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Green and Yellow Nostalgia
Tired Iron Collectors talk tractors, discuss John Deeres
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| By Brian D’Ambrosio, Editor |
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One hundred and seventy years ago, John Deere founded the company that would come to bear his name. During this time, the company’s grown from a one-man blacksmithing shop into one of the oldest industrial companies in the United States, and the world’s leading manufacturer of farm equipment.
With its agrarian heritage and abundant – albeit swiftly vanishing – open spaces, the Bitterroot Valley is perhaps the type of community that Deere himself would’ve enjoyed laying roots down in: individualistically-inclined, fiercely independent, and undeniably autonomous, though courteous to strangers and the stranded.
The Tired Iron Collectors, a handful of Bitterrooters dedicated to talkin’ tractors and swappin’ tractor and farming stories, typify the area’s agricultural backbone and its distant echoes of the past.
Once a month folks like Gerald Lemon, Clark Carpenter and Darrel Sperry get together to discuss everything you want to know and more about antique tractor makes and models (mostly John Deeres, but others as well), from the painting and preparation of equipment and bodywork techniques, to removing sheet metal dents and repairing rips and holes, and so forth.
These meetings are for sharing not only restoration and repair tips and tricks, but also serve as a forum for the reminiscences of bygone days and the anecdotal arena for members to share their tales and experiences.
Clark Carpenter’s love of antique farming machinery runs deep. Farming wasn’t just his occupation; it was the root of his physical and intellectual foundation, and the pedestal of his genealogical ancestry. The Tired Iron Collectors is, therefore, a natural extension of this love.
“I grew up with tractors,” says Carpenter. “Allis-Chalmers farm tractors are what my dad had when I was growing up in Minnesota. They’ve always been a part of my life.”
Gerald Lemon has restored his share of vintage John Deeres, including three 1941 models and a 1935 edition. He restored each from dreadful “junkyard condition” to something that’s attractive, functional and accurate.
“They are just nothing when you buy them,” says Lemon, whose Hamilton home was host to the Tired Iron Collectors’ July meeting – an extremely hot Thursday night, unmitigated by clouds, unmediated by humidity.
“The tires were all rusted out, and the motors were stuck, and the tin work is all smashed up. You have to start from scratch. With most of them you take the motor apart, and the heads and grills are all cracked and smashed up. You’ve got a lot of metal work and sanding to do. They need new radiators and mufflers and tires. They don’t run.”
Lemon says that he found the necessary parts and components both near and far. And he says that unlike the cars, gadgets and technology of today, that classic John Deeres are simple to reconstruct.
“I grew up around them, and they take plenty of muscle and patience, but you don’t have to be no mechanic.”
Vintage John Deeres are getting harder to find and scarcer to locate. The passage of time and the needs of collectors have taken their toll on classic carcasses.
“You just don’t find the old ones anymore,” says Lemon. “Old tractors have been picked apart.”
Classic John Deeres aren’t the only thing being picked apart, say some members of the Tired Iron Collectors. So, too, is our valley’s agricultural heritage.
Indeed, as rural ways of life give way to urban ways of life, and as farms become residential ranchettes for corporate agribusiness, the Bitterroot farm may be a thing of the past.
“We are a vanishing breed, us folks are,” says Lemon.
Darrel Sperry, president of the Tired Iron Collectors, believes that the open spaces of the Bitterroot Valley will be transformed from farms into living space for a growing and increasingly affluent population fleeing the problems of urbanization.
“There are a lot of members who knew the Bitterroot the way that it had been here decades ago,” says Sperry, a Corvallis farmer.
Most of the Tired Iron Collectors are old enough to recall when the tractor was king, and realistic enough to understand that today cornfields are unable to compete with condominiums for farmland.
Perhaps that’s what makes this group so unique, so interesting, and so genuine. Here are folks at a curious crossroads of economic, social and cultural amalgamations, stubbornly shooing away creeping high-density housing development, unified by a common bond with, and persevering interest in, the tractor – the ultra-important symbol of the American farmer’s strength and success.
In fact, Sperry realizes that as farmers disappear so do the stories, myths, wisdo and legends surrounding them. As do the savvy techniques and the sturdy equipment once necessary for their success.
“There’s a lot of great stuff to be learned and seen here,” says Sperry. “But without a club it’s hard to show it and to find a place to talk about it. There’s a lot to learn from club members, like the old method of doing things. If nobody listens to these methods and stories, nothing can be passed on.”
