really resonate with the hope for becoming, and that overwhelming feeling of change soon or die.
also really appreciated the point(s) about how ecological health and restoration are currently dependent on and tied to the economy, and the importance of providing "economic incentives which value trees and forests in a more naturalized state or arrangement."
Speaking of more harvests from walnuts, my husband just bought a bag of sandblating grit that he claims is made from crushed walnut shells. Not that there's going to be a big market for that sort of thing, but it's just kind of surprising to me.
The biggest producer and distributor of black walnut products is located here in Missouri, and my understanding is that shell-based industrial abrasives is a sizeable part of their income scheme… they even have a contract with the US Navy!
Your writing is one of the rare instances of communication that conveys new (to me) information about REALITY, while also being fun to read, strangely hopeful, and full of natural and verbal beauty. Thanks, Ben.
I also wonder about farming making people increasingly creaky. Doesn’t age do that on its own? How would your body be if it wasn’t regularly active with farming activity?
Before agriculture, foraging tribes harvested whatever was ready and provided by nature at the time. There was no need to “work” the land. They were nomadic though and moved to where the food was. I wonder if that lifestyle would take less of a physical toll on the body.
I just finished reading a book called “The Myth of Human Supremacy” by Derrick Jensen. I think you would enjoy it.
Thanks for the book recommendation... I'll be needing some new reads once things slow down here.
And yes, I'll admit age has something to do with my recent creakiness, but I think sometimes the farm life just demands an unnatural level of activity when my body demands rest.
Cooperative and communal labor systems do offer an alternative to this, and I'll be getting into it pretty deep in my next few pieces.
"... but I often wonder if we do enough to feed the soil, which has been starved by generations of extraction– a few bushels and coins at a time." I often wonder the same thing. Personally, our no-dig garden is continually giving back to the earth, but the villagers are known to knock every last apple out of their trees with long rods to make brandy to "keep themselves warm" in winter, never to leave a taste of the fruit beneath the very tree that produced it. The complexities of farming in a sustainable way for future generations to harvest abundance are quite often chopped down even before the seeds are sown. How's that for despair?!
thanks for this work of writing :)
really resonate with the hope for becoming, and that overwhelming feeling of change soon or die.
also really appreciated the point(s) about how ecological health and restoration are currently dependent on and tied to the economy, and the importance of providing "economic incentives which value trees and forests in a more naturalized state or arrangement."
Speaking of more harvests from walnuts, my husband just bought a bag of sandblating grit that he claims is made from crushed walnut shells. Not that there's going to be a big market for that sort of thing, but it's just kind of surprising to me.
The biggest producer and distributor of black walnut products is located here in Missouri, and my understanding is that shell-based industrial abrasives is a sizeable part of their income scheme… they even have a contract with the US Navy!
Your writing is one of the rare instances of communication that conveys new (to me) information about REALITY, while also being fun to read, strangely hopeful, and full of natural and verbal beauty. Thanks, Ben.
Will you be posting the link to the black walnut guide you’re working on? I’d love to read that
I definitely will, also probably doing a deeper profile on them soon.
Love this one. Glad you’re back!
I also wonder about farming making people increasingly creaky. Doesn’t age do that on its own? How would your body be if it wasn’t regularly active with farming activity?
Before agriculture, foraging tribes harvested whatever was ready and provided by nature at the time. There was no need to “work” the land. They were nomadic though and moved to where the food was. I wonder if that lifestyle would take less of a physical toll on the body.
I just finished reading a book called “The Myth of Human Supremacy” by Derrick Jensen. I think you would enjoy it.
Thanks for the book recommendation... I'll be needing some new reads once things slow down here.
And yes, I'll admit age has something to do with my recent creakiness, but I think sometimes the farm life just demands an unnatural level of activity when my body demands rest.
Cooperative and communal labor systems do offer an alternative to this, and I'll be getting into it pretty deep in my next few pieces.
As always, thankful for your insights.
Well in that case, I’ll give you a few more that I’ve enjoyed recently. :)
Work
By James Suzman
The Revolutionary Genius of Plants.
By Stefano Mancuso
Planting Our World
By Stefano Mancuso
And yes, rest is definitely important.
"... but I often wonder if we do enough to feed the soil, which has been starved by generations of extraction– a few bushels and coins at a time." I often wonder the same thing. Personally, our no-dig garden is continually giving back to the earth, but the villagers are known to knock every last apple out of their trees with long rods to make brandy to "keep themselves warm" in winter, never to leave a taste of the fruit beneath the very tree that produced it. The complexities of farming in a sustainable way for future generations to harvest abundance are quite often chopped down even before the seeds are sown. How's that for despair?!
Epic.