Love Lighting The Way

G'Day Folks,

“If a man have not order within him/He can not spread order about him” - Confucius (551–479 BCE)

Jack hammering old beliefs apart and forging new ones is not easy, it's painfully slow, frustrating and quite scary, but farming forces you to confront reality, a reality that I now realise was deeply distorted. Each and every day on this farm my Grandmothers words are ringing in my ears, she said to my Mum many years ago “I am so happy at least one of my children are moving back to the land, because the land is the closest we can get to reality”. This farm has freed my Mum and Dad from the harshest and most cruel of critics, our shared beliefs that a successful life is measured almost entirely, by the volume of material we accumulate during our lifetime.

They have been forever judged and criticised for never owning their own home, for always making decisions based on their happiness instead of their bank account. They have always lived in the moment, always spent every dollar they earned, usually by the end of the week. This life didn't come without its stresses, but looking back I don't believe the stress was ever about a real crisis such as starving, or having to live on the street. The stress about bills they didn't know how they were going to pay, came from a deeply rooted fear that it would reveal to their family and community that they were failures.

Growing up I wanted the opposite, I wanted security, I wanted wealth, I wanted to retire in a large house on the water, with a large boat and a luxurious car. I never wanted to worry about bills, I wanted to always have lots of money in my bank account, I wanted to feel permanently secure and I worked harder than a hive of bees preparing for winter in trying to attain it. After leaving school just before turning 16, I was indoctrinated by my surroundings in just a few short years. As far as I could tell, accumulating wealth was the most noble of goals and that was how my life would be measured, so off I went.

This farm has not only freed my parents but it has freed myself, after watching my life savings fade to nought, I was forced to face reality. The easy thing to do was to quit the farm and go back to the life I was living before. I scrolled through the contact list of those that would help teleport me back to the financially secure world I once lived in, but stopped short of hitting the dial button. I was scared shitless, 3 young girls, a beautiful wife and ageing parents that at some point would need my support, coupled with my own intense fears of looking like a failure were forcing my thumb to hit that button, to hit the eject button and pull the parachute cord. My soul went into complete battle with my brain, at this stage it was all out internal warfare, lying awake in bed night after night the war continued.

Two and a half years later and I can say with absolute pride and unflinching confidence, my soul has won the war. I recently broke down into tears when I had finally realised that my parents were the most successful humans on earth. They had achieved in their life more than anyone I had previously measured myself against. They still live week to week, they still have to get up in the cold early mornings to make a living because they have accumulated no funds to retire. But they get to do it with their children and their grandchildren right beside them. They get to experience daily the love of a family unit, to bask in the joy of watching their children blossom, finding love in their own life and passing that on to their own children.

Because of my parents we moved back to the land and decided to grow food for our community, we are here not because of our head, but because of our hearts. My parents taught me that the meaning of life can only be found in love and through love, this is life's true measure.

You may be wondering how this story is relevant to all of you who support us each week. Growing food organically means to grow food truthfully, to grow food with love. Farming has shown me that if we can find love for our food and the soil that nurtured it, we will find love in ourselves and for each other.

It is our character that will determine our future, not economists, scientists, billionaires, technology or politicians and our character is a reflection of our values, the things we love most. In an increasingly chaotic world this love will be the only thing that matters, it will be our guiding light in the darkest of moments, it always has been and it always will be.