This morning, I got up at 5 a.m. with the dogs and we went out to get the sheep and donkeys and horse out to graze the North pasture, In the heat of the summer, we like to let the animals out to graze while it is still cool and before the flies and mosquitoes come swarming out.

It is quiet then, and peaceful, and the hills were shrouded in mist. The animals spread out, Red kept watch, Fate raced around the sheep in dizzying circles. I felt a wave of love for our farm, and the way it sustains so much life and meaning, and inspires to much in us.

Look at all these different creatures and personalities I thought – Chloe, Lulu and Fanny, Fate, Zelda, Izzy, Deb, the farm sustains all of us in so many different ways – grass and shelter for the animals, work for the dogs, mice for the barn cats, bugs for the chickens, stories and photographs for me, the studio for Maria.

What does it mean to be sustainable? For me, it means the farm must provide for us, take care of us. Sustainability is very difficult, it raises questions about responsibility, perspective, need and sustenance. My farms have sustained me, they support me every day. Sustainability to me is not about sustaining a life I cannot handle or afford, it means just the opposite. Not a straight path, but an important one.

I have learned to ask for help when I need it. But I do not need help with my life, if I cannot live my life, then it is not sustainable. The farm is my mother, it sustains me.

I gave thanks for this sustainability this morning in the mist.