Back on the farm the miracle of autumn is spectacular…

The crisp cold air, exploding colours everywhere, the harvesting of our own food, the playfulness of the animals and the smell of the soil underfoot.

The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life. – Wendell Berry

• Related Post: The Heritage Farm – Sustainable Living…
• Related Video on the pigs: Mama & Piglets on Walkabout.

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” ―  Masanobu Fukuoka

7:00am dark outside, Murray’s Farm, Cambridge, Ontario “Pigs need a feeding, Turkeys need a watering, Eggs need collecting…” 

I prefer to leave the city and spend time on this farm whenever we can. Doing chores from morning to night, experiencing a true heritage farm lifestyle. As I wrote in one of my previous posts “farm life is hard work yet there’s something essential about growing your own food. Getting back into rhythm with the earth and animals that sustain you.”

Why do I love spending time on a farm?  I love to watch and nurture the crops & plants. I love to live in the presence of the animals. I love working outdoors. I love watching the weather. I love the independence that farm life provides.

Support Your Local Farmers…

Food performance surveys show that a majority of food shoppers are willing to pay more for food grown locally on small family farms. Follow that up with consumer buying habits and we will change the tradition of farming in North America.

Don’t Eat Anything Your Grandmother Would Not Recognize As Food!  

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1:00pm EDT, Monday October 08, 2012. Cambridge, Ontario
Related post: The Heritage Farm & Sustainable Living

Cambridge, Ontario. “Doing my chores from seven in the morning until seven at night”.

Experiencing the life of a farmer at my friend’s heritage farm. Sustainable living and ethical farming is hard work. Yet there’s something essential about growing your own food. Getting back into rhythm with the earth and animals that sustain you.

Adopt food sustainability as a lifestyle. Grow your own urban vegetable garden. Eat whole, raw and natural foods. Reduce your consumption of fast and overly processed foods. It you’re on a plant and animal diet source out free range, pasture raised/grain fed meats from your local farmers.

Related Posts:

• New autumn post: Heritage Farm Life – Calves & Pigs & Turkeys…
• Colourful chicken photography on: Heritage Breeds
• My video on the pigs: Mama & Piglets on Walkabout Video.

In many communities food resources go furthest when people produce their own food near to where it is consumed.

Taking it globally, hunger-relief organizations provide assistance not in the form of cans of food, but in technology, education and programs that teach sustainable farming.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

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“ELLAS! Your people created Western Civilization and shone their light on the world for 3000 years. From the ashes of economic collapse they will rise and shine their light again. Be strong, stand united and strong, believe in your dreams, have faith and have hope.”

Hymn To Liberty

I know you of old
Oh divinely restored,
By the light of your eyes
And the edge of your sword.

From the graves of our people
Shall your spirit prevail
As we greet you again-
Hail, Liberty, Hail!

Long did you dwell
Amid the peoples that mourn
Awaiting some voice
That should tell you to return

Ah, slow broke that day
and no man dared call,
For the shadow of tyranny
Lay over all.

Oh, unfortunate one!
The only consolation you had
were the past glories,
and remembering them you cried.

Long you have awaited
for a freedom-loving call
and in despair one hand
hits the other one.

And you cried:
ah! When do I raise my head
in this desolate land?
and the answer was chains, cries so sad.

Then you shifted your gaze
tearfully, clouded in haze
and on your garment dripped blood
from your children’s tortured hearts.

With blood-stained clothes
I know for a fact
that you secretly sought help
in stronger hands of foreign lands.

On your journey you started alone
and alone you came back
doors do not easily open
when you need them so bad.

Someone cried on your breast,
but no response at its best;
another promised you help,
but he tricked you no less.

Some, allas! in your misfortune rejoice
and with such a cold poise
“go find your children” said they
as doors were shut in your face.

The foot slips and slides
and in such a haste it steps
on stone, or grass
reminders of a glorious past.

The miserable head shamefully leans
and the image it brings
is of a poor beggar, going door to door
with no interest in life any more.

Yet, behold now the sons
with impetuous breath
Go forth to the fight
seeking freedom or death.

From the graves of our people
shall the spirit prevail
as we greet you again-
Hail, Liberty, Hail!

The Hymn to Liberty is a poem written by Dionýsios Solomós in 1823 that consists of 158 stanzas, which is used as the national anthem of Greece. It was set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros, and is the longest national anthem in the world by length of text. In 1865, the first three stanzas and later the first two officially became the national anthem of Greece and later also that of the Republic of Cyprus. Source: Wikipedia

Ὕμνος εἰς τὴν Ἐλευθερίαν

Σὲ γνωρίζω ἀπὸ τὴν κόψι
τοῦ σπαθιοῦ τὴν τρομερή,
σὲ γνωρίζω ἀπὸ τὴν ὄψι,
ποὺ μὲ βία μετράει τὴ γῆ.