For more information about the Tired Iron Collectors, contact Clark Carpenter at 363-3827. Members of the Tired Iron Collectors will have their antique machinery on display and are scheduled to give grain threshing demonstrations at the Ravalli County Fair, August 29-September 1. Phone: 363-3411.
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Brilliant Beauty in Butte?
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| By Brian D'Ambrosio, Editor |
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My stepbrother, Anthony Tinelli, is visiting Montana from Minnesota, and our initial stop isn’t to go soak in one of the plethora of hot springs available in Yellowstone, nor do we get lost in the gorgeousness of Glacier National Park. We are at Pork Chop John’s in Butte munching on fattening sandwiches daubed in grease and grit – and loving each artery snagging bite.
We’re here because Anthony wanted to see “The Richest Hill on Earth” after watching Don’t Come Knocking – a dreadfully slow moving, mind-numbingly uneventful film shot in Butte, and only worth watching to gander some of the city’s intriguing architectural anomalies and landmarks on the big screen.
Butte, huh? Oh, yeah. I’m coming right out and stating it plainly and clearly: I love Butte, and I believe it to be a city graced by unparalleled historic charm. Standing here in the time-honored uptown district, eyes closed tightly, I can taste the city’s rambunctious past. Opening them up, I see the physical evidence of Butte’s history very much apparent.
There are many voices telling many stories in this old, rebellious mining town. A century ago the picture here was profoundly different: Mountain men and miners, bootleggers and cowboys, lived midst action and violence, with assorted rendezvous, barrooms and copper pits as the stage on which their heroism and backbone were seen, tested and remembered.
Yes, coming here always makes me feel like a creature allowed a glimpse of another world. This copper metropolis was once filled with men of stocky builds, ruddy complexions, and red moustaches, dressed in dark suits of clothes and grey soft hats. With a present population of about 34,000, though originally built for and occupied by upwards of 100,000, much of Butte’s ancestry is well-preserved, authentically uncorrupted and promptly accessible.
Some things in life come full cycle: the city experienced a cultural explosion that transformed it from a tiny discourteously blunt and gruff encampment of just a few hundred to a booming, cultivated mining Mecca in its prime. Today, however, the streets are eerily empty, and the number of residents living in Old Butte is dwindling.
Even now, the memories of the blood and sweat drenched through the underground sacrifices of Butte’s miners are ubiquitous. Mine refuse heaps and alleys were children’s playgrounds. Arduous toil. Abundant tears. Precious metals. Barren earth. These mines made ghosts of men, men out of boys, widows out of wives, and fulfilled American dreams.
Outside of Pork Chop John’s, home of the famous $4.00 double pork chop sandwich, there’s a man dressed in denim, large shovel-shaped hands resting comfortably in his lap. I see two young women, arm in arm, neatly clad in long coats, their heels clacking as they cross the street toward me; cackling and chattering, their faces are made up, their hair dewed with mysterious sparkle.
It’s much different to be born and raised in Butte, right? If you’re 100-percent Billings native, you were probably raised among Angus, hay bailing, oil rigs, rattlers and feral hogs. Nowadays, being a Missoulian is to live among SUV’s and pick-ups, blasting the cantankerous melodies of substandard mufflers and incessant honking, alongside kamikaze bicyclists, panhandlers and people walking the city in shabby flip-flops. In Missoula, however, you’re more likely to see an attractive girl carrying an unusable bike, one recently catching several large thorns in the wheel, than in either Butte or Billings.
Newsman Walter Winchell once called Butte “a disgrace to decent people everywhere.” At one point the city was loaded with millionaires, had a high quality of social and cultural life, and was a campaign stop for presidents. Today, it’s still environmentally inhospitable; it’s repeatedly derided as an aesthetic misfortune. In front of the rickety old Oriental noodle shop, there’s a not-so-graceful woman crossing the street, and she’s sporting cowboy boots and bangs. Two men in linen shirts stuck with sweat to their backs brush past.
Interestingly, Butte is home to one of the country’s biggest National Historic Landmark Districts, with more than 4,000 important and memorable buildings spread out across the Richest Hill on Earth. Heck, at one point, Butte rapidly boomed into a thriving mini-New York City with deluxe and tall hotels, fancy dining, unfettered gambling, classy theatres and a gigantic amusement park.
