Variability vs Conformity

We have looked into science fiction conformity, the Borg are just part of a collective. Not a single hint of personality among them. There are religious conformists, ecological conformists, team conformists, music conformists, food conformists and even those who conform to patterns of consumption, deemed appropriate to others, not for any want of it themselves. Oppressed by their similarity as much as their exploitation by industry. conformists typically hate change and just want to be allowed to remain static, along with things around them.

Variability was so much a part of my life while growing up, that it was more ordinary than conformity is for conformists. My parents were theater folks, That means that we could make reality malleable. My folks were members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, intellectuals, Beatniks, We had a copper pond in the entryway and a cork wall for all that is good with the world! Then, my mom became a Hippy, enchanting us with real and imagined trips, some of which scared the evil out of me and my sister.

On an individual level, change and coping with differences may seem difficult when looked at as a single organism. rest assure ,we are not a single organism, but that is for another, perhaps more philosophic time. We are part of a community. That community is sick. Parts of us are impacted by those we may never know. It is the way of the world now. Our environment has both expanded and at the same time, as individuals, we are often isolated, even among friends. I was sitting at the round table we have for breaks at work and I looked around. I was the only one who was not staring intently into a device. I was the variant. The rest were conforming even though one was consuming news, another was crushing candy, someone else was chatting with their daughter and the fourth was hooking up.

Conformists are like cows, content to keep their heads down and graze, no matter how bad the range may be. Variability creeps in when a cow or three instead keep their heads up, looking for danger, smelling for better grass, even though it may be far off, and acting as sentinels to the approach of anything suspicious. on the level of genetics, the conformity is what allows over 90% of all humans to be fully formed at birth and capable of development into functional adulthood. Variability is what occasionally produces savants, renders some unable to use their limbs or obtain the powers of sight or speech. very rarely, a trait that is advantageous makes it through the static of birth defects to become a new part of the human genome, but it is rare. The variability that we see is in a wide range of traits, form sexually expressed ones to abilities and predilections that seem to be innate, spontaneous talents and interests seem a sure result of genetic and environmental conditions, these, by their very nature are nearly infinitely variable.

In our travels we see various climatic conditions which are the conformity and locally distinct areas with different characteristics, like moisture or slope, or depth of topsoil that change not only the character, but the composition of the forests, or glens, grasslands or shrub. To say the surface of the Earth is covered with infinitely variable ecological relationships only begins to make sense when you understand that in every soil, each square yard, different microbes inhabit the soil, and the changes begin at that level, sometimes many inches beneath the surface. The soil microbiome is the conformity, but humans have assaulted and destroyed vast acreages with bad management the variability comes from ecologically sensitive farming that honors the soil microbiome, supporting it in the process of feeding their crops healthy nutrients and minerals. My urgent hope is that one day, soon, this variability will be accepted as sacred, a trust between human-kind and the plant kingdom. I hope that if there is a system of conformity it has got to be built on the foundations of this variability, or any attempted changes will fail.

Obligation

My readers understand the question of motive. The hippies used to call it turning on, finding what gets your juices flowing. Often, why we act as we do is far more important than what we actually do. It has been said in every age that unjust laws are made to be broken, committing a crime to stop a larger crime from being committed is legal and it has also been recognized that some laws are just made to be broken. I cannot disagree with any of these because I have been brought up in a culture with far too many laws and many have either ceased to be needed or are so willfully disregarded that they have no power to improve or protect our quality of life. There are laws on the books in Madison, Wisconsin, our state capital, that make it a crime to tie your horse up to a parking meter. Most cities require you to clean up horse "apples" that fall onto roads or sidewalks, but for some reason the mounted police are not required to do so. Similarly, pickpockets are not allowed to ply their trade, but when a business imposes additional fees or raises their prices without warning, they are protected. Some of us are obliged to follow the rules, while others are forgiven for the same exact actions.

