What a year we have had! As a nation and a world, this has been a roller coaster. Averting WW3 in February, a global pandemic and fear sweeping to the forefront in March as well as an earthquake here in southern Idaho, lockdowns in much of the world through the spring and again in places this fall, a murderhornet freakout, massive riots in major cities across the country during the summer, followed by enormous wild land fires, and then a contested election: it has been an eventful year to say the least.
But we have also seen enormous positives. As the global system of shipping commodities every which way staggered and shook this spring, people turned back to a local resilience, searching for nutritionally dense and healthy food, a connection to the earth, friendship, and a return to old ways of inter-dependence within a local community.
Saint John’s Organic Farm
We have been largely insulated here on the farm, our work continues day by day. Cows need new pasture every day, so I’m out walking around in the sunshine moving fences to give them access to fresh grass and in the summer running irrigation to replenish pastures as they are grazed.
Since we harvest much of our beef in the autumn every year, we were positioned well this spring to meet the quick increase in demand. I was running every week to our cold storage in Boise to refill our freezers and make deliveries.
We hosted farm tours here in the open air and sunshine twice a month through the summer, showing people our cows, fields, and growing practices, tasting wild plants and the beef we raise, and enjoying conversations with people from a wide range of backgrounds and all walks of life, united in the pursuit of a healthy life and delicious food. We are thankful for the renewal and continuation of old friendships, and the beginning of new ones.
Saint John’s Organic Farm
On a personal note, this has been a good year for me! I got my book Share the Gift finished and published, had a number of adventures hiking mountains and camping (including summiting two more Idaho 12ers with a buddy this summer), spent a number of gorgeous days out on Black Canyon Reservoir with a canoe or sailing our little Sailfish, and in November I proposed to the girl I’ve been dating for the last year and she said yes!
January 1st I kicked off 2021 with bagpipes at midnight, and then running a Murph workout at the Emmett City Park later in the day.
Aaron Dill, New Years Murph Workout 2021
As we enter a New Year, I am reminded of the ‘Litany of Fear’ in Frank Herbert’s “Dune”:
"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
(is anyone else excited for the new film to be released? I loved the book, and the movie trailer looks like they might capture it really well)
And so by the grace of God we go forward. Here’s to a rich 2021, full of the joy of family and friends and delicious food!
All the best,
Aaron