Home

I made it back from DC without incident, though the trip home seemed eternal. I had the pleasure of flying, for the first time, in both snow and rain during the course of this trip. In fact, not to sound crude, but my first thought when I got off the plane in DC was, "Wow, rain and black people. I haven't seen these things for awhile." Boulder sees little of either. But there was a couple of inches of snow coming down when I returned. I didn't feel like I was quite ready to leave DC, but it sure did feel good coming home. I like being able to see mountains 50 miles away with nothing but rolling grasslands between us. As amazing as the mega cities of the East are, my heart lives in the West.

This weekend I made easy rounds to the farms that grow my food, milk and yogurt from Taft Hill Dairy, eggs from Jay Hill Farm. I felt more present than usual and the landscape felt more intensely beautiful and grand. I took in the sights and sounds and smells of the Rockies and I was reminded of the first time I laid eyes on them. I like the slower pace of life out here and the open space. A few days in the city makes me appreciate it all the more.

I also picked up and delivered 800 pounds of organic oats that were donated to the Rocky Mountain Horse Rescue. (I received a gift of 50 pounds of these organic oats for myself! That should last us at least a year.) The "ranch" where I picked up the oats is owned by an attorney and his wife (though they weren't the oat donors.) The "ranch" is breathtaking, with sweeping views of the plains, of Boulder, and of the snow-capped peaks beyond. The "ranch" is nearly 30 acres of golden grassy hills with excellent soil and water rights and easy access to Boulder. I have to put "ranch" in quotes because I was told by a woman who works there that the owners are not "horse people" and pay her to completely care for and give attention to their horses which are never ridden. The owners apparently aren't "garden people" either, and on their acreage sits a mansion that looks like it was plucked right out of a million dollar suburb in any generic city. There is an organic garden that the hired hand created, though the owner is thinking about installing a tennis court in that sunny spot. Not that he's a tennis player, but you know, what else is he going to spend his money on? They already had the old barn moved (yes, the whole thing) from its historic location to a less than ideal spot so they could build their own private fitness center with a superb view of the mountains where the barn once stood. What does it matter if the barn is now cold and drafty? After all, they're not "horse people" and they might want to see mountains when they glance up from the exercise bike now and then. (They have 30 dreamy acres on which to exercise yet they build a whole building around an exercise bike. The whole thing made me sick. How does this happen? A lawyer buys 30 acres of absolutely prime farmland in Colorado then buries it under a behemoth house, relegates the horses to a drafty barn shoved to the windy side of the hill which are only there in the first place for his extremely occasional amusement, and is considering paving over the organic garden with a tennis court. And then there's me, who would practically worship a few acres of good dirt and water so I could grow nutritious, local food to feed myself and my community and live lightly on the land, but am stuck in an apartment in the middle of the city because farmland costs a literal fortune because of all the lawyers who aren't "horse people" buying it up and plopping their mansions on it.

Non-farmers should not be allowed to have farms. Period. That is to say, you shouldn't be allowed to have agriculturally productive land if you plan to do nothing with it but grow mansions (or suburban sprawlplexes for that matter). It's a little like clear cutting a National Park so the wealthy can have fancy hardwood cabinetry. We all lose because of the greed of the few.

This is wrong, wrong, wrong. America is losing on average 2 acres of farmland EVERY MINUTE, 24 hours a day due to development. That's over 20,000 acres every single week. That's enough land for over 600 good sized farms. EVERY WEEK. Think about that. Colorado is a great place to see this. Drive through the "country" in many places around here and you'll see rows and rows of cookie cutter houses and condo complexes along the hilltops. They form walls around the remaining farms like armies of pre-fabricated second rate housing for wannabe nobility. (I particularly love it when they bulldoze the farm, install 500 identical houses, and name the monstrosity something like "Wheatland Farm Estates." They're neither farms nor estates!) We're literally burying some of the best farmland in the world under people who think that food magically appears wrapped in plastic at the supermarket. We can live just fine without Wal-Mart and shopping malls, but one thing that every one of us absolutely depends upon is food. We are so short sighted that even as our population increases, we continue turning farmland into suburban mega-sprawlplexes, complete with fertilizer- and pesticide-drenched lawns soaking up billions of gallons of water every year that could be used to grow abundant, healthy food and ease the burden on our rivers, wetlands and groundwater. It's unbelievable.

If I had the means, I'd buy that lawyer's land, disassemble the house and donate the components to Houses for Humanity, and turn it into a working organic farm with a modest farm house. And you can bet your ass I'd be a "horse person" and a "garden person" and lots of people in Boulder would be able to enjoy the land through the fruits of my labor and the beauty such a farm would bring to our community. I'd mentor students and make an effort to educate people about the abundance of benefits to be had from clean, sustainable, local farming. I'd use our resources responsibly and share the wealth with everyone. What I would not do is destroy it all for the sake of my own vanity.

Unbelievable.