From decorated headframes marking old mine shafts, to some of the country’s finest vintage Victorian homes and elegant mansions, to richly detailed 19th century churches, Butte is a fascinating piece of Montana and U.S. history. Plus, to this date, wacky and screwy stuff takes place here: the vestiges of Butte’s Chinese community take to the streets every February 4th for what’s billed as the shortest, loudest, and chilliest Chinese New Year’s Parade anywhere in the world; held the last weekend in June, Evel Knievel Days is a beer-swilling, motorcycle-riding extravaganza that culminates with one of Knievel’s stuntman buddies hopping off the Finlen Motel (Butte’s highest building) while lit on fire.
Curious observation: Butte strikes me as a difficult place to encourage a sense of community, or a sense of agricultural self-sufficiency, or to educate folks about sustainable, diverse agricultural production. Then again, I am only an outsider, a number four license plate, a pesky and abrasive Missoulian, with questionable hygiene practices.
Is there a way of making Butte physically, aesthetically and socially more pleasant? Many mining headframes have been preserved, aged indications of the brusque city’s extractive heritage. Most of the brochures, television ads, and restaurant menus all use a logo that resembles some configuration of a headframe. Ostensibly, they represent better than any other image the innards and spirit of a boom town that became the world’s biggest copper producer.
Standing in front of the boarded-up Dumas Brothel, three thoughts and broodings enter my mind: the notion of sudden violence, the vision of erupting saloon fistfights, and the appearance of dangerous institutions. Actually, during one of my first road trips from Missoula to Butte, the building’s newest owner, Richard, kindly gave me and a friend the full tour of the premises. The Dumas Brothel was the longest-operating establishment of its kind in America, running from 1890 to 1982.
It’s been written that at one point there were 2,400 “ladies of the evening” working in Butte. Richard showed us the underground tunnels where men could visit while not having to jeopardize their reputations. The Richest Hill on Earth overlooks more than 2,000 miles of underground tunnels.
Thinking about prostitutes selling their raunchy bodies for a dollar in the sealed darkness isn’t a glamorous notion. But, hey, shameless ugliness has never been a quality wholly unfamiliar to Butte. For that matter – neither has genuine beauty.
On a lazy Thursday afternoon, from an Irish saloon, we watch as Butte honky-tonks and drinks and dances and cusses and tussles. The city feels uncertain, panicky of the future, as if she’s heroically and terrifiedly clinging to the past.
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Western Montana Fair
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| The tradition continues August 7-12. |
| By Shannon Selway, Staff Writer |
It’s time for the aroma of cotton candy, popcorn and fried delights to permeate the air; jubilant kids will pack into lines for amusement rides with the promise of thrills to come; “carnies” entice goers with prizes; 4-H and FFA’s hardworking young business entrepreneurs boast their prize animals; and spurs to clank about the rodeo grounds. That can only mean that the Western Montana Fair is happening in Missoula.
As is the tradition, the Western Montana Fair commences on a Tuesday and runs through Sunday. This year’s gates open from August 7th through August 12th. The fair’s enticing events have occurred since 1875, with a few years of vacancy since (those surrounding WWI and the Great Depression).
The first fair can trace its path to 1875 on Pattee Creek, approximately three miles from Missoula. A short time later, a five-day fair opened in September, 1879, by the future Sugar Beet Factory (behind today’s Target), however the location didn‘t seem desirous to some. Coming to the rescue were some prominent businessmen who each chipped in $50 in 1879, and secured the current location which has been delighting the young, old and in between ever since. (The Malfunction Junction, on the corner of South Avenue, Russell Street and Brooks Street in Missoula.) Treasured traditions are observed and exciting new attractions have been added annually.
The concept of a county fair has been around for sometime, and, although it has evolved, it will always bear core elements - events that folks can count on year after year. A county fair traditionally entices goers with a few basics, the main being a social gathering. It’s a chance to eat, drink, and be merry with neighbors who have worked a long and hot summer; it’s a chance to boast the best of a harvest, be it agricultural or beast; and it’s a chance to gather, and catch up on the gossip of the summer. And, most importantly, to kick up the heels!
This year fairgoers will experience a few changes, though. The main one is the deletion of horseracing (due to a jockey insurance issue). It’s a “biggie” loss for many, and hopefully horseracing will find its way back. But, for now, in lieu of horseracing, the fair board offers up plenty of alternative amusement, with some being completely free. They have worked tirelessly to please those who may miss that void.
A fairgoer can find multiple ways to part with his or her funds, but any size wallet can handle a good time on Tuesday with its free gate admission (that day only). Children, teens and adults can drop their jaws in awe while watching the professional and nationally televised skateboarders, Boarders for Christ. They will be performing amazing tricks and demonstrations in the area by the grandstand. Following the skateboarders act, a motorcycle stuntman will strut his stuff in the grandstand arena. Both shows are free.
