m thankful for them nevertheless.
Oh, Pradeep, I wish I didn't have to write the words on this infernal screen! Gah! Thank you for your kind words. Maybe, when this book is done, its paper pages can bring reprieve.
Or you can start an actual paper....mailed monthly paid by subscription.....that would be amazing.....
I'm not sure why I'm getting double replies by substack. I will try this again...
I think that would be such an excellent way to communicate. I love the idea. Maybe one day. I have a few other things on my plate right now but I do believe that paper and snail mail may return sooner than many of us expect if censorship continues to pervade.
We are so grateful you’re writing a book! And then maybe hopefully snail mail can be a realistic near-future goal. I can see my future grandkids coming and raiding my stack of carefully archived and lovingly preserved newsletters from you…..what a beautiful call from the past to call them forward to the ancient ways💙
Another homesteader I follow started a printed newsletter last year. A letter each month for a couple of bucks. It’s been so great and I can save these in a binder and refer back to her words and homesteading info. I would pay for one from Tara for sure!😊
Thank you Tara for the beautiful message.
You are certainly gifted or your hand is guided (or both!)
There’s an old saying ‘a good man has more power in his actions than in his words’
Your life substantiate your words! Wonderful!
Thank you, Claude. I love that saying. Is it ever true. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this CS Lewis quote Molly. I love it! Words to live by.
Thank you for this Tara.
Thank you for reading, Josh.
Thank you.