Before dawn the wind began. Inside the house a thick layer of dust lay over the window mantles, seeping onto the floor, seeping into everything. Outside, the wind was from the east, and by the time I went outside, it was no longer blowing dust, just the normal strong wind for this region. As the early light began, I walked up to the horse paddock to give my mare her morning feed. Often at that early hour she is still out over the hill, but today she was in at the shelter of the yard. She seemed to know that something was up…….
An hour later the wind changed across to the north west, and within moments, I could no longer see more than a 100yards out across the paddocks. A thick blanket of dust obliterated the view. This dust is the soil the farmers were readying themselves to plant into. No longer in the ground, it is in the sky. Gone. There will be more stones in the paddocks. How much longer can this continue? This depletion of our soil, of our lifeblood? No wonder more and more people are losing their health, no wonder that less people experience true wellness. Our health, our wellness, comes from the Earth.
In their book “Going Native”, Michael Archer and Bob Beale eloquently state:
“This vast and traumatic human assault has left many landscapes wounded and sick. Most of the nation’s arteries - the rivers - are clogged, salted or polluted. Much of its skin - the soil - is festering with erosion, salinity, acidity and other problems. Its immune system - its rich diversity of plants and animals, is struggling to cope with the loss of so many of its component parts and with multiple invasions.”
