I have always been an animal person. In my youth I wanted to be a naturalist or a veterinarian. For years, I used our set of encyclopedias and the library to study one animal after another. One animal I had little interest in at that time was the cow. I guess I thought cows were boring and unimportant because it looked to me like all they did was stand around in pastures. However, my ideas about cows changed dramatically two years ago when our first family cow came to live with us. Now I understand that cows are one of the key animals supporting human civilization.

The cow’s generosity is one of Nature’s special gifts to humanity. She embodies the Divine Mother’s gracious qualities of generosity, patience nurturance, tolerance and grounding. Cows have a very earthy quality that gives you a sense of security when you are around them. All of us here experience a great sense of wellbeing during milking times, no matter what state we are in when we start out. Through spending so much time with them, the cow has become for me the Earth Mother’s representative. I feel blessed to some living with me on my property. Here is an interesting essay about the attributes and the value of cows from a Hindu perspective. While we are not Hindu, we have discovered the truth of some of what is written here through personal experience.

I notice that how a culture treats its cows reflects in some way how it treats its women and how it relates with the feminine principle in general. In our society we generally disrespect and exploit our cows in spite of how many of them we have. In the corporate mentality that now dominates the world and reigns supreme here in America, cows are treated as a commodity. Agri-business has focused exclusively on a select few breeds as the corporate the ideal for serving the modern marketplace. Many of the remaining heritage breeds carefully developed over hundreds of years are disappearing so rapidly that they are now categorized as rare breeds. (Please see the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy for more information.)

The industry ideal these days for the beef cow appears to be the Black Angus while the ideal for the dairy industry is the Holstein. The Holstein is a tall cow with a slim frame and long legs and an over-developed mammary system. She gives an enormous amount of lower quality milk -as much as eight gallons a day when they first calve. Due to their being over-bred and cared for in unnatural ways, the Holstein is prone to disease and doesn’t carry a parasite load well. As is generally the case in the cattle industry, Holsteins and other corporate favored breeds are routinely injected with health-stealing antibiotics and hormones. Just as within human bodies, the harmful bacteria and viruses are becoming resistant to the antibiotics. The majority of corporate cows are not given access to the pasture which provides their natural food but are kept in small feedlots where they are fed grains, usually corn, which they are not equipped to digest. Their inefficient digestion of the grain leads to increased disease as well as excess burping up of the methane gas which contributes to global warming. Their enforced grain diet and cramped quarters also increases the incidence of harmful e coli bacteria. Both beef and dairy cows are a cog in the corporate assembly line for slaughter and milk extraction respectively. The cow which has been respected and celebrated worldwide for thousands of years is now treated as an exploitable commodity. Just like nature, the earth and woman herself, the cow is considered an object, something that you mold the way you want, from which you take what you want when you want it and then thrown away when the one exploited/desired quality diminishes with maltreatment and age. This attitude of ingratitude will be the downfall of our civilization.

For us as a family, our cows came to us through the various efforts of both the progressive and conservative communities where we were living. My wife, Leslie, had researched for years about the benefits of raw milk so a family cows was a definite part of our general plan for building a homestead. Leslie joined a food co-op and picked our orders up at a very nice, conservative Mennonite woman’s house. The woman told Leslie about a family that was practically giving away raw milk because they had far more than they could use. Leslie contacted them right away and began to get delicious milk from them by the gallon. Months later they decided they wanted to sell their milk cow and figured we were likely candidates for taking her on. They gave us a few options for trying out milking her ourselves and seeing if we wanted to buy her.

At the time we had just seen the excellent PBS Nature episode entitled Holy Cow which tells the story of how the cow has domesticated human beings. I had also recently gone on a trip to India. At an ashram there, I noticed a cow that was living with no available pasture and was lying on a cement slab when I saw her. I walked up to her. We looked at each other and had some sort of a moment; there was a subtle exchange. At that moment I knew we were going to purchase the cow.

