living off the land

I'm currently on a road trip around the US on my motorcycle and visiting old friends along the way. One such stop in Amesville, Ohio put me at Brad and Svea's house (Svea and I knew each other from our days as undergrads) and my stop there was quite an eye-opener.

Brad and Svea have a farm and really do live off the land. The meat comes from cows and pigs that they feed and maintain, the veggies are in a garden that are less than 20 meters from their backdoor. There are trees planted for apples and pears (maybe more, I can't remember) and soon fruit will be abundant for their family's use. The food is all homemade and comes from what they have and truly is organic in every way, shape, and form. Meals are made completely from scratch and love goes into everything that goes on the table. It is something that completely amazed me.

Grocery shopping doesn't happen very often and when it does, its nothing too dramatic - just grains and things that they don't grow at the house. I am in awe of this family of five in what they do and how they do it. It comes mostly from necessity but I'd like to think that they'd continue to do it no matter what; its just wholesome living. People who live in cities (such as myself) would love to have such amenities as having a garden with fresh food to eat but alas, that isn't the case. We rely on others to do it for us and pay them in return. The exchange of money seems to take the love out of food and somehow lessens the nutritional value of what makes it to the stores (or maybe its the pesticides...).

Whatever the case, Brad and Svea are rock stars in my opinion for doing what they do and it makes me wish I could do things a little different with my life. With this being said, I'd probably flop at the notion of doing a garden myself and would kill everything in a garden of my own if given the chance. But at least I got the chance to see someone doing it for real and doing it the way it was done less than a hundred years ago. Its amazing how technology has changed our world in so many ways.