Motivating power: Love!
Today I remembered a post I had shared on Facebook a few years ago. The post was by Natalie from Perennial Roots Farm. I have translated it into Greek as best I could because I think it is a very suitable text for this video. Here is the original post by Natalie.
“Hi folks, Natalie here again. I get so many people who tell me that they love my Instagram and over the years we’ve had many interns come to us because of our social media presence; thinking that our idyllic life will fix all their problems. I have people tell me all the time how lucky I am and that they would do anything to be in my shoes. I always smile kindly, while laughing just a bit inside. You don’t know the half it. As much as possible I prefer to show the beautiful side of my life: baby goats and lambs, beautiful vegetables and flowers blowing in the wind. All these moments happen to me daily and these are the moments that I savor and that keep me going. Farming is hard and I also want to be real: my Instagram is not what real farming is actually like. It only shows a part of the whole. Farming is a lot of heartbreak and work and sweat and tears. Farming is coming out to a field with dozens of dead chickens that you raised for the past year and your neighbor’s dog killed in minutes. Farming is having a different crop (or the same crop) fail year after year. Farming is being out in 38 (100)+ degree heat in the summer and negative 0 temperatures in the winter. Farming is never truly getting a day off because the animals always have to be fed. Farming is finding a lamb frozen and dead after it was somehow separated from its mom. Farming is being bitten and attacked by your favorite pig and then not being able to walk. Farming is brutal and senseless, forcing you to become very comfortable with death because you are close to it every single day. So the next time you want to complain about the price of something at the farmers market, just think about what your farmers go through daily to grow and produce it and remember that they probably aren’t paying themselves minimum wage for their work, let alone a living wage. You might ask: Why do we do it, then? For moments like this one pictured. For the satisfaction of cooking the most delicious meal we’ve ever had with food that we grew. For the fresh start that we get every spring as we put new seedlings in the ground. For the sight of that beautiful new born lamb. For that first tomato of the season. And for love, we do it for love.” #farmlife