Aliens

Of course, not all city people are shallow and vacuous. In college I met professors who were raised generations from the soil yet could be legitimately described as wise. Achieving wisdom while being raised generations from the soil is a tremendously difficult, but many overcome such handicaps.

Modern life makes it hard to do.

City people are alienated from everything they consider unpleasant about life. They are alienated from blood. With each generation fewer and fewer of them ever dug a hole to bury a dead pet as a child. They are alienated from farm odors. They are alienated from their own food. I cannot tell you how often I have had kids out to the horse lot who are appalled that we would eat an egg laid by a chicken instead of getting a nice clean one from a grocery store. They do not want to eat potatoes grown in the dirt.

They will happily eat an apple with a spotless skin (produced by applications of pesticide and herbicide),but would never eat one that had a brown spot or insect damage.

Living close to the soil teaches one very important lesson--to discern what is real.

Life is real. And all that is needed to sustain life is real. Death is real. Wisdom cannot be gained without understanding the difference between reality and appearance any more than satisfaction can be gained without understanding the difference between being happy and being high.

Kids raised close to the soil look in a pasture of beautiful horses and see horses. Kids raised away from the soil look at that same pasture of beautiful horses and see horse manure. Kids raised close to the soil hate the fact that Ole Yeller must be shot--but they surely would have shot him. Kids raised away from the soil, even those who agree that Ole Yeller must be shot, say they could never have shot him.

The good news is that exposing kids to the reality of birth, life, death, planting, harvesting, and butchering can open the door to understanding what is real and what matters. In past generations city kids could become grounded by spending the summers on their grand parents' farms. Now only a handful of grandparents have farms.

That is why one of the most important parts of our educational programs is rooted in putting kids in contact with the soil and the animals that live on it.

Chris is growing up wonderfully over the past year. Chris waters the hogs. Chris asks if he can water the hogs. Chris does a good job of watering the hogs. Chris is becoming a man. The list is endless--Hailey and so many others (just mentioning Hailey by name because I miss her)--wonderful kids who are better than they would have been because they have been in the dirt in the horse lot.

Lydia thinks that for a lot of kids it is the most important thing we do.

I expect that she is right.

Hugelkulter: Keeping Water In The Ground

I am not of teacher of permaculture. I am a beginning, but fascinated, student. I believe that permaculture can be another very important step in keeping the cost of horse care down while increasing the health of the horse.

A horse thrives best when provided a variety of forage plants. A pasture should not look like a cemetery or golf course. A pasture should not give rise to unnecessary runoff and erosion. I want to continue to refuse to use herbicides and to work to reduce soil compaction.

Hugelkulter, (which I just discovered yesterday) might help. It involves burying logs and tree limbs, covering them with manure or leaves or grass clippings and then putting a thin layer of soil on top. The rotting wood helps hold moisture and increases micro biological activity which could lead to much better forage production.

If your neighbor is harvesting timber at the moment in an operation that will likely leave an great deal of waste wood above ground (as mine is) then you will have enough wood with which .

I have to go now to feed my red wiggler worms and put more coffee grounds in the compost.

Hard Riding Can Get You In Shape

I just got this picture sent to me. I would have been 50 years old when this was taken. The summer before this picture was taken we began cantering the horses hard for five miles before work every day. I lost 13 pounds that summer.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that riding is not great exercise.

Wise Land Use Decisions

My white ancestors have been living near my horse lot since the mid 1600's. The farm has been in my immediate family line for well over 100 years.

A few years ago one of my uncles said, "Your Granddaddy Horace would have loved seeing all these kids and horses back here."

He was right.

I am in the middle of what is always the heaviest time of the year. Heavy enough so that yesterday when court was completed I went home and went to bed. As darkness approached I woke up and headed out to the horse lot.

Before my vehicle reached the tack shed I could see Chloe in the round pen working her new horse, Max, as her mother sat bundled in covers watching her progress. Barb was coming out of the pasture from being with Queen Jane. Jen had all ready left--trimmed a few horses and headed back to Portsmouth.

A small truck came up the path and Ethan and Ashley got out. Ethan caught Joseph and saddled up and Ashley tacked up our new mule, Belle. I got Holland and we headed out in total darkness for the young mule's first night ride.

Yes, this is a good use of this farm.

And there are thousands of farms all over America that could be used the same way--to make better kids, better horses and better communities. We will provide all the consulting services that we can at no cost to help farmers turn a little bit of their land into a place that their grand fathers would have loved to have seen.

Send this out to every farmer that you know.

They will love planting a program like ours on their land.

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