Memories of the 28th Century

I just read an article in the Valley Advocate suggesting that people eat more soy and less beef, but soy is not good food. In large quantities it can do nasty things to people, and if it is not properly cooked it might even be lethal; although few people could stomach enough for a lethal dose. Rather than poisoning themselves on soy, people should eat more lamb and mutton (meat of full grown sheep).

I don’t know the exact amounts, but much of Western Massachusetts was sheep grazing land in pasty times, because the hills were too steep for field crops, and there were plenty of cattle already. Many of those old stone walls in the woods surrounded sheep pastures, and they could again. Lamb and mutton are delicious, and the fat isn’t eaten, so people would have to think about that (tallow can be made into soap), and as an added bonus sheep have wool. We could also revive the local woolen industry and provide jobs and good quality clothes.

At present most of the old sheep pastures are overgrown with second growth woods. The sheep could clear the underbrush, seedlings, and such, so it would be easier to harvest the full grown trees. We could have beautiful scenic prospects instead of looking at weedy second growth woods.

Yes, switching to lamb and mutton would be a much better idea than eating soy. Having all those sheep in the hills would encourage the wolves to return. Open, park-like forests encourage many desirable animals, so the switch would benefit even those who don’t like lamb and mutton.

And we might even be able to get a few people to realize that mutton is delicious. In addition to providing food, sheep are the source of wool. Wool is an excellent fiber for clothing. It insulates even when wet. It is more durable than most synthetics and most natural fibers also. Sheep need to be sheared every year, so there is a regular source of wool, when sheep are being kept. Here in New England many people were employed in the making of woolens for many years. The industry has mostly gone to China, where the sheep don’t produce such good wool, so if we want good quality woolens we have to buy Scottish or Irish products, and those are absurdly expensive.

The jobs in the woolen industry don’t provide high pays, but they would pay enough for someone to get by on, and the work doesn’t require advanced education for most people. Technology hit the textile industry quite a while ago, so many of the jobs that existed when it was all by hand labor were eliminated centuries ago, and the employees are machine tenders, but that’s better than having the machine tended by people thousands of miles away. Personally, I found it interesting to work with machinery that was more than a hundred years old. I learned later that the machines I worked on weren’t the newest, but they were still some of the best and most productive machinery available.

Yes, let’s plow the soy under and let the sheep graze on the meadow grass that will grow. Clearing away the trees will create beautiful views, and the few trees that will remain will provide shade and browse for the deer. We will be able to handle the forests that way that the Indians did before the Europeans settled, burn the under growth and dead material every year or two to keep the forests open and easier to hunt in.

Yes, eating more lamb and mutton will have many good effects.


I write like
George Orwell
according to https://iwl.me/