Every evening has a special event scheduled, including a concert featuring Mercy Me, a Christian group that boasts two nominations as “Group of the Year,” which performs on opening night, Tuesday at 7:00 (tickets are $20). Remember to BYOC (bring your own chair), as the seating will be on the infield lawn in the stadium. The Western Montana Fair also embraces our cowboy way. On Wednesday at 6:30 you can catch the PBR (Professional Bull Riders), the extreme professional bull riding event (tickets $20); Thursday features PRCA’s (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association) “Tough Enough to Wear Pink‘s” presentation at 7:00 (a breast cancer fund raiser), and yes, you will see cowboys indeed wearing pink (which should be a treat) - tickets $15; and PRCA returns on Friday at 7:00 for another rodeo. The Josh Gracin concert is on Saturday evening and be sure to catch the crashes, bashes and crunches at the demolition derby on Sunday, at 5:30 as the fair wraps up (tickets $13 general). Whew!
One of the first things many of us connect with the fair are the amusement rides. Perhaps that is because of the impact it has on children, and most likely that of our own childhood memories. It’s also what tugs some adults to go the fair. After all, Little Jimmy wants his rides! The Missoula-based Inland Empire Amusements once again hosts over 30 rides and booths at the fair. The amusements offered are plenty - everything from the traditional Ferris Wheel to the Tilt-a-Whirl to the little slow-spinning vehicles that are complete with horns for its occupants to blast. The most economical way for Little Jimmy to get his annual quota of rides would be a full-day pass, but tickets are also available to accommodate those who desire partaking in just a few spins. For those with a “Little Jimmy” who just has to get on rides that spin, whip or dip its occupants upside down, it would be worthwhile to scrutinize his diet – for his sake and that of others!
…Which leads to another fair essential: food. It’s not a day to diet, nor is it one to eat a well-balanced meal, but sometimes one should “throw caution into the wind” and partake in an annual dose of serious fair food. All of the old favorites will be there. To name a few of the “musts,” visit: the Sons of Norway’s Viking Booth, Missoula Indian Center tacos, Rainbow Girls’ corn on the cob, FFA taco booth, and the Rocky Mountaineers’ tator pigs. Two new booths have been added to concessions, SHAC (South Hills Angelical Church), which features their blue ribbon, award-winning “secret recipe” barbeque beef and pork sandwiches, and Riverside Christian Center’s latte drinks. All and all, the fair hosts 28 booths with a vast array of victuals. Do note that every time you partake in any booth’s products, you are not only satisfying your yearly “fair fix,” but you are also helping out a non-profit organization raise some funds!
It’s also a must to visit the hardworking 4-H and FAA competitors’ “staterooms.” Comprising our community’s finest youth are the dedicated entrants of boys and girls raisng animals that have been pampered, well-fed and all-around champs by most any judge. These kids have been working hard with their animals for the fair, and seek someone or company to “come up to the plate” and offer a good price when their animal is up for auction. Incidentally, the kids are the ones to keep those funds - with many using the proceeds for their college future. In addition, it’s really intriguing to visit’s the fair’s largest swine!
Though you can get a soft drink at just about any booth around, you have to go to the Beer Gardens for a cold brewski. The beers offered there are literally ice-cold. At 1:00, the Beer Gardens open up offering huge vats of various beers that are packed in ice. Since the lucky bartenders immerse their hands into what is probably a 38-degree ice and water combo to fetch your beer, they are probably the coolest folks in the fair. It’s also a nifty place to meet with some old acquaintances.
And, of course, no trip to the fair is complete without a trip to the Commercial Building where visitors can check out their favorite political booth, speak with representatives from the Montana Army National Guard, or find the newest and latest in quilting, etc.. In fact, the Commercial Building is quite literally the fair’s icon - the fair‘s “granddaddy“); it’s the oldest building at the fairgrounds, built in 1914, with the construction costs of a “whopping” $3,844! No trip to the fair can be truly fulfilled without a visit!
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Meet Your Neighbors: “Jigsaw” Jim Parker
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| Answers the enjoyable calling of woodworking |
| By Brian D’Ambrosio, Editor |
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For Jim Parker, merriment and professionalism aren’t mutually exclusive terms. As the prefixing moniker “Jigsaw” strongly suggests, Parker not only loves his power tools, but also the zany, comical, humorous, and occasionally serious, wood carvings that such tools help him create.