The obligation that may be required of some is waived for others and expectations frequently depend on such arbitrary factors as your skin color, family status, sexuality, size, sex and most insidiously, one's economic status. These make-believe obligations created and perpetrated by human beings pale in comparison to what I wish to write about in this post. I have always understood that there are obligations that are far more important than those imposed by law or social expectation. Some claim that their "moral code" flows from the importance that they place on their religion, but I have found many of the prohibitions and encouragements or admonitions regarding behavior, made by holy texts are willfully denied or ignored willfully by the very same people who want to quote said books chapter and verse. The human mind is malleable and making a rigid system of laws only assures that some people will operate outside the law. What we do and how we go about it will always be a function of personal choice, however, we are often obliged to behave in ways that are sanctioned by laws, or at least in ways that do not run afoul of the law.

When I signed the social contract, decades ago, working to get and keep a good credit score, paying my taxes, voting, etc. there was some expectation of the system being obliged to offer me services. another very important aspect of obligation. Our nation still has on the books many laws that we are obliged to enforce, but that go overlooked. The revolving door between board rooms of major, regulated industries and so-called "government service". In these relationships the only people who are obliged to be served are the very corporations that government seeks to regulate. Obligation.

Some relatively easy ways to remember the laws that are most important require getting back to basics. Most people will determine the big three to be "First, do no harm.", "Always clean up your mess" and "Treat others as you would like to be treated." Medical doctors have helped to popularize the first one, yet in my country, more people die each year from iatrogenic (doctor caused) disease and illness than die in automobile accidents. If I were to walk around my property, I would find many items that constitute other folks' mess and chances are that when I go forth into the world, I will find several people who will treat me in ways that they would detest if the same were done to them. If we truly were obliged to follow even these three relatively well-established rules, conditions world wide would be improved instantly.

Remember, even a tiny gesture of goodwill multiplied by 7.3 billion souls can create miraculous beneficial change. Surrounded by an aura of recent deaths of family, friends and iconic figures, I can only say this about obligation. We are obliged to learn from the dead, to shape our world upon what they had learned, their compassion and humanity is what gives us all of our opportunities. As I tell myself and others that have lost dear ones, when death stalks close, it reminds us how important every moment truly is. We are obliged to use them wisely and treat them as the gifts they are. 

It would seem that we have some obligation to teaching and learning the truth about issues that we face daily, however this is not currently the case. Trumped up charges and hearsay seem to win the day more often than not in our current system. The media certainly feels no obligation to speak truthfully or plainly about the issues they "cover". When I studied journalism, we learned the maxim: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Now, it is possible to read, hear or see news that has two and sometimes three things from that list missing. It gets even more terrible when you realize that some of those elements of the story are fiction. One of the great lies that are being told to gullible people now is that human-rights protesters that are rallying around our nation are being paid to stand up for human rights. I'm not sure who benefits from the "Hands-up, Don't Shoot" rallies or the "I Can't Breathe" protests that are sweeping the nation, Water protectors or Occupy! protesters, but this is not a follow the money issue. These protesters are poor! It is more of a follow the long trail of dead bodies leading to the local police department sort of issue. Many "organizers" of these protests are being jailed, so if they were paying people to rally, a simple look into the finances of these "masterminds" would be enough to prove the allegations. However, that would make sense, but just leveling the charge is enough to prove to the ignorant that they know enough already.

Over fifty percent of black males (20-30 years old) in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin are serving jail time, "on paper" (serving probation or parole) or they are in prison, most for non-violent drug crimes. In federal prison, only 3.5% are for violent crimes and that includes not only murder, but robbery, assault, kidnapping and threats against the President. More on this in a minute. That means that the youth, especially black young people are living without fathers, brothers, uncles and mentors. What they have to base their ideas upon is the reality that they are surrounded by, I'm pretty sure that in their situation, you would not have to pay me to get me to put my life on the line for a chance to simply be heard. Now that rich white guys in suits have found ways to make tons of cash from legal pot, the competition has been taken out of the equation. The entrepreneurial folks who were relatively small-time dealers are put away for decades, in some cases, life. Now, the exact same activity is now sanctioned because the ruling class has found a way to make sure that the profits flow to folks who look just like them. Who is obliged to pry equity from this distorted extortion? Money is truly thicker than blood or water. My obligation is to ask the right questions about, why? Show where the facts lead.

