Interviewee: Sarah Graziano, Brookville, PA
Interviewer: Ashton Orner, Amherst, MA
Date: October 14, 2020, Via Zoom.
Topic: Working on an Organic Farm During Covid19
Ashton Orner: This is Ashton Orner. Today is October 14th 2020. I am interviewing Sarah Graziano, S A R A H G R A Z I A N O, for the Hampshire College COVID-19 Oral History Archives. This interview is taking place over Zoom. The interview is sponsored by Hampshire College and is part of the First Year Seminar… for Pandemics. I am at Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts. Sarah where are you located?
Sarah Graziano: I am in Brookville, Pennsylvania, and this is more western Pennsylvania, at Quiet Creek Herbal Farm School of Country Living.
Ashton Orner: Do I have your permission to record your words and deposit this interview in the Hampshire College Covid 19 Oral History Archive?
Sarah Graziano: You have my permission.
Ashton Orner: Thank you. When were you born?
Sarah Graziano: I was born November 25th, 1996.
Ashton Orner: What is your current occupation?
Sarah Graziano: My current occupation… I feel like my current and forever occupation will be a student of life. I’m in the school of nature as I’d like to say.
Ashton Orner: How many years have you worked in this occupation?
Sarah Graziano: [Laughing] All my life.
Ashton Orner: Okay I’m going to ask you a few questions now. What is a day like at work on the farm during the pandemic?
Sarah Graziano: Well, I don’t ever like to look at it as work… whatever I’m doing I like to view it in a perspective of play, because when you think of something as work you’re probably doing something that you don’t necessarily want to do. So I constantly feel like I’m, I’m doing things that I’m wanting to learn so it does not feel like work. But on a day to day basis what I love about being on the farm is that it’s always changing. You know one day you could be out in the field with the garden, the next next day you could be… or two minutes later you’re inside drying herbs, or conversating with other people and learning through each other. So it’s always different and that’s what I love about it.
Ashton Orner: Very Interesting. As an aspiring herbalist and farmer can you share some insights on how to stay healthy and well during the pandmeic?
Sarah Graziano: Well I think working, I would say, whatever you want to call it, an herbalist or a farmer. I just think working with nature in general, as we have symbolic relationship with nature you kind of learn how nature cares for itself, how it’s gotten and evolved to this point to survive for as long as it’s did… and I think the closer we can form a relationship with nature we can see what tends to work with our own bodies that is directly connected to nature. Do you want me to get more specific with that on things that I do on a daily basis to do that? As far as health wise?
Ashton Orner: Yeah, sure.
Sarah Graziano: I would say the biggest thing to focus on with your health is the spiritual, the mental aspect which is directly connected to the physical and I think that’s one major part that a lot us in our modern culture, and for so long have been disconnected from because of the ways that we’ve been living our lives. It kind of dismisses that side of ourselves. So I think… I think when you’re working with nature it’s easier to be reminded of that side of ourselves because it’s so… It’s an experience, it’s not like you just… It’s something you can learn. You have to experience it and through that experience is where you really start understanding. In a more practical view sense of what you can do, obviously eating food that grows out of the ground, knowing where your food comes from. And today the way that our food system works it’s not even real food anymore, and we have to start asking questions of how that came about, why that’s happening. And I know this is only supposed to be a twenty minute video, so I’m going to spare, and I’m not the person who has… I certainly don’t know everything but when you start making connections to a lot of the corruption in our world it all starts making sense, and, yeah a lot of what’s going on right now it’s all coming out of the shadows. More and more people are becoming aware of this which I think is a great thing. I think let’s look back to what our ancestors did, how they’ve gotten us this far in life. Yeah. Sorry getting lost there but there is a lot to that for sure.
Ashton Orner: No. Thank you. So would say that working with nature has affected your views on the pandemic?
