Buh-bye Terrapin Farm

“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”
― Pema Chödrön

After 4 years of a reoccurring debate I have decided to delete my post documenting my experiences at Terrapin Farm near Whitefish, MT. I would like to apologize for any hurt, sorrow or anger my blog may have evoked. I do not believe that I was wrong in posting my personal experience, nor do I believe my retelling to be grossly distorted but I no longer want any trace of hard feelings to linger even in the written or electronic form.

To those that posted critical but heartfelt and kind comments, I thank you for helping me see the complex nature of the situation and for realizing the unintended impact of my post. To those moved to comment with harsh and hurtful words, I apologize for eliciting such a reaction.

Caring for my mother as she died of ovarian cancer has had a heavy impact on my perspective and outlook on life. I hope only to spend everyday learning the shortcuts to love and compassion and I currently find myself lacking the same drive to justify past actions. It is only love and compassion that will breed kindness so it seems counter intuitive to castigate someones name or business in the hope of fostering any form of a positive reaction.

I am sorry to Judy and Terrapin Farm, I greatly appreciate the experience and knowledge I gained from both the situation and all persons involved. After all, it is a part of who I am today.

Happy Farming.

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”
― Pema Chödrön

A lesson on Potatoes

Potatoes look kind of like people. Little round neck-less people. This opinion could of course stemmed from early childhood memories of the famous toy, Mr. Potato Head. Because this Hasbro/Playskool marketed potato has always disturbed me I now believe I can not look at a potato without seeing the little arms and legs and the creepy little eyes. It just so happens that my task was to cut these sprouting evil starchy beings all day long in preparation for planting the potato hills.

The Potato. Is a very sensitive crop. It is illegal to sell seed potatoes (the potatoes that are spouting which you plant to have your very own potato plant yourself) unless you are a certified seed potato grower. To achieve this certification seed potato production becomes your waking life. The potatoes must be constantly tested for blight, sampled for germination and a whole bunch of other complicated things which have left my mind but that's ok cause I don't think I'll be growing potatoes anytime in the near future. So this law, which is national though regulations vary from state to state, means that you have to order potatoes from a certified source and that most potatoes will be coming for a far away distance. To make things more complicated- try finding organic seed potatoes.

So Potatoes: lots of work finding, lots of time cutting, but almost zero time in planting and care. You literally could through them with a little force onto a bed, all about 10" apart and you would have a healthy crop of potatoes. You don't even need to water them. It's brilliant if you ask me. But just this last part. Plus you can throw them on the ground then punch them into the soil and get out a little bit of frustration or anger. oh yeah.....

So much for potatoes.