Growing up on a dairy farm above the Maquoketa River, on marginal land full of rocks and trees locally known as the burdock farm when we moved on to the farm! These were still the days of farmers who raised oats to start hay fields after a few years of corn. The mention of fireflys brought the neighbors oat field clearly back into my memory. The oats was headed out and a late soft evening rain set the stage for a lightening bug show that I have never seen since. Growing up in that isolation on the edge of the timber made you more aware of nature that was a part of those small farm days of rotation crops and livestock of all varieties. 50 years later, much has been erased. The cows are gone, the hogs are gone, the hay ground is limited or in CRP, and the better ground is in corn. What really is missing are the birds that were common, Eastern Meadow larks are completely gone as are the cow birds, the Brown Thrush and Quail. Possum, badgers, and even ground squirrels are in short supply, and the snakes and ground turtles. Some of this has to do with injecting the cheapest fertilizer into the ground, Anything in the ground will quickly die by getting their lungs frozen. The birds, well, with limited weeds because of Round Up, much of their natural sources of weed seeds have dried up. Even the butterflies are in short supply, the Monnarchs are on the endandered species list now, that has much to do with Round up ready corn and the fact that Monarchs died eatting the pollen on the corn. Suddenly everyone was assured that the lack of Milkweed was the problem, and people started planting milk all over the place, It likely helped, but the damage remains with the corn pollen. Consontrated farming simply dispoils nature. Profitability be damned, smaller is far more kind to nature!
I forgot to mention the Bobolinks, haven't seen any in years, the loss of simple "one horse" type farmers has been a death nell to both the birds and the real farmers who gave a shit about all aspects of farming as a continum and not "dirt mining".
Growing up on a dairy farm above the Maquoketa River, on marginal land full of rocks and trees locally known as the burdock farm when we moved on to the farm! These were still the days of farmers who raised oats to start hay fields after a few years of corn. The mention of fireflys brought the neighbors oat field clearly back into my memory. The oats was headed out and a late soft evening rain set the stage for a lightening bug show that I have never seen since. Growing up in that isolation on the edge of the timber made you more aware of nature that was a part of those small farm days of rotation crops and livestock of all varieties. 50 years later, much has been erased. The cows are gone, the hogs are gone, the hay ground is limited or in CRP, and the better ground is in corn. What really is missing are the birds that were common, Eastern Meadow larks are completely gone as are the cow birds, the Brown Thrush and Quail. Possum, badgers, and even ground squirrels are in short supply, and the snakes and ground turtles. Some of this has to do with injecting the cheapest fertilizer into the ground, Anything in the ground will quickly die by getting their lungs frozen. The birds, well, with limited weeds because of Round Up, much of their natural sources of weed seeds have dried up. Even the butterflies are in short supply, the Monnarchs are on the endandered species list now, that has much to do with Round up ready corn and the fact that Monarchs died eatting the pollen on the corn. Suddenly everyone was assured that the lack of Milkweed was the problem, and people started planting milk all over the place, It likely helped, but the damage remains with the corn pollen. Consontrated farming simply dispoils nature. Profitability be damned, smaller is far more kind to nature!
Pure wisdom.
I forgot to mention the Bobolinks, haven't seen any in years, the loss of simple "one horse" type farmers has been a death nell to both the birds and the real farmers who gave a shit about all aspects of farming as a continum and not "dirt mining".