I am posting this here because my son ( a 2 year old) is diagnosed with aplastic anemia. Your story is very inspiring and gives me a lot of hope.

I have some questions that I would like to ask you if you don’t mind. my e-mail is semere AT misirach DOT org. I would like to hear from you if at all possible to be able to ask my question.

Blessings,

Just took a peek at Kroka, and it looks neat! Thanks for sharing that. What a great program to get involved in. Personally, I think experiencing and learning wilderness skills is a valuable experience which helps people understand the world they live in with a better appreciation for how we as humans fit in. It helps people get in touch with real life. I particularly like the experiences with wildlife, and farming, and learning about animal husbandry. I think sometimes people don’t respect nature in general because they are so removed from it. Some people don’t care much for the environment because they’re not in touch. There’s a saying I read about that “People protect what they love.” So if people were to see and enjoy the nature that God has provided for our enjoyment “and” use (for survival), I would think that they would be a bit more careful about polluting and abusing it.

I think I’ve mentioned that Brian has taken some goat classes and cow managing classes where they were taught natural care for the animals, including how to move them without stressing them out, etc. He has also learned about dressing animals, too, and has had some experience with dressing rabbits and chickens that we raised ourselves. So that along with his other readings, Brian understands the concepts of how to dress other animals. And you know, the fact that I personally saw these animals when they were alive day after day, then later when they ended up in the kitchen to be cooked, made it so I didn’t want to waste anything. I wanted to use every bit of usable parts, and not throw things away like it’s so easy to do when I have bought things from the markets all wrapped in bits and pieces. And I see a lot of the wastes in markets and restaurants. There’s so much waste every single day! That it amazes me that there are people actually starving in other countries, while we throw so much away. So I think for me, getting a little more intimate with nature and understanding the processes of how we are sustained by nature, helped to give me more respect “not” to just throw things out as much as possible. I know I have read of other groups of people who have that same concept where every single usable part of the animal is used, including bones and skin. Not to mention, it also helped me to understand the difference in the quality of food we eat, and what things can make the meat bad.

I do think there is a big difference between “experience” and “understanding,” tho. One example that glared at me was watching Jamie’s Kitchen. He was training people to be chefs and he even took them out to a farm to see where their meat came from. They learned about the importance of how the animals were cared for and how that affected the quality of their meat. Later, when these same students were taken to the meat markets to pick out meat, “NONE” of them took into consideration “where” their meat came from. Not knowing where their meat came from translated into they had no idea how the animals were raised and cared for. And these students, even after they had gone directly to the farms with first hand lectures in front of these animals, still “DID NOT UNDERSTAND” the significance of how the animals were raised. And so, that glared in my face that many times, it’s not enough to just tell people things, because hearing or knowledge and understanding can be so different. And that brings me to a Biblical concept! Ha! I’m almost finished, I promise! Ha ha! But quickly, the Bible tells us about “wisdom” and “knowledge.” They don’t appear to be the same if you check them out. It “seems” that knowledge is knowing things, while wisdom is knowing what to do with that knowledge. Thus we see passages in the Bible about obtaining wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. I think they work hand in hand, but basically it is better to have more than just knowledge, but real understanding to fully grasp things. So while experience is good, I think obtaining understanding is a harder thing to come by, but so so essential to respecting the world that God put us in. At least those Kroka classes give people that opportunity to understand that.

Okay, off my soapbox, ha! Thanks again for sharing that! I love it, and am happy to know there are lots of people out there doing those kinds of things and continuing to pass that stuff down to the next generations.

Marla

But you have a good point. I was raised clueless in the city, as well. I remember my dad taking us to farms so we could see where food came from, he thought we should know.

Interestingly, knowing where one’s food comes from is one of the major thrusts of the educational program where my son Tom now works. When he signed up for their “Vermont Semester” when he was 16 (incidentally just a few weeks before Rob got sick), one of the first things they did was take the kids to a pig farm where they slaughtered their own pig. Then they processed it, rendered the lard (which they ate on the trail all winter–they put it in everything!), made sausage and bacon etc etc.

This program also has a camp called “Tour de Food” where they put the kids on bicycles and ride from farm to farm. They work on each farm, and they eat only the foods they can get from the farms they visit.

The founder of this program is–guess what?–Russian! I think he and Tom would be interested in knowing about moose milk. I’m going to print out your post and bring it to them when I visit him Thursday.

The program, if you care to visit their website, is kroka.com.

TTFN
Andrea