Weighing Lambs . . . An expert doing the math of kilos and francs, the Alps.
To this day in the Swiss highcountry, farms are small
(the flock of sheep pictured above includes about 30 ewes).
And animal husbandry is practiced as a kind of daily
art/science which is still very much a part of village and
family life. I feel very strongly that this mode of agriculture
is in need of the same kind of protection we offer forest
and stream. For it is, too, a kind of endangered species.
One which instantly communicates to the visitor
what it "looks like" to be deeply rooted in place, and, of
course, what it means when this foundation is lost.
Below are links to pages within the Picture/Poems
collection with images and texts coming out of my experience
working with mountain farmers in the European Alps:
