Living Life in Duality

where the lines aren’t too rigid and the price of admission isn’t too great

Hello my friends,

I’ve been playing all week with the idea of duality. Life is rarely black and white - so why is it that we hold ourselves, and others, to such terms? Can two things be true at the same time?

My dear friend Audrey reminds me often that emphatically yes, two things can be true at the same time. It’s easy to pit truths against each other, but really, they can live in harmony. There is a duality to everything that we do, two sides to each coin.

After finding out that we raise much of our food ourselves, and put an immeasurable amount of effort into doing so, people often make the leap in assuming all sorts of things about us. In fact, if you’re thinking about it now, maybe you’ve created some of these same assumptions. But the reality is most of us don’t fit into a box in such a way.

This is even applicable in the kitchen, where so much of our creativity and individuality comes to play. Even though so much of our food is grown right here on our farm, that’s not where the story end because (say it with me now) two things can be true at the same time. While I labor away over my garden beds and livestock, sourcing so much value from our small piece of land, I also am equally grateful for the ability to stock my pantry with imported goods grown halfway around the world. What would life be without coffee beans, chocolate, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil (which, by the way, you can buy the best versions of here.)?

I’m asked often how much of the food we eat daily is food that we grow - the answer is a lot! We also enjoy plenty of food that we don’t grow here - some of it grown locally by other farmers, some grown around the country, much of it grown in my adopted second-country, Italy. All of it, grown here and grown there, I’m grateful for.

I think it’s wonderful to live with duality, where the lines aren’t too rigid and the price of admission isn’t too great.

We can be both locally-focused producers and also coffee drinkers.

Apple cider vinegar makers and aged balsamic importers.

Slow-paced homesteaders and ever-working-online-content producers.

Hard-workers and life celebraters.

Cheers,

Shaye