Julia Harmon was a WWoofer at the John Cobb Eco Farm September and October of 2026 and wrote this article.
The Harmster Parable Part IV
Why heeellloooo! I bet you are wondering, reader, what my daily life is like on the farm I live on. On average, I work about 5-6 hours a day doing whatever tasks they assign me. It can be anything under the sun; It’s time to make a huge list of all of the tasks I have been assigned to do/have done. The majority of my duties include: Making apple oat date cakes/cookies, cleaning out the barn once a week, helping the farm owners with their electronics, editing videos, house cleaning, making lists for future WWOOFers, painting designs, using polyurethane/staining wood, turning huge compost piles, fixing things/being handy, harvesting/cleaning vegetables, planting seeds, organization, power washing, making apple cider/vinegar, pickingapples, letting out/in animals from the barn, helping host church on Sundays, digging huge compost holes, raking up wood, cutting/hanging/tying sunflowers for seeds, designing labels, and any other miscellaneous things I haven’t listed here. These past 2 months at the farm have certainly been very transformative for me in so many ways. The first lesson I learned was to love thy enemy, but I have my own interpretation of what it means for me; humans are humans at the end of the day. We should put aside all of our perceptions and judgements we have made of others and treat them like they are still a person; even if they are considered an “enemy,” we can’t assume that the person won’t change for the better or is even bad. Even if that is the case, the simple phrase: “treat others the way you’d like to be treated” applies here. In my personal experience, I have made good friends out of people whom I thought were inherently “bad,” or maybe they did one thing I didn’t like, and that made me judge their whole character. Over time, especially recently, I have incorporated this mindset into my daily life: to put it simply, treating humans as humans no matter who, taking away as much judgment as I can, which will lessen more and more over time, understanding people have different views/lifestyles than me, thinking and speaking positively of others. Positive self-talk is my next one; I noticed that I tend to speak negatively of myself quite often, whether it was interlaced in a joke or to downplay my appearance/skills. It’s not only self-talk, but it’s also how I speak in general. I noticed a lot of unnecessary negative words and phrases coming out of my mouth. The kind lady who owns this farm suggested I speak only in positive/neutral words in conversation when referring to anything, even myself. I’ve been doing this pretty consistently over the past month or so, and it really has changed things for the better for me, even if I can’t fully explain it at the moment. The last super important thing I learned is staying in the present, as Eckhart Tolle would say: “The Power of Now”. There are a lot of beautiful animals and nature on this 5-acre farm. As the weeks have been passing since the beginning, I have found myself being more and more intentional about spending long moments in the present, simply existing. Some of these moments would lead to tears rolling down my face as I fully absorbed the loving feeling of being conscious on this Earth/universe. As I let every thought, worry, and anxiety fall away, I start to fill up with this warmth and feeling that everything will fall into place and be okay. This sensation is powerful; it makes me understand more and more what the Buddhists and Hindus were talking about in their ancient texts. I’ll end this entry here. Thank you for being here; truly, you are loved.