Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Dan Conine <dconine@dotnet.com>]

"The soul of the ploughboy ain't worth the soul of the paper boy." 
-Wendell Berry, "What Are People For?"

Well put, Laurie Ann. We can't compete with the Spectacle when it comes 
to the hearts and minds of the children, but the problem isn't the 
Spectacle, it's the competing. We are all in this together: humans, 
birds, trees, fish, microbes. The proof that we are all connected is 
already available, so why do our institutions still insist upon the 
'sanctity' of certain parts of the ecosystem over others?
I suspect it has to do with the fact that only humans can handle money. 
The cows have been turned into dying workers in an ammonia factory, but 
they can't organize for better working conditions or wages.
I tried to explain it to someone last night this way: A grassfed cow 
should live to 12-15 years old. The factory farm cow lives to be 4, 
maybe 5 on the OUTSIDE, so what people are drinking in the stores is 
milk from a dying animal.

It's insane, but we will be the ones branded 'dissidents' and locked 
away in Halliburton jails for 'crimes against the economy', and the 
masses will cheer the Solution while they shop at "Always Low Prices".

Dan


> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 07 Oct 2006 14:26:45 -0500
> From: Powell Family <family@powellclan.com>
> Subject: [Livingontheland] A FARMER FEARS HIS WAY OF LIFE HAS DWINDLED
>         ...
> To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> Message-ID: <1160249206.3313.57.camel@localhost>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> You did a good enumeration of the institutions, Paul. Pretty frightening
> when you start thinking about it.  I'd add churches (I've quit after 40
> years in order to gather with my family and neighbors instead) and
> service clubs like Rotary and Masons.  Meeting with strangers to try to
> add meaning to your life.
>
> My husband remarked this morning that men seem to talk about nothing but
> sports because they have nothing else to talk about. Most don't care
> about anything they do inside those institutions, and don't think about
> trying to change anything for the better. Nothing real to talk about.
> Even the weather is meaningless if you never venture outside except from
> car to factory!
>
> Laurie Ann