Snow, Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Winter is here. And apparently insistent on staying. The ground is covered with a layer of snow. Another layer to be added tonight. I’m taking cows and pigs to the processor on Monday. A touch of nervousness and uncertainty are always present when it comes to rounding up and loading animals. Even more so this time with the cold and the snow. Hopefully the animals and the truck and trailer all cooperate for this weekend’s task.
I’m not sure when temperatures were last above freezing. It was below freezing through the entirety of the Abingdon Farmers Market last Saturday. Amy was still shivering when she got back home. Thank you to all those who ventured out in the cold to shop locally. With the winter market schedule in place, no market tomorrow. Which means a free Friday evening for us of not filling coolers and orders. You can place your orders online for the following Saturday January 18th or check the delivery schedule for other options.
Amy and I still got our fix of filling orders and coolers. Most of the day Wednesday we were at the freezers filling herd shares and orders for upcoming deliveries. Amy made a quarterly trip to Farmville yesterday to deliver ORVF beef, pork, and chicken to several families in that area.
Farmwise, the chickens are still laying eggs. Keeping chickens and pigs watered is a challenge. We added another layer of bedding for both groups of pigs for cleanliness and warmth. Most of our cattle still have access to stockpiled pasture, but with the snow and frigid temperatures, I’ve been supplementing them with hay. The hay supply seems to be holding up pretty good so far, but when the stockpiled pasture has been foraged, it’ll require feeding a lot more hay daily. Thankfully, I’m still feeding out leftover hay from last year.
Our woodpile supply, on the other hand, is disappearing more rapidly. There’s plenty of downed trees in the fields. Hopefully a break in the weather will soon permit the time to round some up.
I don’t love winter. But I know there is good that comes with winter, even in the parts of winter I dislike the most. I finished listening to Michael Easter’s The Comfort Crisis.
Concerning the cold, Easter writes, “Constant climactic comfort is something else we may also want to rethink… People who spend a lot of time in colder temperatures are less impacted by temperature extremes.”
Easter documents a month long caribou hunting trip filled with loneliness, hunger, cold, physical exertion, and uncertainty. Though some explicit language is scattered throughout it, the book points out how comfortable we’ve become today and the consequences that come with it. He conversely highlights the discomforts of most human history and the strengths that come with them.
In regards to food and our modern detachment from the it, Easter writes, “If you eat meat, your barrier to entry is likely going into the grocery store and swiping a credit card. You don’t know anything about the animal, how it lived, where it came from, or what kind of life it had.”
“Going without food and feeling some real hunger is often far more powerful… Of utmost importance, it requires that we embrace the discomfort of hunger. We must recognize that occasionally going without food up to 24 hours is a normal and even beneficial human state.”
A few more quotes:
“The second great change in human fitness began around 1850. It marked the start of the industrial revolution, and today just 13.7% of jobs require the same heavy work as our past days of farming. Roughly 3/4 of jobs are now sedentary, and we’re sitting more every year.”
“In our pursuit of better living, we’ve allowed comfort to calcify our natural movements and strengths. Without conscience discomfort and purposeful exercise, a forceful push against ‘comfort creep’, we’ll only continue to become weaker and sicker.”
This is by no means a religious book, but it does have biblical parallels. God has a history of doing big things through individuals of all walks throughout the Bible. Rarely, if ever, does God call those individuals to pursue comfort. Far more likely, God called them to voluntarily leave comfort to pursue an endeavor requiring discomfort.
When God called Moses to return to Egypt, Moses wasn’t comfortable with the task. But he went. Not for his own good but in order to bring freedom to future generations. Jonah wasn’t comfortable going to Nineveh. I’m certain Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t comfortable being thrown into the fiery furnace. Nor was Daniel comfortable being tossed in with the lions. I’m guessing the 12 disciples weren’t very comfortable leaving their families and livelihoods to follow Jesus to who knows where. But they went. Allowing God to do God things through them as they went.
Christ himself left the comforts of heaven to walk in the discomforts of the world. While here, he didn’t pursue palaces and riches. Instead he fasted in the wilderness. Not because he had no access to food. He chose to do without. He chose hunger. He chose discomfort. Thus preparing himself for the willingness to surrender to the ultimate discomforts of the cross.
Point being, if God is going to use us for his good, it will almost necessarily require our willingness to do things we are not comfortable doing. This year I’m trying to create habits of making myself uncomfortable. As society continues to inch towards security, I also want my kids to become more familiar with discomfort. And more willing to embrace it. So that when God calls us to do things we don’t want to do, I pray we’ll be willing. And when the discomforts of life are inevitably imposed, I pray we’ll be able to endure them.
Have a good week.
Will