Counting Sheep by Axel Lindén

Author:Axel Lindén
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

July 4

We had a Facebook page for a while, to show we existed and let people know what we do on the farm. We grow vegetables for our own consumption, chop wood, keep a few animals and try, without exaggerating or taking it all too seriously (moderation is a virtue), to develop a sustainable way of living. As representative for the sheep-keeping, or for the sheep themselves, perhaps, I posted the following little note: “The sheep don’t graze on all the grass in the fields, they choose some blades and leave others. They don’t just chomp it all down obliviously. In this way, regrowth is encouraged. In the long term, perhaps over the course of several years, the pasture, and correspondingly, the sheep’s life, improves. Thanks to their restraint. A species that constantly satisfies its short-term needs without stopping to think will probably fail.” Under the text was a picture of how the landscape is being changed by oil sand extraction in Canada. A flourishing green landscape of forest, lake, and meadow is transformed into a black gravel desert. I thought it was an impactful and singularly striking little reflection. However, it produced only a few stray likes and no comments.

They say social media gives people affirmation. Apparently that doesn’t apply to me or the sheep, unless we’re lying on a grassy slope in the morning mist, ruminating and acting as if nothing’s doing, as if nothing has anything to do with anything else. Perhaps you have to adapt to be liked, but then what kind of love is that?

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