Always a pleasure to hear from you. If there is anything greater than dropping out of the madness of modern life (while retaining Internet!) and growing your own vegetables and livestock, I haven’t found it in nearly 70 years of living all sorts of places and doing quite a few unusual things. My darling Charles is 72, and he feels exactly the same way, having been most of the places I haven’t and done many things I haven’t. To ME, my friend, being “environmentally sensitive” means precisely and exactly caring for my land to prevent erosion and increase fertility, and watching over for our livestock–which has names, except for those who will lead marvelous lives until it is time for the freezer. We don’t eat our friends. I have no interest whatsoever in the fates of the Snail Darter and Painted Turtle, far less “fairy shrimp.” I care about our land, our families, our critters (who are very dear to us), and encouraging others who are attempting to pull themselves up by their boot straps. One of MY contributions this week was offering the use of our Thunder (pound for pound the most expensive animal on the place) for stud service. We will be entertaining (and feeding and caring for) the entire “herd” of a young man who is knocking himself out to become self-sufficient. His four beautiful girls are his stake, and this will be his first kidding season. He did not ASK for any favors; I offered, with a glad heart, stud service Thunder is GLAD to provide, worth $600, and I’m not about to charge the kid the standard $2/day each for feed for six weeks. It isn’t that much trouble to cut a little extra brush, the pastures are in great condition, and a little grain will never be missed. That is not CHARITY. It is encouraging those who deserve it. It is a hand UP, not a hand OUT, for someone who is sacrificing for the future. He didn’t ask it. In fact…I am very touched that he offered me my choice of his four beautiful girls in lieu of standard charges. I’d love to have all of them, but only if I pay him for them. I smiled, and told him that in three years, when he has as many goats as we do now, I would LOVE to have a doeling out of his glorious Esther–by a different buck. I’m very careful to keep my gene pool as wide as possible. If more people under stood the difference. John X works full time on a thriving model farm and lives in a motor home on site so that he can fund his dream. He doesn’t think he is “entitled” to anything. He risks everything he has on his ability and a sensible plan, and I feel privileged to help him. I haven’t any sympathy at all for those who take and think they owe nothing in return. Great response, thanks again. Linda

I say that security (up to the point where yearly taxation and death duties breaks up your farm or ranch) is to be found in land which supports our needs, with the supposition that we can expand through enormous work and feed others. In the BEST of years we are doing very well if we get a 4% ROI, and so it has always been. My daddy always said, “You can’t afford to run cows unless you have a private income!” Fortunately, he did. In the worst of times great wealth is a milk cow, a few head of cattle, chickens, and a garden. I am not really a dirt farmer, Moonwatcher. We’re ranchers who “garden” in several small greenhouses which we find far more comfortable. Better think about producing a few veggies yourself. LBT

A simple taste test will show you all to well why we don’t want to live on things grown in vats. I don’t CARE if they grow under sun-mimicking lights in a nutrient solution which is, in theory, equal to the finest naturally composted soil, there is NO comparison in the taste of the two. The ones we grow with garlic and Marigolds to keep a few pests away, picking off yucky green tomato worms by hand, have so much flavor that you will be able to tell the difference blindfolded. Hydroponic food has far less taste, and the vegetables in your produce section touted as “organic,” at twice the price, are a sham not worth your money. Fake is fake, be it tomatoes, “cheese food,” or hydrolized soy protein masquerading as bland, textureless meat.

I refuse to eat fake food or feed it to my family and hands. Our idea of a “convenience” food is Hellman’s mayonnaise–and that only because it is too easy to redecorate the kitchen in olive oil making our own. We make our own magnificent soups, including tomato, chicken noodle, beef-vegetable, hot ‘n’ sour, baked potato, clam chowder, and cream of whatever you want. It doesn’t take long. Chicken? Not only will we not touch the polluted products in grocery stores, but what we fry on an off day is vastly superior to anything the Colonel, Churches, Popeyes, Chicken Express, or any other chain I ever tried turned out. OUR chickens grow up eating disgusting things that wriggle, jump, and fly, supplemented with a little grain free from hormones, antibiotics, or pesticides. Yeah, so it takes over twice as long to get a bird to eating size. Start ahead of time. The future is not in vats; it is in reduced taxes, reduced population, and increased home farms. LBT