25. Jessica Gigot: Farming as a Way of Bearing Light

Today on the Bear the Light podcast, we get to step into the life of a sheep farmer. Jessica Gigot lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their two daughters, where they've been farming for nine years and learning each year, more and more, what it looks like to farm sustainably, both ecologically and economically.

I love this conversation for the peek it gives us into a life most of us will never live but whose daily realities affect us all. Perhaps one of the profound insights I gained from the conversation was Jessica's naming of food as the most direct connection to the natural world all of us have.

In this episode, we discuss:

* What a day in the life of a sheep farmer looks like, and how that changes from season to season

* What drew Jessica to choosing this kind of life

* What it's been like for her to grow into this way of life as a first-generation farmer

* The adult 4-H project that led her to fall in love with sheep and grow her capacity for nurture

* The realities of food access and food sovereignty that guide her personal philosophies of farming and food

* Looking at the farm as a whole system and how she approaches being a good land steward

* Her life as a poet and how her work as a writer and her work as a farmer feed each other

Connect with Jessica on her website and on Instagram at @harmonyfields and @shepherdessjess.

Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.