Sarah Graziano: Definitely. Definitely, I don’t even, sometimes it feels like, like you wouldn’t even know there was a so-called pandemic going on being here on the farm because we live our daily lives in being grateful, in just focusing on the good things. Not to say that we’re not aware of what’s going on and what’s existing but I think the key is to focus on… you can always choose what you want to focus on so I think we put our intentions on how we can do something about it instead of feeling helpless or hopeless.
Ashton Orner: So with that, what are some of the major ways that the pandemic has affected your life? If there are any.
Sarah Graziano: Yeah. Hmmm… It definitely has affected my life but I think if anything it’s for the good because it’s required, I think, not just for me but alot of people to look internally, to look within. It’s a reflection, you kind of see what’s going on in the outer world and it kind of forces you to look at yourself and say hey how could I be contributing to what’s going on. When you realize there’s no disconnection between our inner and outer worlds it kind of gives you a greater sense of what can be done. So it’s affected me in the way that it’s given me more of a passion, a push to do the things that I think… I think if it wasn’t for suffering and hurt, sometimes it takes those things to make you actually want to do something. So, yeah.
Ashton Orner: Interesting. Where do you get your news primarily? Around the pandemic.
Sarah Graziano: It’s not one source. And I think that’s very important to never just have one source for anything, right? I would say my biggest information, and I know this may sound kind of weird in our culture but… Source, God. That’s where I tend to look for truth, and then through looking, especially social media right now, that’s one thing I think is really great about where we’ve gone with technology is that the information is out there, now it’s just up to us to have the discernment to, and to seek truth. There’s so much information out there, nowadays, that you can’t even tell the difference and it just becomes more confusing. So I think now than ever we have to have the discernment. And I think the easiest way to do that is to be connected to something higher, to be connected to… truth, And then you can be able to decide through your own experiences in what you’re reading how things start connecting. You know not one source is ever going to have all the answers.
Ashton Orner: So what sources do you trust in this time regarding COVID-19, if any?
Sarah Graziano: I can’t say off the top of my head… There’s really not one source that I could say that I personally, I kn-. There are great sources out there but me personally, I tend to just, I’m withdrawing from looking at all that stuff and kind of just getting back to nature, returning to nature. All the information out there, I feel like it’s the same thing repeating itself over and over again. So…
Ashton Orner: Okay. What are your thoughts on the current protocols around the pandemic such as wearing masks and social distancing?
Sarah Graziano: Yeah. Well. I think it’s all kind of, I don’t want to say it’s… I just think we gotta look at the way that we’ve been living our lives again. We have to start asking questions. Why has it gotten to that point? Who am I to say what’s right or wrong… for anyone else, but I think we really need to start looking into health in general and start asking more questions.
My personal viewpoint on wearing, let’s say, the mask… I understand, in through working with nature, that health comes internally. It doesn’t start, it starts from the inside out, not the other way. And it’s your environment that you’re in. But of course the way that we live, a lot of people live on top of each other, and we’re so crowded and so close, so when things like viruses happen, yeah, we’re going to be more susceptible. So, I just don’t see that as the-end-all, be-all answer as I think a lot of people look at it as. A lot of it is common sense to … I think like, if you’re not feeling well, yeah, don’t go out. I just don’t think that these, I just can’t help but question it. … I’m kind of stuck on that because it can go very deeper into that as well, and I know we only have like a limited amount of time so…
Ashton Orner: You’re welcome to elaborate if you would like.
Sarah Graziano: Yeah. Okay so like, with. How do I want to put this… Yeah we can move on to the next question.
Ashton Orner: Okay. In your opinion what do you think the ideal response to Covid 19 would be by our administration?
Sarah Graziano: I don’t know if I want to think of in an ideal situation, because… I want to think of like what’s realistic and what’s happening now. But I understand like in my ideal world… I think that, and it is possible right, it’s not just some imaginary thing, is that people decide to come together rather than separate, and fight each other with what’s going on right now. In my ideal world people would realize that when we come together and start, and stop going against each other is when we actually can find real solutions to things. When we can communicate and understand that not everyone is ever going to agree and all have the same beliefs. But if we could just focus on the one common thing we all have, which is living this life coexisting together. I think that’s where changes could begin to happen. But in the, you say, the establishment. The establishment is set up to create that disconnection between people so we stay manipulated and controlled and against each other. And me saying that, that goes into a whole other discussion. There’s so much on that too. But I think what I said, kind of, gets to the point of that. My ideal world, people would just love each other and I’ve… I’m the first person to say this.
