Time's Unending Circle

The seasons have always been the same. They have not changed, but I have. My reaction to the change of seasons has changed as I reach different stage in my life. Winter, spring, and summer all just sneak up on me--always have-- but fall is different. It is the dividing point of my existence.

In my early teen age years the dieing of the corn meant only one thing--football season was coming. It surprises people who know me today to learn how much I enjoyed terrorizing opponents on the field. I was as vicious and blood thirsty as a player could be without getting kicked out of the game. (I did often find myself being ejected for being excessively violent.)

But now I am old, gentle and sweet natured. Today, I do not smack people, no matter how much they deserve it.

Now fall means cooler weather, fewer bugs, and more night rides-----and we start playing music again. We took August off. Next Monday we will begin with a study of Carter family songs and there will be even more kids to teach to sing and play a bit.

If Rooster Cogburn Had Been A Horse...

 

he would have probably been a lot like Red Feather--carrying a lot of baggage, but always surviving,always being tougher than those around him,but only picking the fights that he will win, and win quickly.

He and I understand each other very well.

We both know that scars are the toughest part of one's skin.

A Picture Is Sometimes Worth A Thousand...

....cuss words. Often pictures simply don't tell the real story. This peculiar pose makes Red Feather appear to have a long, weak back. That could not be further from the truth. He has a short back with real power shown in his topline. Head on picutres can be the very worst--making a horse look bucket headed, long and thin.


I love equine photography but one must see many pictures of a horse to know what the horse really looks like.

War Admiral

I have two Baylis Spanish Goats, Sea Biscuit and War Admiral. They have voracious appetites. Spicer, my San Clemente Spanish Goat, eats a fraction of what the other two consume.

Spicer's ancestors evolved on an island with limited vegetation. The Baylis strain was bred in the south amid lush forage. I am not aware of an animal that converts low quality vegetation (bark, weeds, vines, etc) to protein at a more efficient rate. In addition, the Baylis line can survive in damp, even swampy environments. The Baylis goats could be an important part of the effort to combat world hunger.

But they are not. Instead, they are languishing on the verge of extinction.

Who cares? The Livestock Conservancy, formerly known as the American Livestock Breed Conservancy, cares. . The Conservancy works to assist those seeking preserve heritage lines of livestock. Modern factory farming produces a very fragile line of livestock that often have weak immune systems compared to their historic counter parts. In order to breed the fastest growing animals possible we have not allowed for any type of quasi-natural selection to weed out the weak animals.

The result is a factory farm system that places our food production system at constant risk of epidemics that could devastate the world economy. Imagine how much more of a risk we face in a world racked with terrorism and the threat of biological warfare.

It is the Conservancy that works to keep sound genetics of ancient livestock always within our reach. I believe in conservation for conservation's sake, but I believe even more in conservation for the sake of our own self preservation.

Everyone who cares about these issues should learn more about the Conservancy. Look them up, and become members.

For the good of the animals--and for your own good.

Hope

She was not afraid the first time she rode with me. Her mother's only instruction to her regarding beginning to ride was that she must remount after a fall. She has always been willing to push herself physically. None of my other riders have ever completed as many miles in a day as has she. She takes prudent risks. She has spent more hours working my young or wild horses than any of my other riders without significant injury to herself or to a horse. I trust her judgement on all matters equine more than anyone that I have had at the horse lot. And she is only recently become old enough to vote.

Lydia is about to leave for three months to join her brother at the farm that he works on in Maryland. The operation is physically small but it is part of a movement that gives me hope for the future of this country. Her brother is part of the new farmer movement. His wife is too. He was not raised in a farm family and came to agriculture as a young adult. Lydia is also drawn to the ground-the dirt, the crops, the flowers and the livestock that are the fabric of our existence. They all call to her with the strength a shopping mall calls out to other's her age.

Educated young people who are drawn to the ground produce healthier, safer, and even better tasting food, but they do much more than that. They produce better citizens. They raise healthier and happier children. And they give us a renewed shot at achieving Thomas Jefferson's dream of a citizenry attached to the soil.

Deep in the human soul is the need to plant, to grow, and to harvest. That need drives our urge to have the perfect lawn. But even the most beautiful lawn does not fully meet that need. The gathering of the eggs, the watering of the hogs, the milking of the goats, the breaking of the soil, the planting of the seed, and the harvest of the crop are the only things that completely meet that need.

As much as I love having Lydia in the horse lot, it is worth it for her to be gone for a while to immerse herself in that which we all need, whether we know it or not. (not forever, just a few months.)

Last night my daughter, Amanda and her husband, Jake brought my granddaughter, Lucy over to see us. The three of them were just named the local Chamber of Commerce's "Farm Family of The Year." Amanda is a school teacher and Jake works with USDA in water and soil protection. Aside from their full time jobs, they have an ever growing produce and green house operation  that is built on Jake's knowledge as a former Peace Corp worker and agronomy master at Virginia Tech and on Amanda's ability and willingness to do very hard physical labor.

They are part of a movement that gives me hope for this nation.

In one way or another I suspect that Lydia will end up being a part of that movement. I strongly suspect that she will bring her knowledge of horses and her compassion for people into whatever part of the movement her future holds.

Those of you that saw Lydia's interview on the tv show, "Wild About Animals" understand why I am both so happy to see her taking this opportunity to learn more and why I hope that this time passes very quickly and I have her back in the horse lot soon.