Tearing Down Fences, The Collapse
Not too much out of the ordinary to update on this week. With many tasks calling for attention at once, it’s an ongoing struggle to prioritize which direction to go. Sorting meat in the freezers is never at the top of my wanna do list, but with a load of ORVF beef and pork arriving Wednesday, much of Tuesday afternoon was spent sorting through remaining inventory to prepare for it. Then of course much of Wednesday morning was devoted to organizing new inventory and putting it into freezers. We also got our share of freezer work in on Monday filling orders and coolers for Amy’s delivery to Chilhowie and Abingdon.
Aside from freezers and the daily chores tied to tending the cows, pigs, and chickens, we’ve been repairing old fences and tearing out some really old fences to replace. All projects come with bumps in the road. In this case, the bumps led to a flat tire on the tractor. We know better than to expect any task to go too smoothly. Ha.
I love cutting firewood this time of year. While I squeezed in some chainsaw work here and there, it still didn’t put a dent in the fallen trees from Helene. I wish I could devote a month solely to cutting wood and cleaning up fallen trees. With no open months on the calendar, a few hours here and there will have to suffice. Our calendar is about to fill up even more so with the beginning of chicken season just around the corner. The first chicks arrive in less than two weeks.
On Sundays we typically try to relax and rest. While this Sunday afternoon wasn't particularly restful for our legs, it was certainly restful for the mind and soul as Amy, Hallie, Hasten, and I enjoyed a sunny 10 mile walk through the valley.
This week while farming I’ve been listening to COLLAPSE by Jared Diamond as he investigates the falling of seemingly stable societies throughout history. Why do some societies collapse? And could their collapses have been prevented? As one would guess, most downfalls are linked to a combination of economic and environmental problems. With the rise of global markets and a growing dependence on other of nations and societies, the falling on one society could have the domino effect of leading to the fall of others. Here’s a few quotes from the book:
The investigations of these past fallen societies “vividly brought home to me the conclusion that even the richest, technologically most advanced societies today face growing environmental and economic problems that should not be underestimated.”
“The monumental ruins left behind by those past societies hold a romantic fascination for all of us… How could a society that was once so mighty end up collapsing?… Lurking behind this romantic mystery is the nagging thought: might such a fate eventually befall our own wealthy society?”
“The past offers us a rich database from which we can learn, in order that we may keep on succeeding.”
“Thus, human societies and smaller groups may make disastrous decisions for a whole sequence of reasons: failure to anticipate a problem, failure to perceive it once it has arisen, failure to attempt to solve it after it has been perceived, and failure to succeed in attempts to solve it.”`
“Will modern technology solve our problems? Or is it creating new problems faster than it solves old ones?”
Have a good week.
Will