For the last 24 years, I’ve been connected with the law, either going to law school, working as a law clerk, or practicing as an attorney. It is perhaps foreseeable that others might type-cast me as a “suit”, or a member of the liberal intellectual elite. When that occurs, I feel a certain wry irony.
You see, I grew up on 20 acres in Corning that our family called The Ranch. When I was a kid, I raised pigs and goats, calves, ducks and a gazillion chickens. When I graduated from high school, I wanted to go into agriculture. I even qualified for a small cash scholarship offered by the Tehama County Prune Growers. Had to get a haircut, go up on the podium and stumble through a little speech.
That fall, I enrolled in what was then Chico State College, heavily concentrating on the Ag courses. I took Feeds and Feeding, Plant Horticulture, and Ag Mechanics that first semester. More Ag classes followed in the spring. Then reality set in. I came to the realization that modern-day agriculture is a capital-intensive industry, and you need a lot of land to do well.
In the years that followed, my college progress waxed and waned. I learned a lot about agriculture from the bottom end of the ladder, wielding a shovel, throwing around bales of hay. I worked at a prune dehydrator out in Ord Bend. I learned an enormous amount about myself and working with other people. But I always found opportunities to spend time out on The Ranch, and to renew my relationship with the land.
A lot of folks do not realize it, but you can start up Highway 32 from Chico, stay on major roads, and not see a good-sized town until you get to Idaho. The land rolls out unobstructed. empty and free. We are truly blessed to live here in its midst.
Today I live in the suburbs with my wife. We are directing our yard away from the constrictions of lawn and shrub, and seeking to provide friendly environments to wildlife. At night in my back yard, I can only see the very brightest stars. I miss the country and daydream about being back on the land.