These and other facts need to be repeated, sometimes to those who are uncomfortable hearing them. I feel obliged to tell my friends in Russia that the ongoing tensions in Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and the shooting down of the airliner last summer are perfect examples of how the leadership of your nation flagrantly violates human rights of innocent human beings. Don't think that I am trying to make any other nation out to be without fault, on the contrary, our nation continues to jail blacks at disproportionate rates and the killings of innocent people happen here routinely, that is why we protest. I can point out that there have been waves of protests in Russia, but understanding that the police have different tools there than ours do here is an important first step to understanding some of the differences between protesters here and protesters there. Human rights violations know no political boundary, they are based on an old view that some of us are better than others and that the thugs all look, or act a certain way. Peaceful protests are the face of real change, we are not going away. Sometimes the only way to "win" is to outlive your opposition.

What is beginning to become clear to everyone is that the oligarchs have hired the best security staff on the planet and outfitted them with weaponry capable of subduing even the largest crowds. Whatever means necessary are routinely utilized to terrorize our own people, whether the final result is that the young child or fetus is made ill by industrial emissions, or the young mother drinking nitrates from her well, the result is the same. It is an attack on those incapable of fighting back. We routinely see human rights violations, whether they are the result of directly being killed by police who may have mistakenly felt threatened or extra burden placed on the rape victim who has to travel to another state for an abortion. The child who is deemed "in need of drugs" by their teachers is just as much a victim of terrorism as the child waved into adult court so the powers that be can revoke any sense of obligation to rehabilitate them. One is made to be afraid of themselves, the other is made to fear others. We are all complicit for not making this a national issue. when it takes many times the amount to incarcerate young men, than to educate them, are we not obliged to educate them? Perhaps that is the only true rehabilitation.

If we intend to improve conditions on the ground for our fellow human beings, we must all take a stand for truth, justice and democratic principles. Not capitalistic ideas, not communistic ideas, not even socialist approaches will work if we focus on them exclusively. What we need is a good dose of humanity. An ethic that reflects the idea that human rights are non-negotiable. We are obliged to understand whom it is that we serve and to withdraw our support from those who would wantonly gun us down for standing up for the rights of others to live free and unmolested, even if that means standing up and speaking out against our own inhumane leaders.

This has been my status since the Presidential election again. Not felt since the Eighties when this was put to paper!

Remember, I initially wrote this in 2015, long before the current slew of idiots had gone rogue on Capital Hill and at the White House. In my book, they are traitors to our system of government. Lying cheating crooks need to be called out at every opportunity. We could not have a better object lesson for criminals in the White House, illegal activities throughout the campaign for the Presidency and right through to today, as systematic attempt to crash our system of government.

Interference

This is the hat I wore while campaigning during the last election cycle. It was meant to hearken back to "Honest Abe" Lincoln. He was supposed to have worn a top hat within which he stored his papers and speeches. I thought that associating myself with a folk hero such as Lincoln would help my campaign for office. Having been born in Springfield, Illinois, I was steeped in the traditional view of Abraham Lincoln being an untiring splitter of rails, a creative student of law and physics, an attentive clerk and man of great and unwavering moral fiber.

 As I have grown and learned, he was also one of the greatest killers of "Indians", if not by his own hand, at least by decree, an owner of slaves, raised Baptist, had been documented as a devout skeptic religiously and there is ample evidence that he was a deeply troubled soul. He even resorted to adult fairy tales about religion after 1865, perhaps to capitalize on a supposed general religious leaning at the time. His torment was not wholly because of the mental health issues of his wife, but also because of the uncertainties of war and the sending of a generation of young men to their deaths in far-off places that meant nothing to them, from diseases that were little understood at the time. The interference that the years provided me in my quest to find out the truth about Lincoln came from many, often sub-conscious impediments to understanding him fully.