Needing a second cow a year later, we went to the Twin Oaks intentional community nearby our home. This progressive community was where our cow, Pezra, originally came from and where we ended up purchasing her older sister, Phoebe. Ironically the Mennonite woman and Twin Oaks were both are on the same road, only several miles apart. Both of the parties we purchased the cows from were helpful in setting up our homestead and getting us adjusted to our new duties. So for us the cows were “uniters” as they created a convergence of two otherwise polarized communities.

We are still milking our two cows, Phoebe and Pezra, twice a day. Since their arrival we have learned how to make butter, mozzarella, panir, ghee, kefir, kefir cheese, kefir mascarpone, feta and a few other things with their wholesome milk. We switched our cows over to being grass-fed only with the sole addition of an excellent mineral mix. Our cows are the rare Dutch Belted or Lakenvelder breed that has only 200 registered in the United States. Ours are not pure bred and are not registered but they are wonderful nevertheless and give delicious, easily digested milk.

There is a part of this experience that is difficult to translate into words but I think it has to do with the fact that people and cows have been together for centuries. In many ways, for us having cows has been like coming home. There is something familiar and nourishing about being with them. This goes beyond food or anything else that the cows physically provide. It has more to do with the fact that they have a presence, a condition, a vibrational quality that is very beneficial to the human experience. I have nothing but gratitude for these cows and their heifers coming into our lives.

Attached is the first in a series of 12 videos of “A Day in the Life of Our Cows” and a link to our channel for the last nine.

All the best,

Paul

In the course of reading a lovely old book to the children last night, we came across an unexpected reference to Dutch Belted cows. This book has now become even more special to us and gives us a living link to the land and times whence our noble cows came.

One of the great joys of homeschooling and using a Charlotte Mason approach in general and Ambleside Online in particular is that the children and I share the very best literature together constantly. It is pleasantly instructive for all of us and deepens the bond between us as we step together into one world after another and use our minds and hearts to explore it. Ah bliss …

Yesterday’s Classics is a business that serves Ambleside Online among others as it publishes books long out of print from “the golden age of children’s literature” which they cite as being from about 1880 to 1920. When I last placed an order for necessities, I splurged and bought a copy of The Dutch Twins as well (scroll down the page and you will find it about halfway down on the right). I just couldn’t resist it, for some reason, and now I am so glad. It is written simply enough that they can almost read it for themselves but we are having such fun sharing it by my reading it to them. How I love hearing their delighted laughter when the twins do something especially cute and familiar.

Last night we read about the morning these soft cheeked 5 year old twins spent with their mother:

“I shall be glad of help,” said Vrouw Vedder, “because Grandma is coming, and I want everything to be very clean and tidy when she comes. I’m going first to the pasture to milk the cow. You can go with me and keep the flies away. That will be a great help.”

Vrouw Vedder put a yoke across her shoulders, with hooks hanging from each end of it. Then she hung a large pail on one of the hooks, and a brass milk can on the other. She gave Kat a little pail to carry, and Kit took some switches from the willow tree in the yard, with which to drive away the flies. Then they all three started down the road to the pasture. …

When they reached the pasture, there was Mevrouw Holstein waiting for them. Mevrouw Holstein was the cow’s name. Kit and Kat named her.

Vrouw Vedder tucked up her skirts - and that was quite a task, for she wore a great many of them - and sat down on a little stool. Kit and Kat stood beside her and waved their willow wands and said, “Shoo!” to the flies ; and Vrouw Vedder began to milk.

Mevrouw Holstein had eaten so much of the green meadow grass that Vrouw Vedder filled both the big pail and the brass can, and the little pail too, with rich milk.

“I shall have enough milk to make butter and cheese,” said Vrouw Vedder. “There are no cows like our Dutch cows in all the world, I believe.”

“O Mother, are you going to churn today?” asked Kat.

“Yes,” said the Vrouw, “I have cream enough at home to make a good roll of butter, and you may help me if you will be very careful and work steadily.”

