“Between a good farmer and good soil, there must be a good relationship. This is an understatement: Soil and the people who work it are the foundation of a thriving society. Wealth has its source in nature, and that wealth must be protected as well as spent.” Mark Bittman

Yesterday, Saturday, I woke up at 6am and started my weekend to do list…a list of all the things I never seem to get to during the week, also the things that must be done in order to set the stage for the week to come.

This morning, Sunday, I woke up at 5:30am to see how many things were left on the list (all but three that I managed to get done yesterday) and to add tasks I had forgotten earlier.

As I worked at crossing things off, it seemed I kept remembering more things to add. It felt good to get it all on paper, where clarity can take over and kick anxiety out of the way — but I could also feel a sense of overwhelm starting to take root.

I set the list down and took care of our grocery shopping, fixed dinner for John, washed the dishes, watched a little TV, and started reading the new Mark Bittman book, Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal.

That’s when I came across the quote you see at the top of the post.

Those of you who know me well, know that I LOVE my job, I LOVE the Farm, and I LOVE learning and talking about community-scale farming. So you’ll not be surprised that when I read this quote, it resonated with my personal perspective on life :)

If you had pulled me aside and told me I needed to tend to my “work/life balance,” or to practice mindfulness, or to refresh my boundaries, I would have blown you off. Sorry.

But the concept of the relationship between farmer and soil reminded me that I have a relationship with my own resources, and that if I hope to keep doing this work I love, I will need to restore and protect those resources that make me who I am…I need to take a day off now and then, I need to keep my house clean and organized, I need to offer care and attention to my beloved, and I need to occasionally read a book for new ideas.

If my “farming” is the work I do with the Organic Farm School, then my “soil” is the home I share with the man I love, and the interests that keep my creativity strong, all of which benefit when I slow down to spend time with them.

How would you describe YOUR relationship between the work you are called to and the resources that make it possible?