Water is life, food is too, and...

There are multitudes of local birds descending on the sunflower seeds and suet. After spending several hours on the tractor, using a back blade because the brand new Husqvarna snow blower cable refroze overnight after the local hardware guys thought they'd fixed it, I'm highly empathetic to the birds need for calories to stay warm and alive.

how can a person this size survive five years or so?

Photo by J. Harrington

Think about the size of the spark of life in each of those tiny, feathered bodies, as they try to maintain some warmth in negative wind chills. Have you read the section in the December chapter of A Sand County Almanac about chickadee 65290? It appears s/he survived five Winters near the Leopold shack in Wisconsin. I'm not sure how that translates into human years, or even if it does. I do find it astounding that the spark could have been kept burning for that long.

one of our local producers sells through a local food co-op

Photo by J. Harrington

In a few minutes I'm headed off to a meeting of local folks who are focused on building a food system that can help neighboring farmers and respond to climate change. In preparation, I recently read the Land Stewardship Project's Long Range Plan: 2019-2024. I'm hoping there will be some cross-fertilization instead of everyone inventing their own version of a wheel.

when local fruits aren't in season, they come from far away or we do without

Photo by J. Harrington

Back from the meeting. I learned that the Better Half and I already support about 80% of the local producers who were there. It's good to see growing recognition of the role played in local economies by farmers and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and food co-ops. It would be better if there were more dot connecting going on. Food waste and large CSA shares and more consistent quality from suppliers are unexplored themes. Industrial foods are consistently mediocre and rarely beneficial to the environment. Where are there more stories of local farmers who don't pollute the waters on or under their farms and do provide quality vegetables and meats and, in season, fruits? All the pieces tie together whether we recognize the linkages or not. Food. Water. Shelter. Companionship. Humans and more than human animals, all have these needs. But you knew that, right?

The Farmer

By W.D. Ehrhart

Each day I go into the fields to see what is growing

and what remains to be done.

It is always the same thing: nothing

is growing, everything needs to be done.

Plow, harrow, disc, water, pray

till my bones ache and hands rub

blood-raw with honest labor—

all that grows is the slow

intransigent intensity of need.

I have sown my seed on soil

guaranteed by poverty to fail.

But I don’t complain—except

to passersby who ask me why

I work such barren earth.

They would not understand me

if I stooped to lift a rock

and hold it like a child, or laughed,

or told them it is their poverty

I labor to relieve. For them,

I complain. A farmer of dreams

knows how to pretend. A farmer of dreams

knows what it means to be patient.

Each day I go into the fields.

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