It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through our fourth week here, it’s true what they say about time flying. I’ve found it hard to write about my experience here in a concise way because I often feel overwhelmed about how much I’m learning, how much I’m experiencing and enjoying, that I don’t even know how to explain it. I’ve started writing lists of things I find joy in daily (or as often as I remember) in hopes of organizing my thoughts. Fortunately, I’ve been able to find time to journal most days out of the week, which is probably what is keeping me sane. Along with working around the farm in various places, the interns are also reading and discussing together, we have two study sessions a week. Currently we’re reading a lot about Clarence Jordan, one of the founders of Koinonia, and the history of the farm. He was an incredible man with strong ideals that led to run ins with the KKK, getting kicked out of the churches in Americus, and so on. His spirit for social justice and right living is still very much alive in the community, which has been very encouraging for me.
As an introduction into the community here, we had spiritual sharing with everyone who is a part of the community, in which they share their spiritual journeys with us and we share ours with them. This experience of having people share their very personal journeys and seeing the willingness to be vulnerable and open with us as a sign of welcome and acceptance into the work being done here was incredibly powerful. A lot of things are practiced here that are contrary to the way society teaches us to act, and this was the most obvious. It is amazingly difficult to be vulnerable with someone you have just met, especially someone who is coming to work and to live with you for a short time. But we were instantly welcomed and trusted and because of this I have very quickly begun to feel comfortable being fully myself and totally honest with those around me. Not only does this community preach love, they practice it every single day, and even someone who is going to be a short-term resident can feel it strongly and be changed by it. I had to share my spiritual journey too, and while I thought I would be intimidated and scared of it (we had to share in front of the whole community, so we sat in a big ol’ circle of about 25 people), but I actually enjoyed it. There is something freeing about sharing who you are, your struggles, your passions, with people you’ve just met and knowing that they will accept you and love you no matter what you say. As we heard from each member of the community I began to feel more and more at home with each sharing, and by the end of the second week the walls I naturally put up when coming into a new place and meeting new people, were coming quickly down. I was most effected by others’ sharing their journeys with us and the opportunity to learn from everyone here and connect with them. I was able to find at least one thing in everyone’s story that I could connect with and some people even reminded me of passions or interests that I had forgotten about. It is easy for us as humans to find differences between each other and focus on that, but this experience reinforced the idea that we are not so different, no matter our background or experience. I’ve had a phrase stuck in my head since I’ve been here, and it is very simple: “people are just people”. If everyone remembered this, I think we’d live in a very different world.
On a a different note, even the down times here are full of community. We’ve started reading Ray Bradbury’s short stories from Illustrated Man out loud twice a week with other interns, we had a night where we read our favorite poetry out loud, we’ve played capture the flag at night (Jaimie’s idea, of course), we’ve had a campfire, and almost every night we just hang out and talk. The weather is cooling down, and this morning was the first time I smelled fall, it comes to Georgia too! We’re about to hit the really busy season of pecan harvest, so here we go!
–Lindsay
The Grand Farmventure 