First, and perhaps foremost of these is the passage of time. It is hard to get the straight story when no one alive knew him personally. There were ample opportunities to interview his contemporaries when he was alive, but they passed without exhaustive study. Perhaps the cold-blooded killing of him by a secessionist sympathizer was to blame, perhaps the folklorists wanted no part or portion of truth to contaminate the image of the Civil War hero they wanted to cast him in. It is not for me to judge their motivations. That would only bring my own version of interference to the message that he holds for us in our collective psyche. Another source of interference, intended or not, came from the fact that he was the first President elected under the auspices of the "new" Republican Party. They had their own idols to adorn. 

A friend, who has his heart in the right place is running for public office here in Wisconsin. His campaign has spread the message of truth and frustration that most of us feel regarding the selling of our state to the highest bidder. The undermining of environmental laws that "we the people" (to quote Lincoln himself) helped to write, has been the lasting legacy of our current Governor. Scott Walker's well-heeled, out-of-state funding sources have no problem sending him millions of dollars more to subvert the will of the people. As long as the benefits continue to accrue to them and we are left paying all the costs. In the case of Foxconn, we have actually let the foxes have input into our design of our collective chicken coops. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the non-partisan accounting arm of Wisconsin government, puts the true cost to taxpayers of the Foxconn boondoggle at $10.1 billion, even though sock-puppet for the Koch brothers keeps saying it is only three billion. I am loathe to say anything negative about my friend's campaign, because he if fighting the good fight, but even so, he had an advertisement recently that associated him with the mythic, David, who vanquished the Giant Goliath with a slingshot. I am sure that the image of that story is alive within each and every one of us, much like the "idea" of Lincoln resides in our collective consciousness, if only that his image graces both pennies and dollars. My friend must not have realized that a much more deeply felt association exists, as the slingshot was the weapon of choice for those white racists who lined up at the boat landings here in Wisconsin when native people came to exercise their treaty rights. One can plainly see and understand that his campaign faces an almost insurmountable challenge within native communities, interference with his message from an unexpected and perhaps unexplored angle, may lose him support. This would be tantamount to campaigning in a mostly black community in a clansman's hood.

Interference can come from so many places that it is hard to say exactly what it is and how it comes about. On a molecular level, substances can interfere with the RNA replication of DNA which in turn leads to genetic errors. This contaminant can be seen as interfering with natural processes. Similarly, there has been interference with the hydrologic cycle in the form of ditching and draining vast wetland complexes, pumping of deep as well as shallow aquifers, bottling water and other beverages, then shipping them to entirely different watersheds and the damming and use of water in areas it was never intended to be under natural processes. Prior to humans, beavers did disrupt the flow of the hydrologic cycle, but their interference was just to get the water to hang around a little bit longer and flood areas to relatively shallow depths. We must come to fully understand the depth and breadth of our interference on natural systems if we are to make changes that lead to a re-bound within natural systems/communities. That might be protecting our genertics, our quality of life, and/or the availability of essential resources (ie:"gifts" from Creator) like clean air, clean water and uncontaminated, healthy soils that contribute to our continued evolution. How and why we interfere with natural cycles may not really be as important as knowing how to avoid interference that damages the environment for yourself and others.

Essentially, my point in linking these factors to describe interference is that each example I have listed is anti-evolutionary. They either codify lies, justify falsehood, or perpetrate messages that are not true. Our purposes as ECO-Tourists and good world citizens is to know and understand the world around us in the most complete and intimate way possible, to find ways to resonate and harmonize with natural forces, natural tendencies, not disrupt them. Some may say that a genetic aberration here or there in the human genome is important or desirable, that it forces mutation, but I would rather not risk genetic damage caused by toxic chemicals in our air, food and water in the hopes of creating a positive effect. In my own life I have experienced interference by bullies, fools and those who could not understand that their justifications only proved the abject lack of knowledge between themselves and the natural world.

One good deed multiplied by over 7.6 billion people can have a resounding effect. Allowing the same number to justify bad behavior based on false assumptions has one as well, but in the opposite direction. Let us be ever mindful of the things that interfere with truth, justice and evolutionary change, calling them out for what they truly are, lies. Getting on with what we all know needs to be done must commence. We are virtually all on the same page with this.

