WATCH OUT FOR TRACTORS
CLEAR LAKE
Our time at LeVin has come and gone, and a few valuable lessons were learned. The most important takeaway from our stay however, was something we already knew. This was reinforced during our stay: truly valuable things in life cannot be measured in dollars. So many Americans are far too concerned with money. Without money, you can't be happy and safe, they argue. Without money, you can't be comfortable and raise a family. But what good is being "safe," having a family, or owning a big house, if all you do is bicker, argue, complain, worry, and work so many hours that you can't even enjoy all your possessions? What is the point of having so many possessions that your life becomes cluttered, and then you don't even know what you have? We appreciate what we have, and will no doubt acquire more stuff throughout our lives, but material goods ultimately are just things. The truly valuable riches in life aren't achieved through consumerism, but rather through love, knowledge, respect, and conversation. So we wonder, who's really rich?
On another note, it seems we backtracked slightly en route to our next wwoofing destination in Oregon by returning to Upper Lake to visit Annelle and Thurston at Clover Creek Family Farm. It is sort of on our way, but really we just wanted to come back for some last words of wisdom before continuing on our sojourn. Their values and ideals may be drastically different from many Americans, but they seem to echo our own. They have been, hands down, our favorite, most gracious, and exceedingly thought provoking hosts.
This afternoon we went to a Farmer to Farmer potluck with Thurston and listened to six organic local farmers discuss policies that affect their livelihood. Our nation is an extremely competitive one, and citizens are sometimes driven by greed to succeed. But this small group of farmers discussed methods of collaboration, whereby working together, local consumers would have access to a wide variety of healthy produce. For example, if every local farmer grew the same type of lettuce, the consumer would probably be motivated by the lowest price alone. But if everyone grew different types of lettuce, all the growers and all the consumers would benefit from diversity and quality. It's inspiring to see cooperation and selflessness. Working together, instead of against one another, is how societies have advanced over thousands of years, and also how we have can continue advancing in the future.
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