Awakening this morning I saw the large white flakes drifting down into the skylight and wondered if spring would ever come to Wyoming. WE are more than a week into spring and the snow pack remains stable at 24”. We are eager to move manure and compost to the fields, start a new hoop greenhouse, fence a few new paddocks and get on with a life which results in social isolation for us every year from November to April.
Another unvaccinated lamb died this morning from Clostridium leaving us just one meat lamb for the family. There will be no lamb sales this year to our friends and neighbors. Egg sales are robust and Daisy our very pregnant Jersey, will calve in 5 or 6 more weeks. My daughter will also be birthing at the same time! This farm continues to practice Social Distancing” reinforced by a locked farm gate which keeps people out and animals in. After all, this is Wyoming, where social distancing is a way of life. The internet has been a positive force for information and social communication and for instance this weekend my nephew Patrick and his family in Charlotte are streaming a piano concert by his son Andrew which the whole scattered family will tune in to. It doesn’t feel too isolating here.
It is terribly sad seeing all the worldwide suffering from the Corona virus pandemic but every country seems so wrapped up in its own responses that the millions of stranded refugees will get little to no help when countries like Italy and Spain can’t even take care of their own. My previous post alluded to the fact that our artificial energy dependent economy may not survive its current form after the dust settles from this pandemic because our urban living structures are a perfect homeland for a virus which thrives within them. These same structures will be abandoned when the fossil energy plug is pulled which this pandemic may accelerate. And if not this pandemic, then the next. If there is any good news in this dark time is that Planet Gaia may get a reprieve from mankind’s destruction of her environment. There may dawn a realization that most of us will have to find a better way to live. Living in a crowded urban supply chain dependent anthill carries real risks like dying alone in a crowded ICU plugged into a ventilator drowning in your secretions.
I am a lucky old man who spent 15 years as an Emergency Room Doctor and I decided in the mid 80’s that I had to get out because of a mysterious ailment appearing which seemed to be carried by blood and other bodily secretions. It began posing risks to ER and OR staff like myself who spent part of our time resuscitating trauma and OR patients hanging fresh units and getting splashed and painted by their blood. After a few of my colleagues began to sicken and die I knew it was time to make a change by removing myself from the battlefield. Eventually the agent was discovered which was HIV and ways were devised to mitigate the risks. I am glad I can’t work now in those front line ER s not the least because my medical license lapsed 16 years ago. My heart goes out to those courageous nurses and doctors who used to be colleagues who have to push open those swinging doors into fresh and deepening chaos every morning. PTSD is a guaranteed consequence to their service and if this pandemic lasts too long they will be facing the same factors I faced 35 years ago. I used to say that life is short but it’s a lot shorter if you’re covered in blood.
Our industrialized finacialized overpopulated carbon spewing civilization is destroying our environment and there is little chance that this homo sapiens will be sapient enough to turn things around before we hit the wall. Perhaps a tiny clump of RNA might be just the ticket to trigger a realization that it is time to look at a new planetary living model with less crowding allowing us room to work our muscles to move around and perhaps grow our own food. We might even learn to work with our hands, frugally conserve our dwindling resources and resume our tribal village life again free from the destructive addiction of our social media distractions.
John Denver had a song which might give a little musical impetus to such a change. It was called “Blow up the TV!”
She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol
I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal
Well, she pressed her chest against me
About the time the jukebox broke
She give me a peck on the back of the neck
And these are the words she spoke
Blow Up Your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try and find Jesus on your own
Rendezvous Mountain Farm 