Joel Salatin - The Lunatic Farmer

So, OK.

I promised many folks that I would just gush and gush all about what Joel Salatin had to say in his speaking engagement on February 2, 2013 at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/joel%20salatin

But I have been uncharacteristically quiet.

There is a reason.

I had to soak up what I was becoming aware of.

Reality.

Mr. Salatin has a much better grasp on IT than I did.

Here is the gist of IT all. IT being Mr. Salatin's point he wants to get across to folks. IT being the hurdles and obstacles that we all face. IT being why things happen as they do.

This IT is quite simple.

And simple things become abundantly profound when viewed in their entirety.

Here IT is:

We all do NOT think about and view situations the same.  

That's IT.

That's all.

What you do with that information should be up to you.

As citizens of a society where we claim to be free, one of the last remaining freedoms is the freedom to think and feel as we do.

There are a great many people who, after listening to a lifetime of my screaming my brand of reality, will continue to scream their brand of reality.

They, or I, can scream that the other's reality is not real. But for each individual IT is real.

What Mr. Salatin, and I, believe is this:

Each person should be allowed to live their reality and accept the consequences of such.

That is IT.

If you want to hear more about that go find Mr. Salatin at Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and ask and see and experience. Go find him on YouTube, watch videos of him. Go find his books, read what he says so that you can study on IT and decide what you want to agree with and what you don't.

He says IT all so much better than I.

-Suzanna 

WINTER BOOK REVIEW II

A while back I had promised a some what regular book review.....

Well, here is the second in the The Squirrely Acres Winter Book Review:

One of the books on my short list that I was looking forward to reading was The Woodlot Management Handbook by Stewart Hilts and Peter Mitchell.

http://www.amazon.com/Woodlot-Management-Handbook-Property-Conservation/dp/155407553X

Honestly, I would recommend reading this in installments - UNLESS your bookshelf is totally bare and you do not have an e-reader of some sort!

There is an enormous amount of information here and so many subjects are abstracted out here that one could spend the entire winter reading and rereading this to learn all they could on trees, woodlot management, and their various uses and purposes.

This extensive handbook will be a future purchase for my personal bookshelf. Even though I would not sit down and read it cover to cover, I would reference it in many situations. 

Almost every situation and use of a wood lot is covered here. Over all the authors long to educate and awaken a sense of value in the reader that can be created in any woodlot. 

Also, there is a section on how to begin your woodlot. Not all acreage has a woodlot, but all can benefit from the formation of a management system fostering a new one.

The three basic concepts in this book cover:
1. Knowing what a wood lot is and is not
2. How to steward the woodlot
3. What value can be added and enjoyed from a woodlot. 

Even if you do not entertain any ideas of managing a woodlot, this book is very helpful in spelling out just how EVERYONE can benefit from a local woodlot. 

This book is well worth at least a quick skimming to add it to possible reference sources for the future.  

An activity I would suggest to accompany reading this book is to visit (here locally) the Shrader Weaver Nature Preserve  and The Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary. At either site you can see examples of stewardship and preservation that can help you understand in a more personal way what efforts produce the best results. 

-Suzanna