“I will be very steady,” said Kat. “I’m big enough now to learn.” (pages 47-51)

When we read the words “Dutch cows”, we all wondered… Could it be? Why yes, look at this charming picture with the Dutch Belted cows in the background chewing their cud! Dutch Belted cows are so rare these days that this unassuming little drawing holds great meaning for us. As a matter of fact, the entire passage quoted above holds great meaning for us because embedded in it are many facts and attitudes about child rearing, real food, the biology of milk production, farming practices and so on that are nearly lost nowadays. While I was reading it to them last night, the children caught these meanings naturally and their way of life was reinforced in their minds and hearts.

This is a perfect example, by the way, of why I am constantly searching the past for some clues about how to conduct family life in the present in order to build a healthy future. (One of my greatest sources for this kind of information is Down Memory Lane, Vol. 1, by the way, for those of you who know this wonderful book but I find bits and pieces from many sources.)

I was curious as to why Kit and Kat would have named a Dutch Belted cow “Mevrouw Holstein” as we know Holsteins as a different sort of cow altogether. I discovered that “Mevrouw” means “Madame” and the name Holstein originally meant “the land of those who dwell in the woods.” In other words, it is a place name from that general area of the world where this story takes place.

Lucy Fitch Perkins was the author of The Dutch Twins. She wrote and illustrated a series of 14 Twins books that take place in 14 different settings around the world (none took place in India unfortunately). She wrote them in order to keep a “spirit of friendliness and good will” alive for children from faraway places. She provides a very engaging way to teach world geography along the way too, I must say. The Dutch Twins was the first in her series and was originally published in 1911. Yesterday’s Classics has printed the next two in this series so far. I hope they print all of them in due course.

I look forward to reading The Dutch Twins to my grandchildren. (After all, you can’t stop homeschooling with just one generation!) How charming it will be to look again at the drawing of the Dutch Belted cows, only in their company this time, and talk with them about having first seen this drawing with their parents when they were little children learning about shooing away flies, milking cows and making butter. No matter what our lives will be like then, the values and work we will share will be the same and I am sure the conversation will be just as sweet.

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,

Leslie

I am an early riser by nature but this morning I woke up really (ridiculously) early. This gave me an opportunity to catch up on some herbalism research and read a couple of Indian cooking blogs (here, here and here) I enjoy from time to time. Then, as today is our tenth wedding anniversary, I decided to make my husband a fine Indian breakfast. I perused a few cookbooks and then decided upon both an Indian breakfast and an Indian dinner for this special Sunday.

It was so early in the morning that the kitchen was pitch black except for the moonlight sneaking in a corner of one of the windows. I should preface what I am about to say by explaining that the kitchen in this little 1940 farmhouse is in desperate need of remodeling. It was designed to be an eat-in kitchen with a few cupboards and a sink at one end of the room and the kitchen table and chairs at the other. The only lighting is two old coverless fluorescent fixtures on the ceiling, one in the general area of the sink and the other in the general area of where the kitchen table would be. We cannot spare any room for eating in this kitchen as we need much more counter space, shelf space and table space for the grain grinder etc. than previous occupants apparently needed. As a result, at the moment this kitchen has two ceiling lights illuminating (sort of) a long room with work areas around the entire perimeter of the room. Oh, and for anyone interested, we eat all of our meals in the adjacent dining room.

OK, the scene is now set. My oldest son recently informed me that my old MP3 player actually does play regular CD’s as well (duh) so I put on an apron and slipped my MP3 player playing Ustad Sultan Khan’s Sarangi into the front pocket of the apron. Such quiet, music filled moments in the kitchen are extremely rare for me. Plus it is Sunday which is already a day “set aside” in our family and it was our anniversary so I was in a special frame of mind.

I decided to set some urad dal to soaking for dinner first before starting in on making breakfast. I got set up at a counter picking through the dal and getting it ready to wash. This was not that easy to accomplish as I was working in such shadow. Yes, darkness outside the windows plus two old central ceiling lights plus work areas around the perimeter of the room equals working in the dark essentially.

