miigwech

I've known how inadequate the words "thank you" are in the past, "thanks," but I've never known the complete inadequacy of them until my 80th Birthday and Community Celebration happened. Thus I have used the Ojibwa word with the hopes that it will (somehow) convey my deepest gratitude to those who put it together, enjoyed it, gave gifts and donations, and put it to bed. Parties come and go, but this one was totally off the charts.

So many people worked to get this event to Ridgeland's Dutchman's Bar & make it work, and to carry it in to the park across the street. I can't even begin to name all the names, but here are a few: my dear Wife, Joni Cash, Jody Slocum, Tina Bloomer, Rene Carrell, Jane Anderson, Ila Duntemann, Kathy Ruggles, Stephen & Mary Ann Boe, Joel and Meg Wittenmeyer, Keith Luer, Aaron Roberts, Todd Miller & Crew, Maureen Rochefort, Suzanne & Douglas Owens-Pike, Erica Granpre, Taylor Dees, and Jennifer Norman. The musicians: Mary Stoyke and Will Agar, Mary Klee, Jay Collins, Jim Holdman, Dean Granros, and Willie Williams. Sky Lanterns thanks to Lewis Dees. Beer & Root Beer thanks to Five Star Brewery (aka Viking), Randy & Ann Lee). Video projection by Kurt Buetow, and the video of Elsie's Farm, "Dirty Work," thanks to Deb Wallwork and Mike Hazard.

People were very generous to the organizations represented, the Hay River Transition Iniative, the Prairie Farm/Ridgeland Food Pantry, and Farmer to Farmer and the Wisconsin Farmer's Union were also present. And I received so many splendid cards and presents, some of which were unidentifiable by name ... thanks to you anonymous people, and to so many people for donations to the "kitty" to make things work. Ice run by Chrissie & Bryan. The food by Bifrost Farms LLC, gift of the brisket by Alexander Roberts. The many, many relish dishes and deserts brought by so many, many people were thoroughly enjoyed. A few food containers are here, only one of which we know how to return; please call us if you are looking for one: (715) 658-1074. Again. miigwech. ps. I would like to acknowledge the sizable number of people who wanted to be there but couldn't. Your presence was a part of the festivities. My apologies to anyone I've left out here in "the credits."

Ridgeland & Environs

Ridgeland and towns/villages around it epitomize what an author has recently described as the vital nexus between rural life and cities, the connexions that truly make the word "local" vibrant and meaningful. It is a no-nonsense small farm town that has a huge amount of heart, strong resources and welcomes strangers and regional people alike. No Currier and Ives here, nor Norman Rockwell, its' summer and winter festivals gather people from close by and afar.

We got to know it well in our years farming there (see "Dirty Work", the recently released video on the farm to be premiered at the party in Ridgeland this week), and is still consider our "hometown" out here. In the many years we worked and lived there we were involved in only one insulting incident, and when we left doing the repairs on a well poisoned by a neighbor's dairy there was virtually no animosity.

So it is a fitting place to have my 80th birthday as a community celebration, and as a location to not only toast and make better known some of the vital organizations of the area: the Hay River Transition Initiative, Farmer to Farmer and the local food shelf, Pantry, but to have an essential mix of people both of the region and the cities. Please come and enjoy yourself.

It is appropriate that some relatively newcomers to the area, Joel and Meg Wittenmeyer of Bifrost Farms LLC in Boyceville will prepare the food for the dinner to be served in Ridgeland; Joel has extensive experience in cooking. These talents are not described yet on their website, but I suggest you look at it to understand the first major focus of their work in the region: http.www.Bifrontfarms.com. Food and their relationship to it will soon be added to the mix.

Party Time

Back in the fifties, in L.A., I was trying to "re-invent" myself after having been at sea for four years. Working with a tree man, Lou Hicks, we came into some wind falls some times on jobs

(eg. a cache of copper pipe in a garage we were hired to demo and get rid of). So extra money was around at times, and sometimes this went for throwing parties.

The combination of Lou and Blue Hicks and their variety of friends, combined with mine, plus the availability of a house and swimming pool (thanks to another former shipmate's father's girlfriend); I was able to "borrow" the fabulous place in Eagle Rock, on a fairly steep hill, and in an unforgettable setting.

A local Italian delicatessen did the food and wine, and beer was complimented as appropriate. I invited a buxom, virgin, catholic young woman from my night class to be hostess, with the agreement that I would guarantee good behavior all night. She helped me welcome people with class and a certain aplomb.

The night was memorable, with only two (2) calls to emergency for broken bones around the pool (one arm, one leg, the cracked ribs person dealt with that the next day). Spirited pre- adult behavior via coed water polo and dodge ball kept us busy when not drinking and eating. I awoke the next morning at poolside with a wild headache/hang- over & some cleanup duties. No furniture was broken. The the little blonde was very gracious and hardworking, and the party was judged to be a success.

Which is a long way around to say that I still have a fondness for parties, especially those which have a wild diversity of people, and in a setting they are unused to. The party in Ridgeland has the making for a fine, unusual event, combining country and city people in a small town setting.

My BLOG has some of the necessary details, my hope is that you will make it with "bells on," that the night will be one you will not forget for many, many years. Consider camping in Prairie Farm if you would like to hang around for a little longer. Pioneer Park is a very nice site, only ten, fifteen miles away, $15 a night. Any questions? Fire Away, and don't forget to throw a party once in awhile: "HELP," several people have contacted us about help, and we welcome it. You can call (715) 658-1074 and talk with us or leave a message ... about: setup, serving, cleanup, etc. This celebration is getting bigger, thankfully, and thus help will be needed. Gracias.

