Against All Odds - Our Thanks to You
AGAINST ALL ODDS
Upfront and on the table - our thanks to you
While workin' on gathering next years' native grass and wildflower seeds, can't help thinking about how things go… my mind just drifts out there on the lone prairie with the drone of the diesel combining. All this work we do around gathering native american seeds, and helping people restore their part of the earth. I mean, its not like any one body is gonna do it all by themselves…. Way too big.
But then there is this whole big Wally kind of a world. The one where everybody wants it cheap. And if people are starvin' to death or bleedin' all over themselves to get it to America cheap - then so be it. After all, the global corps that most work for is likely planning another big layoff early next year, and jobs just aren't that secure anymore. Heck, wal-mart is sending a little over $2 billion of our dollars every month to China… but it is so convenient and cheap!!!
So cheap it makes us realize how important our own customers really are.
We're out here on the front lines of this battle of man against nature. Here we gather with respect and humility the seeds that she may offer. And, we return it all back to the land… through you. And it is all so different than Wally's world.
It is not something that is easily stacked up in a warehouse discount big box row after row. It is not something that is consumable and that therefore, once your customer consumes it, he or she needs more and more.
Native seeds work! And as time goes - the buyer of a native seed will need no more, having restored his or her part of the earth - so how is it that Native American Seed could possibly expect to thrive in such a world built upon capitalizing assets, based on consumption of debts in piles of discarded natural resources with all opportunities for growth shipped abroad??? Just think how cheap American Basketflower seeds could be produced in Bangladesh! I mean, it seems that in this American rush to the floor - this rush to cut our faces off… that we must look ourselves in the eye before it is too late.
How can Native American Seed even begin to deal with this global economy, genetically modified nonsense?
We work hard at our craft. Diligently caring and protecting this world, one seed at a time. We thrive on hope. Hope for a better world. A more balanced world. We are always hoping things will get a lil' better. Now and into the future.
Our work is really not very glamorous. During harvest time, we work straight through Saturday and Sundays. We run old farm machinery out on old ranches and sometimes balded prairies. The wind howls. We bust our knuckles twistin wrenches keepin' it all goin' on a shoestring. On a wing and buckets of prayers. The newest of our harvester combines is a 1983 vintage. The newest of our hauling trucks is 1982. And the little putt-putt aircraft we use to find our harvest sites is a 1966 model.
On our seed farm, we still use a couple tractors built back in the fifties…and we daily use hand hoes for weeding and shovels for spreading compost. Yep, lots of prayers to keep this all afloat.
And you alone are our best supporter. We could not have come this far without you!
During these 23 years now of thick and thin - you came shining thru… looking right past all the blue light specials on aisle #9… you came to us and accepted our offerings.
We are so thankful to you.
Oh, but this Wally world mantra seems to invade all the cracks in the concrete. Can we keep from falling in? Tomorrow, can we get a little bit more local? Can we make home towns again sometime? The ones where people care. Care about how the land looks, about how the other guy feels, and about how the kids next door are gonna come out in this thing we call life. Will there still be wild places with wild things that upon first site you know that you see God smiling… even laughing out loud.
The best of everything to you all - and please tell a friend about us. Keep spreadin' the hope. We need you.