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Life’s natural rhythms

Hunting and gathering have provided 95% of the sustenance for humans on Planet Earth, for most of our time as modern humans. These activities are a natural, seasonal rhythm outside of the equatorial region.

Usually more gathering is done during the summer months in temperate climates, when fruits, vegetables, and nuts would be ripening.  Hunting typically occurs all year ’round, but picks up in the Fall and Winter.

Our garden produced a constant supply of non-sprayed, healthy, fresh, naturally ripened food this summer.  As usual, some plants did really well, while others eventually failed long before their time.  Nevertheless, the garden produced more than we could keep up with, and is now coming to a close.  It was a pleasurable way to eat – walk into the back yard, pick some fresh vegetables, make a salad or sandwich inside, and then taste the sunlight.

Now, hunting and trapping seasons are upon us, and it’s as if a hidden switch was flicked ON in my body.  I suppose a hundred thousand years of hunting and gathering cannot be easily scrubbed from our DNA and body’s natural inclinations, although some people pretend they can (and should).

In a country awash in cheap, easily accessible food, growing a successful garden and harvesting wild meat for the table may seem silly, but the truth is these are skills being honed.  Anyone who thinks the food, electricity, water, and heat which define American life will always be easily available is fooling themselves.  Anything could happen to disrupt those supplies.  Could be something small, or something big, or something cataclysmic.  Either way, oscillating with nature’s natural rhythms is both, well, natural, and also healthy.  Ignoring those natural rhythms is like double-dog-daring something bad to happen to you, and it will, because in human history, change is the constant.

Enjoy the colorful Central Pennsylvania Fall, and Go Lions!

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