I ask one question perhaps a dozen times each day, "Will this help? Or hurt?" Things that hurt, or impede flow, the essential quality of being fully alive, fully functioning and fully supported in our inalienable rights, and natural systems/conditions must be let go. We need to collectively focus on enhancing and sustaining flow, both individually and collectively. Getting in touch/tune with nature is paramount in helping us to better understand ways to enhance, rather than interfere with or impede the evolutionary process.

It sometimes feels like the oligarchs are deaf, or cannot hear our collective cries. It is not that, they just do not care. They feel perfectly justified in waging a class war against the rest of us. After all, we are the rabble and they are the kings of our day. They have the best ideas, Calvinism and Thomas Hobbes have supported the "proof" that wealth guarantees better judgement and that they know better than the rest of us, what we can do, what we need done, and what we want and deserve. Instead of having to honor and respect natural systems, they have devised "new and better" systems that marshal all of our efforts to make their status as lavish as possible.

Two-hundred

This is super funny. Technology is so advanced that when I saw that there were 199 posts, I assukmed that this would be the two-hundredth, but it is not. You see, there are seven drafts that need some work that were counted in the 199. So this is post out of sequence. However, it adds significance to the next seven posts, because they will essentially be made out of sequence. When I wrote this the seven posts I had yet to finish were, difficult ones for me to finish for several reasons and in keeping with the season, I will bud out into these new territories further and explore them one by one. The list of posts as yet un-published are:
Interference, first draft 4/14/2014
Obligation,      "      "     1/4/2015
Variability vs. Conformity, first draft 7/2/2015
Tenacity, begun 12/25/2015
Clarity of Purpose, from 2/17/2016
Native BE-ing, started 3/28/2017
and Preparing for Equinox 3/8/2018

Here is the post that I put together when I thought there were 199 published already.

A milestone with this post. Number two hundred. In days of the year, it would be 55% of the way through. We are able, using this medium to transcend the confines of books, publishing, freedom of the press and it has had a powerful effect on culture. The fact that I have made my posts to a worldwide audience infinitely multiplies the transformation that took place when Gutenberg was able to produce his bible. Through this blog and theotherfishwrap.blogspot.com, I have taught thousands of people from all around the planet, how to make and use biochar. If you have not read this before, let me explain.

Biochar exists as a tiny fraction of all soils. Soot and dust particles borne from incomplete combustion due to unavailability of oxygen. By making char, purposefully, as ancient ancestors did, we can create multiple benefits for the soils and the humans who live around them. Making a complete list is impossible, but the main effects of using biochar are, doubling crop production, stabilizing soil moisture (char holds six times it's weight in water, more once micro-organisms live on and in it), protecting both surface and groundwater quality, creating long-term soil fertility, and soil microbiome all while sequestering carbon for geologic time.

Today, I was flown over by a bald eagle, which wheeled and stalked the river next door, I saw geese at close range, saw cranes and scared a rabbit in my yard. We all know too well the overarching problems of climate destabilization will cost far more than switching to electric cars and mass transit would. One we all agree to pay, through the wise use of the peace dividend, the other consumes us unwillingly.

On a positive note, the burgeoning growth of new farmers, especially womyn and people of color continues. Young and first time farmers has swelled and who better to do it right than those who can see the writing on the wall. Again, we see massive successes in Farmer's Markets, subscription farms and farm to table movements growing across the land. I have occasionally written the term soulutions, but auto-correct and I have a beef about it. we humans redneckonize the play with words in writing it wrong. Hopefully, computers will never understand that.

This picture actually needs at least three pictures before it. preparing the soil, planting the seed, nurturing it,

Only through death can the next generation be born (borne), consequence, I don't think so.

What will each of us leaving behind? Will it be enough to sustain life?

Years ago, when I first heard the term Deep Ecology, I remember feeling of two hearts about it. On one hand it was comforting that there were others out there trying to get ecological thinking going in an intransigent world. The fact that they could get penetration into social awareness and the public debate, the naming of what it really is begins the process of colonialism. Once named, malevolent forces flow in,  like viruses, a name is like a handhold in rock climbing, for them, giving a place for all their vitriol to flow. Actions happen around names. Predilections and accusatory tones, used to gain a point of attack and prejudice. Name, claim, shame. That is how colonizing forces work. My ecology cannot be named. Deep implies a direction, my way is six-faceted, all "directions" must be honored. That's not deep, it is.

