Rural farming

by | Apr 26, 2012 | 3 comments

Rural farming

The economies of farming kept eluding me till I realize again and again that it’s not about financial returns, making lots of money, or what seems a fair wage for my hours. Instead it’s about quality of life, and a community alive . A community that lives for each other, with each other, not pitted in competition against each other. If one. Fails we all fail, shall be our motto. Maybe one might end up with more holdings than another, but not at the expense of the others. Money and wage does not define the life, instead ones respect and value within society . Are you well loved? 
Here in Italy, everything happens around the small town center. People visit and watch, young and old have a place. They support each other because they realize their inter-relatedness. The importance of all, encouraged by the diversity, not despairing in it. My grandmother used to say the world or god was like a large sun, all the rays different but all important to the whole. 
  Here they build their houses , very small apartments, close together, approx. five feet between, stories high. Keeping privacy with their shutters, but close to everything. The gardens are terraced up extreme,y steep hills in this coastal Chinque Terra  region. The wine grapes bent over trellis that shade the greens growing underneath. Olive trees planted on these steep slopes that have been producing the local oil for generations. A self sufficient area with fish, local vegetables, wine, oil and fruit. The meaning of life is satisfaction in great food, a lively community to share glories and tragedy, beautiful days in a beautiful place close to earth and god .