I’m taking a little side step today. I’ll be back with my 2015 Home Goals next week. Yesterday I came across something that I feel is important, and I wanted to share it with you.

At the end of December, Andrew Campbell, a dairy farmer here in southern Ontario, posted the following tweet.

This blog post explained that “the project’s goal [is] to shed more light on the daily happenings of a farm [and] … to spur on conversations around food production.”

I love the concept. Obviously, Matt and I are not farmers, but we’re supportive of farming, and since buying our own farm, I’ve gained incredible admiration for contributions farmers make.

I feel that #farm365 and social media can raise awareness of farmers and the work that they do.

Here’s Andrew’s first tweet:

Unfortunately, basically as soon as Andrew started posting his pictures, #farm365 was highjacked. Rather than a respectful productive discussion about food production, Andrew and other farmers were attacked with accusations of animal cruelty. It’s very nasty–and I realize by writing this post I may be opening myself up to some of that.

Andrew’s response to the highjacking and to the nastiness was actually the first post I saw. This was the post that introduced me to the rest of the campaign.

I think this is one of the most thoughtful, positive, informative, personal, passionate blog posts I’ve read. I’ve included a few excerpts here, but I encourage you to read the whole thing.

“What started as a simple idea on New Year’s Day based on other photo-a-day challenges, #farm365 on Twitter has turned into something far greater than a few pictures of corn or cows. It’s turned into a great force of farmers sticking up for themselves and consumers getting a better idea of what it takes to send food out of the driveway…

Farmers are compassionate, well-meaning and very proud individuals… Many showed their farms in the moment, sharing their beliefs and systems and they did it with the great passion they work with every day. They are the true heroes of what #farm365 is. A look at what really goes on behind a barn door or in a field.”

Country living–and by association, farming–is something I’ve become passionate about since moving to our own farm. I realize my point of view–and Andrew’s–is not shared by everyone. Even though I’m not a farmer, I’m going to be looking for opportunities to support the #farm365 campaign. This blog post, building awareness in my little corner of the internet and lending my voice to the conversation is step one.