The Path to Change

    There came a point in my life where I realized that a lot of what I stood for, what I was raised to believe, was superficial. I cared about the earth, but only recycled when it was convenient. I supported water conservation, but took 20 minute showers. I longed to help starving people, but dumped plate after plate of uneaten food in a trash bag at restaurants and fast food chains I worked at. I reached my breaking point when I was in my final year of college, studying anthropology and the way other cultures live. America is unmistakably greedy and wasteful. I couldn't take it anymore; I couldn't rest knowing that I threw something in the trash that could have been reused or consumed. I wanted to travel this summer, and I figured out just how I could do it while also being a humanist/environmentalist advocate.

    One year ago, I met some very special people. The first instance was a married couple and their dog who stayed with me along their bicycle trip around the United States. Through Couchsurfing, I hosted them as guests in my home, and they lit a fire of inspiration that seemed to be exactly what I needed. Upon getting to know them, my vision of traveling became clearer than ever, and I knew I had to do it now. I learned from them and the events following after their departure that life can be as big of an adventure as you want it to be, and not to let anything get in the way of your aspirations. The next instance was yet another traveler, who made a very big impact on my outlook on life. This person was a humble hitchhiker and couchsurfer. A spiritual mind, a beautifully kind soul, gentle words of wisdom and understanding.. I was in awe, because if anyone could convince me that god is love, it was him. He entered my life when I was in a "salty atheist" stage of my beliefs. I remember having a long discussion with him about religion, and when I mentioned that I was in the middle of Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion, he responded almost immediately with, "Yeah, I remember my Dawkins phase too."  Those words rattled me, as I was fascinated by Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, and Neil deGrasse Tyson at the time, and I wondered, "What do you mean, phase?" This wonderful traveler delicately showed me the beauty of spirituality--not necessarily religion--in conjunction with science and reason. The timing seemed to be a recipe for spiritual awakening because his visit was paired with my anthropological studies of magic, witchcraft, and religion: the study of the origin of supernatural beliefs. I won't get into detail in this post, because I could ramble for hours on the subject. However, it must be said that my character was strengthened upon meeting these people, despite how risky the concept of hosting couchsurfers may be. These individuals have remained in my tribe to this day and I have not regretted any second of it.

    Back to the point of this post: WWOOF, (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms).  My spirit couchsurfer introduced me to this organization and over the course of a year, I've discovered this is how I'm going to travel on a budget. This organization allows people from any background to work as unpaid interns on smaller scale organic farms around the world in exchange for food and shelter and organic/environmental education. My first stop on my trip around the States is at Round River farm in Finland, Minnesota. Round River is partnered up with Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center a mile down the road, where I took advantage of their open house and got to do a ropes course (log and tight rope walking ~30 feet above ground) that ended with a zip line back to the beginning! I've gotten to learn a lot about self sustainable organic agriculture, see how to maintain a bee colony and identify a queen bee, come face to face with a young moose, and greeted several kinds of snakes and beautiful souls of the people with whom I occupy this space and community.

    The owners of Round River have been nothing short of amazing, with their quirky personalities, spiritual connection with their land, generous hospitality, and abundant knowledge in what they do. I feel safe and at home here; this place is quite magical. The farmstead is entirely off grid; with the use of solar and wind energy, a greywater pump system, and compost outhouses, every aspect of their living situation is environmentally friendly (with the exception of the occasional use of fuel for vehicular transportation). They even have access to a semi-private lake surrounded by a thick forest where the other interns and I have habituated to paddling the canoe out to a rock quarry and jumping into the cool water after a long, hard day of work in the fields. The lake is cleaner than just about any lake I've swum in in the midwest and is home to a turkey vulture that watches over us from the same spot each day and a family of beavers (that we so eloquently named Thomas and Wynona), who on several occasions swam within a yard of us! The work is obviously laborious, but greatly satisfying when harvest day rolls around. I arrived last Thursday afternoon, and so far the crew and I have accomplished a lot--we started with digging trenches and hauling manure in wheelbarrows uphill for fertilizer to plant pumpkins; moved onto weeding nearly an acre's worth of plant beds; built a 7-foot stack of compost from cleaning out the hen house and sheep shed; come Thursday (harvest day) we harvested radishes, carrots, kohlrabi, lettuce, spinach, rhubarb, Swiss chard, and kale; we also prepared trellises for the tomato plants just before the weekend started. Blood, sweat, and tears have gone into working here this week. Sunburns, sore muscles, a PLETHORA of black fly and mosquito bites and a mildly severe allergic reaction (see picture) have haunted me, but all of these are but a small price to pay for the mentally and emotionally healing experience I've had thus far. Just last night, as the storm passed and the sky cleared, I looked up at the blanket of infinite stars above me; with no light pollution from big towns or the moon, I was able to stand in awe observing the Milky Way, reminded of how small we are on this rock we call "home." I embraced my introverted side for the last few years in school as I hibernated away in my single bedroom apartment, and didn't think I'd blossom back into a social being the way that I feel when I'm here. I now isolate myself away from the harsh technological and destructive world in a way that lets me evaluate my self and who I want to be among people who share the same attitudes toward the environment and communal living. I have no problem whatsoever showing my hairy legs and pits, letting my frizzy hair run wild, or squatting to urinate by a tree... and that has done wonders to my psyche, encouraging a carefree no-judgment zone to do my deepest introspection yet.





More updates and pictures to come.
Peace to you, beautiful minds!