Somehow traveling to Peru, and north to places like Chazy amazes me. Lots of beautiful country around these parts, lots of farms, and lots of neat little towns. You might think they start to look alike, but they all have their own personalities.

Farms all have their unique personalities, based on their owners and historic basis. Each Apple farm looks a little bit different, each dairy is little different. There is a lot of commonality, but still different. Farms are owned by families, and not one mega corporation trying to standardize them all.

I keep repeating to myself, these areas are people's livelihoods. They've been passed down through the generations, kept in the promise of keeping the land to grow new crops and sustain new generations. There is great beauty, even if I can't touch it from the cab of my pickup.

Yet, there is reason for concern. Lake Champlain is having increasing problems with algea blooms in part to intensive farming that is necessitated by market forces. I see land that is being overfarmed and exploited for the benefit of this generation and not next. There clearly are too many mega farms, and too many fields that have too much manure on them.

I am amazed by all this farm land, and people getting their livings from the land as best they can. It is so different from our cities, yet so beautiful and so inpsiring. While I'm not part of this all, I can feel it in my soul.