Life is for living. Somewhere along our development life changed to a hustle. There was a time when we used our calories to acquire food, build homes, be in community, and save the surplus to grow old. Our modern lives have brought us calories in accessible abundance settling our bodies. Sedentary life has exacerbated chronic illness and mental unrest in America. How and what we eat affects these changes.
Similar shifts have happened, albeit gradually, in how the Folks farm. This year we have spent more time on tractors, focusing on growing crops we know to be popular, and making our food easily accessible. These “improvements” follow an obvious trend in our food system and have many intrinsic benefits for the farmers and our customers. However, in some ways the heart has been pulled away from a deeper passion of growing food and acting more so as a cog of supply in the machine of demand.
About 18 months ago I began running. With extra energy during the winter I started building my cardio in pursuit of elk in the high country. Turns out I like running more than hunting. After completing a marathon last October I applied for my first ultramarathon. This July I will participate in the Never Summer 60km, and could not be more excited.
It seemed crazy, farming all day and taking breaks to run for hours in the hills and yet I usually look forward to getting out. In my brief research I realized I am not the only farmer/runner. The Tarahumara, or Raramuri, people of the Copper Canyon have been subsistence farming and running long distances for hundreds if not thousands of years. They do so by playing Rarajipari, a competition where two teams of runners move a wooden ball through long loops in the canyons until one runner remains. The game can last for hundreds of miles. For the Raramuri the ball symbolizes the world and that by kicking it through the canyons the Raramuri are perpetuating the revolution of the Earth. They have to run, they have to farm, because if not the world as they, and we, know it would end.
Early summer, pre summer solstice, is the time to plant many staple crops like winter squash, corn, beans, and other grains. Learning more about the Raramuri, seeing their way of life, I have felt called to grow seeds that have been dormant in my collection for years. The Tarahumara Sunflower immediately comes to mind. A striking single head, white seeded sunflower often reaching 10 feet tall with a thick stalk. Sunflower seeds are something I chew all summer and wouldn’t it be cool to grow our own?
Beans, grains, crops we “can’t make money” on. Yet they play an important role the the wholeness of the farm. Staples push my limits as a farmer and put heart back into the work. They create a pull that makes me feel that creation itself is asking for us to farm. Like entering a powerful current, a force much greater than myself, guiding the stewardship. When combined with trail running I discover new gears as a grower. Similar to the Tarahumara, participating in spirit makes me feel connected to something greater than myself. Like, of course I grow this food, the world wouldn’t be the same without it.
Eating, drinking, building, creating, living in groups are intrinsic to humanity. We are supposed to spend our time in movement especially with other humans. It is in our nature, our spirit. When we sit, eat crap, isolate ourselves we loose our connection to humanity. This loss, I believe, is causing serious detrimental illness of the body and mind in our society. We are lost without our connection to each other and the essence of being human. Instead of being pulled through life perpetuating creation, we are destroying ourselves and the world around us, pushing towards an unimaginable goal that will most likely perpetuate a sick way of life.
I am not saying we should all head to woods, join communes, and grow our own food but something has to change. I fear if our main concerns are convenience, money, and individual pursuit then our path will continue along the path we are currently enduring. School shootings, inflation, chronic illness could very well be symptoms of our losing humanity.
So we plant our corn, beans, and squash. Look after the cash crops. Keep running towards a different future.