Sanguine Tenacious Tidings

Work a Farm Cure Your Addiction

What's your favorite way of passing the time when your internet connection is interrupted for an extended period of time, especially when you had a lot you planned on taking care of online? Or, if you prefer- real talk- how addicted to the internet are you?

https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/definition-of-addiction/

The way I understand addiction the word refers to something you are taking biologically or to a pastime that is harmful to you that you continue to do in spite of the havoc it is creating in your life. So, by those standards, I am not addicted to the internet in any way. The internet is a tool. It has brought entertainment, social contacts, and an easier way to conduct family business. Could I live without it? Yes. do I want to go back to the life before it? No. Nor do I want to return to a life without a dishwasher or a microwave. Do I need a $55.00 hairbrush to tell me when my hair is too dry or too oily? No. Do I need a cube to tell me if the tea water is the right temperature for the kind of tea I am making? No.

Have you ever watched an Amish family haying with horse-drawn equipment? I have. I don't want to go back to putting in hay loose the way I helped my dad put in hay summers in the late 50's. He used a tractor to mow. Then he attached a dump rake to the tractor, which I rode. {Amish use horses to mow} He would watch the rake. When it was full he would wave and I would stamp on the trip handle,(I weighed about 40 lbs.) which released a long row of rolled hay. Later, we would gather the hay from the field in a truck. Dad would pick up the hay with a three-tined fork. Throw it by hand into the bed of the pickup truck I would stamp it and spread it evenly until there was hay piled several feet above the cab.Wherever I ended up I rode into the barn on the top of the hay. Dad would drive the truck to the barn where I would shove it off and he would pitch it into the hay mow. Until the hay mow became too high, then he would climb into the back of the truck and pitch the hay from the truck into the mow with his fork by hand.

Now we mow, rake, and bale with machinery. We still stack bales (approximately 50 lbs per bale) by hand. Larger farms have kickers, elevators and bigger storage barns. But, some hand work is still necessary.

In every step of my life, I have embraced the technology that makes life easier. Can I live without some of the technology I use today? Yes. Do I want too? No.

Do You want to talk about the technology of indoor toilets, infrared ovens, infrared heat, solar power, wind power, vacuum sweepers vs, brooms or other high technology? What ate you addicted too?