Doug Fine: Author, Journalist, Adventurer, Goat-Herder

Sometimes I remember to focus on just one beautiful goal each day (I don’t even aim for the even more relaxed, anathema-to-my-East-Coast-of-North-America-upbringing “one every other day” equilibrium I witness with awe and admiration in some of my New Mexico neighbors — Land of Enchantment, indeed). And when I say one goal I mean the completion (or solid effort toward completion) of one intentional task within the context of each day’s thousand Ranch, parenting, creative, business, and emergency repair activities. Strangely (and I usually don’t mention this to the more extreme of the “I’ll relax when I’m dead” folks where I was raised), I seem to get more done when I take this focused, paced “one goal per day” approach.

And on extremely rare and wonderful days, I’m brave enough to empty my mind for a time and focus on none at all. To live in the Now. Imagine! Calling in not sick, but well, to the personal rat race in which we enter ourselves for some reason every morning upon waking. Most people breathe oxygen. I exist in an atmosphere of 7,019 un- or half-completed tasks. To work toward none of them for twenty waking minutes would be roughly equivalent to most folks holding their breath for that long. Except that it’s good for me.

Yesterday was one of those blessed days. (Shocking, considering the full moon and everything I “had” to get done, from writing deadlines to garden hoeing to mortgage payments.) To that end, I brought a folding camp chair down into the flowering Funky Butte Ranch orchard (go plums, peaches, apricots, cherries and apples) for the vista and smells and wildlife sightings that I’ve noticed the resident family of Great Horned Owls enjoy from their nest, nearly directly overhead (they eat the squirrels that eat my carrots). I watched the avian family giving one of their screeching chicks a thrillingly unsteady flying lesson, heard the ducks splashing in an overnight puddle nearby, and overall came back into the house for my monthly live chat with editors and readers of my column in New Mexico Magazine in a state of mind you might call Cosmically-oriented.

Perhaps because of those fairly unusual twenty minutes of post-planting goofing off, my chat answers felt to me as though they really summed up a good deal of my life philosophy. Although at the time I was posing my answers, I was thinking, “Uh oh, should I be allowing my…relaxed mindset to flow into this business setting?” I mean, with most of my writing, I have at least an hour or a day to reflect on my words before they’re revealed to the world. Time is really the strongest editor. But the fine staff at that solid publication (the nation’s first State magazine) kept sending me smiley faces, and I got a lot of emails about it afterward, so I thought I’d include the chat transcript here. The lesson I’m getting from the feedback? Listen to your most owl- and peach blossom-influenced self.

Greener Acres - Live Chat April 28, 2010 at Noon MDT: Doug Fine, the Carbon-Neutral Cowboy

Once a month, Doug Fine, author of Farewell, My Subaru joins us live from his Funky Butte Ranch in southwestern New Mexico to answer your questions about living locally and still living large. In our May 2010 issue, Doug writes about his career path to the goat corral.

NMMagazine:
Welcome our fifth live chat session with New Mexico Magazine’s newest columnist, Doug Fine, the Carbon-Neutral Cowboy. In 2006, Doug Fine moved onto his 41-acre Funky Butte Ranch, outside Silver City, New Mexico, and embarked on a mission to live as sustainably as possible.

Doug will be joining us soon to talk about his road from Stanford go-getter to his goat corral, and anything else you’d like to ask him!
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:05

NMMagazine:
If you’d like to participate in the discussion, just establish a user name in the box below and type away. Please note that we’re moderating this discussion to keep it on track, so it may take a few minutes for Doug to respond to your question.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:05

Doug:
Hello, Land of Enchantment Humanoids.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:06

NMMagazine:
Hi there! How are things at the ranch this morning?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:06

Doug:
Shinier than rain-slicked copper. Even though I just dashed in to log in after a solid twenty minutes of daydreaming, it’s been a productive morning — the work feels fun. Lot of it, though.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:07

NMMagazine:
We bet. It’s the time of year for yard work no matter where you live, and you certainly must have a hearty helping of it!
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:07

Doug:
Three full-time jobs: father, writer, Rancher. Plus, you have to figure in goofing off. If you’re wise.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:08

[Comment From Summer Reilly : ]
You must be sowing your garden now. What are you planning to grow this year?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:08

