This is living.
This is the Why and the What of living here, the philosophy that informs the choice, the foundation for everything. If you’re curious about what’s going on behind my eyeballs (hey, me too!) or why I might do things the way I do them, this is where you’ll find those kinds of thoughts.
It’s in Living that we discover what we’re made of, what really matters to us, and how to live with fidelity to our values. In this version of Living, it’s the record of (among other things) my “no daylight” practice, the ongoing work of making sure my claimed values and my actual choices are locked together – no daylight can creep between them. It all comes back to land, to husbandry, stewardship and to care on a particular patch of land, at a particular time, with a particular cast of characters. You’ll get to know them all, I promise.
Whether it’s ordinary days, reflections on responsibility or longer pieces of writing that take shape over time, Living is where you’ll find your way into our current. Some posts stand alone, while others belong to larger, serialized projects that will grow slowly and are revisited as the seasons turn or Living reorients my perspective. This is not a polished archive (head over to Keeping for that), or a how-to manual (that’s in Tending). It’s an invitation to walk alongside, to notice what’s being noticed, and to see how understanding emerges through Living, not theory.
Welcome to my frontier.
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Notes from Living
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The Ethics of Experience
Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves, and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the…
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Why Doesn’t She Just Leave? Domestic Violence, Livestock, and Rural Women in Western Canada
“You don’t know me.” That’s how the message usually starts. “I found you on Facebook and I was wondering if you could help. . . Can you please give my sheep a good home?” The first time I got one of these messages, I was intrigued — there was something about it that felt a…
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No Way But Through
Human error. Human choices. Sigh. Farmers or not, we’ve all been there – staring down a decision we wish with everything in us we could undo. A recent video by a prominent YouTuber brought this home (again). In the barn, alone and struggling, she made a choice, one I’m sure she’d love, with every cell…
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What Makes a Farm “Real”?
In the heart-tugging children’s book “The Velveteen Rabbit,” the central question is the difference between what is “real” and what is not. The sage nursery resident, the Skin Horse, tells the rabbit that in the end, authenticity is determined not by what you look like to other people but by what you have endured to…
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Worth Their Weight: Looking at Labels, Part 2
So now we know that not all labels are created equal. For producers, where is it worth spending your time to get certified? And for consumers, which parts of the process of getting raw fibre into finished product are worth labeling? As in many things, it all comes down to where you think things need…
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Do Labels Matter? Looking at Labels, Part 1
Let’s take a look at labels! What are they for? What do they do and what lies below the label? To do this, we’re going to start at the Canadian Mint. Yes. Really. (This is Part 1. If you’re looking for Part 2 of this series, click here. ) Maybe you heard that the Royal…
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Artificial Intelligence – Honesty and The Best Policy
Recently, I got a message from a former mentor in the permaculture space I had approached looking for feedback on The Commons. What he had to say made me very – very! – angry. What did he say? And most importantly, how am I going to respond? When I was building The Commons, I had…
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Strychnine.
There. I said it. The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan have been granted an emergency permit to use strychnine “to support integrated pest management of Richardson Ground Squirrels.” What can the public expect? What has been the process to this point? And given the rampant and indiscriminate killing power of the poison, are those procedures…
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Monette Farms – Not Very Sportsmanlike
Economics is one thing, physics is another. . . What happens when both systems fail under pressure? Let’s take a closer look at Monette Farms – massive Canadian corporate mega-farm – and see what their current situation can tell us about precariousness, size and misalignment. Let’s just be sure we get one thing worked out…
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Permaculture Principle No. 4, “Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback”
Easily my most favouritest permaculture principle!! And look! Just now, the Real World has provided a high-profile example. Let’s dive in! What is feedback and how does the World Bank’s recent mea culpa fit into feedback and agriculture?? Juniper (right) and Charlotte (left) are having the kind of discussion that precedes “feedback” in the sheep…
Providence Lane Homestead 