Working in the Sun

[Charley Quinton]

Every day, old Sol makes his pass across our sky. Thinking about an economy based in water, soil and sunlight is my bailiwick. But I must keep the people side in focus too. Having returned to my home county after a three-year adventure to other parts, mostly urban, gives me a novel set of parameters to work with. What I am learning is that the American mind is forgetful of the American core values, and value is the basis of economy. Both city people and county folks must know that the clouds, the sun, the streams, and the creatures in, on and under the soil are all family - and of great value. The Human family has to come back together.

"There is a critical need that a firm line be drawn between the legitimate use of the surpluses of Nature and their straight-out destructive exploitation. But who is to draw the line and who could maintain the line? Authority? Not likely! Youth then? Perhaps they had better, because they and their children are the people who will be worst affected." P. A. Yeomans The City Forest Chapter 14 - The Bastardisation of Agriculture

Sometimes as I walk around this farm, I look back on my experiences in the city and try to imagine how different transient people I know would respond to being out here. It takes a real stretch of imagination to pry them out of the situation of utter despair to bring them here. Community and place are so connected but the urban-to-rural adjunct is unbearably complex. That same sun is there. The network of rivers are close. The clouds sail over both places. The Internet even connects. But the minds may as well be on separate planets. The thinking is changing, especially the next generation, but what can balance the trend of flocking to the cities? How can the urban-rural relationship be reconciled? If there was a way to cause awareness of one another to grow like the grass does...