Testosterone
------------
Last summer i spend many evenings sitting on the porch
watching the sheep graze while the sun disappeared in the
west. It was peaceful. Even after we added some Shetland
sheep the evenings were still peaceful.
This boring state was interrupted by Julies' announcement "it
would be nice to see a few lambs playing in the pastures".
Well... i knew where this was leading. No way! I made it
clear that we did not want to go back into breeding.
The next day a small ram lamb appeared from somewhere. I
objected. I used reason. I found reason was not involved.
This was a need to be part of life, death, and the birth
experience. Of course, Julie was mainly interested in birth
and life.
So... evenings consisted of a flock of peaceful sheep
grazing and a small ram looking around. Soon the ram began
trying to work its way up the pecking order. At first the
ewe's ignored it, but persistence and testosterone are
powerful forces. By the end of summer we had a miniature ram
strutting around proclaiming himself king of the pasture.
Fortunately, the large Romney sheep present formidable
mechanical difficulties. From the front porch it looked like
a poodle trying to breed with a cow.
The smaller Shetland ewe's were only 2-3 times bigger than
the ram and we are now beginning to get lambs. Our first one
arrived a few days ago. This event begins a chain of other
events and ecological decisions. Can we sustain this new lamb
on existing pasture? What do we do with the excess sheep?
Can we process the additional wool? On and on.
The battle here is with our perception of happiness and
awareness of what sustainable habitat might be like. This
same battle is a major issue in our culture today. In fact,
many activists writings now identify "culture" as our biggest
barrier to solving environmental problems. Culture is all the
belief systems, traditions, economic thought, and stories
that mould our behavior. Two other factors we need to
add in are: testosterone and motherhood.
----
jeff owens, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.xprt.net/~jko
underground house, solar power, self-reliance, edible landscape
to leave ecopath: unsubscribe ecopath -> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