While lovingly romanticizing notions of woodworking, most folks flirt with fanciful ideas of peacefulness and placid self-reliance, and rightfully associate the practice with the arduous adherence to quality and the single-minded preoccupation comprising a significant part of the nature of such work.
However, they generally don’t see the connection between woodworking and whimsicality, playful fun, or unique quirkiness. Perhaps that’s because these folks haven’t spent time with Parker.
“What I do is mostly about having fun,” says Hamilton resident “Jigsaw” Jim Parker. “It’s fun for me to create the things I do, and both I and my customers get enjoyment from the product.”
From tiger swallowtail butterflies and bears roasting marshmallows, to swinging honey bears and penguin igloo sets, Parker specializes in the crafting of yard ornaments and home decorations conforming to almost every mood, emotion or personal character
Parker says that he’s always dabbled in woodworking, but that his interest increased about seven years ago when he began constructing larger items for his own self-fulfillment, including a deck for his home and a new storage shed.
“I learned most of my woodworking skills from my father while piddling around in the shop building various items. I’ve always enjoyed it.”
Parker’s love of woodworking is as obvious as Pinocchio’s nose, and his love of Dewalt power tools is no less discreet. (Not so surprising: after all, he borrows his nickname from a mighty and indispensable tool known for its ability to make crosscut, bevel, miter, plunge cuts and scrolling curved cuts.)
“What can I say? I’m a yellow and black kind of guy,” says Parker, alluding to the tool company’s synonymous color scheme.
“The jigsaw is my most used tool. Jigsaws have got these interchangeable blades depending on the material to be cut. They excel with thinner materials. My Dewalt compound sliding miter saw is right up there too; it’s probably the most used saw in my shop other than the jigsaw.”
Parker’s past began in Louisiana. After working in the chemical industry as an environmental technician for 13 years, he moved to Texas, continuing his career in environmental studies in the commercial sectors.
“When I moved to Houston, I purchased a home in a neighborhood well known for its holiday decorating. I discovered that the holiday decorations were also sold with the house. When Christmas came I noticed the plywood figures were old and that the plywood was beginning to separate. I decided that I would make new figures and have them completed by next Christmas.”
Parker’s Christmas carvings got noticed – a lot of notice, in fact. His house was shown on local television and he received an award from the neighborhood for his mailbox’s unique decoration.
More experimental carving projects followed.
“My first project using a scroll saw was in 1997 when I decided to make my own driveway reflectors,” says Parker. “I was impressed with them, so I took pictures and began showing them off, sort of like the proud owner of a new car.”
Later, Parker began creating Disney characters, quite conspicuous for their solid and skillful representational appearance. A few years back, he moved to Hamilton to take an early retirement and to take his hobby to the next level.
Today, his back yard workshop is filled with intricate and idiosyncratic wood carvings, from the sublime to the silly, some of which stem from his own original designs.
“We pride ourselves on our quality of work,” says Judy Parker, Mrs. Jigsaw Jim, and the person responsible for painting more than 95 % of the items sold through her husband’s business.
Indeed, the Parkers feel that they can provide the best product for the buck. And they believe they can do this without having to, well, cut corners.
“We use premium lumber for our creations,” says Jim. “But we can still be competitively priced and maintain high quality control standards.”
Just what type of timber that he uses in the transformation to toy soldiers and nutcrackers and 12 foot-high elaborately detailed castles, isn’t something that Jigsaw Jim is prepared to let others be privy to.
“Those are trade secrets,” smiles Jim, whose perfectionist streak manifests in his assurance that all the wood he uses is durable, and that its edges will be sealed tightly, as well as in the fact that all paint jobs look slick and glossy, and will be done carefully.
As far as the product line goes, Jim Parker’s, er, Jigsaw Jim’s inventory is always being added to, and revamped. It could be a bright gecko that he’s working on one day and a wind-animated stork and baby bottle the next. Either way, he’s always got plenty of smiling and sanding and sawing to do.
“The stuff I do is always constantly changing, and that’s a good thing. It keeps me busy. And it keeps me having fun, too.”
For more information, contact Jigsaw Jim at 375-1256. Website: www.jigsawjim.com.
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| Wine & the Storyteller:
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| The Place of Food in Society |
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| By Shawn Wathen |
An idea, if it doesn’t try to become word, is a bad idea. The word which doesn’t try to become action, is a bad word.
–G.K. Chesterton
The culture of our times rests on a false interpretation of industrial civilization: in the name of dynamism and acceleration, man invents machines to find relief from work but at the same time adopts the machine as a model of how to live his life.
