Almost three weeks since the last postcard -- this is a sign that there has not been nearly as much time to reflect and lounge around as one might expect, in December. It has been about twenty degrees warmer than usual this month, and that has ramifications -- for some people that means more golf or running in shorts and a T-shirt. For us, it means the vegetable crops have not melted yet, and instead they are thriving. And this comes with some dilemmas. We already said goodbye to all our customers just before Thanksgiving and we don't really want to blow our cover, that we actually could still be working and sharing all this food that is still in the field (ah -- I just figured it out -- we can call the gleaners after next weekend!).
Last weekend we broke with December tradition and I went to the winter market in Leesburg. It was sunny and about 70 degrees and we had already picked far too much cauliflower and carrots for our little winter CSA, so it was not hard to go. I left all the Christmas tree selling to Jon and the neighbors, and they were busy all day long, despite the tropical weather.
It is hard not to think that this is all part of climate change, as once again 2015 was hotter, globally, than 2014. It is hard to enjoy all this San Diego style weather when it could mean that our own grandchildren will be in peril, and perhaps our own children. Not to mention everyone else.
A few weeks ago Nell asked what we should be doing about this terrible group of presidential candidates that is dominating the news, and it seems to me that the only answer is that we have to figure out how to make sure that Virginia does not go to the Republicans. Virginia has become a completely tippy state, going one way for one race and another way for the next. Here at Blueberry Hill we live in a district that is split just about exactly in half. It is solidly purple, in the jargon of political commentators. This is progress, as when I was growing up it seemed like our family might be the only Democrats in town. I feel ill-equipped to be a political activist, but I think circumstances might demand it. It is very hard to know how to be effective, but I might have to follow my neighbor Noel's lead and put some hours into it in the next year.
Just last night, when we were cooking a meal for the homeless shelter (back to the topic of unseasonable weather: about twice a month we will bring hot meals to a county facility that is open from December through March, and it is called a Hypothermia Shelter even though they probably wished for air conditioning last night), our friend and former neighbor JP was visiting from Tennessee. Over the years, he has become more and more of an activist and he has been intensely concerned about climate change. He told us that he is taking a sabbatical from farming next year and he has sold every one of his goats and most of his chickens because he is going to spend the year working for Hillary Clinton's campaign. In other words, he is really worried about what could happen if one of those Republicans gets elected.
I hope that a whole bunch of us get worried and take action. We won't all be ready to take a sabbatical, but we can't let this happen. So many people say they will move to Canada. That is obviously not a good answer. I take some solace in knowing that the crowd of completely inappropriate candidates will thin down to just a few and then we will know better what we need to do.
So, while warm and beautiful weather in December is a treat, it feels like it has a dark side. And I am not even talking about the possible effects on the next farm season -- bugs and diseases that could get more plentiful instead of getting frozen. There are much bigger concerns (although I have never thought that it would be so bad if Florida just disappeared. Ever since the 2000 presidential election, I have never forgiven Florida. It can sink into the ocean.) and we can't ignore them.
But I am encouraged by something I heard reiterated on the radio last night -- that on the local level (mayors, boards of supervisors) people tend to work together much better and figure out the best answers to the hard problems. And the higher up you go, the more partisan are the politics. So I can imagine being useful at a local level, and having that make a difference because apparently the hard-headed politicians at the top do look to see what the more cooperative and creative people are doing. This is what Michael L. has based his life work on, now that I think about it, so I have a resource right next door. Maybe he will help me figure out how to be useful, in the non-farm world.
Or maybe, as Stephen, is thinking, the farm can be useful in the non-farm world.
These are the tangled thoughts of someone who is only beginning to stick her toe into the off-season, and who is uneasy about all this warmth in the middle of December.
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