Students,
Tomorrow we will take a short (about two hour) field trip to visit a local organic farm.
So many people come to America and all they see is the cities. We want more than that for you, and you will learn how this farm tries to farm in a sustainable manner, using ethical practices for both the land and animals.
The manager of the farm has sent this essay which he would like us to read before we visit. He thinks it will help us to get much more out of the visit. If you have time tonight, please do your best to understand it.
The link is below.
http://www.street-sense.org/storage/Berry_Solving_for_Pattern.pdf
Berry is a poet and farmer living in Kentucky, the state just south of Ohio across the Ohio River. He is probably the most important living American writer.
I love his poems and here is one you might like, called The Peace of Wild Things.
Here is a picture of Mr. Berry. His love and care for nature are very moving to me. Hope you will take time to read and ponder his essay. His writings have truly changed my life, and my perspective.
Mike
Thanks for posting this article, Mike--it was great! I really like the analogy of a healthy organ as part of a healthy body..."A good solution acts within the larger pattern the way a healthy organ acts within the body. But it must at once be understood that a healthy organ does not – as the mechanistic or industrial mind would like to say – “give” health to the body, is not exploited for the body’s health, but is a part of its health. The health of organ and organism is the same, just as the health of organism and ecosystem is the same. And these structures of organ, organism, and ecosystem – as John Todd has so ably understood – belong to a series of analogical integrities that begins with the organelle and ends with the biosphere." I think this is so relevant to agriculture and so relevant to other systems as well! I hope you all had fun at the farm--I wish I could have been there. I'll have to visit it soon with Bob!
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