–Manifesto of Slow Food
[The hamburger] is neither national nor international, but cosmopolitan, and is based on the negation of all pre-existent culinary cultures.
–Paul Aries
In Rome, the world’s largest McDonald’s opened in 1986, igniting, under the leadership of Carlo Petrini, the Slow Food Revolution–a now international movement designed to reestablish the ancient relationship between food and community.
In 1955, the newly formed McDonald’s franchise set a goal--to serve to the public a meal in less than one minute. Achieving this required a process of standardization on a monumental scale –growers, ranchers, shippers, processors, design, procedures all had to be uniform. Deviation from the norm could not be tolerated. Today, 43 million customers are served each day in 29,000 McDonald’s worldwide The experience is identical for all of them.
This mindset fit nicely with the ideology of Eisenhower’s America. New products appeared regularly designed to free people from the time required in the kitchen to prepare, eat and cleanup after meals. Ostensibly the leisure time gained from the increase in kitchen productivity would lead to a happier, more relaxed population. However, Bill Mckibben has noted in Deep Economy, that from the 1950s to the present, individual happiness has been in steep decline. Petrini contends that, pleasure and productivity are totally unrelated.
By neglecting the relationship between pleasure and community, the assumptions about productivity were flawed. In the race to free ourselves from domestic labors through mechanization, we work longer hours, leaving less time to interact with family and friends. The kitchen conceivably should be the most social room in the house. The ritual of preparing and cooking family meals, washing the dishes, are times for talk and conviviality. People at gatherings and parties often descend upon the kitchen instinctively seeing it as a communal space. Now, microwave dinners, heated in minutes and eaten in silence before the glowing screen of the TV, have transformed, i.e. weakened, the role of food in maintaining social bonds, as the atomized proceeds go unchecked.
The levels of standardization which allow the fast food and prepared food industries to thrive have other repercussions, one of which is health. Hormone-laced meat and dairy products can have disastrous consequences for the people who consume them, particularly the young.
The premature onset of puberty has been linked to growth hormones in certain foods, particularly dairy products. Pesticides and herbicides poison our food, land and water. Obesity and Type II diabetes are connected with sugar and fat contents in processed foods. Morgan Spurlock’s documentary on living for one month on a McDonald’s diet should lead anyone to question the consumption of fast food
Another consequence of the fast food phenomenon is the loss of taste. Our senses of taste are suffering a form of standardization as well. People not only want their food fast, they want it to taste identical to a meal they had yesterday in another town–hence the phenomenal growth and monopolization of agribusiness, with its homogenization of crop strains.
The focus is on the products’ ability to withstand transportation over long distances. Taste does not factor into its economic calculations. The resultant loss of biodiversity is alarming. Local growers and producers are squeezed, fighting to maintain some share of the market for their unique goods. The preservation and expansion of markets for this vital sector of the food economy is the driving force behind Petrini’s Slow Food movement. The belief that each region has something special to offer the world challenges the raison d’etre of standardization
Tied to this is the idea of terroir–the relationship between soil, climate and light that is unique to place. Wines produced in the Cote d’Or cannot be replicated in the vineyards near Santa Barbara, but each has something wonderful to offer. Goat cheese from Spain will and should have a taste different from one made in Wisconsin. Basil grown in Hamilton will yield a pesto that will give pasta a distinctive taste as opposed to that grown in Tuscany.
To recognize and understand these differences requires that one eat slowly and thoughtfully. Reestablish a relationship with good food. Young people in Italy, when asked to describe an essence of apple in a certain wine said it reminded them of shampoo; clove as toothpaste. They are not alone in losing a visceral connection to their food, and thus to the natural world.
Eating and drinking should not be seen solely as a way to “refuel.” These are social activities which give us a sense of being alive–to relish in the vibrancy of community. That, as Andrei Codrescu noted in an NPR piece not long ago, is why so much wine flowed in Homer’s Odyssey–food and wine are more about living than existing.
Whether you are enjoying the cultural and olfactory experience of the open air market of the Rue Mouffetard or the weekly shopping excursion to Hamilton’s Farmer’s Market, by supporting local producers, you contribute to maintaining a collective memory of regional food and wine. As you buy produce from Laura Garber or Rod Daniel, cheese from Lifeline, wine from BGE, or breakfast at River Rising or Maggie’s, ask and learn. When traveling, seek the neighborhood bistro or local market. Support a culture of good food, slow food.
