Wet, warm weather and the farm crops have popped out of the ground. My friend Phil used to insist you could hear the corn as it emerged from the ground.
The contrast in this photograph is fascinating. The monoculture of corn, planted in bare ground, contrasting with the diverse, wooded hills beyond.
New corn on a Vermont hill farm.
The politics of corn, of course, is tangled and pervasive. Otter Creek, as seen from the air two weeks ago, shows just how dirty the politics of growing corn can get.
Agricultural erosion and runoff, as seen in the muddy brown waters of Otter Creek, are substantial and significant, much of it the result of monocultures of annual crops like corn.
“Cheap” meat has hidden costs—pollution, lost soil, bankrupt farms among them—that make it all much less of a bargain that it appears when we are standing at the counter in the grocery store worried about costs. But don’t worry! One way or another we are paying the full cost and we really can’t afford it.
I’d rather pay a fair price directly to someone who grows the food I eat, someone who does so using farm methods that actually work with nature and take care of the planet. Of course much has been written about this elsewhere and many people are putting the ideas into practice. They are my heroes!
Last night we enjoyed chicken liver for the first time in ages because we know the good folks at Tangletown Farm where it came from and how the animals were raised. And that is a wonderful contrast with how things still are in too many parts of the country. Maybe we should occupy farms!
Still Learning To See 
Or maybe we should pull a “Wendell Berry” and gather everyone we love and have our OWN farm! Berry is certainly one of my heroes in more ways than just land use–his poetry is also an inspiration. Sadly, the small farm is nearly obsolete, with agribusiness taking over. Yet, WE as individuals CAN choose to live true to our beliefs–which is what you and Liz do. Thanks for another wise message 🙂
The corn photos and brown water brought me visions of terraces we see in pictures from the Orient. Wonder if our new machines wouldn’t let us get this done easier than the way those were so skillfully built by hand. Older civilizations have used “tired’ ground successfully for generations. Maybe there’s a lesson there for us.