Farm Fresh March 2021: An Irish Blessing

Farm Fresh News - March 2021

In this issue:

An Irish Blessing
my latest music recording
A Lakota Prayer
Farm History
Health Care Past and Present

Spring has arrived!

Dear Friends,

February was cold on The Farm, with a snow lasting on the ground almost two weeks, unusual for us. Then at the start of March, we had a week of 60 and 70 degrees, making the daffodils bloom and crocus push out of the ground!

Most of the founding members here in the community have received at least 1 dose of the COVID vaccine. While many of us may have some hesitations about vaccines in general, our age group also remembers firsthand the effect of polio and how a vaccine brought it to an end in this country and most of the world. Our generation eradicated smallpox in the world with a vaccine.

I know as a community we are ready to be with each other again, face to face, and I bet it is the same for you!
May we all be back together to sing and dance, in the year ahead!

Peace,
Douglas

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In the spirit of Saint Patrick's Day, this month's music is from an old Celtic poem and a traditional Irish blessing spoken at weddings, which has been translated from the original Gaelic phrase "Go n-éiri an bóthar leat," which means “may your journey be successful.”

I learned this beautiful melody from Philip O'Donohoe (Tanzen), a Dances of Universal Peace leader out of England. Incorporating the four elements, it is a wonderful as a closing dance, and is good for grounding the group energy as we return to our respective homes.

The version played by Dance leaders of Dances of Universal Peace changes the last line to bring a bit of surprise and a mind shift, to "May God hold you… in the hollow of HER hand." With this recording, I have modified it one step further, as a dedication to Mother Earth, who nourishes and sustains us, using the words, “May She hold you.” Click here to listen to my recording and watch the video, featuring images by Farm photographer Maggie Meeker and flute by my good friend in Canada, Helga Schleeh. Thank you both so much!

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A Lakota Blessing

I try to be careful and sensitive to anything related to Native peoples of the Americas, and at the same time intrigued by how much we are drawn to the teachings that come from this civilization that was so much more in balance with earth and the essence of life. I believe it is because we walk the land of their spirit and ancestors, and feel the strength of that vibration within us.

A subscriber sent me this prayer, and I decided to share it with you here.

Great Mystery,
teach me how to trust
my heart,
my mind,
my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses of my body,
the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things
so that I may enter my Sacred Space
and love beyond my fear,
and thus Walk in Balance
with the passing of each glorious Sun.

I believe we are in part drawn to this wisdom because we share this space with so many of the spirits who walked this land before us.

The prayer above can be found on a web site called Pearls of Wisdom, quotes from many different cultures and teachings. Here is the link to its page of Native American quotes, which I find carry that ring of truth and resonate with their clarity. http://www.sapphyr.net/natam/quotes-nativeamerican.htm

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About Health Care

I recently spoke with a eco/spiritually-minded group about The Farm via Zoom, and one of the questions that came up was about how we deal with health care. Here is what I had to say.

It is very much a hodge podge of solutions and approaches.

At the broadest level, you would have to say we are all on our own and everyone figures out what works for them.

Narrowing that down, our two primary companies/employers within the community, our electronics firm and our book publishing company, provide health insurance for their employees.

As someone self-employed for many years, for a long time my wife and I utilized insurance plans with large deductibles to keep premiums as low as possible. Our plan was that we could pay for small things out of pocket, but would have protection if one of us needed a more costly medical treatment.

Then there was a period of about 10 years where my wife was employed as an RN and we got insurance through the hospital where she worked.

About 10 years ago, she left the hospital and returned to work on The Farm as a midwife. By that time, we were able to get insurance through Obamacare, again with high deductibles that kept premiums low or there were plans that had no premium at all.

Now we are both on Medicare, as are most of the founding members who still make up the majority of our population. We have supplemental coverage through the Farm Bureau, a regional coop nonprofit insurance provider.

Homegrown Care

During the early days of the community (1971-1983), we had our own clinic, pharmacy, and lab, staffed by members both licensed and unlicensed people who were trained inside the community. When the economic system changed in 1983, for a number of years the community kept the clinic going in order to provide primary care for our residents. It was very scaled down as our population was much smaller, paying a salary to a single care provider through our internal budget.

At the same time, several dozen members of The Farm attended a local community college and became RNs through a 2 year nursing degree program. Some went on to become Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants. A few folks also became doctors.

This has meant there has been and continues to be a wealth of medical knowledge residing in the community, people who offer advice and care at what I might call a family level. From this group, we have an organized network of First Responders for emergencies. When emergencies happen, it is not uncommon to have 20 people show up to help within a few minutes.

Through the decades we have also maintained our clinic and relationships with doctors who can authorize prescriptions for things like antibiotics. If I get an infection, I can work through our own clinic to get the antibiotics I might need, stocked at our own pharmacy.

Our lifelong commitment to a healthy diet and active lifestyle has meant we do not have a lot of the health problems affecting much of western society.

Lastly, living in community, with friends that care about you, surrounded by nature, living in peace . We find that to be the best insurance of all.

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Peace,

Douglas

Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com