Did you know there's a difference between farming and ranching? Some of you might, but I know many like myself at one time, who take that for granted. Farming is actually cultivating and harvesting and ranching is raising livestock like sheep, cattle, etc. Of course, you'd never admit that you didn't know, believe me, I understand. Did you know that Montana is one of the largest wheat producers in the country and roughly 30% of that production feeds Russia and parts of Europe? Me either. My husband grew up farming and ranching both in a VERY small town in eastern Montana, population of maybe 40 now; graduating high school class of nine, I think. His great grandfather homesteaded there almost one hundred years ago and ran a mercantile store in addition to farming and ranching; something one just doesn't hear of growing up in the city. While the farm is still in operation today, it's a struggle to break even.
The expenses involved in large farming and ranching operations today to maintain quality production barely makes it worth their while. But it's the quality of life that keeps some hanging on; the core values and the old belief of working together as a family and a community to get things done; being self sufficient as well as the pride that comes with knowing they are needed by the rest of the nation. But as their children get older and with all the new technology today, traditional nights of watching basketball games and attending community events in some of these small towns become a thing of the past. The children move on to college and the city life; never to return other than for a short visit. Businesses slowly start closing their doors after fifty to a hundred years of surviving droughts, recessions and plain hard times. As the older generations enter into their final days in the local nursing homes, old homesteads are abandoned and the mice settle in.
Farming and ranching communities are dying all across America primarily due to a lack of interest from these younger generations. Market pressures and low prices are forcing some out of business as well while others are slowly being bought out for recreational property by big time investors who want to put conservation easements on millions of acres; promising long term leases and then terminating the lease over time; slowly putting the farmers and ranchers out of business altogether. Massive sized turbines cover the landscape now as far as the eye can see with big money leases in place. Don't get me wrong, I am all for alternative energy. But there must be a balance.
This past week as the winter storms hit the Washington, DC area, I received a call from my son stationed there with the Marine Corps. His first words to his dad were "oh my gosh dad, you would think the end of the world was here" as he spoke of his journey through town to buy a quart of orange juice in the nine largest metropolitan area of the United States. People panicked as the word of a winter storm hit the news. Shelves were suddenly depleted of the basic foods; milk, eggs, bread, and meat. Rooms filled quick at the local hotels as people feared getting stuck in their cars. Power outages reached from the metropolitan area as far as Virginia for up to thirty hours in some places. Another storm hit today.
America has become too dependent; relying on others for even our basic needs. When we want something, we expect it to be there when we decide to go and get it. We are taught at an early age the life skills necessary to skate through life; checkbook management; how to pay bills; a basic understanding of history, etc. and failed in teaching self-sufficiency. We are a spoiled society having everything at our fingertips at a moments notice. When it comes to a leak in the plumbing, a car breaking down, having no power, no heat and the possibility of our food running out, we panic. I'm not saying that everyone should rush out and become masters of all trades, but there must be balance.
Small scale farming and ranching is becoming more and more popular across the country as society sees the rising cost of food with no end in sight for a recovering economy. Self-sufficiency is empowering and goes hand in hand with sustainability. By learning how to do for ourselves, we can maintain even in rough economical times. The balance between these and the new wave of promoting alternative energy in the way of oil, gas, wind energy and land conservation is teetering toward the latter. Without our farming and ranching, we deplete our food source not to mention the impact on the rest of the world. Even for those that choose to hunt wild animals in an effort to feed their families, restrictions have become so tight in some areas that even they are unsuccessful in providing an alternative food source for their family.
Sustainability means to support; to maintain; to endure. We must find a healthy balance; working toward the common goal of giving back to the earth what at times must be taken in order to survive. Especially when it goes beyond survival for unnecessary luxuries.
The "friendly" in "eco-friendly" becomes "not so friendly" when the pendulum swings too far to one side or the other. Judgments are cast on both sides thinking one is better than the other; better yet, right or wrong. In order for there to be harmony in this effort, one must earn respect for the other side and be open to learning and understanding and set judgment and stereotypes aside. These extreme attitudes leave us stagnant at a time of when our nation is most vulnerable to fail.
