Robin Wall Kimmerer

So in love with this woman, whose writing in this book makes me cry with happiness every time.

https://youtu.be/Lz1vgfZ3etE

Holy Shit!

"Ebell insists studies showing climate change poses a serious risk to human civilization are bunk. Though he now accepts global temperatures are increasing, he claims that the warming will be beneficial for most Americans — providing milder winters and longer growing seasons.
“The fact is that in modern society we have the technology to deal with environmental challenges, and that’s why people live in Phoenix,” Ebell said. “Because warm is good, as long as we have air conditioning.” 

Star-Advertiser/AP

Myron Ebell is/was the head of Trump's transition team at the EPA and looks like a ghoul. Serious. I'm sorry, I know the liberal elite, because we lost, are supposed to shut up and take the alternative facts now, but I can't.  Warm is good. Because we have air-conditioning.  Holy shit.

This is a whole new ballgame, my good people. We must have strategies! We must find pressure points! Even my 81-year old mom who, by common agreement, is the most angelic person you will ever meet, is up in arms, and quoting Women's March signs. "Re-Sister," she said, "I liked that one. It says so much, doesn't it?"

Outside

Late in the evening the world puts on a spectacle and I happen to be there to see it.  As the day darkens, the wind that has been howling all day dies down and three hawks circle in the updraft above the mountain ridge, calling to each other as the mynahs swoop towards their night roosts in the bamboo patch, coming in fast and low in squadrons so as to evade the hawks.  A bat flutters against the deepening blue: I haven’t seen a bat for years, and feel, like the Chinese, that it is a good omen.  Sunset tints the clouds orange-gold -  unfurled across the sky with the awful majesty of nebulae. One hawk sinks through the air, its wings flashing grey and white, and the mynahs go silent in the bamboo for a moment as beautiful menace passes over them. A single ice-blue star shimmers between the clouds and the dark ridge. The puppies play at my feet.  It is a gift to be in the presence of so many lives

Don't say I didn't give you a recipe

Most blogs have recipes, and I've been incredibly remiss on this point.  It's a rainy afternoon so let's fix that.  Just in time for the holidays, too!

A Typically Australian Dish:

Camel Stew

3 medium sized camels

500 bushels potatoes

200 bushels carrots

1 ton salt

1 ton pepper

3000 springs parsley

2 small rabbits

Cut camels into bite size pieces. This should take about two months.  Cut vegetables into cubes (another two months) Place meat in pan and cover with 1000 gallons of brown gravy.  Simmer for 4 weeks.  Shovel in pepper and salt to taste.  When the meat is tender, add vegetables.  Simmer slowly for 4 weeks.  Garnish with parsley.  Will serve 3800 people.  If more are expected, add two rabbits.

From Trail Boss's Cowboy Cookbook - The Society for Ranch Management

Another bit

Speaking of the ranchers, farmers and fisherman profiled in her book:

All are conservationists because their livelihoods and communities will live or die with these ecosystems, but also because they love these land-and river- and seascapes where nature's elemental forces remain vivid in their beauty and danger; where lives of self-creation, self-reliance and liberty remain possible; where the idea of home and homeland remain strong.  All bear a sense of moral responsibility to both the future and the past, a determination to pass on to their children and grandchildren a heritage often generations deep: the family memories imprinted on this land, the season rhythms and traditions built around the bounty they reap.  Many acknowledge something sacred here -- larger than human understanding or will, a gift to be tended and revered.


xvi

A very good tidbit from Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman

Every region, even every farm within a region, differs in history and soil conditions, topography and climate - demanding the same close attention and responsiveness Justin brings to his own land. "It's never simple and it's always complex.  We have to think through how things interact in the local environment, and what's right here may not be right even down the road." That's why Justin never criticizes other farmers' choices, assuming they are based like his on hard-won knowledge and experience of their land.  Nor is he ever defensive about his own choices, but remains open to any question or challenge to his thinking, eager to see any research that might change his mind.  "I believe that we're created to be in a community and impact and learn from each other," he says.   "I really like John 1: 'In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was God...Through him all things are made.'"  That sacred presence throughout time and in every person means that all deserve a respectful hearing.  (119)

Rancher Farmer Fisherman

I'm reading an awesome book right now, haven't even finished it yet.   Rancher Farmer Fisherman: Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland.  I highly, highly recommend it; not only is it nuanced and complex, but it is extremely readable and beautifully written without being ostentatious about it.  Miriam Horn, a NYC-based writer, visits with people who are working hard and thinking hard out here in place where the physical demands of civilization meet the natural world and the "struggle is real."  Horn does not come from an agricultural background, so it is just beyond impressive how deeply she dives into the complexities of the subject.   How she stays out here, on the ground, talking to the farmers, ranchers, and fisherman from different angles, and doesn't retreat to quoting university experts.  She stays on the ground, in the war zone, with a generous heart and amazing curiosity. Here's a link to an interview with the author.  ** I know some of you reading this could be in this book, so go check it out and find heart to keep on doing all that beautiful stuff you do!