Haunted by the ghost of Earl Butz!

Any day I get to see fields full of sandhill cranes and Canada geese, while driving with the Better Half [BH] to a local book store next to a food co-op, is a day full of treats. The colts (young cranes) and goslings (young geese) are almost all grown up and families are gathering in flocks in anticipation of this years journey South.

near Baraboo, Canada geese in front of sandhill cranes

Photo by J. Harrington

In Wisconsin, near the Aldo Leopold "shack" we've seen fields with mixtures of geese and cranes. Today was the first time we've seen that mixture in Minnesota fields, although we've often seen fields full of one or the other.

apples are one of September's treats

Photo by J. Harrington

At the co-op the BH discovered and bought a bagful of First Kiss® apples. I love the slightly tart flavor addition to Honeycrisp's texture and juiciness. Speaking of orchards, farms and such like, we're trying to decide if we have the patience and interest to read Gov. (and former presidential candidate) Jay Inslee's 20+ page plan for "Growing Rural Prosperity." There are several themes in it that trouble us, among them:

• Carbon Farming: Paying farmers for environmental services 
• Expanding the federal “sodsaver” policy to preserve grasslands nation-wide.
• Recognizing the public service of farming

We're in favor of substantial improvements to rural community development, creation of local food systems etc., but we fail to understand why agriculture/farming should be rewarded in ways many other sectors of the economy don't seem to be. Agriculture, in the form mostly of "big ag," is the current primary source of pollution to many of our nation's waterways. Cities and manufacturers have had to invest in wastewater treatment and pretreatment systems but, until recently, agriculture has largely been exempt. Why?

As we move into exploring the possibility of paying farmers for environmental services, I'd like to see lots of clarity about the net effects of farming on environmental services, including charges to farmers for polluting our air and water commons, if that's the net impact of their operations. Our current tax structure is too convoluted to begin with. We don't need to make it more so by foregoing the basic concept of "polluters pay." In fact eliminating fossil fuel subsidies would be a great step in that direction even though that would increase the operating costs (diesel, fertilizer, herbicides) of most farms. If farmers are entitled to parity, aren't consumers entitled to a basic living income and employees entitled to a living wage?

(In case you didn't know it, Earl Butz was the Secretary of Agriculture who promoted "Get big or get out!" for farmers.)

Fall Song

by Mary Oliver

Another year gone, leaving everywhere
its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,
the uneaten fruits crumbling damply
in the shadows, unmattering back
from the particular island
of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere
except underfoot, moldering
in that black subterranean castle
of unobservable mysteries - roots and sealed seeds
and the wanderings of water. This
I try to remember when time's measure
painfully chafes, for instance when autumn
flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay - how everything lives, shifting
from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures. 

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