For Jay Rossier
April 7, 1961-May 6, 2012

I’ve been trying to develop my personal sense of sovereignty during this shelter-in-place time as structures fall and people suffer. While addressing my own accountability each day, I’m also trying to keep a sense of humor (strictly for sanity’s sake). Brad and I have started transforming our space here in Vermont into one that enables us to be more self-reliant. 

As you might know, Jay wrote the book, Living With Chickens, and was kind of “the chicken guy” around these parts. Brad and I have been engaged with the book, following Jay’s practical advice, which is woven with sly, and often surprising, humor. We’ve been focused on being industrious and unsentimental in our actions as we move toward our own chicken project together. Resiliency of body, mind, place and heart. 

So….kind of weird and not planned: the chickens came today. 

I’m not into woo-woo, but the 6AM call from the post office, “Your chicks are here,” on the anniversary of Jay’s passing, feels like a beautiful symbol of the sovereignty we’re striving for. Raising chickens for eggs helps us move toward self-sufficiency, yes, but this is also meaningful because Jay, himself, was sovereign of mind: a pragmatic, independent, focused thinker, who made us laugh while we worked. I sort of think he’s laughing right now as we set the chicks up in the warmest room of the house. These aspects of Jay I remember and share today: sovereignty and humor. 

“Keep the cat out.”