Mormonism and Environmentalism

I made a reference in the to religion and environmentalism in the previous post. Click here
for some links to articles and such about God and the environment. Here's an article about Mormonism. Apparently, according to the few articles I read, the leaders of the LDS Church will not need to make any official statements because the scriptures, ancient and modern-day, already encourage conservation. Here's another article.

This will be a topic of future entries.

UPDATE

I started this post more than a month ago. Today is actually November 23rd. I've neglected making entries for more than a month now. There are a lot of things keeping me busy and I'm not disciplined enough to document as I go, though I know reflection and documentation are processes that would enhance efficiency and actually save time over the long run.
Last month, besides canning food I began winterizing, beginning with the animals. I took on the most unpleasant task first, goat poop. I spent about 8 hours on Thursday, Oct 16, shoveling, wheelbarrowing and spreading the...wealth. I fertilized all of the trees in the orchard, 30+, dug a five foot deep pit and filled it plus I spread some around the grassy part of the goat pen. The neighborhood had a distinctive air about it for a couple of weeks. I also finished my grape trellis which will support two-three new grape plants. I'm not sure why I need more grapes, I guess it's just that they grow so well and perhaps a red grape will give a new flavor to next years juice.

The bees are doing EXTREMELY well. they are consuming 4-5 gallons of syrup a week and should winter well. Next Spring I'm going to split my hives which will give me a total of four. I was told by a local expert that I could probably set up to forty hives, yikes. He said that the usual harvest per hive is 35 lbs and the fact that I averaged 60 per hive was pretty...cool.

I am considering ending the chicken enterprise, not that it ever yielded much. I'm space poor and we have neighbors who have chickens and may be willing to trade for milk. The section of the shed I'm currently using for chickens would be converted into a greenhouse of sorts. I've needed an area for starts for the garden and I think it would be a much more efficient use of space. Nothing set in stone on this.

The goats are doing fine. The young one is now pregnant, I hope, as is Pinky. I'll have to dry Pinky up here in a month or so. Come Spring there will be a lot of milk. Spot, the third goat, will have to "fall in love" in the Spring which will give her a break over the Summer and even out the milk flow. That will mean 2-4 kid goats in the Spring and 1-2 next fall. I spent almost the entire month of October procuring hay from four different sources. I hope there will be enough. The price of hay has dropped a little bit this year.

That's it for now. Needless to say, I'm getting deeper and deeper into the sustainable model, intellectually if not in practice. I'm also forging some spiritual linkages, not only with nature but with my own tradition, Christianity, particularly Mormonism. I've always felt there was an affinity between eastern religions and nature and it's been enlightening to make new and familiar connections.

Domestic Me

Not sure what's going on with me.  It seems every free moment I have I find myself preparing food.   My son and I went out and picked tomatoes and apples on Friday.  The orchard is chemical-free and I  have been taking care of it for a neighbor who has been deployed to Iraq.  Anyway, it is the same orchard where I have my bees.  I am thinking that one of the reasons the bees have done so well is because of the LACK of pesticides and such.  Anyway, the apples were pretty well picked over and we were left with the wormiest and smallest.  It's okay.  I'm really glad a lot of families were able to use healthy fruit.  There are about 28 trees.   

So I spent most of Saturday doing stuff for the animals, chickens and goats, and putting up applesauce.  

The applesauce would have been easier if we had been among the first to pick.  

My hands got all rough and cracked.  I only got 11 quarts for all the time I spent but the process was so...cleansing that I am sure the benefits extend beyond the nutrition and such.  Knowing that the ingredients are organic will surely make it taste better too.  The funny thing is that I've never really been an applesauce fan.

Today I'm making Italian tomato sauce.  I'll probably be freezing, rather than canning, it.  

I also made some green tomato salsa as well as some cheese. Actually the cheese takes a few days.  

I have included some photos of this weekend's activities and a few of the landscape after this season's first snow in the valley.

 Finally, a shot of my trusted companion.  Ebony's my walking-running partner.  She's a 5-year-old puppy.  She is as affectionate as kitten and as forgiving as a grandparent.  Not a flattering shot.  Good thing she's forgiving.

Grape Processing

Last weekend, with the help of my good friend Gianni, we picked and mashed the grapes into a large plastic vat.  

Every day for 4 days I pushed all the grape skins and whatever else was floating at the top of the mixture to the bottom of the vat.  I should have done it all barefooted or found a few willing maids with clean feet.  

Thursday we drew the juice out from underneath the...floaters, storing the majority of juice in a large glass vask.  Within 5 hours it began bubbling and has been doing so for almost 4 days.   All the gunk is coming out the top and I have to pour in extra juice to replace the stuff that's bubbling out.

What appeals most to me is the simplicity of the entire process. I feel like I'm participating in an

ancient ritual of sorts, bonding

with some primal, ancestral, instinctual...NATURal essence.  Does that make sense?

Summer has FALLen

It has been raining constantly for the past forty hours.  I was planning on harvesting apples and making applesauce and juice.  That will have to wait for another day.  The Indian Summer that we have been enjoying seems to have drawn to a close.  My last day of roaming the woods and getting paid to do it has passed.  I thought I'd include some pictures of that last drive. These pictures are even more beautiful when opened and enlarged.

The vehicle that is off the road happened to be at

 a particularly picturesque spot, where the driver was probably looking at the back side of Mount

  Timpanogos when s/he went over the edge.  I imagine there's a lesson in that, avoid distractions such as texting, etc., when driving; but, I'm willing to cut this person a bit of slack IF being overwhelmed by nature's beauty was the distraction.  I took a few pictures after radioing it in to dispatch.