Another Cubic Meter Of Soil

Today, I made over a kilogram of char. This will be enough to enhance more than a cubic meter of soil. The most recent amazing thing I have found about biochar is that adding it to our highly expansive clay soils has allowed us to grow carrots successfully for the first time. Since moving here, nearly twenty years ago, I have planted them several times, but each and every time, they failed. I guarantee that this year we will be doing it again. The char I made today will be ready to use in about six weeks. To keep it from freezing, I will be processing it in the basement, at least for another moon or so. When I began making biochar, it was not something I expected to get so excited about, but as I researched more and learned about the host of benefits it provides, I became more and more excited.

I teach classes and consult regarding making and using char and transforming it into biochar to get the most out of the effort required to make it well. I have to make my char in small batches, but that assures that it is completely charred and ready to transform into healthy soil. The difference between carbon that has been charred and carbon that has not is that 90% of the carbon added to soil as compost leaves the soil within four years. Charred carbon lasts for geologic time. In working to transform the landscape, ECO-Tours of Wisconsin has used every tool at our disposal and through the years we have taken hundreds of people to areas that needed to have trees planted. We have planted many thousands of native trees and even more tree seeds and native edible and medicinal plants as well. The reason ECO-Tours was created is to help heal the rift between humankind and nature. 

Making a difference is not something we try to do on a special day each year, but every day that we have available. For instance, I could beat myself up over the fact that it would take years to build enough soil to rehabilitate the land around my home, but instead, I try to focus on the fact that everywhere I have used it, my production has at least doubled. In the case of my lettuce beds, the production more than tripled when char was added. I have been teaching people classes in person for over seven years and using my blog, The Otherfish Wrap, also here at Blogger I am taking a sabbatical. After writing seven posts a month for over six years, I decided to take  a year off. However, before I stopped posting, I wrote directions for making and using biochar in my last six posts. Already, hundreds more people have learned about making and using this important ancient miracle!

 This was at the MREA Midwest Renewable Energy Asociation's annual energy fair at Custer, Wisconsin.

 

First Robin

Robins always reminded me of Robin Hood. Harbingers of Spring, they send a chill the first time you see one for the year. This year was odd because they stayed 'til way after Thanksgiving, the early winter floods and green grass kept them on even after the first snow. At least one brave fellow is back, staking claim to the small patches of grass on the verge of plowed areas.
When I was a youth, I remember one year calling the tee vee news, I think it was channel five when I lived with my mom and sister on Kellog street. I had seen the first robin and they wanted to interview me. I think, in the end, I chickened out. The interviewer saw me at the old Shopko on Main street one day and remembered all those years earlier, when I was but a timid second-grader.

My daughter had a great Birthday, we had a cup of coffee before she had to be in class and when I got home, a friend and fellow blogger Tenney Naumer, had posted this: http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2016/02/108-scientists-call-on-worlds-largest.html It is about asking the American Geophysical Union AGU to refuse funds from ExxonMobil. I completely agree. The jig is up! Although many self-respecting environmentalists say they will take money from everyone and not let it detract from their message, I can't believe that large corporate donors would line up to support causes antithetical to their bottom line. Fossil energy is dead. In addition to poisoning the planet, the fossil fuel industry has waged a culture war against the poor, workers and users of their "products" for decades. This is a classic example of the need for people to boycott, divest and sanction these corporate welfare recipients.