And then it struck me what a metaphor this is. While everyone has a central lighting fixture within them, in many people it is not even turned on. That means that whatever they do, whether it be internal or external work, they do in the dark. They do it by feel with hands that are not particularly trained. As a result they either don’t do “kitchen work (i.e. transformational work)” at all or they do what little they can with what little they can see by the moonlight sneaking in a corner of the window and get out of that room as quickly as possible.

However by dint of inner work, increased inner awareness, assiduous spiritual practice and so on, others do have their central lights on. The primary challenge, then, becomes quite a different one. The challenge shifts from figuring out how to turn on the light to figuring out how to adjust one’s self so that they are always working with that light illuminating their work area.

This turns out to be a significant challenge. Once you experience working in a fully lit area, your expectations about the work you can accomplish are raised exponentially. At the same time, we live in a society that is bent on fully furnishing that which is “perimeter” in the most enticing, distracting ways possible. This tends to result in you having your back to the light all the time even though the gap between light and shadow, and the constant turning from one to the other is fraught with danger.

Working in the dark can cause mistakes and even injury. If you remember the light enough that you are at least trying to adjust yourself so that some of the light available to you falls on your work area from over your shoulder (in other words you are partially facing the light), then you find you are always shifting around and squinting your eyes as you move through your tasks. Working this way is uncomfortable and the results are uncertain.

Working facing the light, on the other hand, gives you ease of movement and some confidence that the results will be what they should be. It frees your mind up to think of Higher things in a natural process of what is good leading to what is best.

What do we do if we find ourselves in a work environment – either internal or external – that is set up in such a way that we find that our backs are frequently to the central light? I guess the only answer is a wholesale remodeling! We have to reevaluate where we work, how we work, what we work with and for whom we work. There are all kinds of experts around to help us do this in our literal kitchens. There are rather fewer experts around who can help do this wholesale remodeling in our “inner kitchens” but they are there. If you really want one, you will find one.

As for me and my kitchen, I guess I will continue to have opportunities to practice adjusting myself so that my work is fully illuminated by those two old central lights until we can figure out this whole kitchen remodeling thing. We will have to find someone to help us who is thoroughly versed in lighting and counter space and traffic flow and all of that kitchen technology stuff in order to get it right. In the meantime, I am deeply grateful that my Inner Remodeling Guide has been hard at work on me for years and years and that I have been given another reminder of how important it is to organize all of my activities so that I am facing the light.

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,

Leslie

The folks at Touch the Future sent this out today. Lately my husband and I have been discovering some information about machinations behind certain world events which has left us reeling and grief stricken. Setting all of that difficult discovery aside, setting aside the hard work of daily life, setting aside the fatigue, pain and misunderstandings that characterize our lives in this day and age and resting in the fundamentals so beautifully described in this prayer is renewing. I hope you savor this as I am savoring it now. Read it as if it were music. Read it as if it were coming from inside you. Be reminded…

Constant repetitions of this “Basic Call to Consciousness” forms a guiding principle of culture as reflected by Chief Jake Swamp’s words, “If all the children of the world were to be a part of this kind of Thanksgiving each day, I believe the problems of the world would start to go the other way.”

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Ohenton Karihwatehkwe “These Words Before All Else”

Let us greet the world in Thanksgiving as if we were sharing one mind, one heart, and one body. Today we have gathered and come from many different places. We have arrived safely at this place to share with each other our gifts from the Creator. So we bring our minds together as one in Thanksgiving and Greetings to one another.

We now turn our thoughts to Earth Mother. She continues to care for us and has not forgotten her instructions from the beginning of time. Now we bring our minds together in Thanksgiving for the Earth.

Now as one mind we turn our thoughts to the Waters of the Earth for they too have not forgotten their instructions from the Creator of Life. The Waters continue to flow beneath the ground, in little streams and in rivers, in lakes and in wetlands, and in the great seas. They quench our thirst and help keep us clean so we can fulfill our duty to Creation. We now bring our minds together in Thanksgiving to all the Waters of the Earth.

We now address all the Beings both seen and unseen that dwell in the Water for they too have not forgotten their original instructions from the Creator of Life to provide for us in many ways. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to all the Nations who dwell in the Waters.

