User:DavidJField

Ok, I get it. My username always appears red because I have no user profile, which it is up to me to provide. Well, here it is.

I try to live as a Christian, but I'm not always successful. I think organized religion and obstinate sectarianism are both very dangerous to freedom. I think God speaks to individuals, not through one or a few special prophets. I seek not world peace, but individual peace. I consider myself a Libertarian libertarian (Correction: with a small 'l', as I am not actually a card-carrying Libertarian), and I sympathize with Thoreau. I admire the American founding fathers and Abe Lincoln. I think Americans would be happier if they consumed products made locally by small businesses, especially food, but including all manner of goods and services. I am impressed with the way New Zealand's Labor Party has reformed their government and revitalized their economy. I want to: build a house of straw bales, solar and wind powered electricity generation, a composting toilet, and a masonry furnace; raise salad bar beef and sheep, pastured hogs and poultry, organic vegetables, grains and fruits, and keep bees, on a polycultural, self-sufficient family-operated farm; prototype and market an electronic book device; start a beginner's flight school using primary gliders and light sport aircraft to teach kids and kids-at-heart.

update:
I now own a (very large) Brown Swiss Holstein cross dairy cow, who should be having a calf this week. We got two vacuum pumps and a Surge bucket milker with her, and we plan to grow up to a Grade A Certified Retail Raw Milk Microdairy in another year, milking eventually 24 Jersey cows.
--DavidJField 08:29, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

update:
Cilstr left me a note - Thanks!
The cow (Mocha) is doing great. She gave birth to a heifer calf (from a Swedish Red Jersey cross bull) on 20 May 2007, named Star, after one of Almanzo's steers in Farmer Boy. We started milking Mocha once a day the second day. We saved some of the colostrum, but failed to get the calf to bottle-feed, and left her to nurse free-choice until weaning in late July. We have been drinking the milk since about the 5th day, and usually consume about a gallon a day for our family of five going on six. We started milking Mocha twice a day at weaning, and averaged about 8.5 gallons a day, tapering off to about 5.5 gallons a day now. Mocha is about 11 years old, and I gather that's decent production for a cow her age at this point in her lactation. We have successfully made butter, kefir, yogurt, Neufchatel cheese, cottage cheese, and a fresh (unaged) hard cheese. I have a hard cheese aging in the back of the refrigerator, wrapped in cheesecloth and dipped in melted crayon wax. I have been following the instructions of David Fankhauser.
I found a dairy farm in my hometown of Fresno, CA that is a partial model of what I want to do. My farm will ultimately be smaller in scale, and feature more species of plants and animals in production. Rather than grow my farm to a massive scale, I hope to inspire and aid a proliferation of family-scale farms. To be fair, I think this is what Organic Pastures is doing as well. They're inspiring me, at least! I look forward to a tour next time I visit Mom. My current timeline to Grade A Certification and retail sales is 3-5 years.
Also, since I talked about politics above, I'll add this here: Ron Paul may be the only reason I'm planning to vote again.
--DavidJField 16:35, 27 October 2007 (UTC)