Plenty of work, even when the World goes mad

My wife grew up in Mount Vernon. When I first came here and met her neighbors and friends and saw the way her face lit up, I knew this is where we were going to end up. I have never once regretted that decision. It is one of the few places where I feel there is a genuine community left in our world. Neighbors help neighbors, we come together nearly every Saturday and have breakfast (not everyone comes, but all are welcome) together. We have neighbors that have helped keep our fields open while we are re-establishing our homestead. We share produce, food, and laughter. I love this town.

Sometimes, I lose focus of how happy I am in our little corner of the world. I did this weekend. I was paralyzed by the events in Charlottesville. My wife and I completed another chicken tractor (our broilers were getting a little crowded in theirs, and I wanted their last couple of weeks to be as comfortable as possible)- but I couldn’t do anything else I planned. Our orchard went unmowed, our pears are still ripe on the branches. I couldn’t not focus on the national events. I cannot understand man’s inhumanity to man. There was so much I had to do, and have to do, but I read, and slept, and wept the rest of the day.

I got distracted from the things that I do that make me happy. That make our spot on this earth just a little better. That nurture my soul and our land. I know I need to focus on this. I can’t control what is in anyone’s heart but my own. I can only take care of the people around me, and they take care of me. This is not to say that we should be insular and closed off from the world. Obviously, that is not a possibility in this day and age. We need to continue to strive to make our world better and more tolerant. We need to confront evil whenever we can, but we can’t focus simply on the bad. We need to look for the good. We all need to work a little harder on that.

I am redoubling my efforts this week to improve my world in the capacity I can. I just got back from a committee that is creating the vision for our town for the next decade. I will go to the Fire Station for our training. I will pick those pears. I will hold my wife tightly. I will not forget that the world is bigger than my town, our farm, and our family, but I will not lose sight of the fact that there is work to do right here as well.

Lucas Rumler

About Lucas Rumler

I’m originally from the land of Soybeans and Corn- growing up the tallest thing in our town was the grain elevator. I moved to Maine in 2008 as part of Americorps. I fell in love with the state, and then the Saint who would eventually become my wife (much to her dismay on most days). We settled in her hometown- Mount Vernon which had been our plan since we started dating. We are active and involved in our community, we homestead, and we both work full time. We are trying to balance the stresses of living and working in this state while at the same time trying to strengthen our little corner of the world. My ambitions for our homestead do not necessarily line up with my competency, capacity, or free time. I am an apple nerd with no knowledge, a beekeeper who keeps hope alive- but maybe not my bees, a gardener who is trying desperately to figure out a niche market for the only things I can successfully grow (ragweed and crabgrass), and a backyard carpenter who has never made a straight cut or a level table- and doesn’t see any real reason to start now. I hope that this blog can help document my continuing failures and occasional successes as we continue to build our lives in our Village. I am active and involved in our local community, and I have been recently nominated by the Cat as the best male blogger. You can contact me at lucasrumler@gmail.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/undertheredastrachan/, or by mail at 46 Weston Road, Mount Vernon, ME 04352.