New Calf!

Serious “circle of life” moment this morning on the farm when I was driving back from picking up one of our bulls from the butcher shop and spotted this brand new calf in the pasture. Their mama is our herd matriarch, Elsa, and has now given us 3 calves! Glad she waited until it wasn’t negative 19 like a few days ago!

Thistles

Thistles! I hate to cut down flowers, but you have a legal responsibility to control non-native thistles on your property. People have been sued for these. They reseed easily and the cows won’t eat them so they have to go. These are musk (nodding) thistles. Native thistles look A LOT like these so it’s good to know the difference because they are important for pollinators.

Our Garden Sanctuary

The world is... exhausting, but here is our sanctuary. This is the place where we feel peace and joy, where we sacrifice our sweat and time to this great cycle that’s been going on since before recorded history. I’m thankful for the sun, the rain, this soil, the planet, our home. The people on the other hand...

Review: ONE MAN'S WILDERNESS by Richard Proenneke and Sam Keith

In 1968, Richard Proenneke went into a remote section of Alaska, built a cabin, and lived there for the better part of 50 years.  His journal and photographs from that first year were edited by his friend Sam Keith into the book ONE MAN'S WILDERNESS: AN ALASKAN ODYSSEY, and printed in 1973.  Since then it has become the rare book that appeals to both the back-to-nature hippies and the folks who venture into nature mainly to find things to kill.

Proenneke's account is a pleasant read, though at times the exact cataloging of his various building projects can be a tad tedious.  He is at his best when exploring the inner lives of his animal neighbors or ranting against the modern world ("Funny thing about comfort - one man's comfort is another man's misery. Most people do't work hard enough physically anymore, and comfort is not easy to find. It is surprising how comfortable a hard bunk can be after you come down off a mountain.”).

However, what I found most interesting about the book was Proenneke's obsession with documenting as much of his life as possible.  Not only did he keep a journal and take photographs, but he also recorded the construction of his cabin, and much of the surrounding nature with a video camera.  His footage and journals were so complete that it was cut into a four-part documentary for PBS called ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS (you can watch some of it HERE).

Proenneke's story reinforced something I was thinking about while listening to a segment on the local NPR station about technology in our National Parks that sprung from a  similar National Geographic article.  There was some handwringing going on about people using cell phones to take and share photographs while in nature, and whether or not this distracted or added to the "authentic nature experience."  It seems these conversations always forget that humans use stories and storytelling as a way to process their world. Whether we're drawing bison on a cave wall, shooting 8mm footage of our in-progress Alaskan cabin, or posting selfies at the Grand Canyon online, we are all simply trying to make sense of our lives by telling stories about our experiences in the world.

REVIEW: Ben Hewitt's HOME GROWN

This isn't so much a traditional "How To" parenting book as it is a series of interconnected personal essays about childhood, school, and learning throughout various points of the author's life. But in these essays, Hewitt lays out the basic case against the traditional education system, and why his family homeschools.

"...the more freedom and autonomy I allow my children to follow their passions and to learn on their own terms, the more passionate and eager to learn they become. The more engaged they become. And, inasmuch as I grant myself the same freedom and autonomy, the more engaged I become. The more I learn."

Hewitt writes beautifully about his family, their farm, and all the things he has learned while enabling his children to learn. I adore this book, and my copy is filled with underlined passages and scribbled annotations.

"What if the point of an education is to imbue our children with a sense of their connectivity, not merely with other humans, but also with the trees and animals and soil and moon and sky? What if the point of life is to feel these connections, and all the emotion they give rise to? What then?"

Although I do not agree with everything Hewitt writes (and who would agree with everything someone else thinks?), the spirit of giving his children the tools and opportunity to live and learn for themselves is what I strive for in my very own children.

"We shortchange our children's sense of responsibility and confidence by 'protecting' them from the tools and activities that build these very qualities. To learn how not to bend nails, they had to bend some. To learn how not to pull up beets, they had to pull some."

Even if you don't live on a farm, or even if you prefer traditional learning systems, this is a great book for thinking about how much responsibility and freedom we afford our children.  Could not possibly recommend this book higher.

HOME GROWN by Ben Hewitt. 2014 Roost Books

Ben Hewitt also writes beautifully about farm life on his blog.

COMIC: Portion Control

COMIC: The Color Purple