I was in Pinetop, AZ last week and gave a talk and sold a few books at the White Mountain Nature Center. It was great fun and I learned some things. The program was on sustainable gardening and the treatment of the soil was the subject of the talk before mine. I enjoyed it as I've got a huge bin of compost. I don't garden, but my wife does. Flowers, not edibles.
The night before was a talk about Apache Scouts. The White Mountain Apache Reservation is close. Ft. Apache is about 30 minutes drive. That Ft. was established to PROTECT the Apaches from the greedy whites. Apache Scouts were based there. The White Mountain Apaches were not the murderous tribe like the southern tribes. They were farmers, ranchers and herders. They did hunt extensively. Critical to the Apaches is the necessity for young men to prove they are men. Today many do that by joining in the military. All-in-all it was a most informative talk. One thing that did irritate me was the amount of reservation land that was withdrawn so that it could be mined or timbered or farmed. It was just taken away without compensation.
I will be returning to the WMNC to josh with Kathy and John. Thank you for the opportunity.