I haven’t written a blog post in quite a while, perhaps because I’ve finally synchronized my pace with local life here in the Trieves. For a long time, I worried that I didn’t do enough everyday. I didn’t make money, I didn’t contribute to some greater effort with management and superior direction, I simply lived. After three months, I can feel my heart beat for the first time in my life. At first I felt a palpable discomfort, the two and a half decades of training to be ‘productive’ (profitable?) every day clinging on to my soul. Then I had a thought one day.

Everything I do here; read, write, hike, meet with friends, cook, eat, fix farm stuff, care for chickens, butcher, make candles, write letters, it’s all good stuff. You couldn’t say any of this isn’t ‘worth’ doing. But in the beginning i felt as though I was such a lazy sack. Now I feel like I have too much to do in any one day. Then I thought, if everyone did this, looked after their own small patch of land, we might be in better shape overall. That’s probably too much to ask now.

Slow food seems to be the first step towards a slow life. Anybody want to join a movement?