What time is it?

It snowed 19” Saturday night. Then it rained on top of it Sunday morning. Crystal rain, coming down hard enough you could feel that you were being pelted with mini icicles. Lots of trudging for a couple of days especially because the plow broke. Up and down the hill, in and out of the goat pen, freeing the kids from the snow wall that built around the opening to their shelter. The dogs were hilarious. At one point it looked like Xerox was swimming through the snow. And this night, as I sit in the warmth of a fire, with ice cream batter cooling down, the city feels so far away. Would others who have made the same transition find it much more difficult? Would a storm like the one that moved through last night send them packing as soon as they could shovel their car out? I sometimes wonder what it is that draws me to live so far removed from town that some days and even weeks, you don't see anyone but those you live with. Of course there are those moments when I feel I must get to town just for the sake of getting to town. Though most of the time I'm content on the farm with no need to go to town. There are countless moments where I must pause to simply take in the beauty that surrounds me. Why just the other day, as I was shoveling snow off the roof of the greenhouse project, I was surrounded by some of the coolest cloud formations I've ever seen. The sun was covered by a cloud thin enough that you could look at the disk without squinting. That was to the south. To the north there was a mix of clouds hugging the hills with patches of clear, bright blue sky. Every few minutes the whole scene would change. I was grateful for something to observe as I rested, shoveled, rested, shoveled, shoveled, rested, shoveled...

Another difference, besides the weather, that I have been noticing lately is in time management. My life in Philly was pretty much scheduled every day. I knew when I was 'on' and I knew when I was 'off.' Here, on and off time dance in flow. For instance, we were expecting to work then were afforded time off because of the weather. The other week, E was 'on' milking and I was 'off', eating breakfast. When he showed up for breakfast, he revealed that the machine was frozen and hadn't gotten to the milking yet. Suddenly we're all 'on,' to get the goats milked by hand. I'm not saying it's more difficult to live this way, just different. Seems to take a lot more flexibility and if one isn't careful, free time can slip away into day after day of work.

In my 'off' time, I've been reading this series of documents called “The Law of Time Study Book.” They describe the Mayan calendar with its 13 months, one for each full moon of the year. The biggest point to come across is how our relationship to time, and therefore the Earth, has been skewed because of our current calendar. The Gregorian calendar we now use was created in the late 16^th century...a mere 5 centuries ago...by Pope Gregory. It was based on the 360 degrees of a circle, an element of space. The extra 5 days were added arbitrarily to get the length of the year close to the solar year. The Mayan calendar is based on the 28 days of the moon cycle, an observation of time rather than space. The folks that wrote this info about the Mayan calendar were saying how we've gotten it backwards: the dimension of space is contained by the dimension of time, not the other way around. A small but important difference. 13 months at 28 days gives 364 days. The 365^th day is called “day out of time” and is a 'free' day, one for forgiveness and atonement. This day was given to ceremonies and celebrations. What a great idea!

Here is a wonderful thought from this series of readings:

“Just as air is the atmosphere of the body, so time is the atmosphere of the mind; if the time in which we live consists of uneven months and days regulated by mechanized minutes and hours, that is what becomes of our mind: a mechanized irregularity. Since everything follows from mind, it is no wonder that the atmosphere in which we live daily becomes more polluted, and the greatest complaint is: ‘I just don’t have enough time!’ Who owns your time, owns your mind. Own your own time and you will know your own mind.”

This reflects back on the differences in time I've been experiencing. Here, I own my time completely. Therefore, according to the above quote, my mind is free, it is unowned by anything else except me. What is a girl to do with complete ownership of her own mind? Well, I wish I could articulate more about this yet I haven't quite figured it out. Fow now, my mind and time are headed for the evening chores of feeding the animals their hay.

Missing you all, happy holidays.

Peace and Love for the whole planet.

Maureen