Lake Future

This past weekend, I spoke at the local sustainability forum sponsored by the Sierra Club Lake group. There was a fairly large group there for our rural area (over 100, I think) and the discussion seemed to focus on the changes folks see and what can be done about living within our means: becoming more sustainable as individuals and as a community. I invited folks to continue the dialog by joining LakeFuture--a forum to explore and discuss both individual and community transformation to a more sustainable and local economy in Lake County, CA. You can join the yahoo group by sending an email to lakefuture-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

For my part, I try to focus on the hopeful--that humans are a part of the community of life and we have a role. We are called, I believe, to not just live sustainably, but to restore and renew ravaged places and to protect the living places that remain. When we work in this way, we find that our way of thinking changes and indeed, our way of being is transformed.

To embrace this transition, as I have been chronicling here for myself, is not easy, but it is a far more satisfying way of life. And yet, I've learned that I cannot work alone... the vision of such a life is a difficult one with just too much sheer work and a myriad of skills that no one person can acquire or afford. It is only through community that we create the momentum, energy and hope to find our way to the future.

One Straw Revolution

"Ultimately, it is not the growing technique which is the most important factor, but rather the state of mind of the farmer. " --Masanobu Fukuoka, The One Straw Revolution

Each day, I am discovering more of what Dr. Fukuoka meant by that statement.... my state of mind dictates my approach to the land and over the course of days weeks and seasons I am discovering there is a rhythm to the work. I need to keep this in mind, especially now, as we start harvesting walnuts.

We experienced a setback this season--in addition to there being a very poor walnut crop, some of the walnuts are bad due to a pest called husk fly. Apparently both the low crop yield and the huskfly infestation this year were exacerbated by the late spring/summer rains. I have been told there is an effective organic-approved mollases-based spray that works for husk fly (next season). For now, we will live with the reduced crop and the frustration.

Autumn is a busy time in the orchard and garden. Harvesting, sowing cover crops and spreading straw mulch.

The straw is important. In The One Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka says that the spreading of straw is critical to soil fetility and allows you to farm without tilling the soil (thus saving the topsoil). I find it to be contemplative and life-giving--for the land and for me.

Ideally, I would grow everything I need right here--and that would be the way of it if we were sustainable today. I would like to grow straw myself, but the land needs mulch before I can seed, so I am buying someone else's straw this season. My hope is that next year I can sow some barley, oats and alfalfa between the walnut trees and then allow the animals to graze it directly. By grazing, the goats and sheep will keep down the weeds and will enrich the soil. The remainder, I will scythe, dry and store for the winter. That's the plan.

And today I worked. (WORK by it's purest definition: Force times Distance) I moved 50 bales of hay from the shed to the orchard where I plan to place it in the form of a labyrinth. (My neighbors may already think I am nuts, this will likely confirm their suspicions. ) In any case, this hay is unsuitable for feed, with too many stems and weeds, and too little nutritionaly value, so I am ordering from another source. Because the hay has too many weed seeds to spread, I will allow it to compost in the bale. I figure--why not walk a labyrinth while I wait? My state of mind will definitely improve, and thus perhaps my farming ability as well.

One step at a time.