Larry Plesent
Twenty years ago, a young man took upon himself the mission of expanding inner city gardens. He wanted to do this for all the right reasons. He wanted to create fresh food, knowledge of where our nourishment comes from and a safe green neighborhood environment. What he envisioned was both a respite and a teaching center. The young man was bright and earnest and he had a college degree.
And so he was able to write an application and obtain a grant and create a pilot project mini-farm in a dense city environment. He grew vegetables and turned compost and tried to connect with his new neighbors. He engaged anyone who showed the slightest interest.
His pocket farm had chickens and he gave away their eggs. But there was little interest in his fresh produce and questionable dirty eggs. He looked like just another crazy white boy on a mission.
As part of the project, he also obtained a small cow. This one came with udders.
It was the cow that piqued the notice of the neighborhood kids who seemed to spend all of their waking hours on the street. They were “udderly” fascinated when he milked the cow. Those kids had no idea this was where milk came from! He drunk a cup of fresh warm milk to show them that it was safe. Of course, the kids wanted to try some too.
My acquaintance had been drinking the milk for almost two weeks with no ill effect, and he knew his sanitation procedures were good. So, with the daring of the young, he offered it up. To his surprise the kids loved the stuff. They really, really loved it and seemed to thrive on it too.
Soon he had children lining up and down the block waiting for a cup of fresh milk. He had to get another cow, which soon gave birth to another. Wonders of nature.
His generosity had created a feeding program for a place where children are sent out for the day without a meal or the means to obtain one. He was a one-man Peace Corp creating healthier smarter more self-assured young people with at least a basic knowledge of agriculture. The project also created lots of manure. And THAT created a manure load of complaints.
Being of scientific bent (this is a true story after all) he knew that while cows generate a lot of methane (36% of species generated methane currently), methane is odorless. Manure clearly is not.
He began experimenting with natural feed additives to see if he could find something that lessened the sharp stench of fresh cow poop. Somebody in the seaweed business suggested adding small amounts of edible seaweed to the cow’s feed. When they got to about 5% not only did the cows seem to enjoy the treat; the poopy smell was reduced by 95%.
Holy manure Agro-man!
Eventually the grant ran out. And anyway, feeding raw milk to children, despite clear and obvious benefits is a no-no in polite circles and at various state and local health-guarding agencies blind to 10,000 years of agriculture. In the end he was forced to move on. But now our hero had a new mission. He wanted to spread the word of the amazing poopy smell annulling powers of seaweed. In one clean sweep his discovery virtually eliminated a major drawback to concentrated animal agriculture.
He began traveling to organic conferences offering his advice to anyone who would listen. That’s when I met him at NOFA-NY in Saratoga, NY.
It was a dark and stormy night with snow piling up against the windows of the conference hall as he slowly told me his story. His solution was elegant, natural, nutritious, and helped to mitigate the encroachment of human developments in areas formerly used only for agriculture. But it had one major drawback and it stared us both in the face.
The human love affair with bovine domesticus, that ravenous living machine that turns hay, grain and water into milk, meat, methane and manure had a larger appetite then fast-growing seaweed can keep up with. His solution would quickly become part of the problem.
The last I heard, our hero was working in the world of sustainable seaweed, mostly for human consumption.
This parable is a kind of Zen story. A question with no answer anyone in their right mind (actually it’s the left) can answer. Each answer creates another problem. That’s because all of us are part of an eco-system. No part can be fully separated from the whole. One hand clapping and all that.
If each of us make our acts of creation and consumption as natural, local, and sustainable as we can in the moment, we will collectively make a huge difference. This positive action also allows other people to see themselves (for example) driving electric cars or manufacturing their own electricity from light, wind and water. Or living in super insulated houses. Or maybe finally trying some kale. Perhaps even volunteering time to help others more messed up than ourselves.
This is also a story of hope and heroism. All of us have a rippling effect of influence, like a stone dropped into still water sending waves out in ever-widening circles. What type of ripples will YOUR life make?
Larry Plesent is a writer living in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Learn more at www.vtsoap.com and www.reactivebody.com
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