Joseph the Dreamer
To my grandchildren Bella, Benny, Leshki, Lilly, Zeke and Lexis
"You may say I'm a
dreamer,
But I'm not the only
one,
I hope someday you'll
join us,
And the world will be
as one."
From Imagine by John
Lenon & Paul Mc Cartney
‘This too is
meaningless and chasing after wind’
Ecclesiastes
A Dreamer
Joseph
loved to travel. But, as a child in Sioux Center Iowa, where his father had a
large dairy farm, he could only but dream. His father said that he could travel
reading. So, Joseph always went to the library and read all he could about far
away countries. And, as always, when his mother received letters from the
family, he was ready to hear all he could.
Family
in England or as it should be called ‘Great Britain’, in the Netherlands,
Belgium, Australia, New Zeeland and finally, mom’s youngest brother in Brazil,
South America. How would he like to see all what they did and travel seeing all
the great things in each of the countries. Maybe one day he would work really hard
and save up enough for a ‘world tour’ trip. His father shook his head, and
continued with whatever he was doing when Joseph started talking about it. He
loved his son dearly but he had a hard time with his dreaming son. But his
mother… His mother, she bought him a notebook and taught him how to remove
stamps from the envelopes that came and helped him glue them gently in the
notebook. Slowly he acquired a big collection, beautiful flowers from Brazil
and the Netherlands, Queen’s heads all in different colors from England. A
koala stamp from Australia was his favorite, and then the queer ones from New
Zeeland! He was very fond of his collection and would spend all his free time,
which was not much for any on the farm, and dreamed. However, he worked hard,
obeyed his parents, but in the meantime dreamed on…
And, he
heard stories, all he could. From his Grandfather Leo, he heard the story of
the potato famine in Ireland. How when there was no food, many people came to
the USA. His grandmother was one of them. ‘Why was that grandfather?’, asked
Joseph. He heard that it was because people had brought one potato for a far
off country, as they liked it for food, and this one potato was divided into
small pieces to grow new potatoes. From there all the potatoes from Ireland
came. Sadly though, when one potato was hit with a disease it got into all of
them because they where all of the same one and as such had the same makeup –
all had the same defenses for disease. So, when one of the potatoes became ill, all died.
How can
we help for this not to happen had the young Joseph asked? Grandfather had said
‘just never grow your plants from clones, as was that potato’. Always let them
grow from seed, then they are a bit different and some may survive. Also do not
grow too large of a stretch of land with one crop. Divide into smaller and
different plots, so when you notice that one group of plants is diseased you
can burn it or plow it under so that the rest will not be able to get it.
Because they are not too close to each other, you may be able not to lose all
you have planted. Better grow your own not this new fangled DNA altered seeds,
as this alteration of crops even though may look better, may lead to the same
as the Ireland potato! Joseph wrote this also in his little notebook that he
carried everywhere so he could write things down that he thought important: he
wrote ‘potato famine Ireland' – do not grow clones and close together (Grandpa,
1961) and he drew a huge potato plant
right beside it so he could easily find the information.
In all
this dreaming, now suddenly his father became sick and needed much help. Even
Joseph’s mom started to milk, and took care of the chickens and calves. His
brothers also worked hard. And, Joseph?
Joseph?
Joseph just snuggled his head against the warm cow hide and went on dreaming…
He was in Africa, America, Brazil, Europe, especially England and Holland
(which we call the Netherlands) and Belgium, because there he wanted to be, and
prayed for his dear father. Would there ever be a chance of visiting gardens
with flowers and plants, seeing the fields full with the beautiful Dutch cows,
would he ever be able to milk one, and learn how to make the greatest cheese
ever and see them stored underground and learn all about it? He worried. What
about the sheep in Scotland and the Orkneys, He loved the idea of being able to
shear one and oh! The learning how to use a shepherd’s dog, and herd the cows…
Oh, the idea of going by boat, to visit mom’s cousin Jan, who worked with the
fishery department and see the beautiful wide and cold North Sea, and the rocky
cliffs of the islands sticking out from the sea, and: 'oh no!' He was thinking of
herding cows, but they should be sheep of course! He laughed thinking of a cow
herding dog… He was going too far out in his dreams… Maybe it would be
better to learn that in New Zeeland, where his uncle Gerrit had a huge farm and
so Joseph dreamed on… Even though his hands now moved rhythmically, as he was
milking his assigned cow share.
