Origin Story
(Origin Story was supposed to convey the farm's aesthetic to visitors and helpers. The tone is blunt and even a bit pugnacious, a deliberate refutation of the covid era censorship, "trust the science", and the cancel culture that showed up around that time.) 4/10/24
July 6, 2021
An origin story is the story we are currently telling ourselves, some of us on Love Farm. This is our collaborative conceptual and perceptual self portrait.
Farms are research and development facilities, regardless of the core philosophy of the farmer. A constant discovering and inventing to achieve the goal of growing food for others - profitably. At least, that's the cover story, the conventional premise.
Perhaps a farm is also a way we can discover and invent ourselves. What if we decided to grow food in resonance with the wilds? Can we discover a relationship with all life that is enlivening, an interaction with nature that is way more fun than exploitation or disregard? Could this be a choice that aligns us with what we are? With audacious competence, wide spectrum virtuosity, our full power?
Welcome to 2021. Consumer culture, based on the premise of convenience über Alles, seems to be imploding. What will come after? A global technocratic oligarchy is currently being deployed. If we make no decisive moves towards our bliss, that's going to be the default.
Love Farm aspires to flower a new aesthetic, life giving and deliberate. Freedom through the exercise of delicious responsibility. Allowing the clarity of our desires. Playing nice together. Receiving the ever available download from the self aware global life support system, eg nature. The answers are available, if we cultivate the courage to open up.
If this reads / sounds like cognitive gobbledegook, that's ok. Translations are by nature slightly garbled. What might be more relevant to the prospective Love Farm visitor is our inviolate protocols, the rules of Love Farm. We don't require anyone to inculcate our unique premise, to imbibe our potions. Respecting our protocols is enough, regardless of whether or not you want to understand the why.
Adopt the protocols or don't visit. Simple 🙂
Communication
At Love Farm, we lean towards listening, tolerance for diverse views and free speech generally. Patrick Henry's was the idealistic extreme - I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. He said this knowing that people might dissemble, make logical errors and generally grope in the dark. For sure, listening is an act of courage, acknowledging the possibility that we might change our beliefs and stories. With this in mind, try not to imply that your approach / philosophy / creed is the be all end all. For sure, share your stories - while remaining open to a transformation of what they might mean.
Especially egregious is the recently fashionable trend of shaming those who can't or won't conform to a limitation of their language, forcing others to conform to an externally imposed standard of appropriateness. We don't condone shaming, silencing or censoring others for doing the best they can at self expression. Respectful disagreement is best enjoyed up front and in out in the open. If we trust our perceptions and take full responsibility for the stories we construct from them, there's no need to silence someone who is trying to convey different experiences and interpretations.
This goes hand in hand with the cultivation of listening, mindfuness and attending generally. Conversely, If someone seems to be going on and on, taking advantage of our virtuosic listening vibe and filling up delicious silence with the sound of their own voice, they can be gently reminded to shut the f up for a little while 😉
Misfits / Seers
There is no need to be a rebel here as coherence prevails. Learn and follow the protocols and enjoy coherence you can take home.
Rebellion and refusal to conform is an appropriate response to ubiquitous cultural dysfunction. Surrounded by a suicidal norm, we have chosen life. We seem to see even when others celebrate blindness. So we are different, unusual, perhaps even freaks and misfits.
On Love Farm coherence prevails because for starters we recognize the wilds as sacred. This is the ethic and aesthetic that we deliberately choose to align with when we are here. We decide to become the wilds, the flow, the rapport and the resonance. The land and the water speak to us, we can hear what they say.
If you do not yet have ears to hear and eyes to see, that's ok. Just learn Love Farm's rules or protocols. Even if visitors do not fully understand the why yet, we all agree to remember and follow the protocols. With a little luck and curiosity, the method behind the madness will eventually become apparent.
A low RF experience
The RF (radio frequency) associated with cell phones, especially 5G is problematic for health. Please leave cell phones and wireless devices in your car.
You are what you landfill
Pack out your own trash. Or if you prefer, recycle elsewhere. Just keep in mind - plastic recycling isn't actually a thing. Most plastic is either incinerated or goes to the landfill. Maybe best to eschew plastic altogether, or at least avoid plastic as much as possible. If you bring in plastic of any sort, be sure to take it away when you go.
Life Support
Water
Bring your own refillable water bottle. Well water is available from the spigot at the north east of corner of the shack, west of the barn.
Bathroom
We have a composting toilet and minimal wash up facilities, located on the first floor of the barn. Follow the arrows past the first floor steel door and through the workshop area. Read the instructional signage for a satisfying and sustainable bathroom experience.
Aftermath
Completely cleaning up and resetting indoor and outdoor spaces after your visit / contribution is both appreciated and required. We invite folks back who leave our spaces nicer than they found it.
(Two years later in 2023, Coming to Love Farm introduced rules without going to deeply into the reasons behind them. Our idea was to offer visitors an informal contract, Do's and Don'ts and if a visitor enjoyed their farm experience and returned, the reasons would gradually be assimilated and eventually become self evident.) 4/10/24