Now we direct our thoughts to the many kinds of plants that live upon the Earth— for they too have not forgotten their original instructions. Many members of this Nation sustain those who walk upon this Earth, and many others who continue to fulfill their duties to take away the sickness of the human family and elevate human consciousness. With one mind we send our thoughts and Thanksgiving to the Plant Nations.

With one mind we now think of our relations in the many Insect Nations. Like the other members of the natural world, they too have not forgotten their original instructions to fulfill their obligation to Continued Creation. With one mind we send our thoughts and Thanksgiving to all the members of the Insect Nations.

We now gather our minds together and send Greetings and Thanksgiving to all the Animal Life in the world, for they continue to instruct and teach us even today. It is said that the Creator knew that Humans would take too much for granted if they were given all the wisdom, so instead the Creator gave a little piece of wisdom of how to live on the Earth to the different animals. We are happy that many still walk with us on our continuing journey. With one mind we send Thanksgiving to all the Animal Life in the world.

With one mind we now think of the Trees. According to their original instructions the Trees still give us shelter, warmth, food, and make the environment a suitable place to dwell. The trees remind us of the beauty and power in the natural world. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving to all the members of the Tree Nation.

We now bring our minds together and send our Greetings of Thanksgiving to the Birds. At the beginning of time the Birds were given a special duty to perform. The Creator gave the Birds instructions to each find a special place to live in the world and they should learn the song of that place. During the day, our minds are lifted by the songs of the Bird Nations. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving to the Birds of the world.

We are thankful to the Four Winds who continue to blow and cleanse the air according to their original instructions. As we listen to the Winds it is as if we are hearing the Creator’s breath, clearing our minds as it blows through the trees. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving to the Four Winds.

We now turn our attention to the Thunderbeings. For they too have not forgotten their original instructions and welcome the Spring with their loud voice. Along with the lightning, they carry the waters of the spring on their backs. It is also said that the Thunderbeings were given the job to hold down the beings beneath the Earth which would prevent life from continuing. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to the Thunderbeings.

Our minds are as one as we send our thoughts to our oldest brother the Sun. Each day the Sun continues his instructions from the Creator of Life, bringing the light of day, the energy source of all life on Earth. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving to our oldest brother the Sun.

We now gather our minds together and give thanks to our oldest Grandmother the Moon. She holds hands with all the women of the world and binds all of the female cycles and rhythms of the Waters so we may continue to carry out our obligation to Creation. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to Grandmother Moon.

With one mind we send our thoughts to the Star Nation who continue to light our way during times of darkness to guide us home, and hold the secrets of many forgotten stories. Even though many of the stories are no longer in our minds, it is said it is enough to be thankful to the Stars and perhaps one day we would learn these stories again. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to the Star Nation.

With our minds as one we think of the Four Spirit Beings who live in the Four Directions. At the beginning of time when the Creator first made the Human Family, it was seen that they very quickly got themselves into trouble. The Creator knew that they needed extra help and so created the Four Spirit Beings to remove the obstacles from our paths and guide us with our feelings. And now we gather our minds together as one and send our special Thanksgiving to the Four Spirit Beings.

Now we have arrived in a very special place where dwells the Great Spirit, the Creator of the Universe. As one mind we turn our thoughts to the Creator, for without the Creator we would not be able to walk on the Earth fulfilling our original instructions. Everything we need is provided for us and all we have to remember is to give thanks. With one mind we send our Thanksgiving and Greetings to the Creator.

We have now become like one being. We send our Prayers and special Thanksgiving Greetings to all the unborn children of the future generations. We send our thoughts to the Elders and the Children for they give us guidance and purpose to live in a good way. We are thankful to all the Enlightened Teachers who have come to help us throughout the ages. We send our thoughts to the many different beings we may have missed during our Thanksgiving. With one mind we send Thanksgiving and Greetings to all of the Nations of the World.

Now Our Minds Are One.

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Desireless. Simple. Grateful. Willing. Disciplined. Natural.

The original Thanksgiving. Amen.

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,

Leslie