Later
he would dream of feeding a spider monkey somewhere in the jungle of Brazil,
instead of his allotted lambs. Yeah they where fuzzy, cuddly and beautiful, but
just calves…
Joseph!
Called his father... Finish milking that cow! There are three more waiting for
you… Sorry dad… But Joseph dreamed on… Nigeria… Oh, all this dreaming! It
was a bit too much for this aging father, struggling with his failing health.
The farm was aging and much needed to be done. Much repair was needed after
years of illness.
Travel
Then an
unexpected opportunity came. Just before his sixteenth birthday a letter
arrived from Great Britain. He would get a free ticket to fly to London and
from there he would go by train and boat to the Orkneys, where his Uncle Jan
had a fish farm and had a few hundred sheep in the neighboring farm lands. And his cousin Gert, who was his age, would
come and help his dad on the farm during that same year. They would follow the
same school year in each other’s school. He would be paid some and he would stay
at his uncle’s farm learning the trades. His dream was coming true! He had also
kept Facebook connection with his cousin Henk in Aussie (as Henk used to refer
to Australia), and now he got to ask to do the same with his Uncle Robert,
Henk’s father) for a few months. He was overjoyed!
He
began studying even harder than he already did and got all the books from the
library possible on the subject. He had the time of his life! He visited
English gardens, saw trees trimmed into hedges, and wondered if he could do the
same in Iowa? And, would his cows have the shade of the tree fences/apple
hedges, so their milk was tastier than any other? In Holland trees trimmed into
odd shapes, and canals to hold back the water or water dry fields… In all that
he carried his note book and a small book, the Indonesian ‘Smaka Gy’. It was a
book that he carried with him from the time he had bought it, it showed him how
to grow vegetables, have small fields and a few cattle for a self sustaining acre of land! What a
great way to grow all very close together and enjoy the work of your hands
while resting on a small veranda… He dreamed of having his farm like that!
He
traveled on. In the Netherlands he tasted cheese that was made from milk from
early first grass, when the cows after a long winter first graze on the now
young and very green grass – it is a very special cheese. He now wondered if he
could also see a difference if his cows would eat fruit – delicious apple and
pear milk taste?
Then it was time to go home again…
Home Again
When he
came back from his tour, he heard from his mother that his father had become
much sicker and that she had been working on her own, and all she had been able
to do is milk the cows and feed them, they looked healthy and beautiful, but
the fields where more a weed land than anything else. He would not be able to
return to his studies and had to work really hard.
Then one
of the town’s banker’s, his father’s friend came to talk to him – his father
had gotten in debt so badly that he probably would have to sell the farm before
too long. However, he said that if Joseph would do what he asked for he would
be personally paying his debt for the first five years and give him some extra
cash for buying of seeds and payment of oil for tractor so he could keep
afloat. Joseph became curious about the proposal. He loved their farm and would
do anything to keep the farm.
The
suggestion was simple: first, he would have to plant fifty native deciduous trees
the first year (that the banker would order for him from a reputable nursery) and
double in the second ( plus the ones that had died the first year) and so on,
till the fifth year. Then he could allow them to grow for the next twenty years.
After that he could do what he wanted with them. Secondly, he should try to be
a different kind of farmer, by growing food free of pesticides and fertilizers.
The banker friend had learned that many problems happen because of the use of
pesticides, even his father cancer would probably related to these chemicals - they had found them even in the well-water on the farm, when it was tested.
Finally, the banker friend hoped that by the fifth year Joseph would be able to
pay his debt. What Joseph did not know is that the banker had decided to cancel
all his debt if he would be able to make it work, and he had much confidence in
the son of his friend; he knew Joseph was a hard working, very intelligent boy,
but he wanted to prove his trust and let Joseph work hard for it.
Action
And
Joseph? He had learned much the year he was gone, and beforehand had dreamed so
much, there was so much he wanted to try… Looking at his father and banker
friend, he shook hands on it and then signed the papers.
Then he went to the drawing board. He had kept note of all
his ideas and lessons learned and now he got all together and sitting at his
father’s bedside, he began to develop the plans for the next five years. There
was such joy in his heart that he laughed out loud and hugged his father and
mother, asked God to help him and talked and drew the whole night long, till it
was time to milk the cows and he ran out to the barn to begin the day’s work.
