farmer far afield Archives - Colorado Central Magazine

Here Comes the Bud

July 17, 2020April 17, 2019 by Mike Rosso

By John Mattingly Behold a field of ripe brew barley: Its long, bearded grain heads swaying hypnotically in a gentle breeze … we think of the yeoman farmer who planted and tended it to maturity where it ended up as beer that became a can or two that led to a teenage driving death, a …

A Farmer Far Afield: Spring Four-titude

September 11, 2018May 1, 2018 by Mike Rosso

By John Mattingly

There is immense temptation to begin gardening during the first warm spells of spring. With seductive regularity, a couple of weeks of warm and windless days come along that are easily mistaken for June.

A Farmer Far Afield: A Duck’s Life

September 7, 2018April 1, 2018 by Mike Rosso

By John Mattingly

Ducks are smart, capable of deductive reasoning, with an intelligence quotient equal to donkeys. Many are surprised by this, but it is worth remembering that mammals with four legs require a lot of brain space to regulate locomotion, whereas ducks have no complicated considerations when it comes to gliding effortlessly across water. So even though the duck brain is small, most of it is dedicated to the pursuit of life’s most persistent needs and pleasures.

A Farmer Far Afield: Inner Old Man Year-End Wrap Up

April 4, 2018January 1, 2018 by Mike Rosso

By John Mattingly

In the late days of fall and early days of winter, we get long nights, we wrap ourselves, we resolve, and we make lists: the Top Tens of the prior year, acknowledging that at this time of year, the benign indifference of the universe is simply more precise.

Farmer Far Afield: In Biology We Trust

December 22, 2017November 1, 2017 by Mike Rosso

By John Mattingly

Fall is a seductive time. The changing colors, rich afternoon light and impending curiosity about the approach of winter. The hot days of summer become a memory and life in the garden moves to preparation rather than anticipation. Regardless of how difficult the summer, the summer solstice and Halloween feel like a reward for enduring the worries of water, weather, weeds and varmints. And larger four-legged mammals.

Farmer Far Afield: Gardening in Circles, Part One

September 14, 2017August 1, 2017 by Mike Rosso

By John Mattingly

Following my recent death, I’ve been wiling away the hours in my garden, a great place to grow an autobiography.

“Life begins the day you start a garden.” – Chinese proverb.

Free Love

February 1, 2011 by Mike Rosso

by John Mattingly

I broke into adolescence in the middle 1960s, a time that became reknowned for free love. The concept of love being “free” capitulated to certain fiscal rigors by the 1980s, but there was a time when (call Ripley) a typical conversation between a young man and young woman went something like this …

“Hey, what’s happenin?”

“I’m like, freaking out over this tree. I mean, check out the way the branches go out, one after the other.”

Farm as Solar Collector: Part 2

April 12, 2011November 1, 2010 by Mike Rosso

By John Mattingly

Last month, I waved goodbye to my last commentary column by saying:

But why should farmers get higher prices for their crops? Isn’t food already expensive enough? That good loaf of bread that used to cost a buck is now crowding six. What if I told you that loaf should really cost you a twenty?

Next month, I’ll discuss why higher commodity (and thus food) prices are not only inevitable, but necessary.

A Farmer Far Afield – Debt Is A Four-Letter Word

January 3, 2011August 1, 2010 by Mike Rosso

By John Mattingly

Four-letter words are effective, on occasion.

I don’t fall in with the pageant of people who claim all debt is bad. It would not surprise me if humans invented written language for the purpose of keeping track of debts. Marks on baboon bones (See Ishango baboon bones, Stone Age Africa) from over 20,000 years ago indicate early homo sapiens were keeping track of borrowings. Debt is as old as civilization, so if one has any faith in civilization, one must concede that there is good debt and bad debt.