Connecting to mother earth, the sun and all its creatures is a powerful vehicle for transformation. Recently, I spent the entire day working on Scott Trautman’s farm where I get some of my food–a truly life-giving, sacred space. I brought my 14 year-old daughter, my friend and her 7 year-old granddaughter. We left at 5:30 AM to make the 2 hour journey. Little did the girls realize what wonders they would experience that day.
When we arrived at the farm, the girls could see, this would be no ordinary day. Stepping out of the car we were greeted by at least 50 free-roaming chickens who delighted in the possibility that we may have some food for them! Scott stood by holding and stroking one of these beautiful birds, waiting to share with us the glory of his and his wife, Julie’s creation. As we entered his home, we were greeted by 3 happy cats. Lots to do today–we were going to help plant 100 of the 600 already planted hazelnut trees around the perimeter of the farm. This was part of Scott’s plan for permiculture–planting a wide variety of trees and plants on the farm to intermingle in the rich tapestry of healthy pastureland and livestock. He and his wife are participating in the creation of paradise and we were there to share.
The girls loved walking amongst the cows and their calves. They quickly learned that some cows were very friendly and come up to be petted or just to meet you. Others were shy, and one cow was a little bossy and tried to tell us to leave her alone! Every one of these beautiful animals enjoyed superior health as Scott and Julie had painstakingly built soil fertility for three years before pasturing animals.
As we walked to the area where we were going to plant trees, a large group of chickens followed us as if they were going to help! Instead of walking, my farmer enlisted my daughter to drive the “Gator”–a golf-type cart that carried our gear to the planting site. By the look on her face, you would have thought someone had just given her a million dollars! So off we went planting. It will be such a gift to watch the trees we planted grow in years to come.
When it started to thunder, we went to the barn to clean and bag rye seed for planting. The belt-driven, seed-cleaning machine was straight out of the past–nothing fancy or computerized–just simple and to the point. Both girls ran back and forth from the giant seed bin to bring containers of seeds to the machine. After the thunder passed, we planted more trees.
Just before lunch–the girls discovered the pigs and the chicken nests. They watched the baby pigs who were very busy eating and playing. The girls then gathered dozens of eggs from the chicken’s nests and brought them in the house where we sorted them and put them in cartons. After Julie blessed is with a glorious lunch, we planted more trees finishing at about 4PM.
The next stop–the refrigerated milk holding tank to get fresh milk and the farm store to get meat to take home. We got a variety of fantastic meats. Scott then filled our glass jars with fresh, cold, clean, unprocessed milk from vibrantly healthy, happy cows–liquid sunshine–a life-sustaining, divine, healing food–a food cherished by people worldwide for thousands of years–a food that saved my life–
As we drove back home, the girls reveled in their amazing experience as they counted how many new things they did. “When are we coming back mom?” ” Can I bring my friends?’ my daughter said with an enormous smile.
Connect back to the earth and sun, connect with small family farms, connect with the animals, plants and trees–connect with creation and fill your life with new life and sunshine. Who’s your farmer?
For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.
Best in health,
Kathryne Pirtle
What a beautiful, well written story! What an experience for all of you, especially your children. Where would I find a family farm to do something like this with my family?
To find real food in your area see http://www.realmilk.com. This will connect you to small, sustainable family farms on your area. Getting connected with nutrient-dense foods will be one of the best things you will ever do.
Kathy – I loved this piece! It makes me sad to think that we spend so much of our lives having to devote to making things like this still available to enjoy and having the freedom to enjoy them, but I know what we do is all worth it in the end. This is really what life is all about! Thank you so much for detailing it.
nice story showing the value to people starting as children experiencing something that will stay with them for life, help them to maintain a value for food, animals, life and realize and hopefully respect where it comes from.. something that is so often lost in our modern lives of big cities and everything readily prepackaged and available through our big cities and big business.
thank you for sharing this story Kathy!
Reminds me of my experiences as a kid to visit a family dairy farm up in Wisconsin!! I think it was a valuable part of my appreciation for nature and farms and hope that everyone gets to have such an experience at some point in their life!