...And Farm Community Blessing

Michaela Smirking
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.

And so, I think it very appropriate to choose this Earth Day, with this particular message, as the day that we give blessing to the latest endeavor by one of our school of salmon: The Unknown Community Group. The Farmtalkers. The As-Yet-Named-Retreaters.

I want you all to know, though, that they’re no casual fly-by-night communitarians, no sir. They’ve been working on this idea of a community in various forms for a long time now. And this particular group has been working, praying, visioning, meeting and planning their rowdy departure from Babylon for five years.

The success that they will meet, in their move to their farm community across the river – and they will meet with success – will not be an overnight success, but one of careful planning and prayerful consideration.

They know, in the words of Thoreau, that “What's the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?”

They know, in the words of Dorothy Day, that “the best thing to do with the best things in life, is to give them up.”

They know, in the words of Aldo Leopold, that “There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.”

Dave, Cindy, Lydia, Amos, Michelle, Chie, Adam, Hanae, Roger, Christy, Michaela, Katherine and Laura. You know we love you and are proud of you. You’re showing us a way of living more sustainably. More wholly.

And so, we bless you all, as you have and continue to bless us.

Go, learn the passing of the seasons as a friend passing by. Dig deep into the soil and make it rich as it enriches you. Climb your mountains, tend your valleys, nestle your homes in their elegant embrace. Make a safe haven for children and bluebirds, Jeff Streeters and normal people.

Lead the way for us and for the world. “Go, not where the path may lead, but where there is no path, and leave a trail.” [Emerson] Show us how to live and to live well.

Amen.