For those of you who don't read ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) yarrowkat, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) sunflowerriver, or didn't get an e-mail from me: we've recently had Joy Slagowski, a reporter for a Phoenix area paper called the Daily News-Sun, write an article about Sunflower River for Earth Day:
Foursome enjoys connection with Mother Earth
In that article, I credit Dave Pollard's blog, How to Save the World, with being a turning point in my ecological awakening:Post said his path began as a personal transformation a few years ago, after reading the "How to Save the World" blog of David Pollard, a writer and environmentalist.
"He was doing a lot of writing on intentional communities, social justice, and ecological issues," Post said. "And it struck a chord with me and I decided to manifest the kinds of changes he was advocating in my own life." I wrote Dave Pollard telling him about the article when it was published:Hello Dave,
I've written you once before, a year or two ago. It was from a different e-mail address than this message.
Roughly three years ago, I started reading your blog and as a result have radically changed my life: changed jobs (out of the financial industry), changed partners (my ex-wife and I were part of consumer culture, and I've distanced myself from it.), and changed the way I look at and relate the world to incoporate a far greater understanding of how my actions impact the environment.
As part of that, I purchased land with 3 other people, formed an intentional community, and began raising livestock and practicing organic gardening.
In that time, I have repeatedly mentioned your blog as my turning point, as the thing that woke me up and set me on the course my life is now on.
Today an article was published about my farm, and in it I credit you with inspiring me to the life changes that caused me to start it. I thought you might be interested to read it:
http://www.yourwestvalley.com/news/food_5888___article.html/water_day.html
Even though you and I have come to different conclusions about what one can or should do about the state of the world, You continue to inspire me with your writing, years past the day I read "The Truth About Nature and How to Save the World" and realized that everything about my life needed to change.
-Alan Today he wrote me back: Wow! Thank you Alan. I'll mention this in my next 'links of the week' article. Hope we'll meet some day! Cheers from Australia.
/-/ Dave I'm excited to get a mention in his Links of the Week article, which I always look forward to reading. It is a look at what is going on around the world, and is often extremely inspiring.
I'll post a link to it after he publishes it, but I'll be out of town this weekend, so it will be a bit late.
Color me excited.Current Mood:  content |
- Driving a 16' trailer without trailer lights, at night. Check.
- One broken taillight on my truck. Check.
- One blown tire halfway through the trip, causing me to drive on the shoulder with my emergency lights down I-25. Check.
- Three separate police cars pass, none show the slightest sign of concern. Check.
- Arrived safely home without incident, stump grinder in tow for a full day of work tomorrow. Exhale.
Thank you New Mexico. I deeply appreciate not having my night be any more complicated. One tire exploding on the interstate was enough fun for one night.
If anyone has a truck I could borrow tomorrow to return this device, I would really appreciate hearing about it.
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I'm eating rabbit stew tonight, which is a day I knew would come. In fact, I knew exactly when it would come: We're slaughtering our rabbits as part of our November work party. I still had a month to prepare for it.
We woke up Saturday to find one of our rabbits laying in our barnyard, clearly in shock. He had gotten out of his cage and become a chew toy for Thistle, our livestock guardian dog.
( Details about rabbit butchering. Consider your desire for graphic details before reading. )
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The kitchen is a complete mess. I've threatened to just throw away all the dishes and buy new ones.
( Our Solar Powered Well )
Thank you, korith, for taking point on this project and shepherding it through an enormously complex logistical process. I know this one kept you up too many nights, but it's really time to give yourself some credit and a pat on the back.
Which I might humbly request of you as well, dear reader.
I'm off to do some dishes.
x-posted to sunflowerriver
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![[Alan in acequia]](http://pics.livejournal.com/yarrowkat/pic/001rbbkk)
At our last work party, we built a bridge over our acequia. appleang took a spectacular set of photos that we've uploaded to our community blog.
I was "point" on this project, meaning it was my responsibility to do advance planning and be able to answer questions about what we were doing during the day.
Prior to our work party, I put together a timeline and a description of each phase of the work project. I had twice the number of people I estimated we'd need, and it took us twice as long as the estimate suggested.
I was off, then, by 4x my original estimate. I failed to account for one major task that came up on the actual work day, and several tasks took less time than I imagined. Almost all of the time overrun was underestimating how long it takes to dig. We started the process of estimating in part to collect data about what things we did poorly at estimating. Nom data.
All the same, we got our bridge built!
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I really like this picture of me, taken by yarrowkat: ![[Alan and Thistle]](http://pics.livejournal.com/yarrowkat/pic/001paf63)
We picked up a livestock guardian dog this weekend. A Great Pyrenees that we've named Thistle.
A few weeks ago we lost most of our rabbits to a "south valley ditch dingo." (A feral or pack of feral dogs.) They tore down one of our fences, which was coyote proof but not "large dog" proof and killed four does and one kit. Our remaining doe and her six kits were in a separate cage, as were our two sires. Two of the kits survived, likely by hiding under a pallet.
It's hard for me to write about this. I feel like finding that dog and stomping it back into the earth, which I haven't felt since immediately after the event. I've been spending a lot of time asking myself what the nature of my relationship with these rabbits is. Without providing the context for the following statement, I have a responsibility for their safety. I failed that responsibility. I've heard everything you could possibly say to philosophize or console on this point, and I'd prefer not to hear it right now.
I mentioned to an acquaintance recently that "I love my rabbits." He retorted, "I love my children, but I don't eat them." I suppose the corollary to that is he doesn't love what he eats. I love this dog too, and like my rabbits she has a purpose that she's been bred for--a reason for existing that neither she nor I have any control over.
And now she has a home.
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Last week one of our bunnies gave birth to four babies. One was dead in the morning, still so warm I wanted to shake it awake. I laid him into our compost pile with a now familiar blessing:I return you to the earth,
and I will see you again. The three rabbits that survived the first night are now recognizable as rabbits:![[baby bunny]](http://www.c0redump.org/img/lj/baby_bunny_s.png)
Market weight for a rabbit is 4.5 to 5 lbs. This takes 8 to 11 weeks, meaning this little guy will be suitable for slaughter in September or October. I'm sure I'll have a lot to talk about between now and then.Current Mood:  okay |
![[rabbits]](http://pics.livejournal.com/yarrowkat/pic/001d062c) sunflowerriver is raising meat rabbits. A couple of weeks ago a woman offered meat rabbits on the Sustainable_ABQ mailing list.
We've been working for awhile to finish our rabbit enclosure so that we can start raising rabbits. When an offer for free rabbits came up, we quickly got the rest of the enclosure finished and I drove out to pick them up.
So far, they require as much work as the rest of the farm combined! They drink >2 gallons of water a day, and eat 4+ cups of feed, not counting grazing on the weeds we provide them. Far more than our chickens. Plus they're escape artists we suck at building rabbit enclosures.
( bunny wrangling )
[more bunny pictures]
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![[baby bunny]](http://www.c0redump.org/img/lj/baby_bunny.jpg)