A friend told me about this book ('you know about Aldo Leopold, don't you?' 'No, not yet.....') shortly after moving to Madison, Wisconsin in 1973. I love the entire book, and re-read it often (in fact I have several editions), but with intention, I have re-read his essay 'The Land Ethic' (the last chapter in A Sand County Almanac) every year since first reading it during the early-70's.
Yes, food, farming, land, people, and so much more - we are all connected. :)
That essay, first published in 1948 I believe, was way ahead of the curve. It is rather startling to keep re-reading it and appreciate Dr. Leopold's prescience about the damages that large-scale industrialized agriculture would bring to the soil and the multiple biological and human communities that healthy soil nourishes and supports. That essay also brings together everything I am interested in that I mentioned in my previous post about healthy soil, and it is not overstating the case to say that I learn or see something new each time I read it.
Short post this morning as I have lots to do today. So I'll leave you to ponder, I do the same :), some of Aldo Leopold's words from his essay 'The Land Ethic' along with another of my favorite quotes about soil:
“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals….In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.”
~~ Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
Soil is the tablecloth under the banquet of civilization.
~~ Steven Stoll, Larding of the Lean Earth (2002)
Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,
Diana Dyer, MS, RD
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