Macs Farm

I am walking around Mac's Fam on a late summer evening, one of those rare days when the weather is just so perfect that you want it to last forever. I heard music in the background, it was fun and joyful, the kind of music where you inadvertently move to, a little swing of the head, the tapping of the toes, I was lost in that moment, totally in tune with the music and switched off from the world.

I saw Sue from the corner of my eye, we smiled at each other and she said:

- Some great music there.

- Somebody's wedding. Should we crash it? I replied. That would be great fun, was hers

Two total strangers briefly connected, she didn't know that I'd never have that kind of wedding (I wrote about it here), and I forgot, for a brief moment, that I was widowed.

But this is not another post about grief, I wanted to write about community, happiness and nature. The essence of what I was looking for when I left London. I was tired of the sea of faces, the relentless pace, the anonymity. I needed space, greenery and a more gentle way of life that could only be found in smaller communities.

The Macs, in my opinion, have a symbiotic relationship with the nature around them, they take what they need, because they are a business but they give so much more in return. They have created a space where people can gather together, acting as a social lubricant, a place of laughter and music and a safe space where children can chase a ball and be free.

What is the alternative to the Macs? A rich landowner who would greedily fence off the space, keeping us, the peasants away or 1000 plus houses which will clog up our roads, our services and destroy existing ecosystems. 

Coming together as a community bind us and creates the foundation for our children to thrive. Just think of the rituals that bring us together, weddings, football, cafes, great places are rarely formed by individuals sitting alone at home,  communities are forged in togetherness and solidarity. The antithesis of community is individualism, bad criticism and intolerance. 

We, as a community, can support the Macs by visiting, by trying to understand their ethos and what impact they have on their surroundings. We don't need to be David Attenborough  or Steve Backshall, to appreciate that the loss of natural habitats are detrimental for us as a species, we take so much that one day nature will just stop giving, this is true for every relationship you have in life. Take too much of anything and one day the resource is drained.

I am in no way affiliated to the Macs, and I have no vested interests in the farm, other than I want to see as much of nature preserved as I can, for me, for my children and for future generations.

Perhaps is time for the naysayers to attempt a novel way of thinking, putting collective above individualism.

My only interest is to see a community embedded in mutual support, understanding and respect, isn't this the value we should be instilling in all our children, rather than petty bickering and moaning about flies and all things small and irrelevant.