a story of a gal and her non-permie parents

I wasn't sure where to put this, but I just wanted to share with ya'll.

My parents visited me in california this week. They drove all the way from montana with their giant RV. (like, it's a fucking mansion RV) Sometimes it seems like we are so radically different, and like we're growing further apart each time I see them. We just have so many opposing beliefs and opinions and values, that sometimes it's so incredibly draining even discussing most things. (they're large scale cattle ranchers/farmers, hard-core conservative christians, and i'm their nightmare of an agnostic feminist daughter with hairy armpits and a hatred for gmos) So having them here this week was making me feel all sorts of feels because I love them so much but we were just butting heads on absolutely everything that got brought up.. But then this happened.



This was the amount of food they gave me when they left this morning, all grown from their garden, and beef from the cattle they raised. So no, it wasn't grown in a beautiful polyculture food forest and yeah, it mighta been in rows and it's probably not organic, but I know that it came from their very hands and hearts and here I am literally starting to tear up even thinking about how beautiful that is.

It's just so easy to get caught up in negative thinking and to let our differences as humans consume us. But damn, on the other side of that coin, it can be so easy to connect in the simplest and deepest of ways if we just open our eyes a little bit..

Cassie Langstraat wrote:

It's just so easy to get caught up in negative thinking and to let our differences as humans consume us. But damn, on the other side of that coin, it can be so easy to connect in the simplest and deepest of ways if we just open our eyes a little bit..

I so very much agree. The Occupy Movement and the Teaparty, at least at the grass roots level had far more in common than they were allowed to see. The more we all look for common ground rather than grounds for disappointment and disagreement, the happier we will all be!

Thank you for the heartwarming post! I hope their gift helps you all grow closer!

To me, it seems like it is love in its purest form. Above the differing points of view they gave their girl the best they have to give; nourishment that was not store bought, but grown and harvested with their own hands. You are so fortunate and blessed.

Aw, that is sweet of your parents that they gave you so much food.

Family is where conflicting views come together,and frankly, it is where people feel like they love and hate people the most. I mean the most. I have my moments of intense rage and soft kindness with my family. One of my parents is conservative, the other is liberal, and they are having a very happy marriage! One of the most shocking things for my mom, which is got over a while ago, was when I stopped wearing underwear. TMI, yes, I know, TMI!!! But with the heat we have in Texas, do I need to emphasize it enough, TEXAS HEAT?!?! Even wearing shorts, it gets pretty damn hot and sweaty everywhere, EVERYWHERE!!! The look on my mom's face when she found out that all my underwear was hanging on a coat-hanger in my closet was priceless! She couldn't understand it! but eventually, she got over it! I'm laughing writing this. We have our moments in my family, too!

There is so much we differ on, but in the end, when I look at it, we get it to work out somehow!

Just to list a few other things: my mom once caught a Bible that I had snuck into a trash bag, she once wondered why my hair is a tad greasy (don't yet have the no-poo thing down), or why I had mud all over my legs (an experiment to develop a microbiome for my body so I don't have to even shower and still smell great), or why there are strange plants growing in the yard (secondary reforestation plant seed that I found in a disturbed plot of land on a bike ride and sowed in my parents' backyard)

But in spite of all this, we still love each other! On the good side: I've sang spontaneous nonsensical operas with my mom (we both have booming voices), let my mom snitch food off of my plate (she likes to sample what creations I make), and more

They just turn into stories, the good and the bad, and I rejoice in the retelling of events! It's a way of coping and remembering, and a reason I don't keep pictures: it forces me to tell the stories and keep them alive.

Maybe you guys can find some middle ground. You shave your pits and they give up the religion thing.😈

Cassie L. : Just for you ! They have to be fantastic parents because look how great you turned out ! Link below !




Have a wonder filled day ! Big AL

Dale Hodgins wrote:Maybe you guys can find some middle ground. You shave your pits and they give up the religion thing.😈

Or, they could stop shaving their pits, and she could pick up the religion thing... Waaaait, they all probably have their own reasons for their ideas about the universe and the practice of shaving armpits. As non-armpit-shaving Christian girl, you do and believe what you feel is right!

Aaaaaanyway, I think it's awesome you're able to share food and love with your parents, and they with you. Reading your post helped me realize more fully how much love there is excepting others not-perfect gifts, just as there is love in the giving those gift. So often I focus on love as being about giving and sacrificing, and I don't stop to realize how much love is expressed by simply being grateful. We, like our gifts, are so imperfect; and, there is love in both sharing and appreciating that imperfection.

