It All Started With the Cowboy

I can’t tell you the first time I saw a cowboy on tv. But I do know that from that moment on, I’ve been somewhat obsessed with him and his kind.

Cowboys, mountain men, trappers; pioneers. They all have a special place in my heart and a special place in the history of mankind.

How it Started

The life of the cowboy piqued the dreamer within me with his lonesome freedom, proximity to the land, and his lack of everything but the essentials. The sun beat on him during the day and the stars kept him company at night. The river cured his dry mouth, his dirty hands, and fed him.

He’s poor. Owning nothing more than what he needs. A good saddle, sturdy pair of boots, and a comfy bedroll. He doesn’t do this work because he needs the money, there’s better pay in town; he does it because he’s never felt more fulfilled and content than with his equine companion and their bovine subjects.

He doesn’t have anybody to talk to but himself and his nag. He’s a man shallow in conversation, but rich in thought. He’s never sure where he stands with his fellow members of humankind, which tends to label him as simple and unintelligent. He’s okay with that, though. His canteen of need for society fills quickly and empties slowly.

Simple and unintelligent are far from accurate descriptors, however. He knows mother nature intimately. He appreciates her provisions and revers her punishment. Doses of which he has had his fair share.

He doesn’t need to know his place in society, because he’s of the rare breed that isn’t built for it. He’s built for open prairie and mountain forests. He knows his place among the pines, and is comfortable with his position in nature.

My curiosity, as it has done with many things, caught me like a calf in the branding corral. I had no choice but to follow where it took me. I’ve spent the last five years learning the ways of the animal caretaker.

Where it Started

I got my first job on a farm in South Carolina tending to pigs, chickens, and cows. I would watch them with interest. How they acted with each other, how they felt about me (the guy with the food), and how they made their living with the earth. Pigs are some of the sweetest animals on the planet and sometimes they would make me throw my head back laughing with their shenanigans.

This started a life-long journey, that I’m still at the beginning of, of learning about how all kinds of different people throughout history have made their living alongside mother nature.

Here are my thoughts on it:

Whether they’re farmers, ranchers, crofters, or sharecroppers, they care for the land like they depend on its wellbeing; because they actually do. They tend to the animals like a mother tends to her child. The health of the animal directly effects their livelihood. The animal deserves to live its best life, which for a cow, is on the range, eating, drinking, and lounging as they please.

The help these people use to care for their stock is also crucial for success. They deserve to live their best life as well. For the horse, that’s fresh hay or green grass, clean water, and room to run. For man’s best friend, that’s a job to do and a person to please, and endless pets.

The people who devote their lives to the care of of their fellow animal do so not for praise and admiration of other people, but out of duty to the natural elements given to them for stewardship.

The water that’s diverted from creeks and rivers is pleased to be used for such a noble purpose such as growing hay and quenching the thirst of cattle. Mother nature is delighted to provide for her children.

These children, mind you, who will perpetually struggle against her for life. Life that cannot happen without destruction. She gives life, but only because she takes it from something else.

The turkey’s gobble is made of the death of a million shrew-mice. The giraffe’s neck was built by the flesh of wolves. The oak tree grows with the vigor of eight billion krill. A bear scratches the aspen tree, digging deep into the hide of a crocodile.

My point is this: from the dirt we rise, and to the dirt we shall return. Oh! what a beautiful reunion it will be.

We’re all the same.

The Caretakers

Where was I? Right — the caretakers. They pride themselves in their pursuit of an antique way of living.

“Not many people do it like this anymore,” and,

“This is the way my grandaddy’s daddy did it,” can be heard often.

It’s a tragedy, for sure, that these ways of living are going away. Be it ranchers, cowboys, or sheep herders, you’ll often find no successors of the current caretaker. The current generation in charge of carrying on these traditions were among the few willing even at the time when they took over.

They find ways of passing on the value of their way of life, but how sad it is that a lot of these ranches, farms, and crofts will die in the next 30 years if someone doesn’t step up.

Someone needs to share the value in a simple life close to the land. Someone needs to tell people about it. We’ve lost sight of how our biology thrives when in contact with the land. Which is something we ought to learn more about.

Mother nature doesn’t get her name because she fails to nurture her offspring. On the contrary, this appellative was given her because she provides for us means by which we can provide for ourselves. But like any good mother, she has her boundaries which are not to be crossed without consequences. She rears wise and hearty children.

No better exemplars can be found than the sheep herder, the cowboy, and the farmer. They’re a humble people because they see first hand their place in nature.

A bull that falls in the creek and gets stuck in the mud, for example, will suffer the same wrath of mother nature just as quickly as a man who finds himself between a mother moose and her calf.

Those who know mother nature intimately understand whether bull or bird, cat or cactus, horse or human, when laid dead in the dirt, we slowly become again that from which we came. Dirt.

It’s this understanding that gives them lens to see the interconnectedness of all things plant, animal, and fungus. This perspective has allowed me to see why we should love and care for each other. Because we are the same.

Take a lesson from the cowboy. He appreciates the struggle of life and the reality of death. He knows how quickly a being goes from one to the other. He fears neither of them, but welcomes them both at the appropriate time.

Pay attention to the way of the farmer, who knows the consequences of his actions in relation to nature. There is no life without death.

Learn from the sheep herder. She walks to hills of the Scottish Isles because it gives her time to think. She creates space for gratitude by being of service to mother nature.

Conclusion

Someone should tell these stories: Members of society dedicated to work alongside mother nature in order to provide for the rest of the world.

This is something I could commit my life to learning: how people work alongside animals in service of mother nature in order to provide for themselves and others.

What is the history of it?

What is the future of it?

Thanks for reading my ramblings and curious thoughts. I hope you’ve learned something or seen something that interests you. Message me or comment if you have some additional thoughts or questions.

And remember, get outside, it’s the best place to be.

Much Love

AH