The previous post has a comment by someone I didn’t recognize. He lives in the Cascade foothills and writes at a blog you need to visit, The Farmer de Ville Chronicles. Outstanding writing, as usual a wake-up call to me to stick to what’s real and all around me. He must have a regular writing gig, and I’m ashamed that I don’t know about it.
His lifestyle reminds me of where I’m always heading in my own life, aside from lengthy detours through what most of you would call the “real world,” except of course that it isn’t — not the one God gave us, at any rate. I always arouse a kind of snarly, defensive sensibility when I make that point, that 90 percent of what we think is proper living is actually a kind of killing joke. Not surprisingly, most of us take umbrage at assertions that we live on top of a house of cards of printed lies and misconceptions. Well, too bad. It’s true, however. As true as true can be. This isn’t what you think it is and won’t turn out to be what you expect.
Spend some time reading what the Farmer has to say. Smell the herbs and feel the sweat dripping off the end of your nose.
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I too liked that previous post of yours. I too have a lot of use for old Ma Nature (even if she’s a bit of a beast). I’m a devotee of the real, but that includes Ma in my book. It’s just that she isn’t the only game in town. We humans are part of her, and we’ve done some things that she couldn’t ever have done. I honour your retreat from and dislike for the urban-suburban way of life. I like the way you’ve shoved all that and gone off to live on a high-wire in a place where Nature in its more awesome aspects is a daily part of your life. Bravo on all those counts!
Why do you think I read your blog, my friend? It’s because I find your descriptions and thoughts stimulating. The way I react to stimulation is not with “Amen, Brother” but “Yes, but”. Is this defensive? I search my soul and don’t find that impulse. I like debate, I like talk. We’re all periodically full of bull-shit, so why should we be so pious about ourselves? We’re crawling towards extinction, so why shouldn’t we express our true selves? For you, it’s a different thing than it is for me. Fine, I don’t want you to be like me. I want you to be the ur-Farr, Farr as he was meant to be. But the Farr I once knew was open to all the alternatives in a world full of choices. Don’t close that Farr down. Let Farr be Farr!
Yes, the ‘real’ world cannot be pinned down. I believe it is beneficial to be rooted in the ground, to have a tangible connection with the earth. But from there … well, you can go anywhere you like really, so long as you don’t break that attachment.
Beauty and goodness can be found everywhere … especially if you take music with you