Cas I can tell you I come from a family that was completely different from how I am today. but one thing I know is my parents gave me a critical thought capacity (don't know if you write it like this) that made me what I am. This could mean that children always develop the contrary of their parents but it's not like this really. Anyway useless loosing myself with these ideas, if you're the "smiley one" something really awesome they must have done and this will be your legacy with them

Michael Bushman wrote:

I so very much agree. The Occupy Movement and the Teaparty, at least at the grass roots level had far more in common than they were allowed to see. The more we all look for common ground rather than grounds for disappointment and disagreement, the happier we will all be!

Thank you for the heartwarming post! I hope their gift helps you all grow closer!

My mom always says "There's enough sunshine to go around." I don't know where she got that but it's one of her favorite things to say when my dad and I get into debates/arguments about what the right way to do something is. And it's just so damn true.

Jd Gonzalez wrote:To me, it seems like it is love in its purest form. Above the differing points of view they gave their girl the best they have to give; nourishment that was not store bought, but grown and harvested with their own hands. You are so fortunate and blessed.

To me, it is love in it's purest form too. It just took me a little bit to clear my head of the clouds of negativity to see it.

Dave Burton wrote:

Just to list a few other things: my mom once caught a Bible that I had snuck into a trash bag, she once wondered why my hair is a tad greasy (don't yet have the no-poo thing down), or why I had mud all over my legs (an experiment to develop a microbiome for my body so I don't have to even shower and still smell great), or why there are strange plants growing in the yard (secondary reforestation plant seed that I found in a disturbed plot of land on a bike ride and sowed in my parents' backyard)

LOL Dave you are awesome and I love your microbiome muddy skin story.. Hahha

Dale Hodgins wrote:Maybe you guys can find some middle ground. You shave your pits and they give up the religion thing.😈

But my pits... they're so soft and fuzzy....

I've butted heads with my mom for years. She got a lot more radically conservative when my dad passed away. Now she's not long for this world either (screw cancer, seriously).
We've made a lot of progress in our dynamic over the last few years by just letting things be. When she brings up a controversial subject, I just make no comment, or a minor one and try to move on to something else. After me leading the charge for nearly a year, she started to pick up on it and is now doing the same. I'm very happy to say that the relationship is well on the mend.
Focusing on differences only drives the wedge deeper. Be happy that you still have them together and that they love you, life's too short for anything else. Find the commonalities, like preserving and growing food, and build on that.

The American people are so brainwashed into their lifestyle, most will never wake up.

We are taught consume consume consume, spend, buy this razor, buy that smelly shampoo.
I can only imagine how much time and energy we have all wasted at one time or another buying
"their" useless products, all the whille destroying the planet that sustains our lives. Prepare folks,
because the pendulum is swinging back, and it's going to do a lot of damage.

Cassie, maybe you could move closer to them an incorporate some of the views and methods used here
on their farm. Time is short. Can I call you "Fuzzy"? ;>)

Making things better is not simple, nor will it ever be 100%.

Nearly all of my videos are designed to be presented to the least permie people with the idea that they will think "that seems interesting" and then they hear "permaculture". After a few dozen videos they mgiht be open to the idea that permaculture is not just about being a hippie that blows rainbows out of his ass.

Jack spirko is doing great things at passing permaculture onto folks like your folks.

And, as always, permaculture is for everybody. It is a misnomer that it is only for the hippies. It's just that here in the US, the hippies loved on it first - so the folks that don't care for the hippies have shied away from it. But that is getting mended.

Wow, I kind of thought that the original homesteaders were there long before the "hippies". Being self-reliant is a big step in the right direction. Repairing what has been degraded is a noble cause and future generations will thank us no matter what politics we claim.
For Casey...
I'm glad your relationship is on the mend. Have you ever put yourself in your parents shoes? They are doing what they feel is right and good by feeding people and raising their family. Sure their methods are different, but it is what was common knowledge at the time. The "main stream" is slowly coming around to the permaculture way. Not much plowing anymore and rotational grazing is the new interesting concept. GMOs are a bad word in most every farmhouse also. You don't have to live in a mud hut to experience life. What ever makes you happy, what ever calling you answer. It sounds like they are the salt of the earth and some of the good people.