We just put in a 16 hour day.

It’s Spring, and we’re gearing up for our first market garden season. So that means working from sun up to well past sun down.

One of our last tasks today was sowing alfalfa for the chicken savannah. This involved opening up the severely neglected earth on our vacant lots with a broadfork, applying compost, and raking in seed. It’s raining through the night so we didn’t need to water.

As I filled my fourth wheelbarrow with vigor, a thought crossed my mind: what if we were living in a communist country? What if this land weren’t ours, and we had no claim to the product of our labor? Simple answer: that would be an abysmal existence.

This is our second year healing this land we’re on. Dreaming about the potential and working to see it born drives us more than a paycheck or obligation ever could. We are invested to see this transform and return over decades. It would be soul-crushing to not have possession of our own production and vision.

This thought experiment made me so grateful to be where we are in time and place.