Hay and Death

I am still working on my Goat post.  It is going to cover the mechanics of raising goats along with 5 years of the numbers.   Yeap, goats can be a business.  I am adapting my goat operation to green prepping by incorporating goats into a permaculture of localism.  This is further adapted by the dualism of REAL Green which is a relative and realistic with adaptation of permaculture localism to the delocalizing ways of globalism.  In other words I am trying to be green with an activity that is marginally profitable.  REAL Green is how I adapt to my carbon trap and trap of nature and nurture with the path dependencies of my local of people and place. 

Goats are my specialty but only make up part of my permaculture homestead.  REAL Green is about a specialization but also about being a jack of all trades.  This is a journey of learning resulting in a deeper spiritual meaning of life.  This spiritual asset of meaning I believe is what is needed to offset the great turning of decline that is ahead.  All of us have a tougher life ahead with comforts and things so finding increased meaning is critical to quality of life.  This will be a period of a planetary forcing that will result in humans being forced with negative feedbacks.  This homestead is my physical connection.  The spiritual component is my monestary.  My monestary is the gathering place for ideas and things that represent my spiritual permaculture.  Yes, proper human spirituality mirrors permaculture.

My Goat post has been delayed by hay and death.  I have put up 500 bales since I last talked to you.  These are small square bales perfect for the goats when they kid in the coldest part of winter.  They are also environmentally greener and more prepped.  I made them with small horsepower equipment.  They are put up in my goat barn where the does kid.  The hay is stored right above where the goats will stay in the cold of winter.  I can feed them by hand daily instead of moving large round bales by machine which is typical of a profit motivated operation.  This hay was made and put up with my wife and kids making it a family affair.  Family is the keystone of localism.  I still have round bales made but it is important to me to make square bales for the goats in a REAL Green way.  These goats are central to my green prepping effort.  I raise registered breeding stock.  I don’t eat my goats and try to find homes for all of them but if SHTF I can survive on my goat herd.

The mixing of square bales and custom cut round bales utilizing large equipment dovetails with my realistic and relative of the dualism of REAL Green.  Putting up square bale hay reminds me of the fire wood I make.  Wood heat is marginal considering labor and my time.  Most operations are going to round bales because of the difficulty of handling square bales and cost of labor.  The cost of cutting hay yourself with the equipment and finding the time and the labor does not pencil out.  Today it is almost just a hobby if you are a small operation.  Yet, when you REAL Green hay making there is value with green prepping.

REAL Greening hay is about a return to a better method in regards to sustainability and resilience.  Yet, notice I mix both hay making ways in my operation by being relative and realistic.  This is the dualism of REAL Green.  You adapt away from the status quo as best you can with REAL Green but don’t expect to decouple from the powerful economics of the status quo.  When I make hay, I am on a small 30HP tractor right there with the grass instead of up high in an airconditioned cab of a 100HP tractor.  This goat hay activity is low carbon capture in localism which is a basis of REAL Green.  It is my hope eventually I can get an electric tractor charged by solar pannels to make this hay even greener.  Ideally the TRUE Green of human and animal labor should be used to make this hay but this is beyond my capability.  REAL Green is the best I can do.

Finally, I have been delayed with my writing because my dad passed away yesterday.  I have to give him my thanks for keeping the family farm together.  This farm is now my life’s focus and passion.  I have an 80 acre farm on the southern border and the family farm is 300 acres on the north.  The family farm is now in its 73^rd year with 4 other families.  Dad also assisted me with the building of my Amish monitor barn that is serving as my shop.  I would have got this barn built without dad’s help but not with all the added features that make this barn a REAL Green masterpiece.  I miss him dearly now.

My dad had prostate cancer and it spread aggressively.  He was given 12 months 3 years ago so he beat the odds and had good quality of life just until a few months ago.  His cancer diagnosis was heart breaking but also serendipitous for me.  I was recommended to get checked out and found I too had the cancer.  I was able to have the cancer removed and it appears I am now cancer free.  When I talk about the realistic and relative of REAL Green keep in mind that the dirty status quo medical system saved my life and prolonged my dad’s.  This is the double edge sword of technology.  It is killing us but also giving life. 

My wife and I have been coming in every weekend to be with dad and assist my mom.  This makes it hard to do what I need to do on the farm.  There is never enough time or money.  Again, I want to relate this to REAL Green because leaving the farm and driving 2 hrs to see my dad is delocalizing and carbon intensive but in REAL Green it is about adapting to your trap of people and place.  I try to be as green as possible but within my situation of people and place.  My dad died at home with his family by his side.  It was a moving experience.