VIRTUE OF TRAVEL: HOW DOES ONE TRAVEL, WHILE LIVING ON A FARM?

VIRTUE OF TRAVEL

HOW DOES ONE TRAVEL, WHILE LIVING ON A FARM?

When the question is posed, Why don't you go see the world?, our response is: We are travelling in our own world, more deeply than ever previously realized or anticipated.

First of all, we log a lot of miles in our truck, endlessly traveling from Pike County to Hamilton County and back. About 300 miles a week or 15,000 per year, which amounts to respectable distance traveled, by most standards. And we make a few trips to Ontario, which adds another 2,000 miles. AAA thinks we are rather worldly.

When it is inferred we might broaden our horizons periodically, I point out that our horizons are as magnificent and glorious as any. What would one do with more glory in one's life?

Over the past ten years, we have engaged in an astounding adventure, that provokes us entirely, through body, mind, and spirit. The challenge of stimulating an ecosystem in Pike County to provide nurture for people, known and unknown, 80 miles away propels one into a journey rich with stimulus, learning, color, relationships, and immense satisfaction. And there is no charge for such adventure, other than giving oneself to it entirely. The interesting people one meets when traveling are matched, in our world, by the animals we raise and customers we have come to know, both full of rewarding personality. The art museums we are missing are matched by changing seasons of nature, which drench us daily with fresh beauty. And we incur no jet-lag in our travels, except for rising at 5 AM on Sundays.

The local and delicious food one encounters, when navigating foreign cultures, is rivaled by the culinary journey right at our own table. Susan's Soulful Kitchen takes us to Korea, Morocco, Vietnam, India, France, Italy, and Mexico... Remarkable by nearly anyone's standards.

A lot of travelling is realized simply by maintaining a rhythm in life, allowing one to travel deeply into experience. The constant back and forth of rhythm is like the sawing of wood. Eventually a point of release is realized, and new reality dawns. Our entrenched rhythm, that keeps us feeding animals everyday, cooking food every week, and attending markets every weekend, is thankfully always teaching and liberating us, despite its confines.

A wise man can travel in an armchair, by listening to that without and within. It is the listening that is so difficult, something we are not taught in schools. If one can listen, one can move to new horizons quickly. The "ugly American" covers a lot of ground abroad, but doesn't bring much back with him, because of noise within, obstructing his ability to receive offerings.

In our own unrelenting busy-ness, we are invited to listen to: employees, animals, equipment, weather, food-on-the-stove, and customers. Such listening expands us, keeping our travels vital and rich.

So, when the observation is offered that we don't travel much, I respond, but we do, beyond our wildest dreams...

The above picture on the left is of three species on one acre together - 140 bovines, 100 laying hens, and 1 guard dog. That is a sight one would have to travel far and wide to witness elsewhere.

The picture on the right is of pork chops, kale, and sauteed pears. We have an ancient pear tree on the farm that produces hard, mealy fruit. Susan magically transformed a batch of these unruly pears into a true delicacy, by sauteeing them with wine, butter, and some sugar.

We will be delivering turkeys on Sunday to those who ordered them. The earlier you pick them up in the morning, the more it will help our logistics in freezers. Should you need chicken stock for making dressing or gravy next week, let us know, so we can reserve some for you.

We will be at Findlay Market on Saturday and Hyde Park on Sunday.

May we always travel toward our dreams.

Drausin & Susan