Saturday, July 29, 2023

Going local (again, some more)

We’re almost through with July. It remains to be seen if summer is through with US. The flowage / creek / pond complex north of our place is close to dry. The Sunrise river, downstream of the dam in Carlos Avery, is way below bankfull. Yesterday’s storms varied enough that some northern parts of the county got almost 3 inches of rain, while southern locations only received a little more than half an inch. Water temperatures in the area exceed 70℉ and are more than 80℉ at some nearby stations. Time to leave the heat-stressed trout alone until things cool down.

few local corn fields look this healthy
few local corn fields look this healthy
Photo by J. Harrington

It’s not as though there’s a shortage of things to be tended to around the place. The ever present dead branches need collecting. If we avoid wildfire smoke for a bit, I may even burn some of them. The tractor's off being repaired, so mowing and related efforts are deferred until it’s healthy and functioning again. I have a multitude of tsundoku stacks that can stand to get organized and some fly fishing gear that still needs cleaning and checking out (for when things cool down).

As we begin the transition from summer to harvest season, and approach my favorite half of the year, I need to refresh my awareness that I can only live one day at a time and that, if everything’s important, nothing’s important. I’m noticing more and more that the local newsletters from Trout Unlimited chapters frequently contain stories of local folks doing good works that improve pieces of and places on the earth and the lives of those who live and play there. That’s frequently more than I see in national and international headlines. Could it be that the secrets to a happy life are underfoot? Does the Mad Farmer offer the secret(s) to real success?


Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

by Wendell Berry

 

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won’t compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion — put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn’t go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.



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