turning points

My first-born’s upcoming birthday inspired my pondering of where I was at his age, and where I went from there.

In the photo to the right I am standing in my seven foot tall cover crop of oats, bell beans and vetch.

I began studying agriculture in college earlier, fortunately running across Bob Cannard before I wasted a ton of time becoming mal-educated by the reigning ‘conventional ag’.

I was about five years into learning how to work WITH nature, listen to her, help her, and subtly discovering that the dominant school of thought was just flat WRONG in the agricultural realm.

The Bob Cannard school of thought has many names, but its successes are irrefutable. We can, and DO grow healthy plants without pests and without pesticides.

It was that little chink in the armor of prevailing thought that likely opened me up to other minority opinions.

It was right about my son’s age today, 47 years old, where the biggest changes in my life began taking place.

The Real Lincoln, When in the Course of Human Events, Atlas Shrugged, Austrian Economics, and the knowledge of the Libertarians reached me, changed me because I was open to them.

Once you take The Red Pill, you do not turn back. You don’t want to. It would be like choosing a lobotomy because cognition is not amusing.

“You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
― Morpheus, to Neo ― from the movie The Matrix

Granted, I get spun up over things the Average Joe doesn’t even notice.

The saving grace is that I understand causes, effects and likely outcomes they don’t. I am physically, emotionally and psychologically prepared for events that will puzzle, shock, and confuse the masses … well, at least I am continually working on it while they are distracted with their bread and circuses.