Holding on to Hope

I recently had an interesting discussion with a friend. We covered a lot of topics, amongst them racism, prejudice, problems of nationalism, the objectification of women, the pursuit of privileges without accepting responsibility, and struggles with attraction shadowing all the decisions we make.

He agreed, none of it is ideal, life would be better if these were not so, but argued that there is little we can do to change these things in the world at large. And perhaps he is right. Perhaps the most that those of us who want to change all of this can do is live our life the way we want the world to be, and teach our children how to do better if they so choose. Maybe it is simply the idealist in me yearning for utopia, but my heart aches to believe that there must be more I can do. There must be things I can say to someone to help them change their life for the better, to let go of shackles they had no idea they were clinging to. There must be ways to break down these systems that people buy into that do not serve them, but enslave them. 

Settling In

I'm back! So the last two weeks we've settling into our new home! It has been wonderful. We call it the "farm" although it isn't much of a farm at the moment. We have two haying fields, a pasture without animals, a small sugar bush for making maple syrup, and a few scattered fruit bushes and trees. My kiddos have been throughly enjoying running and puddle jumping and haystack climbing. They have spent more time outside then in, and that includes the time they spend sleeping. It makes my heart happy.

We are working hard fixing up the house to our liking, and figuring out how we want to arrange things outside. We don't expect to have a big garden or much produce to speak of this year. A lot of our fruit trees need a good pruning and likely some nutrients added to their soil. The grape vines are a little wild. But every where we look we see potential. It is very exciting! I was able to gather a bunch of rhubarb already, and I am looking forward to picking all the wild strawberries growing in the fields in about a month. Mmmm Mmm.

We are making progress towards our goals of living off grid. It is going to take sometime. We don't have the means to do it all now. But getting here has been a huge step in the right direction. One that we have been able to take sooner then we had expected. And although it has only been two weeks, the peace and beauty and freedom I feel here is amazing. It is beginning to feel like home.