I'll truly miss getting out and visiting with campers and talking about Smokey Bear to their kids.  But most of all I'll miss the Uintas.  I had not spent much time there before this year and I do not own a truck that will take me to many of the places I was able to see this summer.   Next season, beginning in May, I'll be back up in the hills, almost daily, again.

Just Who Are We?

A couple of weeks ago I was out on patrol and thought I'd just take a few pictures of some residences. I am amazed at where people choose to built some of the nicest homes on the planet. I think we develop a sense of invincibility, that we are somehow shielded from the forces of nature, much as those who continue to build and rebuild in flood or hurricane areas. The first picture is of property where excavation has begun for a private drive and housing lot. The others are close-up and distant shots of nice homes built in incredibly STUPID places.

Season of Satisfaction

Everyone tells me Fall is their favorite season, and I can understand why. I like Spring and Fall, the in-between times, like dusk and dawn. I must say that I prefer Spring as it seems so full of promise.

I rode in the mountains today. I drove the Alpine Loop as well as the road between Sheep Creek (up Spanish Fork Canyon) and Strawberry Reservoir. The colors were breathtaking. I stopped and talked with some families who were camping together. I commented that it wasn't fair for them to be out sucking up nature while the rest of us were in the valleys fretting about our 401k's and the financial debacle our county is in.

Yesterday I harvested more than eight gallons of honey from my two first-year hives. How satisfying! It was a long process, about two hours longer than I had anticipated, plus I still have seven gallons to filter. But the satisfaction of caring for the bees and having them reward me with such a plentiful amount of honey is...singular. I took some video footage of the process. Perhaps I'll have to open a YouTube account or something. I'm not sure how much I can upload to this blog.  *Update: Click HERE to go to my new YouTube page. The feeling of working with the bees, interdependence, reminds me of an experience I had last month with my goats. I was called out on two consecutive fires and was relying on my son to feed and care for the animals. Doing so was out of his routine, plus he had to ride his bike twelve miles from Provo where he's enrolled at BYU. He either forgot one or more times or whatever: I'm not sure exactly what went wrong. I do know that the goats were very sick when I got back and I was sure I was going to lose them. I called the vet, who was not very encouraging but was willing to try a few things to the tune of $200 each animal. I declined and began my Reb-Tevianesque mono/dialogue with God. I blessed the animals and went to the feed store to look for ideas. Fortunately, I found a clerk who raised goats and whose grandmother in Idaho was a pro with natural remedies for animals. The clerk called her grandmother on her cell and I got the ingredients and administration instructions for two concoctions. Anyway, after 5 days of TLC Dot and Pinki were back on their feet and eating on their own. Their current milk production is back to where it was previously. What is most satisfying is my impression that they sense I saved their lives, or at least they know that I care enough to have tried.

I am living a charmed life in so many ways. I don't have enough money (who does or ever will?) but I'm having experiences that are priceless. A flood of ideas and insights come to me during these experiences, ides that seem to have broader application. For the present, I'll try to comprehend their personal meanings and bask in my season of satisfaction.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Quote

"I used to sit on the beach by the lakeside in some hidden refuge. There, the sound of the waves and the stirring of the water held my senses still, drove out of my mind all other kinds of agitation, and immersed it in a delightful reverie."

Does nature have that effect on anyone else but Rousseau and me?

Grapes and Such

It's been a long time, gosh, about 3 months. I'm keeping too busy and I'm enjoying most of it. Life is good.

I'm really trying to live off the land, eat what I grow. Next week I'm going to extract honey from my beehives which have been extremely productive. I've been making grape juice and am tinkering with the idea of making some wine. Not sure what I'd do with it but I have SO many grapes that I hate to see them go to waste. I'm making 2-3 lbs of cheese a week now. I got a few ears of corn and the tomatoes are flowing to the point I can't keep up with them.
I'm surprised at how much time it all is taking, yet I'm finding that other concerns that have been major stressors in my life are taking human dimensions. They are not so collosal. The money and material are always concerning, but I sense more of a sense of centeredness. Does that make sense?

Flat Tire

Yesterday I was out on "patrol" and decided to go up into Spanish Fork Canyon to check on a small fire that had begun the day before. After speaking with Nick, the Incident Commander (IC) I got back into the truck and headed west on Highway 6, one of the most dangerous highways in the state. Anyway, I'm cruising along at about 65-70 mph when my left front tire blows and the steering wheel jerks to the left. I had images of flipping over but the truck, a 2004 Ford Ranger, handled it remarkably well. The worst part was changing the tire in the dirt. I wanted to make sure I was safe so I got completely off the road way, which put the left side of the front end right into the dirt. In short, it took me 1 1/2 hours to change a simple flat.

I'm not sure how this episode ties in with the NATURE theme for this blog. Perhaps it's the natural high and the sense of accomplishment of first, maintaining control of the truck, and then changing a tire in what often seemed to be impossible conditions. It reminds me of the emphasis we teachers put on buoying up student self-esteem. I think real self-esteem comes from taking on a difficult, even risky task and doing our best. Completing the task is icing.

Milking Goats and Karma

These are not my goats, though they are the same breed. My goats have a fairly large pen with lots of grass to eat but, alas, I do feed them alfalfa, fourth crop preferably. The sweetness of the alfalfa seems to make the milk sweeter. Whatever goats eat comes out in the flavor of their milk. And since they'll eat a variety of things, their milk sometimes tastes "goaty."
One of the lessons nature teaches us is that what we put into something affects what we get from it. Our modern culture insulates us from the effects of our actions or inactions. We often forget that what goes in eventually comes out: what goes around comes around.

C'est Moi

Here are a couple of pictures of a couple of disgusting places I've been. One pic is in Europe and the other one is where I work in the summer: someone HAS to do it, eh.  Here's a little video of a couple of places up American Fork Canyon.