Thinking about the farm in new ways

Hi ho everybody! Welcome to our snowy bliss here in Wisconsin, where the farm is wearing her winter whites rather elegantly, if you ask me. This is the time of year I'm very happy to have four wheel drive, as we had our first REAL snowstorm yesterday - if I had to guess, I'd say we have around 5 or 6 inches on the ground right now. My walk was serene this morning, with snow perched daintily in every tree crevice - a far cry from yesterday morning, when it was blowing directly into my eyes. Brutal!

I wanted to include this story, told by the guy who has done some of the "more professional" repairs at the farm - in other words, the ones B and I won't let Chris and Jay do because of the dangers involved. Ed is a really cool guy, and when Jay asked him how his hunting trip went this year, he first replied, "Not so good - I didn't get anything." But a few minutes later when they were assessing some work that needed to be done on our quonset building's roof, he changed his answer. He said the trip was actually amazing for one big reason - I'm sure that "not so good" reply is reserved for hunters who are referring to the hunt - anyhow, he told Jay that early in the morning he was sitting in a little enclosed area - perhaps under a fallen tree or something, and suddenly he surprised (and was surprised by) a timberline wolf. The wolf immediately turned and ran with stunning speed and agility - but the thing that amazed Ed most was the fact that the wolf ran along silently, no noise whatsoever. Wild, isn't it? I'm often blown away by just how much racket I make when I trudge through the snow. This seems like a real feat to me.

I also wanted to include Jay's brilliant idea for beginning to make the farm a place for some sort of service project - a small start that wouldn't involve a lot of organization or red tape to begin with. There are many Hmong students in Jay's classrooms at school - in fact, this is really the only minority population in the area. For those of you who don't know about Hmong history, these people have gotten a pretty bad rap over the years - wherever they've lived (Laos, China to name a few) the government has tried to co-opt them, to "civilize" them, to get them to acclimate to they're own culture, but the Hmong have stubbornly refused. They have been refugees often, vagabonding to stay alive. Many have ended up in the USA because their family members fought with the US in the Vietnam war under the promise that they would have a safe haven in this country once the war is over. Of course now the US is trying to keep them out, but that's another story. The point is that the Hmong are a farming culture, and most of those who live here are in apartments with no land of their own. What we'd love to do is to cultivate a piece of land for the community in Menomonie where they could plant and harvest. Jay is going to check with some of the translators at school to try and get this ball rolling.

I also have to talk about my freedom from the television. We don't get any TV at the farm. None (we still watch movies though). If we really wanted TV, we would have to pay for a satellite dish, which, among my other issues, I find disturbingly unaesthetic. I can't tell you what a wonderful thing this TV abstinance has been - how much more I read, walk, think, share ideas, relate with other people, do crosswords, reflect, gaze, play with the baby, cook. I realize that TV is an addiction for me - since June, I've seen the news a couple of times when back in the cities, and I'm amazed by what glittery, base monkey candy it is - and yet by how wholly my eyes are drawn to it when it's on. It's gross. I'm challenging everyone (and realize that I may not have been able to do it if it weren't for the fact that my TV only shows static when I push the on button) to keep the TV off for one month. I'd love your feedback on this!

Okay, I'm off to get some tasty hot cocoa then to pick up Jay for a trip to Fleet Farm (what's new?)

Love and 4X4 madness to all,

Charis