Farm Farewells

I have left the farm. Amicably. Lots has happened in the last few weeks. There was a conflict that I was not involved in, which led to one intern leaving; this in turn led to a couple arriving who wanted to stay all the time through until the end of the season plus another person coming to replace the intern that left.

What did that mean? That I could leave without causing undue strain on the other people on the farm.

It's a blessing in many ways. Trying to sort out life here, be with my fiancee, get stuff done AND work a full week on a farm that was an hour or so from Ottawa was too much - I was getting more and more tired. I feel I have learned the lion's share of what I needed to, and can let other people learn a lot from the farm, too. I feel a need to relax for a little bit, and integrate.

So now I'm living in a flat in Ottawa for a couple of weeks, making use of the internet, and comfort. I don't have to feed the pigs, and I don't have to go outside to use the toilet, shower, or kitchen. I can lie in, or stay up late, and read.

Mostly, I can think. You'd imagine that being on a farm would give you plenty of time to think, and in some ways it did. But I feel it was more a time of ideas, sensations flowing in. Now I have time to integrate it. To see what I liked and what I disliked.

I'm always hungry, but that will no doubt change over the next few days as my body realises the continual work has ceased. Hopefully I'll put on some weight.

I've also become a very strict non-vegetarian. What does that mean? I'm mainly vegetarian, but if I know exactly where meat has come from, and that it was raised in the best of conditions - outdoors, relatively free - then I will eat it. I'll see how this goes. Ideally, I'll be raising meat of my own next year.

So much to say that I don't know how to. Ottawa is a strange place. I've been *very* sheltered in the 4 months I've been in Canada - less so since I got a car, but actually living in a city is certainly different.

Juniper Farm is a place of hard work, and this year of blue skies, wildlife, and not so wild life too. It's funny, though, because I don't exactly feel like I miss it. Yes, I want to grow food and raise animals. I'm not sure I have the drive to make a living from it, though.

And of course in the next few months Canada will become a very different place, a land of ice and snow. Will I yearn for green things, frogs and dragonflies, pigs and chickens?