Chasing Ambulances

Everyone indulges in this chasing, and it is particularly pathetic to think about the information which is being forgotten or delayed in order to sensationalize the latest thing. It isn't that we don't have problems to solve, but they are not sexy, don't have the uumph, might require more thought. Even NPR is indulgent here, including the bumping of important programs to accommodate the marriage, for example.

The entertainment factor in all of this is huge, and largely unexamined, except for those who are doing the manipulation. It seems that it would behoove education on all levels to up the ante on courses on mass communications and manipulation. This was of high interest in the sixties, and I well remember putting a course together on it for library school students in Buffalo, N.Y. Marshall McLuhan was the rage, leading the way to the taking apart of media. I have a feeling that our library school was one of the first to focus on this.

Who are the present "gurus" of mass communications, and what is their take on things such as corporate conglomerates dominating the news? What would be their stance on the complicity of the Supreme Court in the issues of who owns what on the "airwaves?" We are entering a new never never land in both communications technology and the avenues which are used and abused. With the squeeze on funding imposed by legislatures of all kinds, even public media seems to be falling into fund raising deals with those who would possibility limit the effectiveness of its heretofore independence.

excrement

Rereading Peter Matthisen's "The Snow Leopard" I am returned to the mule yard where I removed the dung from a winter's droppings last week. This is valuable stuff for the compost, chicken and sheep shit will be added, along with leaves and grass. The book's travels through Nepal and Tibet has references to dung throughout, and when Matthiessen descends out of the mountains to the first villages and to the flatlands he laments the "portents" of approaching civilization: "the little of Chetri villages, ubiquitous police, dogs, human excrement, the blare of transistor radios," etc.

At higher altitudes his travel companion, George Shaller laments excrement as a sign of civilization too which, of course, he doesn't miss. At the same time, both Shaller and Mathiessen depend for their cooking on the dried yak dung which the sherpas and others use to prepare the meals, heat the water for tea. It turns out that this dried dung burns clean and hot, and does not smell that bad.

Several months ago, a NRP/WPR program host, Jean Ferraca, took on an hour program about shit, head on and without reservations. It was amazing, and great radio, the kind of radio the so-called conservatives are trying to do away with. In this program it was pointed out that the majority of human beings have no toilet paper, have to resort to all kind of methods of removing shit from their buttons, including their fingers (primarily ones on their left hands, as the guest expert pointed out).

So what? Well, it is often the absence of information from a publication, radio or TV program which tells the tale. & it is hardly missed by humans who are only too glad to be spared information they would rather not contend with. What are we talking about? Well, the Farm Bureau and its' publications, for one, and the AARP would be another. If they can get by by being information deniers than all the better. Meanwhile, shit and toilet paper (or the lack of it) are with us every day.

I think somewhere else in this BLOG I mentioned the story about the aged woman in Iraq who was interviewed standing in front of her bombed out dwelling ... in which she still lived, had no choice. And she lamented being without three things: running water and her toilet, and hot coffee. Toilet paper was not even a consideration.

Preoccupation

A slogan appeared in my mind recently in response to yet another no response by a fellow human being: "My preoccupation trumps your preoccupation," a self defeating stance if there ever was one. As I've said elsewhere in the BLOG, my background was more concerned with response to others and a sense of obligation in that regard than the present necessity for instant gratification and return.

I don't mean to say that I am blameless in the regard to being self preoccupied, I've certainly been there, and will undoubtedly be there again. But this is almost always mitigated by a concern for the other person, and I would like to suggest that our bewildered World might be a better place if we might return to more concern for the other.

"Better said than done," I hear that old saying straying around in my addled brain, wondering how we might in the present and future get beyond a dilemma which is undoubtedly taking an enormous toll on personal communication. Part of the problem is undoubtedly the "informa-

tion in the flood stage" one, too much "overload" to realize the possible affects of our own information responsibilities. Another is the increasing dependence upon digital electronics in the mix, and I realize that these can also be a possible solution to problems as well.

Would it be too much to ask that those who would communicate with us be clear about what they intend to do? But how to sort that out, ask and answer the questions involved. Awhile back a counselor I consult every once in awhile said that I needn't be concerned any more with unresponsive people, that I should simply avoid them. But, as said above, that is "better said than done."

Growing Vegetables

There are many trends in our so-called civilization to mythologize things, and agriculture is one of them. In the making of the video about our earlier farm, Elsie's Farm, I asked the film/videomakers to be careful with this, to shoot the process, the "dirt"/soil, keep the camera and microphones low, and they did. So my hope is that those who see this production will take it on as an exercise in the demythologizing of alternative agriculture. "Boots on the ground" is not the property of the military.

Growing up in both the depression and an automotive garage, dirt was a part of things. When I ran into the slogan a few decades back which suggested "not treating your soil as dirt" I was a little confused. Dirt and soil were the same thing, although not in the garage ... that was were likely to be grease, grime, although we had some dirt there as well. When working with my grandfathers in the vegetable garden it was just plain glorious to "play in the dirt," and Joni Cash is quoted about that enjoyment in "Dirty Work."

I hope that this video will help the viewer cut through some of the stuff and get down to what alternative agriculture and growing things is. And the basis of it is soil, of course, dirt. It would be very auspicious if people who view and hear the video get the experience of dirt, and that they have the desire themselves to grow something, to compost, to dig, to get down and dirty. The mythology of farming is not helped by the advertising and public relations of commercial farming, where soil and dirt are hardly mentioned. This has to be turned around.