Renewals and life in at a homestead

Most definite consequences

We saw the welcoming deepening red tree as we turned on the driveway. Corn stalks, surprisingly, still stood, though I foolishly thought they looked past their prime. Apples weighed down the tree limbs with bins and ladders confirming that the trees would be upright again soon as the pickers finished their work within days.

My afternoon walkabout was glorious as the late afternoon sun spotlighted the remaining flowers. The array reminded me of the renewal cycle: joy of planting in spring, blossoming in early summer, then providing beauty through too-soon winter as we renew the process of life yet again.

Much as I obsess about food, I hadn’t thought much about regenerating energies, our planet, and our bodies. I sadly took them for granted without appreciating the steps so evident yesterday.

Then chickens demanded attention. Their lives are simple: they consume any and everything lobbed into their coop, then lay eggs for the future whether consumed by humans or hatched for another generation. Even the sassy rooster has a relatively straightforward role in continuing this cycle. Yet, most of us think little about any of this whether on a small family homestead or at industrial production. Part of the reason I adore seeing rural lands is to see how the owners recycle so much of their lives back into the future, including food scraps which ultimately drive that cycle of a garden’s renewal. This action keeps me thinking about the cycle of life.

This morning, following a night when the moon was so uninhibited by light pollution as to appear a helicopter flying above with a spotlight, we walked the dogs for a crisp start to the day. Eager to please as well-trained service dogs, these amazing creatures are simply happy. Their demands are actually relatively few. They need exercise to dissipate their incredible enthusiasm. Each needs nibbles to reinforce their learning towards desired actions. They need space for their “outputs” along the roadside or in the field, each of them oblivious to much more than these three requirements. After stretching their legs, investigating the state of the world, and calmly settling for a day in the autumn warmth, they start the cycle again with tails wagging to show unconditional love. It is hard to have much more positive reinforcement to us than their reactions as we approach them later in the day.

The corn stalks are not all ready to plow under as I thought when we drove up. The rhythm of planting, then harvesting, then preparing the land anew is a science every bit as exquisite as any MBA student’s grand end of course project or amedical diagnosis for a mysterious illness. Without the accumulated wisdom of centuries of cultivating the land, we would be without the food we take for granted and the perpetuation of our lifestyle we hold so dear. Our hosts do not farm per se but live surrounded by lands lovingly worked ultimately for our benefit, a reality reinforced as we approached the end of the walk. Nothing about these fields or crops was taken for granted but it also shows how we depend on nature’s bounty of soil, rainfall, and light as much as our human ingenuity, two partners in an incredibly long dance producing an ear of corn or enjoy applesauce made of these apples.

Finally, we walked by Roger’s tree, a sapling transplanted two decades ago from a wise older friend’s distant home. It is now a magnificent tree under which a lovely wrought iron bench allows one to sit to ponder this dance between nature, in all of its elements, and we who walk the land. Time to think is, of course, a gift as is the shade and magnificent span of this tree.

So many actions and consequences come to mind based on what I have seen over the past eighteen hours. Without the intricate mix of land and our actions, we might be a lesser people. Without preserving this into the future, we are guaranteed to lose what we have built.

Thank you for reading Actions today and any other day. I welcome your thoughts, suggestions, and corrections. Thank you, all. Please circulate if this is of value.

Be well and be safe. FIN