I apologize for not having posted in a while. I am now pretty settled at Chewonki so I’ll be able to post once a week, probably about this time. One of my favorite classes here is called Literature and the Land. In this class, we read a variety of stories, poems, and essays which explore the relationship between humans and our environment. It has been interesting to spend time finding a definition for nature and decide what is included in the term nature. While exploring our concept of nature, we read an excerpt from Michael Pollan’s book Botany of Desire. Here is a talk by Pollan which I found very thought-provoking and eye-opening. It is a pretty old book, but I like how it reverses the default human thought that we are in charge and can have control of nature. I think this change in thought can cause a great change in our actions and choices. I think Pollan’s exploration of human consciousness and its effect on our perspectives is important as he attempts to step outside this “disease of human self-importance.”
On a different note, we have a farm here at Chewonki which I’ve had the chance to work at. The farm produces vegetables, meat, wool, eggs, and milk. Once a week, we have a “farm talk” to learn about and discuss different aspects of agriculture as well as look at what happens on our farm and other farms. Every farm talk shows me something new, and farming is getting excited as we just got three beef cattle and triplet lambs were just born. I will definitely be posting soon about different things to do with the amazing farm here.
-Simon
Eat for the Earth 