Unexpected Lessons in Interconnection
Dear Friends,
On the drive to Burns, Oregon I heard the quote again. The quote that rang true for all of us at UVE, so much that it wound its way right into our Quality of Life statement in our Holistic Context. It is a quote about helping other people from the book, Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira Andreotti.
The first time I heard it, MacKay had read it to us at a UVE crew meeting.
It instructs us to NOT help others to make ourselves feel good, because they need help, because we have so much and they have so little, to boost our resumes, to shape our identity as a good person, but rather to help another person because our well-being is linked.
My well-being depends upon your well-being, the book explains. We are all in this together.
My well-being is dependent on your well-being.
My journey across Eastern Oregon, and my time in Burns, Oregon helped me sit with this concept, and watch it happen (and also NOT happen) in real time, in real life. As I drove by abandoned ranch houses, and boarded up downtowns typical of rural America, I wondered, as I often do, how we can take better care of the people who produce our food and fiber.
Not because they need help, remember, but because our well-being is interlinked.
How can we create financial and social structures that allow them to be creative, well-compensated, seen, and mentally and emotionally healthy?
Often in ranching culture, creativity, deep feelings, and pain is pushed beneath a calloused layer of "get it done" identity where your work is who you are. Your land is you.
In my family, when they meet a new person in my life, the first thing they ask is "what does he/she do for work?"
North of Lakeview, Oregon on Highway 395 as the sun set on the dramatic table top mountains near Lake Abert, I pulled over on the side of the road to take a picture.
As I stood admiring the view, a diesel truck raced up and stopped in front of my car. The young man in the truck did not like me parked there on the side of the road (and not on anyone's property), looking at the mountain.
When I asked how he was, he said, "I'm wonderin' what you're doing here." He said people had been around who "didn't like, ranchin'." He was clearly triggered by my being there.
I wondered what had made him so hostile. So aggressive. Defensive. Protective. Closed. I thought about our interconnected well-being. How his previous trauma was projected onto me, pulling me into his adrenaline-sourced fear mindset. How my peaceful Summer Solstice moment with the majestic mountain was ripped by his unhappiness.
Yes. Vanessa's quote is right. Our well-being, or lack of, is connected.
We impact each other if we know it, or know each other, or not.
Later on the same trip, I stayed at the Central Hotel in Burns, Oregon. On Saturday morning, I toured the Burns Farmer's Market in a renovated event space on Broadway, downtown. A family bought the Central Hotel in a run down state, when it was the icon of dilapidated small town America. With love, care and joy, they renovated the hotel to its original 1929 style. I never saw the owners, but received lovely emails and texts from them. The place was open to their guests; I was free to explore. The windows opened fully to live music playing downtown on a summer evening. The joy and love literally built into the hotel was infectious.
The pride the community had for the new, beautiful event space downtown where the live music and farmer's market was held, gave me hope that a new trend in the collective well being of the region was beginning.
The morning I awoke in the hotel, I received a message from a potential new Savory Hub leader in Greece. He said at the end of his email (translated from Greek), that if you give with an open heart, you will receive more back than you could ever imagine.
I thought of the openness, joy and hope that I felt here in Burns, and I remembered the fear and aggression of the young man near Valley Falls. I was struck by the ways we impact each other without even realizing it. Without even really knowing the other person.
At UVE, we want to improve farmer/pastoralist well-being in the same ways we work to uplift the ecosystem. We will keep you posted on this work as it develops, especially through innovations with LifeEnergy.Guide.
But for now, I'm going to continue my in-person research as I travel across Eastern Oregon, a place that is proving to hold unexpected lessons in our interconnectedness.
Sending love,
Abbey
EOV PARTNER Spotlight
In 1992, Blake & Stephanie Alexandre, both fourth-generation farmers, purchased farmland in Crescent City, California to start their dairy farm.
They converted to organic in the late ’90s and today operate five grass-based, regenerative organic dairies with crossbred A2/A2 dairy cows. Their commitment resides in family tradition, regenerative organic farming, and in providing consistent, high-quality food from their single-origin farm.
Jackie Eshelman and Rachel Lohof Larsen, part of UVE’s EOV team, just returned from conducting Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) monitoring on four family-operated, pasture-based dairies that are joining Alexandre Family Farm in providing consumers with certified regenerative, A2/A2 organic milk, and dairy products.
At every dairy, Jackie and Rachel encountered curious and engaged land stewards excited to learn more about the ecosystem processes on their land. Blake Alexandre was able to join in on a day of monitoring and bravely manned the slide hammer probe to help collect the soil samples necessary for baseline monitoring!
The UVE team put in a lot of hard work, but the relationships they formed, both human and bovine, made the effort worthwhile.
UVE is proud to be partnered with Alexandre Family Farm and we are excited to see their products available at so many grocery stores nationwide.
Find their A2/A2 milk products at a store near you by clicking here!
UPCOMING COURSES & EVENTS
Holistic Financial Planning &
Holistic Land Planning
September 25th - 29th, 2023
UVE Learning Site
Union, Oregon
Holistic Financial Planning &
Holistic Land Planning
October 23rd - 27th, 2023
Mother Cabrini Ranch
Golden, Colorado
The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery hosts a key debate on this controversial topic between a founder and leading proponent of Holistic Management (Allan Savory) and a prominent critic (George Monbiot).
The event will be chaired by Professor EJ. Milner-Gulland, Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Oxford.