Comments on: My education continues http://www.steve-wilson.net/2008/06/07/my-education-continues/ my personal site and travel log Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:13:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Steve http://www.steve-wilson.net/2008/06/07/my-education-continues/#comment-72 Steve Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:45:39 +0000 http://www.steve-wilson.net/?p=223#comment-72 Hey Melissa- As far as killing animals - I was a pretty strict vegetarian for several years. I definitely had the thought of not being able to kill an animal for food. It goes without too much mention that there are many moral dilemmas regarding killing animals. But I think we're mainly just so alienated from our food sources and from doing such "real" things as raising or foraging for our own food, we make killing animals a bigger deal than it really is. This is a huge simplification of the issue, but one of my main conclusions having been on both sides of the fence now. Think about how many millions of years man has been eating meat. Vegetarianism is a very new thing ... as new as eating meat at every meal. If you haven't, I highly recommend reading the Omnivore's Dilemma. It's a great book about food and he covers the whole animal for food thing very thoroughly. I ended up on this farm after searching for an internship on an organic farm. I didn't buy it! I definitely couldn't afford land like this so close to Seattle. I am living here full time in a great little cabin that I helped the farmers build. I wanted to do an intership to experience the entire growing season (May - November) and farm full-time. I had some great experiences wwoofing while I was in Europe, but it was small glimpes of a much bigger picture. Being on this farm all year gives me a better perspective of what it's like to grow food on a small, sustainable scale. It's been a great experience so far, and I'll just say that I'm remaining optimistic about farming myself some day. But like the farmers here say: "Farming is hell." But also, "It doesn't get any better than this ..." And, as far as consulting/freelancing - I'm not doing very much of it and can't say that it's funding a whole lot. The season is still young and we're finally over a big hurdle where we've done all the early-season work that we'll build on for the rest of the year, which means in a nutshell that I might have a little bit more free time and energy to freelance, but not much. Good to hear you love your job. Not many people truly do ... Hey Melissa-

As far as killing animals - I was a pretty strict vegetarian for several years. I definitely had the thought of not being able to kill an animal for food. It goes without too much mention that there are many moral dilemmas regarding killing animals. But I think we’re mainly just so alienated from our food sources and from doing such “real” things as raising or foraging for our own food, we make killing animals a bigger deal than it really is. This is a huge simplification of the issue, but one of my main conclusions having been on both sides of the fence now.

Think about how many millions of years man has been eating meat. Vegetarianism is a very new thing … as new as eating meat at every meal. If you haven’t, I highly recommend reading the Omnivore’s Dilemma. It’s a great book about food and he covers the whole animal for food thing very thoroughly.

I ended up on this farm after searching for an internship on an organic farm. I didn’t buy it! I definitely couldn’t afford land like this so close to Seattle. I am living here full time in a great little cabin that I helped the farmers build. I wanted to do an intership to experience the entire growing season (May - November) and farm full-time. I had some great experiences wwoofing while I was in Europe, but it was small glimpes of a much bigger picture. Being on this farm all year gives me a better perspective of what it’s like to grow food on a small, sustainable scale. It’s been a great experience so far, and I’ll just say that I’m remaining optimistic about farming myself some day. But like the farmers here say: “Farming is hell.” But also, “It doesn’t get any better than this …”

And, as far as consulting/freelancing - I’m not doing very much of it and can’t say that it’s funding a whole lot. The season is still young and we’re finally over a big hurdle where we’ve done all the early-season work that we’ll build on for the rest of the year, which means in a nutshell that I might have a little bit more free time and energy to freelance, but not much.

Good to hear you love your job. Not many people truly do …

]]> By: melissa http://www.steve-wilson.net/2008/06/07/my-education-continues/#comment-73 melissa Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:53:59 +0000 http://www.steve-wilson.net/?p=223#comment-73 I admire what you are doing tremendously! Someday, I hope to live in the mountains (probably North Georgia) and grow my own food and maybe have some chickens for eggs. I really don't see myself being able to kill any animals - that would probably turn me into a vegetarian real fast! I guess I missed how you came to be living on this farm. Did you buy it? Are you living here full-time? Also, it's great that you are able to do consulting work to fund all of this. I am still in a cubicle (albeit a large one) every day while I pay off my student loans. I'm actually very lucky because I love the job AND the people/company I work for. And, eventually I will be able to work from home because everything I do (Instructional Design) is done with a computer and not much interaction with people required. I admire what you are doing tremendously! Someday, I hope to live in the mountains (probably North Georgia) and grow my own food and maybe have some chickens for eggs. I really don’t see myself being able to kill any animals - that would probably turn me into a vegetarian real fast!
I guess I missed how you came to be living on this farm. Did you buy it? Are you living here full-time?
Also, it’s great that you are able to do consulting work to fund all of this. I am still in a cubicle (albeit a large one) every day while I pay off my student loans. I’m actually very lucky because I love the job AND the people/company I work for. And, eventually I will be able to work from home because everything I do (Instructional Design) is done with a computer and not much interaction with people required.

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