Lessons Learned --------------- 1. Civic Responsibility (The Greater Good) 2. Civic Duty (Taking Correct Action) 3. No one in today's society is separate from that society.* The Flying Pig Ranch & Thistle Farm (FPR&TF) is a micro Nature Meditation Center. Developed by Nature and selected plantings over the past 20+ years. It features walking paths that take you through a number of biomes. It is an example of a carbon negative initiative. --------------- Meditation… Singular presence of Being. Silence is honored. Civil Discourse. --------------- It goes without saying that our little 'woods' is the central foundation of our Nature Meditation Center. With the exception of a postage stamp "backyard" our 1.58 acre (.64 hectare) parcel is 85+% woods and home area. The remaining ~15% is a regular lawn between the woods line and the road ... and this is where our story really begins. Y'all know how grass always grows greener over the septic tank? You should see how green it grows over a leaking septic system. Let the lessons begin. Being overly optimistic I thought (hoped) that the wet smelly spot in the lower yard, between the woods and the road, would just dry up and nature would prevail. No such luck. After making a couple of calls I came up with a local contractor. A good old boy who's been doing septic systems for the last 30 years. Evidently ours was put in even before he started. Then, when my response to "Do you know anything about the existing system?" offered no light on the matter the hunt was on. Half a day was spent just trying to find it. Once found, then a plan had to be formulated both for proper engineering and for the interruption in service. Speaking of proper engineering and Civic Responsibility, nothing gets done until the Department of Public Health does a site inspection and issues the proper permit. Records indicate that our system (30+ years old) predated DOH rules and regulations. Eventual research (digging up the wet spot) would show that the existing system is illegal, an OLD time practice of digging a pit, filling it with gravel and slapping a septic tank in. So, by law, I am responsible for replacing the entire system. At this point many of my fellow Red-State countrymen and women might say that such rules and regulations are "Big Government's overreach". Their position might be, "This is my property, I can do whatever I want with it, like dig a big pit and pump raw sewage into it. It is my choice. Big Gov'ment ain't got no right to say otherwise." (Side note: My contractor said that was what one guy recently told him, 'Just dig me a pit...' My contractor refused, citing the Law). I believe this callus attitude exhibited by my "neighbors" is a side effect of 'Merican rugged individualism'. The belief that they are beholding to no one _and_ responsible for no one other than themselves and their own. The fact that his/her property is not an island but literally connected to all of the adjacent Earth around doesn't seem to register. "What they do ain't no concern of mine an' what I do ain't no concern of theirs." Until raw sewage contaminates the groundwater. When my "wet spot" didn't dry up naturally I knew that my Civic Responsibility _and_ Civic Duty was to protect both myself and my neighbors by having a duly licensed and permitted contractor replace my failed septic system. I enjoy the comfort of knowing that my problem was resolved, in accordance with the Law. I take even more comfort in knowing that proper engineering ensures that my neighbors are safe as well. It should be noted that such proper engineering, labor and supplies for a NEW septic system comes at a cost (~$8,500 USD). As Kentucky's poverty rate is roughly 1 in 6, such a cost would most likely be out of reach, prompting some to insist that the Laws are too draconian. Personally, the cost, for my comfort sake, is a small price to pay for The Greater Good. *1 This should seem obvious to all parties but is being overshadowed by "rugged individualism".