Ἀπ’ τὰ κόκκαλα βγαλμένη
τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὰ ἱερά,
καὶ σὰν πρῶτα ἀνδρειωμένη,
χαῖρε, ὦ χαῖρε, Ἐλευθεριά!

Ἐκεῖ μέσα ἐκατοικοῦσες
πικραμένη, ἐντροπαλή,
κ’ ἕνα στόμα ἐκαρτεροῦσες,
ἔλα πάλι, νὰ σοῦ πῇ.

Ἄργειε νἄλθῃ ἐκείνη ἡ μέρα,
καὶ ἦταν ὅλα σιωπηλά,
γιατὶ τἄσκιαζε ἡ φοβέρα,
καὶ τὰ πλάκωνε ἡ σκλαβιά.

Δυστυχής! Παρηγορία
μόνη σοῦ ἔμενε, νὰ λὲς
περασμένα μεγαλεῖα,
καὶ διηγῶντάς τα νὰ κλαῖς.

Καὶ ἀκαρτέρει, καὶ ἀκαρτέρει
φιλελεύθερη λαλιά
ἕνα ἐκτύπαε τ’ ἄλλο χέρι
ἀπὸ τὴν ἀπελπισιά,

κ’ ἔλεες· πότε, ἄ! πότε βγάνω
τὸ κεφάλι ἀπὸ τ ‘ς ἐρμιές;
καὶ ἀποκρίνοντο ἀπὸ πάνω
κλάψες, ἅλυσες, φωνές!

Τότ’ ἐσήκωνες τὸ βλέμμα
μέσ’ στὰ κλάϊματα θολό,
καὶ εἰς τὸ ροῦχό σου ἔσταζ’ αἷμα,
πλῆθος αἷμα Ἑλληνικό.

Μὲ τὰ ροῦχα αἱματωμένα
ξέρω ὅτι ἔβγαινες κρυφά,
νὰ γυρεύῃς εἰς τὰ ξένα
ἄλλα χέρια δυνατά.

Μοναχὴ τὸ δρόμο ἐπῆρες,
ἐξανάλθες μοναχή·
δὲν εἶν’ εὔκολες οἱ θύρες,
ἐὰν ἡ χρεία τὲς κουρταλῇ.

Ἄλλος σοῦ ἔκλαψε εἰς τὰ στήθια,
ἀλλ’ ἀνάσασι καμμιά·
ἄλλος σοῦ ἔταξε βοήθεια,
καὶ σὲ γέλασε φρικτά!

Ἄλλοι, ὠιμέ! στὴ συφορά σου
ὁποὺ ἐχαίροντο πολύ,
σύρε νά βρῃς τὰ παιδιά σου,
σύρε, ἐλέγαν οἱ σκληροί.

Φεύγει ὀπίσω τὸ ποδάρι,
καὶ ὁλογλήγορο πατεῖ
ἢ τὴν πέτρα, ἢ τὸ χορτάρι,
ποὺ τὴν δόξα σου ἐνθυμεῖ.

Ταπεινότατη σοῦ γέρνει
ἡ τρισάθλια κεφαλή,
σὰν φτωχοῦ ποὺ θυροδέρνει,
κ’ εἶναι βάρος του ἡ ζωή.

Ναί· ἀλλὰ τώρα ἀντιπαλεύει
κάθε τέκνο σου μὲ ὁρμή,
ποὺ ἀκατάπαυστα γυρεύει
ἢ τὴ νίκη, ἢ τὴ θανή.

Ἀπ’ τὰ κόκκαλα βγαλμένη
τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὰ ἱερά,
καὶ σὰν πρῶτα ἀνδρειωμένη,
χαῖρε, ὦ χαῖρε, Ἐλευθεριά!

Rolling Through The Prairies

Click on an image to expand and scroll through the gallery.

Location: Rural Saskatchewan Canada
“Land of The Living Skies.”

Photographer/Author: John Zeus

A strikingly beautiful woodland wildflower…

Riverdale neighbourhood, Toronto, Canada | White Trilliums are some of my favourite woodland wildflowers. If you pick one it will take seven years to grow back.

It’s Earth Day when wild White Trilliums blossom in the garden. Native to the eastern woodlands of North America they blanket the forest floor in early spring.

A rarity, illegal to pick or transplant in some states and provinces because they take several years to recover. Provincial flower of Ontario and State flower of Ohio. Listed as an endangered wildflower in the State of Maine.

My Shot – John Zeus's Gallery: Photo 1 – National Geographic Magazine.