A while back when I was researching the clubhouse model for mental health, I found out that the clubhouse I visited in New York City had their very own farm. Its members, who have various serious mental illnesses, would travel there to grow crops, raise livestock, and more importantly, be around other people with the common goal of improving the farm and themselves.

Today, I was reminded of this particular farm thanks to the Farm Arc (Volumes 9-14) of Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga. It’s an incredible testament to how much nature can promote better mental health.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Vinland Saga, it chronicles the age of the Vikings. A young man named Thorfinn travels with a Viking named Askeladd in order to get a chance to kill him one day. This is due to Askeladd killing Thorfinn’s father, Thors, right in front of his eyes. Throughout Thorfinn’s journey in Volumes 1-8, he encounters a variety of personalities while killing those who get in the way of his vengeance. However, one incident would change Thorfinn’s plans forever. Askeladd is killed after he kills King Sweyn, a Danish king who wanted to control all of England and Wales, in front of Sweyn’s guards. Now struggling to figure out what to do with his life, Thorfinn would later become a slave at a farm in Denmark, empty and full of grief.

A year after is when Thorfinn’s story truly begins.

So how do farms help in dealing with all kinds of mental health issues? For starters, they get you away from modern cities. Cities are known to be super-stressful with how fast-paced and competitive you need to be to survive. It also doesn’t help that they’re often big, so one can get lost in the crowd when dealing with emotional pain.

Farms also are great places to have meaningful relationships due to everyone working together for a meaningful cause. For Thorfinn, he finally made his first friend in his fellow slave, Einar. Einar was full of life and questioned many things. He would find the farm to be somewhat of a haven despite being a slave. Although Thorfinn was struggling with the trauma from his past, Einar opened up his eyes to see that a different path could be chosen instead of feeling empty. This becomes evident when Einar convinces Thorfinn to help gradually grow some crops in their limited free time to buy their way to freedom from slavery.

Another notable thing about farms is that they allow you to sit in nature and give you the ability to self-reflect. Since being a slave at the farm, Thorfinn is consumed by nightmares of his father, Askeladd, and those he killed. He had a tough time trying to come to terms with his actions. But Thorfinn slowly opens up to Einar about his past as a Viking and the self-reflection begins to kick in. It isn’t until he and Einar fought against farm vandals that he becomes spiritually awakened.

In what’s to be his last nightmare, a land filled with a pile of corpses, Thorfinn reveals to a dead Askeladd that he’s sorry for killing so many people over the years out of vengeance. Askeladd chastises Thorfinn and says that there’s only one way to make amends – to become a “true warrior” like Thorfinn’s father once told him. When Thorfinn wakes up, he tells Einar that he’s through with violence and vows not to hurt anyone ever again.

Many times, people are told not to sit with their pain. But if we keep running away, we will never truly heal. It’s hard to talk about grief when modernity demands us to keep moving forward. In nature and with other people (even if they aren’t the nicest bunch), Thorfinn finally got a chance to process his grief and what it means to live. This is mostly due to being surrounded by people who are full of pain themselves from the farm owner, Ketil, to everyone else associated with it.

And speaking of people who are full of pain, I will get to the son of King Sweyn, Canute. When first introduced in Vinland Saga, he was a timid young man who was teased for looking too feminine to be a potential heir to the throne. Canute was placed under Askeladd’s protection and felt empty himself. However, Canute slowly became what the young Thorfinn was – a man on a path of violence to get what he wants. After Sweyn’s death, he took the throne and went on a raid of conquering everything around him. His father often appears to him in a ghostly form cursing him. Canute also was responsible for sending Thorfinn to the farm. In a twist of fate, Canute decides to target the same farm 4 years later for resources and out of personal animosity towards Ketil as he didn’t respect him as king. The farm would become a place for Canute to heal from his own personal trauma.

A violent battle occurs within the farm, but Thorfinn decides to take a final stand against Canute’s army by directly speaking with Canute himself. He suggests that he takes 100 punches by one of Canute’s warriors. If Thorfinn is still standing afterwards, he gets to talk to Canute and convince him not to take the farm. Thorfinn gets his wish much to the awe of everyone who witnesses the event. Both he and Canute would get into a lengthy conversation about what constitutes a perfect paradise for humanity. When Canute re-affirms his goals to rob and kill everything in his sight for peace no matter what, Thorfinn replies that he will just run to a place he’ll create that Canute won’t reach. Canute is shocked that Thorfinn wouldn’t attack him face-to-face, but respects how bold his former companion’s newfound pacifism is.

And Thorfinn says something that changes Canute’s perspective for good.

“You have to give me some help. My power is far smaller than yours. The hole you make might be too big for me. If you continue to persecute others like this…sooner or later, no one will be able to save you. So do some work. Don’t make my job harder.”

Canute is convinced and decides not to take the farm. After being surrounded by so much political scheming over the years, he realized that there are others who still care about him and want what he truly wants. Canute ends his attempts to grab power via violent means and would gradually become a king who truly respects and loves his people. The farm also no longer became a place for slaves and those who were still alive and cared about it made sure it will continue to grow.

And all of this happened at a farm setting. It felt like reading farm-based therapy in a historical context. The farm gave Thorfinn purpose, confidence and the ability to help others just like how farms today have done for those struggling with all kinds of mental health issues (minus the slavery part). More importantly, the farm fosters cooperation among the community as the way to feel alive instead of competition.

I’ve heard stories about people being stressed out from modern life and how they found solace in nature after realizing the sense of emptiness they start feeling. In a farm, you’re free from various constraints that modernity places. Sure, there may be new constraints. But in exchange, you feel that you have some control in deciding what you want for yourself, see what’s truly important, and learn another important fact of life – you have to go with the ebbs and flow of nature despite whatever governing body says.

Although I haven’t been to a farm in very long time, I try to expose myself more to green spaces and pay attention to nature around me. I look at plants, birds, and other animals that hang around the area. I believe they have helped a lot in reminding me to slow down at times. Combined with the variety of people I’ve met in my life so far, I feel that I can still do something with my life despite the difficulties I’ll face like Thorfinn has.

I hope everyone finds and/or have their own personal farm to go to because humanity’s nature definitely needs a upgrade to actual nature.