A22— Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 23,1951
Tribute to pastures and their stewards
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BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
LANCASTER COUNTY
Pastures are a pictorial panacea.
Of all the land devoted to
agriculture, pastures are the least
spoiled. They have escaped the
tell-tale touch of man and his
mechanization and in their natural
originality lies the curative powers
for mind and soul.
A stroll in a pasture is to worry
what aspirin is to a headache.
I prefer pasture fenced by post
and rail - even if it has to be
combined with more modern
man-made barriers of wire. If
what is spawned by nature must be
restricted, then it should be con
fined in a natural way.
Wood fencing - lined, grayed
and sglit by age - has character. It
relates history. Wire is just there
in mute, deadly silence. It is the
metallic plastic of pastureland.
Every pasture should have -a ,
regal arboreal monarch —its limbs
. reaching out to protect its realm.
Reaching toward the heavens, it
provides cooling protection to
generations of grazing inhabitants ;
of every pasture.
Pastures are countryside quilts
of varied vegetation.
Wild flowers abound despite the
threat of hoof and foot. They
compete valiantly with the
meadow grass, providing splashes
of color as if haphazardly dabbed
by an anxious artist.
A pasture is cleansed by moving
water; much in the manner m
which a walk through a pasture'
wipes clear one’s mind.
If the wild flowers are the
products of a natural artist, then
pastoral brooks or streams are
carved and chiseled by a similar
sculptor. These waterways and
their myriad of tributaries are the
molders of pastures.
While man his
stewardship on cultivated
farmland, there are separate
stewards of pasture.
Among them are the stewards
with cloven hooves. They con
tinually groom, nourish and care
for their pasture homes.
As Dairy Month approaches it is
appropriate in picture and word to
pay tribute to these stewards of the
pastures.
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