Social Distancing Quarantine!

Sorry no pictures for this one…. There is a lot I want to say…. But most of it I will keep to myself, because it won’t be helpful or applicable till later. For the time being I prefer to focus on where we find ourselves now.
We have a deadly virus sweeping the planet. This is bigger than we realize and it is gonna get really bad quite likely, before it gets better. That being said, the plague, small pocks, polio….. These may not bee Covid 19, but they are examples of other things that have run rampant destroyed lives and taken lives… So don’t lose hope and don’t panic. And for the love of God, PUT THAT ROLL OF TOILET PAPER DOWN! You have enough.

One thing I have to take a moment to note, is the fact that the image of toilet paper is everywhere. It seems to be a symbol of society that unifies the whole world…. It made me think about the last time such a symbol that unified an entire continent of culture. Venus figurines, found along the Danube, are the only symbol as unifying in human history as today’s toilet paper. No one alive knows what those figurines meant to the people that made them thousands of years ago during the second wave of Homo Sapien, into Europe. But they are as prevalent as current toilet paper memes…. I have heard them called prehistoric barbie dolls, ancient porn in 3d miniature form cuz the printing press hadn’t been invented…. Religious symbolism, the symbol of a mother goddess…. The list of what they could have meant to early man in the region goes on forever. And we will never know unless Bill and Ted, bring us another magical telephone booth so we can go back to ask. But without that, we will never know… I don’t know why this comparison has come to mind… It simply has. What does it say about us that the thing that most unifies us is literally the thing we wipe poo with? Just something to think about and consider….

Dr. Farmer Moomin is home from work. He works all day in the living room… We watch the gloom and doom as Covid carries off another ancient person that likely would have died in a week anyway…. And we all panic and buy ridiculous quantities of the earlier mentioned toilet paper…… I am home…. We are all here on the property. Our goal is never to leave it. Unfortunately we still have no greenhouse out here, and soooo we are constantly having to take the risk. It’s ok. I have lived long enough. The idea of dying actually sounds kind of peaceful, compared to the current situation…. All the same, I prefer living another 100 years. Though the peace is attractive while the TV drones on about how it’s doom’s day…

So time for some homestead wisdom. This disease is one of MANY that are going to devestate our lives like this, if we don’t change the way we live in some pretty extreme ways. Candidates talking about how no one’s life will change if they get elected are liars. Life will change because it MUST if life is to continue for much longer on this planet. As the ice melts, all kinds of junk from long ago that we have no antibodies for, bleeds into the water. The sun and the ever growing warmer heat, then causes water to become a gas. In gas form, it rises and mingles with the air we breathe in…. And…. Well… You do the math. We lost upwards of 20% more of that ice this year alone than we expected, and Covid 19 rears it’s ugly head. I am not saying that is specifically and exactly how we got Covid 19. But I am saying, Covid 19, is a symptom of a much larger issue. Climate change. If life doesn’t change, neither does the climate. If the climate continues on as it is, it won’t be long now before we all die suffering horrifically as a result or by product of climate change. It is imperative to change our system, and fix our priorities, so that we can make sure our children never have to quarantine like this. We have to change because if our economy crashes every time this happens, it will get more and more prevalent… I love both democratic candidates. I also love my fellow americans and I want to be sure that there is hope for the future. Which is why I am voting against this life won’t change at all candidate. We may not have another 4 years. We MUST do this now or we risk the death of all life on earth. I say this from living close to nature. I watch it. It’s horrible. Every day the earth dies a little more. We need to fix this now. We need to change how we are living. Homesteading as a lifestyle, is about several things. One of them is independence from society. It is however even more importantly about working in tandem and as a partner to the earth.

THERE IS NO TREATMENT, NO CURE, and NO VACCINE at the present moment for Covid 19. However, I’m a homesteader. There are things we CAN do to impact the symptoms. I encourage everyone, talk to your doctor before you take anything unfamiliar to yourself.

Sore throats: slippery elm, Licquorice root.
Lungs: Mushrooms
Fever: Fever few,
Cold symptoms: Golden Seal, elder berry, echinacia, and many others.
Kidneys/liver/blood cleansing: Dandelion Burdock root

These may help take the edge off some of the symptoms with proper use. I suggest talking to a professional herbalist and with your doctor. At this time symptoms are all that can be treated. There is no way to even prevent getting Covid 19. The best things you can do, is get tested if you feel unwell, wash your hands constantly, and self quarantine. These are the best ways to stay safe at this time.

Things you CAN do while in quarantine:
Play a game
Watch a movie
Listen to music
Play with your pets
Argue with your spouse
play video games watch tv
play computer games/chat with friends and family
Read a book
Do some meditation
Eat a lot.
Count your rolls of toilet paper while refering to every one of them as “The Precioussss” (Yep, I am talking to all of you Gollums out there.)
Bake at home
Garden/clean up your yard
Take a walk
Find a way to be comforting to others
Write a novel, or work on one you have already started
Spend some time studying climate change
Make plans for after quarantine is over.
Find some way to reach out and touch other people. We are going through something horrific as a world community. We NEED each other to lighten the mood.
Make jokes….
Send Trump rolls of toilet paper in the mail in protest…..
There is no end to the fun that can be had.

We get to decide who we are going to be as we move on from this moment into the next one. We will carry this experience with us… How will it change us as individuals? Who will become more resourceful? Who will perish? Who will grow? Who will break down? And most importantly, how can we help each other through this and who do we want to be? The toilet paper hoarder…. Or the rational voice in the panic?

Panic, is always a bad idea. I think the Dalai Lama, once said something about how worrying is pointless. If you worry, then it might be for nothing. But if you don’t worry it could go badly…. Anyway, thepoint is worrying doesn’t help or change anything. It means you are passive, reacting to a situation rather than acting on it. Acting on it might mean planting a tree or taking a test. Acting on it might be to self quarantine. Reacting, separates you from the rational part of yourself. And at that point, congrats you have screwed yourself and those around you because only acting on things is helpful. So don’t panic. Instead, stay clear and reasonable and do what makes sense. Then, try to come up with a way to make other people smile in their quarantine home prisons.

We may all be prisoners of this pandemic in body…. Oh but the mind knows no boundaries. So stimulate yours, and try to do the same for others.

Good luck
Stay safe
Amanda Of Wildflower Farm

About wildflowerfarm

Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.

My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.

Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.

Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.

Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.

We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.

We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.

This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.

We welcome you on this journey with us.

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Social Distancing Quarantine!

Social Distancing Quarantine!

About wildflowerfarm

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