The Simple Words: "I Care"

Sarah Saltmarsh said she loved the blog entry on the baby Chicks 1st big adventure into the outside world. She said she could understand how Melanie would name all the Chicks. "They all have such distinctive personalities."

O.K. I could talk for a long time on this one. Many folks in our so-called advanced society are long on indifference. For whatever reason, we are detached to the pain and suffering in the world. That seems a common theme. It extends to the neighbor across the street, people who are different, creatures who provide us food, and Nature Herself who supports our very Being.

When we are indifferent, we make decisions quite quickly. It is efficient. We save time. We save energy. We don't have to feel feelings that are messy and complex. We get someplace fast. But I am not so sure we are content to be there or content with the consequences such a stance provides. I am not.

When we avoid the pain and suffering of the world, we are capable of a destruction that knows no limits. We bear witness to a system where:

• The precious soil is "mined" in huge industrial factory farms.
• Other precious Humans in distant parts of the world are treated as mere slaves in the production of our consumer goods which are soon to be trash.
• We have created confined animal feeding operations where animals therein see the light of day only in transport from one location to another.
• Where genetic alteration of chickens for maximum white meat yields animals who can barely walk.
• Where growth hormones in the dairy industry yields cows with udders so big they drag the ground.
• Where dairy cows and egg laying chickens "burn out" which means they die from lives shortened because of our system's enchantment with maximum production with least inputs.

Need I suggest more? You surely can add more to the list.

Such things are part of the reason why we came to the Farm. We could not change the system. We can support those amazing parts of the system which offer another alternative. We wanted to lessen our "footprint" on the Earth. We wanted to raise our own veggies. In a time of dramatic reduction in soil quality, we wanted to restore the land to the extent we are capable. We wanted to raise chickens in a climate of respect. We wanted to get to know them. Yes, we wanted to name them. Above all, we wanted to thank them for their gifts which support our lives.

I have a simple solution for the dilemma we seemed to have created. It can be boiled down to 2 words:

I care.

How could we even consider doing anything less?