Here I am sitting with my chicken, Twisted Sister, hand-feeding her because she has a condition called wry neck that never corrected itself completely. Many folks wouldn’t take the time each day, twice a day to sit and hold this sweet chicken with her food bowl so she could comfortably eat with her twisted neck. They’d most likely just cull her (meaning end her life).
Besides giving her the best quality of life that I can, I find that these special quiet moments sitting with her each day are an important part of how I steward this land and farm. I slow down. This morning, as I sat with my little chicken, I was watching the politics and habits of the ducks and geese. I noticed which chickens prefer to drink from which vessel. I enjoyed how the sheep eat their hay. I noticed a particular chicken likes to crawl unders some bags and discovered she’s laying her eggs in that hidden corner. All of this observation gives me information and deepens my relationship to everything here so that I in turn can make mindful, aware decisions (and discover missing eggs!).
This same experience of observation is why I hand water the gardens. It is a way to slow down and be in relationship with the land, plants, air, soil and animals. This is the sacred time where I notice new flowers, things ready to harvest, a bug munching on leaves and new life bursting from the soil. Giving this kind of care, both the water and my attention, nourishes all the living beings on a level beyond counting the nutrients or calculating feed protein percentages. Giving attention feeds the spirit of this land (as well as my own!)
This is the kind of care I wish to see in the world— not just for the land or our food— but also for each other. It is the care that feeds our children to nourish them rather than rush through a meal so we can run to the next activity. It is taking the time to sit in each other’s company and connect so that we begin to know one another with our hearts and listening. It is the first act a mother and newborn baby do— to eat and nourish.
This is the difference between feeding ourselves, our children, the animals or plants and caring for them. It is natural and basic and I think we’ve gotten very very far away from it in our rush to produce and show our value (or the value of what we are doing)
To create a meal for yourself, is “self-care.” I’d venture to say, more than taking a spa-day or going on a vacation. Each moment you take time to prepare food, sit and enjoy it you are satiating not just your body, but your mind, spirit and heart as well. I had a doctor once talk about exactly this — to look how you not only satiate your body with food but how can you find satiation of all parts of yourself? How do you even know you’re satiated at that level?
All this to say that yes, I’ll take time to hand feed a struggling chicken, water the gardens manually, cook good food for me and my household to sit and enjoy dinner, answer the phone in the middle of the night for a friend and be a part of the interconnected flow that is natural care and love. Not only does this nourish my entire farm… it nourishes ME!
When folks tell me they LOVE my eggs and that they’re the best they’ve ever tasted…. THIS care is why. #mindfullygrown