Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry has greatly influenced me by an essay call "The Body and the Earth" I'll double check on that, but I love a few of the ideas. He says that part of the disconnect that we have by not growing our food in our own soil causes us to misunderstand the earth and it's limitations and resources and also causes us the misunderstand our own bodies and their limitations and resources. I really think this is an interesting idea worth thinking about. I remember going to Mexico in college and waking up to the sound of a pig being slaughtered. It was the most horrific sound I had ever heard. I knew from then on that I couldn't eat a pig...Not because I felt for the pig, which I did, but because I had no concept of what it took to get that bit of pig on my ham sandwich. I was extremely disconnected. Since then, it has been a number of years, I have come to terms with my disconnect from my food sources and try the best I can to connect myself to the resources I use to feed my family and myself.

I want a chicken coop. I want a bee hive. I want to turn my whole front yard into a garden. None of these things are options for me at this moment. Give me a few years. I'm working on converting Sam to some of the more non-conventional yard maintenance methoods.