Victor Davis Hanson Before the onset of American latifundia (i.e., around the rise of globalization, ca. 2000), the environs here were a patchwork of small farmers, of 40, 60, 120, or 200 acres. All were family owned and worked. Most were diverse—combining vines (raisins, table grapes, or wine) and trees (plums, nectarines, peaches, or almonds …
Child’s Garden of AnimalsVictor Davis Hanson The Great Circle When I had three of my own free rangers in the early 1980s, there were even more houses on the farm, perhaps economically a bad idea to bring more of a family onto a farm without increasing its acreage. Our young triad would visit their cousins …
VDH UltraA Child’s Garden of Animals. Free-Ranging, Part Five. Read More »
Victor Davis Hanson More of the Harder Sort My great-uncle, my grandmother’s brother was one of the harder ones we saw on the free-range circuit. He grew up one of 12 siblings, impoverished, and rode a horse at 13 from New Mexico to Selma, California. His family, after a variety of tragedies, was destitute. And …
VDH UltraA Child’s Garden of Animals. Free-Ranging, Part Four. Read More »
Child’s Garden of AnimalsVictor Davis Hanson The Softer and the Harder What an array of tutorials we received from the scores of relatives and friends we met free ranging! Beldon was the disabled Philippine war vet. He spoke so softly as to be almost not understandable. He had a heavy bike with a rubber horn …
VDH UltraA Child’s Garden of Animals. Free Ranging, Part Three. Read More »
Victor Davis Hanson A Merry-go-Round of Merry People My parents wisely worked in town and outsourced us to the farm both to work and to be watched while they worked. We took the bus and got off at our farmhouse at 3 PM, and most days were alone and free until 6 when my mother …
VDH UltraA Child’s Garden of Animals. Free Ranging, Part Two. Read More »
Victor Davis Hanson Set Loose About a decade ago I came across the old cattle term “free ranging”—but now curiously applied to child-raising. It had grown in popularity in antithesis to the “helicopter parenting” of Tiger Moms. The retro idea was that rural folk (I’m not sure free ranging would be viable among 21st-century suburbanites), …
VDH UltraA Child’s Garden of Animals. Free Ranging, Part One. Read More »
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals The Queensland principate followed. I found one at the pound and gave him to my father. He sat on the console of his truck and toured the farm every day. This was about the time of Road Warrior and “Breaker” looked exactly like Mad Max’s pet. At …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals I have had “several” dogs at once for most of my life on the farm, save the period I was at the universities and lived abroad. My parents handled them then. Looking back, I’ve noticed that we all went through “cycles” of particular breeds. My earliest ownership …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals Why stop now? Nonetheless, workers were told to thin out. The house was full of materials for almost completed jobs, with an end almost but not quite in sight. So close, but so far…Romex, paint cans, wood—all stacked around the house. One day last week in just …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals I remembered all the wisdom, once caricatured, of my high-school coaches, and their rah-rah Americana inspiration talks during wrestling and football practices. And I now followed it: “Why not the best?” “Quitters never win; Winners never quit!” “Take this loss as a learning experience.” “Anything worth doing …