Against the soft and warm belly of the cow’s body he was milking he planned the
work for the day. He would have to start with plowing the first field today.
As he
was poor he had no money for a huge truck and combine, he used his father’s
small and old tractor for the work ahead. Remembering the small English fields
and the knowledge on pests that travel and finish with large fields of the same
crop, he divided the fields up into plots of two acres. At the edges he allowed
the grass and weeds to grow freely, and apart from that he dug a small ditch in
the middle of this edge in the hope of accumulating water that drained from the
fields. Every so many fields he left the lowest area open so he could later in
the year dig it deeper and make a small dam so he could accumulate the rain
water. Over the days ahead he began
shaping the whole farm like that, and planted every other field with corn,
wheat, soy and on the sandy edge of the farm he planted potatoes. The other
fields he let grow wild, although he scattered all the clover and mustard seeds
he could find on the farm. He also decided that every four square acres he
would let one grow wild for the planting the trees later in the year. Because
he had not much feed and he wanted to start letting the cows loose in the
fields so they could enjoy the sun and grass, he used the electric wiring. He
had to circle one plot and every few days he would move the cows to a fresh
field. When the planting was over, and he had finished making nesting sites for
his new free range chickens that walked free around the farm he began planting
the trees that had been set up against the barn and watered by his dear father.
They where good five year old trees and would grow fast, the forest would be
thick and beautiful.
Help
But he
also wanted to grow fruit trees, lots of them, and because he did not have much
time for all and small tender shoots of trees need a lot of attention he called
on the teachers of Sioux Center Christian and Sioux Center Public schools to
help him. He would like to ask them to be like Johnny Appleseed. If he could
pay the children for each seed that they grew into a little tree for two years
or more, he would have many fruit trees. Any fruit they ate could be used as a
seed, as long as it grew and it had the name of the fruit on the bag or box it
was growing in. And, the banker friend? He smiled when Joseph came to him with
the strange request for a small extra loan… after he had explained the idea, he
friend granted it. Now, Joseph decided he would pay the amount of 50 cents for
a one year tree, one dollar for a two year tree, up to five years. The amount
of trees was decided by the each child. He would buy them all. If they also
wanted to plant and water the tree on his farm he would give them 10 cents per
month per tree, it was not much he said, but it was what he could do. The
teachers would keep track and he would tell them where to plant.
In the
first year he had paid for hundred trees, in the second year the children liked
it so much and became so good at it that double the amount was grown. In the
fifth year he had on his fields over 1,000 small fruit trees growing! Some in
groups, as small orchards all through the farm, and the others he planted along
the edges of each field. In these first years, he pruned and guided these to
form a solid hedge that in the spring where white or pink with blossoms, in
summer green and in the autumn grew lots of fruit and in the winter really
looked like a fence. As such, he did not need to use the electric fence any
more, but could guide the cows into a field and they would be surrounded by a
natural apple, pear, cherry or peach tree fence of about a three to four feet
high; the children could pick their own fruit when they came to visit and the
cows could also pick their fruit which they loved very much indeed!
From
the Far East he had read that in the olden day’s ziggurats (a sort of small
tower) was made in the middle of a field so that the birds would nest and would
eat some of the crops, but on the other hand would fertilize the soil so that up to two
times as much would grow on each plant. He decided to give it a try. In some of
the most dry and unfertile sites of the farm, he now started to build a few of
those towers, and in the coming years all sorts of birds would come to nest
there. The first year most of the small wheat plants that he had sown were
eaten, but in the following years, the ground became more fertile, even with
squiggly worms! And now, the place was teaming with both birds and crops.
People would come just to watch them and in the evenings, along the paths of
his fields people would walk and stop to listen to the evensong of these birds,
very careful not to step on the green plants that where growing each time
bigger. They knew farmer Joseph would need his harvest, and they wished him the
best! He would even allow them to pick from the sides of his fields, and they
could pay them if they could, but even if they could not, he would not say no. And so, all had corn on thanksgiving day, rich and poor, young and old; and
what a sweet corn it was!