Ashton Orner: Thank you. How have people responded to your beliefs on the pandemic?
Sarah Graziano: I feel like I haven’t really gotten any negative, like negative feedback from any of my beliefs or understandings. I feel like if anything, even though of course, not everyone agrees with everything that I say. I feel like… people just are at the point where they’re aware of the illusion, the deception that we’re living in, that when I speak of those things, there’s something that clicks within them because they know there’s something not right here. So I feel like in the way that I’ve been able to talk to people we’ve been able to connect to one another and get each other’s perspective without, without it having to be you’re right I’m wrong kind of thing.
Yeah. I think it just comes down to listening to what each other has to share and being open minded to it in that no one person holds all the answers but it’s when we come together as a community. And with working with nature it teaches you that in order for me to exist you must exist too. So when you start talking like that to other people, I mean, I feel like that’s what we all truly want in the end. But, takes time of course and patience and compassion and healing, and all of these things take time in this material world. So, we’re here doing the work.
Ashton Orner: How do you keep yourself safe during the pandemic?
Sarah Graziano: What’s to be afraid of?. That’s what I would say. What’s to be afraid of? Fear of what’s going on is natural and totally understandable, and of course I feel it myself. But, when you have a trust and you are connected to something higher, you’re just open to it, you’re not resisting what’s happening so you can fully experience and feel what is going on. And even through all the fear, I know, and you’ve seen through history that when these destructive times happen, that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. There always is and I think that’s what we need to do is be those light keepers in a world that is so, that can be so dark and evil. And people who are actually doing good in this world, we have to come together and hold on to that because it’s so easy through mainstream media to fall into that darkness, you know?
Ashton Orner: So, if there is one thing you could tell the world right now based on your herbal practice, farming skills, being a child of nature, what would it be?
Sarah Graziano: First thing that comes to my mind is.. Is that saying, know thyself. I think that actually not only comes down to what’s going on right now, but to what has been existing since the beginning of time with humans. To know thyself, to not be so distracted and live in illusion of the identity, the I Am, which is separated from each other, which is separated from nature. I think that actually could solve a lot of human issues, which is connected to what’s going on right now. It’s all connected that’s what, the biggest thing nature teaches you. Yeah, to know thyself and to look within and how we ourselves are contributing to the hurt and the suffering in the world.
It’s the little things like how we interact with each other on a daily basis, how we even talk to ourselves, how we think to ourselves. How are these things affecting our reality? It’s all connected, that’s all I can keep saying. It’s all connected and we really have to start saying know thyself, look within. Stop waiting for the next person to change the world, to fix the world. It’s here right now available, and it always has been and the only thing that has stopped us from that is the illusion. Get past, like its, it’s part of our transition in this world, our transformation. And I see what’s happening globally just a greater transformation on a macro scale. Yeah that would be what I would say. Know thyself.
Ashton Orner: Thank you so much for sharing. We have gone over so much and I was wondering if there’s anything you want to add or if we skimmed over a topic of interest?
Sarah Graziano: Is there anything else I want to add… I honestly, what I just feel right now, because I … Anyone who sees this later on, I just want to say, I love you. I hear you. I’m here with you living this crazy, magical world life and… we’re experiencing this together and think that it’s important that we just start coming together and stop being so separate from one another. That’s the one thing out of all of this that I would want to reiterate, is to get past that separateness from one another.
Ashton Orner: Thank you so much for sharing this time with me and for this interview. I am going to stop recording, but if you’ll just wait on the call, I’ll be right with you to go over a few things.
Sarah Graziano: Thank you, Ashton.