I'd meant to go farther today. But laziness, slothfulness and a desire to not walk uphill won the day. I did come across a new chicken pen some neighbors put in over the weekend. Since the fire last summer, the numbers of wild fauna on the ridge are much diminished. I don't see near as many tracks in the mud. A sad thing.
These decreased numbers of predators seems to have led to more of our neighbors getting chickens. Chicken mortality rates are lower with fewer wild critters seeking an easy meal. Personally, I hope the coyotes, fox, raccoons, cougar, skunks and bears return to raid our chicken coops. We need our wild frontier back.
Our neighbors built this temporary cage (the photo above) far from their house. I think they did this for two reasons: 1. smell and noise and 2. in case the Bears do return this summer, they won't come near their house.
In the Omnivore's Dilemma author Michael Pollan describes a chicken coop on wheels (sort of like the one in the photo above). That way the chickens could fertilize an area with their poop, and the coop would be rolled to another patch of land a few weeks later. This then would fertilize another patch of land.
It will take more than Chicken poop to make this land fertile.
Poet Gary Snyder said that it is impossible to have a garden in this area. The Earth is just too full of clay. One neighbor of ours says: "You have to build up". Use lots of compost. Joni states that Gary Snyder must not have been too good of a gardener to have said that.
Hail the return of the garden! This economic depression we are heading towards (and yes, I believe it will be a depression rivaling the 1930's) has already led to a new interest in gardening. We better learn how to do this soon. My concern is that the level of suffering within this new depression will go far beyond the suffering in the 1930's. Why? Because we have become industrial age, consumer age, immediate gratification seeking, Softies. We have forgotten our survival skills. Nobody knows how to garden. Or sew. Or raise livestock. Or barter. Or do without. Or do much of anything with their hands. Include me in that survival neo-phyte category.
How was your walk today?
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