Shawn Wathen is part-owner of Chapter One Book Store, 252 Main Street, Hamilton. Phone: 363-5220
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Aging and Your Pet
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| The causes and conditions of animal arthritis |
By Joseph Melnarik, DVM
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One of the many inevitabilities of life is aging. Not only do we hope to grow old, but in some respect we also dread it due to the changes that occur with our bodies over time. This is a concern for humans, but is also a concern for our furry four-legged friends as well.
Many of us notice our older pets getting up a little slower, taking longer to get from one place to another, finding it harder to get comfortable on a hard surface and having some reluctance to exercise with their owners as they once did. Often times we look at them and say “they are just getting older”, and not think much more about it. It is normal for older animals to slow down some, but it can also be a sign that there are problems developing with the pets. A big and very common age related problem that can slow pets down is osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis, or arthritis, for short is a process in the joints where the cartilage lining the surface of the bones in the joint is worn thin or completely worn through. The result is a less slippery surface, friction from bone grinding on bone as the joint is used, instability, and subsequent inflammation and pain of the surrounding tissues. The instability causes the body to respond by depositing bony material in and around the joint and joint capsule in an effort to ‘stabilize’ the joint. However, this in turn creates less flexibility around the joint and more pain when the joint is used.
The clinical picture is either chronic reduction in the range of motion of the joint with constant pain, or in less severe cases, can be off and on pain and stiffness following periods of exercise. In the less severe cases, usually the stiffness and pain dissipate after a day or two of rest or reduced exercise. Virtually all joints are susceptible so not every animal will necessarily look or act the same, but could be exhibiting signs of osteoarthritis. The hardest part for the owners is recognizing the symptoms especially in the less severe cases.
The three main approaches to treating osteoarthritis in animals are medical treatment, surgical treatment and exercise/physical therapy. One of the biggest advances in the last ten years in veterinary medicine for dogs has been the creation and use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that are well tolerated, effective and have minimal side effects. Although a small percentage of dogs will have problems with this class of drugs, most will do well on them. They can be used on a short-term basis, ‘as needed’, or can be used on a chronic (daily) basis for the control of the inflammation and pain associated with osteoarthritis. It is recommended that baseline blood chemistries are done prior to starting long term use on these drugs and follow up blood chemistries are done at appropriate intervals while using them.
Stronger, cortisone based anti-inflammatory drugs are also available to treat osteoarthritis inflammation when the non-steroidal drugs are not strong enough. These have more side effects and potential to upset other disease processes in the body, therefore need closer monitoring while used. Keep in mind, neither of these types of medications corrects the joint disease; they just keep the symptoms of the osteoarthritis under control. However, and although controversial, the group of nutriceauticals called joint supplements may help repair to some degree some joints that are arthritic.
There are many different types but the most familiar of the joint supplements contain glucosamine, chondroitin, and in some cases MSM. The purpose of the glucosamine is to essentially thicken the joint fluid to help the joint be better lubricated, much like putting a better grade of motor oil in an engine. The purpose of chondroitin is to help reconstruct thinning hyaline cartilage in the joints as it is a substrate of this type of cartilage. This approach to help worn out joints is a positive approach with virtually no side effects, but the jury is still out on how well it works. From the standpoint of a practitioner, I would be safe to say it works quite well in some but not all animals. Sometimes it is used by itself, and in some cases it is used in conjunction with the anti-inflammatory drugs.
Lastly, there are many different alternative medications and supplements available, some of which have strong anecdotal evidence of effectiveness against the pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis. Cats do well with the nutriceuticals and tolerate the cortisone-based medications relatively well, but don’t tolerate the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs very well, so those are used with extreme caution.
Another approach to osteoarthritis in animals is surgery. Some pain and inflammation can be helped by surgical procedures involving the joints. Often surgical procedures are done when the joint pain and inflammation are too great to be controlled with medication and supplements. They are also sometimes done to stabilize the joints when needed to help reduce the progression of osteoarthritis.
An example of a surgery done to remove joint pain in severely arthritic hip is a total hip replacement. This is usually done by a surgical specialist and totally replaces the ball and cup of the hip joint to get rid of worn out cartilage and bone, and to provide the most normal function possible to the hip. The total hip replacement works well for the hip, but not all the joints have surgical options to help them when worn out. Even those that do will not always remove the need for the use of anti-inflammatory drugs and/or supplements.