We are experiencing cultural genocide, where the culture being eliminated is primarily the poor. We die earlier than the wealthy, because they can jet off to places that still have relatively clean air ,spend more on unprocessed and organic ingredients, drink Fiji water, etc. Even these privileges are granted them as a privatized good, subsidized by us all through socialized costs. When we organized ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. Fully ten years ago, it was plain what the stakes were. We could either practice restoration biology, reclaim clean air and water as a right, or squander the earth's resources, polluting more and more for the benefit of a tiny few. There were obvious and cost effective ways that we knew of to rehabilitate soils, restore native plants and reforest denuded areas. Many acres had already been composted, aerated and planted with trees as a result of our efforts, however we wanted to be more "formal" about our commitment. Being able to go out and sit in the shade of trees that your hands planted twenty years ago is pretty heady stuff. Those moments are literally stolen from the oligarchs, they didn't make a dime on most of those interactions. we create bridges between the ECO-Tourists and the Earth. The trees they plant will be there for lifetimes, encouraging them if they ever return, to see them mature and grow. Reclaiming the planet is one thing they cannot benefit from, it is not possible to capitalize on doing the right thing. The uberwealthy are unable to wrest from us the desire to make the world a better place. It is our cultural heritage to live unmolested, free of usury, deceit, hatred and oppression. Creator, endowed all of us with the same inalienable rights. None of those include  abuse or neglect of others. The first robin always shares a resonant chord in our hearts of industriousness and optimistic yearnings and their abundance, the blessings as brought forward when generosity springs eternal. The graciousness of mother Earth to gift us with the first Robin is sublime.

Much of the stock, tools and equipment that we use to do our work is cast off, re-purposed, or reclaimed in some way.The only thing we really go through is soil and dollars spent on native seedling trees. since we started, we have inspired several local growers to begin planting trees to give away as well, multiplying the effectiveness of silvaculturalists across Northeast Wisconsin. as with the robins, once that first one appears, more follow, just like in the realm of ideas. Once the path has been made, others soon follow.

Get an Apple...

I saw a great visual aid for understanding just how important the topsoil of our planet is. Let me thank the filmmaker of One Man, One Cow, One Planet, for showing this very exercise to help understand the Earth and her biosphere. In this example, or mind exercise if you prefer, it helps to understand that an apple when representing the Earth, has a skin about as thick as the zone within all life flourishes. The apple skin is actually true to scale as if it were to represent the thickness of a zone, it represents the distance between the top of the atmosphere, where life can live, around the height of Mt. Everest 8,848m (about 29K feet); to the deepest point in the ocean, nearly 11,000m (36Kfeet) below the sea level the Challenger Deep (part of the Marianas Trench). This becomes important later on, when the end of the example comes up. Keep in mind that within this thickness, all life we know of exists. Soil thickness within that tiny sliver of life is rarely more than a few feet deep, out of that peel of the apple nearly twelve miles thick. 20,000m (65Kfeet) in a few places soils are mere inches thick and places where chemical agriculture has predominated, the humus is nearly non-existent, leading to bankrupt soils that can only grow crops with massive chemical inputs.

This ECO-Tour of the mind requires us to imagine the Earth as an apple.

 Concentrate on how much of the apple goes away. These portions are unavoidable physical facts.

 First, cut it in quarters, eat three, representing world oceans. It is unavailable for crop production.

 That last quarter cut in half, eat one it represents mountains, desert and ice; again non-arable land.

 The last 1/8, cut into four parts, eat three, they represent areas too wet or too dry for crops, rocky areas, and places too heavily forested or urban to be farmed. All of these are non-arable as well.

 So, this 1/32 represents the portion of the planet we need to focus on. But first, cut off the peel...

Representing our nearly twelve mile thick biosphere, soils might max-out at just a few feet, thick; the area we need to focus on is even smaller than the peel can represent. The actual part we need to focus on is probably only as thick as a single water molecule within this tiny slice of apple. Biodynamic agriculture and using biochar actually build soils long term into healthy productive land. Besides healthy food, the biochar helps reduce irrigation protecting water resources as well. This is the sort of revolution we need to turn the tables on the petrochemical industries. We typically only have to build enough soil for healthy root systems in our plants, and we can sustain life, generate income for communities and pass along the information, genetic and otherwise for sustained yields throughout the ages. Nature can take a hundred years to generate a single inch of soil. On my land I built three to five inches in a single year. Creating lush abundance is not difficult, anyone can learn the techniques, it also instills an immense feeling of pride when you can stand back, look at a trouble free, fecund acreage and know it is taking care of itself and you because it has been provided everything it needs.