Fields and forest
Slowly, over the
years, he noticed small trees growing up close to the ditches he had build and
he started to clear around them and after having recognized the good and
healthy trees, those that where native and would grow into large trees. He
every year trimmed them so that they would grow lanky and straight up, with
very few branches sideways. This meant that even though the trees where growing
big, they were not interfering much with the sun on his fields. It actually
meant that on a scorching hot day (and it can get pretty warm in Iowa during
the summer) the fields would not dry out too fast and the plants were greener
than those of the fields around his farm where this was not so. And, when the winds became strong (and
it can blow a lot in Iowa) the fields would be more protected from the winds so
there would be less toppled corn, even though they grew farther apart, because
he gave them more space as to grow larger crops!
His
cows also liked the trees. When it became hot in the middle of the day they
would look for the shady edges of the fields and chewed their green grass,
not to mention the delicious apples, pears, cherries, and peaches that grew now
everywhere in these hedges in the late summer and early fall – no problem for
farmer Joseph! He wished his cows their fruit. What he had not expected is that
because there was less fruit growing, the fruit that was left became even
bigger than expected! What Joseph had not dreamed about was that more and more
people came every day to the farm to buy his fresh milk – it had a smell and
far away taste of fruit! Even his autumn cheeses, which he sold around
Christmas time (when they were a bit aged), had the faint aroma of autumn
apples when somebody would slice them; they became famous!
By now he had built canals to get rid of swampy areas, and when it rained too much, as it did last
year in the month of august, he accumulated the water by draining the excess of
water from the land into ditches that he had dug on either side of his fields.
From there the water had filed the artificial lakes that he dug every five to
ten acres (depending on the terrain that is) so now every low lying spot had a
water reservoir from where he could, in the dry spells, pump the water back over
his fields. As such, he never lacked water when the dry season happened to occur.
He heard later, when he and his neighbors started to do this more regularly,
that his tactics helped avoid large floods further downstream! In winter he
cleared the snow from a few of them so that whole Sioux Center could come and
skate, whilst his mother and later his now dear wife Kathy brewed loads of hot
chocolate and had a continual supply of fresh apple tarts, ready from the oven
for all their hungry customers.
Now, he
also started growing free range chickens for the eggs and meat; in these small
acreage plots it was easy to keep them. At the center of the field he always
grew a small group of corn, wheat, and other grains, mixed together and with Echinacea and mustard seeds he had added
to the center of each of these fields the chickens had so many insects, grains and
where so healthy that no better eggs were to be found in all the surrounding
counties. At one of the edges of the
field, closer to the barn, he had made covered nesting sites. The chickens
where so tame that the children of the town could pick their own eggs from the
nests if they wanted to do so. What fun! A real Easter egg hunt any time of the
year you wanted to do so. And the calves and lambs that were born in spring,
which had grazed on these fenced meadows the whole summer and fall, became far
better and tastier chops than any Argentinean veal!
Now,
because of this, he would work his field one by one, he also could move slower
when the autumn kicked in. Some fields would be much further along than others,
so he could sell fresh crops for longer periods of time and if the winter
kicked in later he would have more crops. He had not too much money for seeds,
but he had read that if you plant them further apart, the root system of the
plants is healthier and bigger so the plants grow stronger, with a larger and
sweeter produce. This was the same, whatever the plants be it corn, the millet
or the wheat.
For the
trees he had to grow, he tried to use as much as possible local trees or
evergreen/deciduous trees, but he also studied and then tried to grow a few
Sequoias. Always remembering the story he had heard from a friend who had been
in Brazil, where a tree from the pine family had been brought from the abroad
and now many of the local fruit trees, especially the marmelo tree, did not bear fruit any more because the bees would take
the oil from these pine trees and with their wings would touch the marmalade
flowers which would become all sticky and not grow into marmelos. O yeah, he build bee hives and had many bees;
the bees in his fields would have enough flowers to make the most delicious
honey and would fly from one flower to the other of all his trees and fruit
bushes, so that in the fall they were heavy with ripening fruit.
He
would grow clover, mustard and sweet potatoes for his cows. The sweet potatoes
he would store in digs for winter with the left over apples and pears, but when
the clover was ready he would let them frolic in the fields... How did these
cows love that! Their milk would become even more delicious and creamy. He started drawing colored squares by
planting specific crops in a specific pattern. Now, from the sky the checkerboard was not only in spring but the
whole spring, summer, autumn long. Only in winter did he see the natural tree
fences shaping against the snow and gray skies.
When his mother became interested in medicinal flowers and
the pharmacy plant in Sioux Center started asking for farmers to grow the ‘cold
medicine’ Echinacea and other medicinal herbs, Joseph started alternating plots
of corn and wheat with fields of this beautiful purple or white coneflower.
Now, all over the late summer there, from the sky one could see squares of
green corn alternating with purple or white form the coneflowers and the dark
or later on the light yellow of the maturing dry wheat. When later he started
also growing lavender for the local Wal-Mart, who was using its flowers to
stuff beautifully soft pillows with the flowers of this nice smelling plant, it was not only
colorful but also deliciously smelling when you would ride by his fields on
your bike. "Only the orange fields Florida or in Minas Gerais (Brazil) would
smell better" he used to say.
Results
Soon
all wanted to come picnic and camp (in tents, not trailers, as then you could
not smell the delicious flowers at night). From far away families would come to
sleep on the grassy lawns of the farm, drink its delicious milk, taste the
cheeses or collect the fruit in season and the vegetables now growing on a
large acre that Joseph had prepared for his wife and children to grow all sorts
of vegetables; from carrots, radishes and cabbages to beets, onions and sweet
potatoes. And, because they were grown organically and watered with clean well
water, tested for any toxins that could be in there, the children could eat
them straight after picking; many a child that never had liked her greens now
started eating – even lettuce leaves, cucumber and parsnips!
And the
debt? Oh, I nearly forgot the most beautiful part of this story! When the five
years were over, on the day he was scheduled to meet his banker friend, he came
all dressed up and smiling: I can start paying back my debt! How much do I owe
you? His friend smiled at him and said ‘you did much more than I ever thought
possible! Have you forgotten to read the small print in the contract? It said
that if you would be successful and be able to start paying back, having obeyed
the rules, you would be free to start saving instead of paying…
Congratulations! Our town thanks you! We now have organic fruits, vegetables
and eggs cheese and meats, not only that but others are starting to do the
same! Thank you for your dreams and dedication. Your father said your where a
dreamer, but we both knew you could also work hard; and you did both. You
dreamed but then used your dreams to make something different and beautiful!
That is the best way to dream…"
As for the town’s children, they liked this planting so much
that they continued to grow their fruit trees and soon all around town the
fruit trees where growing... parents were pulling out their hair in despair –
where, oh where, to plant more trees? But soon other farmers wanted to do the
same as Joseph had done, and so, very soon all children, rich or poor young or
old had quite a bit of money in their savings account, ready to pay for their
college! Never had so many of the children in town gone to college… and many
wanted to become farmers like Joseph…They traveled. Learned all they could,
helped where they could and came back to their corner in Iowa, to plant more
fruit or other trees and soon, with the care of all these students, a forest
grew around the plots of corn and wheat.
Dreams and Reality
And
Joseph? Farmer, Joseph? Did he still dream?
No, Joseph the dreamer, he dreamed no more… His dreams were not as
beautiful as real life. He had learned much on his travels, but he now liked
his veranda and his Brazilian hammock best. The only thing he loved better was
paragliding with his wife and children over his town, the farm and further in
the distance, where now others where following his way of farming. In spring,
all was colored pink and white from the blossoms of all his fruit trees, or
yellow in the early summer from the mustard growing in the fields, or later in
the summer the purple of the Echinacea and lavender, or green with touches of
red and orange from the apples and pears basking in the sunlight in the late
fall.
Finally,
when twenty years later, after many of the local farmers had begun to take up
on Joseph’s farming ideas, when the news came that the last of the big trees in
the Amazon region where being cut, the BBC reporter mentioned that even though
the line around the equator in Brazil was becoming browner and browner, Iowa
from the sky in summer was greener than ever. But not in Spring, because then,
from March to April all northwest Iowa would be one sea of pink and white… and
the saw mills had wood for quite a many houses, playgrounds and cribs…
IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING
IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING
IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING
IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING
IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING ORGANIC FARMING
environment children story Iowa organic toxicology
environment children story Iowa organic toxicology
environment children story Iowa organic toxicology
environment children story Iowa organic toxicology
environment children story Iowa organic toxicology
environment children story Iowa organic toxicology
environment children story Iowa organic toxicology
environment children story Iowa organic toxicology