Doug:
So far leafy veggies, peas and beets are in. Each goat corral cleaning, I mulch another section. Starting warmer-weather seeds inside. Orchard also looking delightful. I was just in Cruces, and couldn’t believe how much further ahead their lower elevation puts their gardens versus we mountain folk (all over the state).
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:10

NMMagazine:
Speaking of your goats, in your May column you talk about how your caprine friends help your garden grow. When you graduated from Stanford, did you ever imagine yourself as a future goatherd?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:11

Doug:
Um, I think “intergalactic explorer” would have come first. But then my first two “what do you want to be when you grow up?” answers were “vet” and “paleontologist.” So maybe I’m just listening to my inner kid.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:13

[Comment From Wilford Guitterez: ]
Are you still in touch with your college chums? What do they think of your lifestyle?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:13

Doug:
Well, my roomie Obama is doing OK, and down the frat house hall, I’ve been impressed with Seth MacFarlane’s work. No, seriously, I chuckled at the term “chum.” Dude, I’ve spent half my life in the wilderness. I’m not a “chum” kind o’ guy. But, yes, a few of my friends go back a ways and we seem to be on the same page on most important issues.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:15

Doug:
For instance, we’re all pretty much against toxicity, slavery, or corruption of any kind.

And I don’t think they milk goats twice per day.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:17

[Comment From Wilford Guitterez: ]
Have any of them visited the Funky Butte Ranch?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:17

Doug:
The Funky Butte Ranch is actually just a fictitious entity that I refer to in to protect my actual Miami Beach location. And sure we gather there and rant about toxicity, slavery, or corruption of any kind. Then I start thinking about the goats and that kills the conversation.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:19

NMMagazine:
Speaking of goats…In your blog, you note that not only are “goat people” crazy, but that you’ve become one of them. When did you know that you’d officially gone to the dark side?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:20

Doug:
The light side! I think everyone should have at least two goats (they’re very social — don’t get just one). Humans have interacted with goats as long as we have dogs. It’s that easy to like them and be liked.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:23

NMMagazine:
The deranged billy goat Walt that you borrowed might be the exception to that rule! How have your goats helped sustain your carbon-neutral life style, both via their milk and their…well…poop?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:24

Doug:
In my previous answer, time prevented me from adding the in-retrospect essential caveat, “And boy are you brave if you decide to keep a male goat.” But I’ve recently posted a blog Dispatch at www.dougfine.com about the kinder breeding experience this past time around,
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:26

Doug:
As for sustainability, the goaties give us pretty much all the Ranch’s milk and yogurt, and increasing proportions of its considerable cheese and ice cream intake. Plus I meditate in the corral with them every morning.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:27

[Comment From Tricia Ware : ]
I grew up on a farm in Missouri, and it never ceases to surprise me that some people find a good old fashioned (and perfectly green) clothesline to be sort of embarrassing and redneck. Not to poo-poo your May topic, but have you found that some people are uncomfortable about using manure? And how do yo persuade them otherwise?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:28

Doug:
If anybody has felt awkward when I talk about goat poop (which I do at every one of my live events and which I also blogged on at www:dougfine.com, title “The Cycle”, I haven’t noticed. I mean, it’s so second nature to me. Wash your hands when you come inside while giving thanks you are free of products (seeds and poisons) from the GMO industry.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:30

NMMagazine:
If our readers aren’t quite ready to become goatherds, but do want to fertilize their gardens naturally, are their any resources you can recommend to locate manure? Is this something you can find on Craigslist?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:32

Doug:
Good question. I love realizing that I “make my own.” But, um, actually, so can everyone! Look into composting toilets.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:34

[Comment From Summer Reilly : ]
What about your chicken manure? Do you use it too?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:35

Doug:
I use mulch chips from fire-protection work as the chicken litter, and they eat all the Ranch’s organic compost, and yes, we bring the results of that natural compost situation known as the barn to the garden. But the goat “production” is much higher as well as a more regular supply. Also less “hot” meaning needing less seasoning time. Goat “stuff” seems pretty much ready for the garden fresh. It LOOKS like fertilizer.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:37

NMMagazine:
Have you ever had a moment — say when you’re knee-deep in goat poop — when you’ve thought, “Gee, this whole going carbon-neutral thing seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now I’m not so sure.”?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:38

Doug:
This is the Age of Certainty, then (in the case of certain “news” networks I could name), denial. So OF COURSE NOT — anyone who doesn’t totally agree with me on all points must not just be wrong, but unpatriotic and possibly a little (ya know).
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:39