Exercise and physical therapy are also important for arthritic joints. While too much exercise can inflame joints and their surrounding tissues, a lack of exercise is also not a good idea. It is important to give each animal a moderate amount of exercise to keep the joints stretched out and flexible, as well as keep the muscles strong: too much lying around creates stiffness and over time muscle atrophy and weakness, too.
Just enough exercise should be given to keep the animal ambulatory but not make it overly stiff and sore for the next two days. Each pet will be different and it is up to the owner to figure out what is the ideal amount. Exercises that spare pounding of the joints, such as swimming are the best. Also, passive range of motion of the joints (assisted by the owners) can help keep the joints limber without causing additional damage.
“Age is not a disease” is a tenet of many in the veterinary profession. However, with age comes disease, even of the joints, especially in pets that have had a very active lifestyle. Our job is to minimize the discomfort and preserve as much function as possible to keep up their quality of life. Most of the effort thus lies with the owners and their observation of the changes that are occurring as the pet ages.
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Redsun Labyrinth
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| Sacred and spiritual walk - a tool of transformation |
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| By Brian D' Ambrosio |
The single path of the labyrinth is what distinguishes its ethos and sets it apart as a spiritual tool. Combining the imagery of the universal circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path, the labyrinth represents a journey to our own center and then back out again into the cosmos.
“Labyrinths have long been used as meditation and prayer and spiritual tools,” says Patty Meyer, owner of Redsun Labyrinth, west of Victor. “They’ve historically been used in both group ritual and for private meditation.”
Patty Meyer knows about labyrinths; she understands their spiritual, physical, and intellectual meanings and implications. In fact, Patty has even attended a labyrinth facilitator training at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, home of Verditas, a worldwide labyrinth project. Plus, she’s participated in labyrinth workshops and has worked as a group leader in similar projects across the globe.
“The labyrinth is a personal journey,” says Patty. “It doesn’t impose religious beliefs. Everything that occurs on the labyrinth can be considered a metaphor for your own spiritual and personal life.”
The term labyrinth is often used interchangeably with maze, but Patty can easily explain away their differences by giving stricter definitions: A maze is an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one’s way or to reach the exit; a labyrinth has an unambiguous through-route to the center and back and is not designed to be difficult to navigate.
“Labyrinths and mazes have often been confused. When most people hear of a labyrinth they think of a maze. A labyrinth is not a maze. A maze is mostly for amusement.”
A maze is like a puzzle to be solved. It has twists, turns, and blind alleys. It is a left brain task that requires logical, sequential, analytical activity to find the correct path into the maze and out. A labyrinth has just one path to be followed. The way in is the way out. There are no blind alleys. The path leads you on a circuitous route to the center and out again.
Opposite of a maze, a labyrinth is a right brain task. It involves intuition, creativity, and imagery. With a maze many choices must be made and an active mind is needed to solve the problem of finding the center. With a labyrinth there is only one choice to be made: to enter or not. A more passive, receptive mindset is needed. Ultimately, the decision is whether or not to walk a spiritual path.
“There’s no wrong or right way to walk a labyrinth,” says Helmut Meyer, Patty’s husband and the labyrinth’s co-keeper. “You just have to walk and listen in a way that you feel comfortable and natural.”
“The walk should quiet the brain,” says Patty. “It appeals to the still and calm parts of life.”
A labyrinth can be represented symbolically or physically. Symbolically it is represented in art or designs on pottery, as body art, etched on walls of caves, etc. Physical representations are common throughout the world, and are generally constructed on the ground, like the stone-patterned eleven-circuit Redsun Labyrinth, so they may be walked along from entry point to center and back again.
Indeed, even the walk to the Redsun Labyrinth is an oddly beautiful one: rock cairns dangle precariously defying fate and gravity; unencumbered trees and vines form natural arches above; donated bowling balls, or “Bitterroot gazing balls,” as Helmut calls them, shine with renewed aesthetic life and value and as unusual symbols of repurposed life.
The four quadrant Redsun Labyrinth is based on an 800 year-old ancient symbol pattern relating to wholeness and is an archetype with which we can have a direct contact and experience. We can walk it alone or with a partner. We can walk it seriously, mournfully, or playfully. Either way, it is a metaphor for life’s journey. It is a symbol that creates a sacred space and place and takes us out of our ego to some place less convoluted and hectic.
“The labyrinth represents the stages of life, from mineral to plant to human and then to the angelic and the unknown. It’s the path of life,” says Helmut.
At its most basic level the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey to the center of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who and what you are.
“The labyrinth is a metaphor for life,” says Patty. “It’s a great place to open your mind to a new spiritual experience.”
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