We must claim what is important, what is vital to us and take back control of our food and our water. We cannot do it alone. But we can do it within a community. 

Our lives depend on the food we eat. But beyond that, what we choose to eat has political and an environmental impacts.

We all need water. There is no possible life on earth without water, the energy from the sun, a fertile substrate for plant life, and our oxygen-rich atmosphere. I put water at the top of my short list of essential needs, a resource many of us can provide for ourselves. Having a safe water source—for drinking first and foremost, then cooking, irrigating and bathing—is a beginning of taking control of our lives.

In the past month we have had two days with partial sun... for a few hours. The rain began in November... unseasonable rain. Rain that jumped the banks of our streams and the river which bisects our valley. Rain overflows the drainage ditches and pours over the road, cutting deep trenches. Rain sits on the newly planted fields of grain in the plains. It is only because we are in the mountains that we are not flooded. This is climate change... happening now.

Trees are the ideal permanent solution “for extending agriculture to the hills, to steep places, to rocky places, and to the lands where rainfall is deficient.” They create a resilience and sustainability which could never be achieved without them. 

Wherever we are we can start over. The winter solstice is about completion. The following dawn brings new beginnings.

I don't have exclusive rights to viewing absolute beauty because I live in the country. The moon is shining, the trees are announcing the change of seasons everywhere. No matter how little we have or how crazy our lives, we all are enveloped in an impressionist painting if we just look up

If the forests play an essential role in the water cycle, this gives urgent importance to saving our old growth forests and restoring those which have been demolished or degraded. 

This is about informed decisions every one of us can make and taking responsibility for our actions. This is about choice. We are not powerless. Every time we make a purchase, especially with our food, there are consequences to our health and the health of our environment. This is becoming an increasingly important issue now that so much of our food arrives at the store embalmed in plastic. We can vote with our wallets. Our votes count. It is essential that we be informed.

The mountain on which I live, the animals and plants, the climate, the river and underground spring… actually the land and all it encompasses... this is my community.

Now more than ever we need to focus on our local community for our needs, perhaps all our needs in the future. Our support comes from our immediate environment—both the land itself and the people.  This is where we need to place our energy, this is where our responsibility lies.

Every tree I plant is a small but positive and assertive act of defiance against the brutality we inflict on one another, most of our animals, and our ecosystems.

Plant more trees. I hear that constantly. Yes, of course we need the trees. But planting trees is no longer the solution to the enormous level of emissions in our air. Nor is it simple to just plant a tree. And though, our forest ecosystems have been a tremendous carbon sink in the past, and planting trees is a worthwhile endeavor, it is not a panacea for our environmental problems. 

My anger had transformed the soil, the compacted water-saturated mud, into fine earth perfect for planting seeds

If our species is to survive at all we cannot wait, we cannot hope that technology will save us. Time to say we have enough. Enough. And perhaps what we really need is less. Most all of us can survive on much less. Living smaller is where it begins and it leads us closer to the world of our origins.

I light the candles in a dark room as the solstice approaches.

I love this season. The dark is rising. The twelve hour evening hibernation is just what is needed after the long summer workdays.

Farming is a science but it is also an art. There is no one book, one philosophy, one six-week course which can teach that. We need observant people to produce our food, hands on - not robots, not directives from the main office. Working with inevitable change is critical. There are no rules now which cover farming. But really, there never were.

We tell ourselves that when the shit hits the fan, the local farms will feed us. That would be wonderful but in fact it is not possible. Not now.

A large part of sustainable farming, sustainable living, is about planting more trees and saving rain. It’s about farming like an ecosystem, imitating what Mother Nature does with her forests and meadows.