I've been listening . . .

I don't know about you, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the conversation surrounding wildfires and was especially surprised and interested yesterday that it turned to questioning public ownership of land.

First, let me thank everyone for your wonderful comments on my fire posts, especially those of you who live at fire ground zero. My heart breaks for you and your communities. Few devastations are as overwhelming and complete as fire; it's akin to losing a spouse because it's all your hopes, dreams, and "youness." Be assured none of my posts are meant to be condescending, insulting, or unfeeling.

Today's teaser for the new book POLYFACE DESIGNS features the Harepen, a portable rabbit grazing structure. Like all the designs in this beautiful 4-color compendium, this developed through many years of trial, error, and refinement.

Yesterday the skies over our Virginia farm were white with smoke from the California and Oregon fires. It was surreal to see the clear line of smoke coming across the Shenandoah Valley traveling east toward Norfolk. If you looked south, the sky was white. Looking north, the sky was a brilliant blue. I'm not sure I've ever seen that before, and knowing that this smoke originated from 3,000 miles away was mind boggling.

With farm bankruptcies up 8 percent and the federal government doling out an unprecedented $33 billion in direct payments to farmers this year, average isn't good enough. In Virginia, the average cattle farmer loses half of his hay to weathering--all those round bales you see stacked outside along the field edges.

The last broiler chicks went out this week, which means that for the first time since March the brooder is empty. Seasonality is a defining characteristic of farming systems that imbed with integrity into the ecological womb.

Over the weekend, daughter-in-law Sheri and I did a marketing school for the Back to Your Roots conference near Shreveport, Louisiana. This is tall pine country, but it has become a monoculture rather than a polyculture due to the last half century of forestry management.

A registered nurse in Colorado sent me a memo received from the Department of Regulatory Agencies prior to Labor Day. Here is the pertinent portion:

n the Aug. 27, 2020 Proceedings of the Academy of Comprehensive Integrative Medicine, a paper titled "Viral pandemic: A Review of Integrative Medicine Treatment Considerations" by Holloway, Bergeron, Conneally, and Fetters dares to offer something besides vaccines as a response to Covid-19.

Yesterday was labor day and it made me realize how much I enjoy my work. According to business statistics, 80 percent of Americans hate their jobs. Some 62 percent of jobs are in the service sector. Perhaps that's some of the reason.

Wow, thank you all for the outpouring of support for POLYFACE DESIGNS, an upcoming book that former apprentice engineer Chris Slattery and graphic design maven Jennifer Dehoff wrapped around my text. It's heavy on diagrams and shorter on text--just enough to keep you going.