Get BIG or get out

A recent story in the neighborhood concerns a farmer who bought farms and more farms, cows and more cows, and then had a bad fall off (I hear) his tractor. He seemed to be following the dictum (who said it originally, back in the Eisenhower days, not sure?) about the wisdom of volume or else. Another local farmer increased his milking herd to the point that he not only had to go with Spanish speaking help, but to run into problems with his manure lagoon and (perhaps) poison the waters around him, including ours.

We moved and downscaled drastically, in part because of my age ... and in part because of the water situation. I'm glad we did, although it was hard. We lost some money and lost seven or eight years of hard work and planning. Now my wife, Joni, has to go to school and take on debt to get a nursing degree. This version of "Small is Beautiful" is just a part of the huge trend of working off the farm because of farm size, in part, but also because of the so-called "economy" (?). This is not a new trend, it has been going on for sometime, and is much more complex than I can describe.

Small is beautiful, and we are looking for ways to make it work; for ourselves, our neighbors and supporters. Cooperation with other small farms is critical, and difficult. Farm people tend to be loners, individualists, and some of the people who have been hired to try and make "local" growing, marketing, selling and delivering are learning as they go, as they try and learn to help us. It will be necessary to get on the phone again, try for meetings this winter and spring before the next "season" consumes us again.
Vamos a ver.

Current Events

Last Wednesday, December 29th at 4:30 p.m. Joni Lynn Cash and I got married at the Dunn County Justice Center. Richard Yonko presided, John Thomas, Kathy Ruggles and Aaron Roberts were witnesses. We had tapas and drinks at the Zanzibar Restaurant in Menomonie aftewards, Diana Witcher joined us there.

We request that relatives, friends and acquaintences refrain from gift giving, and instead give small donations to one or both of the following organizations: Farmer to Farmer and/or Stepping Stones of Dunn County. For Farmer to Farmer, their website is www. Farmer to Farmer.Org, look for the get involved link, & donate button. For Stepping Stones, their website is www. stepping stones dc.org. Watch for the icon donate now. Farmer to Farmer deals with fair trade coffee and woven materials from Guatemala & Honduras, and helps build and maintain community structures in communities there (schools, libraries, a hospital, etc.). Stepping Stones works with homeless and hungry people in Dunn County, Wisconsin. Thank you.

Bravado & Adrenalin

Several years ago driving back from the farm to Minneapolis I found myself climbing the long grade west of Menomonie next to a semi. It was growing dark and snow seemed to be falling faster by the minute. Both the truck and the pickup I was driving had to shift down as we got the top of the grade, and after I did I shifted back up and I noticed a vehicle about to pass me on the shoulder, inside lane. Whaaat? & he kept coming. As he got along side of me and started to hear some stupid words (in the neighborhood of "holy shit") go through my mind, I shifted back down and applied my brake pedal just enough to warn the vehicle behind me.

Next the vehicle shot across my bow on a diagonal, seemingly flat out, a little white sports car, and my adrenalin went into action as I fond myself gripping the wheel and wondering what next (?). Fortunately the semi had fallen a little further behind and the car shot into the lane he was about to occupy. I floored it and then realized that fortunately for everyone concerned the sports car went off the highway, through the shoulder on the far side; because when I looked in my side view mirror the truck had not hit him, and the headlights behind the truck were seemingly continuous.

No one in their right mind could even think of stopping, my hope was that five or ten cars back someone was able to pull off on the shoulder and see to the driver. Perhaps one of them had a cell phone (?). The drive on to Minnesota and Minneapolis was indeed strange, full of those ghostly white phantoms that appear in blizzards, and seeing several cars and trucks in the ditch. When I finally got to the rest stop just inside the Minnesota line I was extremely relieved to stop and go inside, to feel confident enough to rest and let myself come down. But I forgot to call the Highway Patrol, and then was unhappy about that after I got on the road again.

North Passage & Recent Developments

For more information on "North Passage" go to Links and then on to information about the production, my part in it, how you can support and keep track of the progress of it. This is a good example of regional, national, and international trends toward "local" work, sustainability, progress. Several futurists of note have speculated that "local" is the only way out of the huge problems mankind has gotten itself into.