NMMagazine:

Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:40

[Comment From Summer Reilly : ]
How do you keep abreast of trends like composting toilets? What magazines do you read? What websites do you check out?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:40

Doug:
I give a lot of thought to the “Cosmic Antenna” — the ol’ zeitgeist. It’s extremely fun for me to watch this happening — ideas spread at the pace of social networking, the decline of the media in which I was raised to cultivate awe and with which I was raised to aspire to employment. In many cases deservedly (they were corrupt). So all I’m looking to answer now is, “is the full truth coming out more quickly and more broadly in the Blog age than in the Old Media age?” Is spin disappearing or becoming invisible?

And as for your trends question, I like the Organic Consumer’s Association’s Organic Bytes email newsletter.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:44

NMMagazine:
One last question: If Stanford did come knocking and ask you to speak at a commencement ceremony, what core message would you relate to the graduates? Would you encourage them to become tomorrow’s goatherds?
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:45

Doug:
I would suggest that all decisions in their lives be framed with the awareness that the backyard is planet-sized. And I would say that for me, the strength to overcome the easiest, meanest, low-primate or even canine way of behaving, and then to be brave enough to operate by a wizened kindness, feels like a work-out that can’t be beat. One day there will be studies confirming its benefits in areas like “cardiac health” and “overall contentment.”
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:47

NMMagazine:
At that we’ll wrap up this month’s conversation with Doug Fine, the Carbon-Neutral Cowboy and author of the monthly column “Greener Acres” in New Mexico Magazine as well as the already-legendary bestseller Farewell, My Subaru. Everyone, thank you for joining in the conversation! Please join us again on May 26, at noon MDT, when Doug will be answering questions about his June column — it’s about homemade goat ice cream pleasures and techniques! — and much more. Meantime, you can catch up with him on his blog at www.dougfine.com. Thanks, Doug!
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:48

Doug:
Thanks for the fun discussion — I got to watch hummingbirds and orioles between answers.
Wednesday April 28, 2010 12:49

In closing, I wanted to add a postscript to the previous Out of Range Dispatch, because its message seems so significant to me. Three weeks after we returned from the river trip recounted therein, and three minutes after KB revealed on a hike that, 1) He hadn’t been sure that he was going to survive the effects of the unintentional-swimming-inspired hypothermia he experienced on said trip until nearly two days after we returned, and 2) He is still suffering from a trip-induced digestive amoeba invasion as well as what his crunchy healer calls “micro fractures” of his spine (this practitioner doesn’t even go by the usual New Age moniker “energy worker”: he’s just known as Pablo, like Madonna or Prince), I asked him a question.

Spring paintbrushes were glowing around us, screaming hummingbird bottle rockets were dive-bombing them, and my son, on my back, was angling for some scrambling-around-the-arroyos time by tweaking my ear, when I posited to KB, “Given all that you now know of, ya know, nearly dying on the river, would you still take the same journey if the only other option was that it would never have happened?”

KB, limping slightly in his hiking boots, thought about it for a few trods, and then said, “I wouldn’t have missed that trip.” He said it in a flat, true tone.

Being in the wilderness, in other words, was literally worth breaking his back. He chose Spectacular Over Miserable. The strength to desire that, I realized, is also a foundation of my life philosophy (a lot of that coming up lately, between good chat questions and broken-backed, positive-attitude-sporting friends): to endure and even seek out the challenges in life, even with lessons (AKA wounds) along the way, is so, so worth it, because it seems nearly always to be rewarded by level-leaps to a higher plane of broad understanding, self-awareness and personal contentment (AKA health or even, if this is how your spirituality is inclined, living closer to heaven).

And there in the Kelly-green-budding canyons of my valley, the very air smelling edible, what the exchange with KB left me saying was, “You know those ‘ideal life’ fantasy convos we usually have with ourselves or our mates — what it would take for life to be just perfect? Mine are just tweaks — a solar-powered hot tub here, a greenhouse there, maybe a nearby five star sustainable sushi chef. Ya know, the usual. Any changes I’d request would be minor, to say the least. General equilibrium is A Dream Come True, Man.”

KB took a sip from his water bottle and didn’t say anything. But the tightly painful grimace he wore as he scampered across a creek channel seemed to me to have loosened a notch.

2 Responses: