My friend Donald, a pagan witch, oft refers to “the mysterious ones”; in my paradigm, the reference is to the spirits or gods/goddesses that are in nature and daily life. Although I can’t see them, I sense their presences around me. I like the “mysterious” part because that is how I experience various non physical forces/energies.
So what does this have to do with agriculture? When I plant a seed, I have a picture of what the plant will look like – BUT no idea if it will be sickly or vigorous, whether the return/yield will be zero or a hundredfold. It depends on weather, genetics, soil fertility, care, etc – and yet, to me, the sum of these factors does not account for the variation in the vigor of plants and their yield. I prefer to ascribe the difference to – the “mysterious ones”.
Example: our maple harvest. We have been tapping maple trees at Sandhill for 21 years now. During 2002 – 08, the number of trees we tapped/harvested remained constant and everything that we earthlings did was the same. The return/yield varied from 30 to 115 quarts of syrup. Why the difference? Supposedly, it all depends on the weather: ideal weather is when the nights are below freezing and the days are above freezing. I have not attempted to correlate the ideal temperature factor with maple yields – but my impression is that there is NOT a direct correlation – leaving certain amount of variation as: mysterious.
This year’s maple seasson broke all records and most everything I thought I knew. I grew up on a farm and am used to being surprized at yields – but this one took my breath away. The season began as usual: 2 weeks later, we had 3 days of 60+ temperatures and nights that did not go below freezing. DANG! I feared the season was finished – before it really began (ok, we had maybe 20 gallons of sap). Then the temperatures went up & down, the sap flowed – but it seemed different; it was slower to start when it warmed and then ran longer when it stayed warm. In the end, we had an all time record harvest by far: 168 quarts – almost 50% higher than our previous record! I’m ecstatic – and totally in awe: how did this happen? How to explain?
The Mysterious Ones strike again. Thank you for keeping me humble…
Blessed Be.
April 10, 2009 at 8:08 am |
I’m not a farmer. I’m not an activist. My job is one of those safe, full time, well paying jobs that will never go away. I am online most of the time, habit, communicating with friends and family, some online selling of artwork, etc.
The thing is, I really have nothing to do with agricultural commissions or regulations or politics, but recently I have been researching more and more about healthier eating, living, local shopping and all that. I stumbled on your article through a session of looking for local, Missouri, farms, vegetarian, vegan, products…and wow there was your thoughtful and motivational account of a very intense subject that’s right at my back door. I read every word with great interest.
I might not be active in your efforts, but that’s not to say you don’t have a fan out here rooting for you and even inspired to do more to maybe, just maybe keep corporations and cold meaningless business from taking over our whole lives.
Great work, keep it up!!
April 10, 2009 at 2:10 pm |
Cindy
thank you so much for your thoughtful and heartfelt response. It is especially inspiring because you are new to this way of thinking and living; “preaching to the choir” is ok but reaching/dialoging with new folks is awesome. thanx for the inspiration!
stan