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Meditations with Cows: What I've Learned from Daisy, the Dairy Cow Who Changed My Life
An intimate memoir on the work and wonder of ranch life, critiquing the inhumane and environmentally destructive factory farm system and offering sustainable alternatives for ethical omnivores.
Although there are nearly 100 million cattle in the United States, these animals are often ignored or dismissed. In Meditations with Cows , Shreve Stockton inspires a more reverential attitude toward these affectionate and intelligent creatures as she shares captivating stories and photos of ranch life.
At the center of the narrative is Daisy, the matriarch of the herd. Through the daily ritual of milking, Stockton forges a relationship with Daisy that deepens with each passing "When you have a milk cow, you are together every day, no matter the weather, no matter either of your moods. The hind leg of this twelve-hundred-pound animal towers over you as you crouch beside her... both of you aware of the fact that one well-aimed kick could kill you if she wished. Yet you are allowed to rest your cheek and forehead against her warm belly as you milk... her trust in you entwined with your trust in her, you become family."
For anyone who loves animals or cares about the environmental impact of their food, Stockton explores conservation and the important role of cattle in local ecosystems, models the humane treatment of animals, and shows how pastured cattle can be our allies in averting climate crisis. Blending together narrative, science, and thoughtful reflection, Meditations with Cows offers a moving portrait of the rhythms of work, life, and hardship on the ranch.
Although there are nearly 100 million cattle in the United States, these animals are often ignored or dismissed. In Meditations with Cows , Shreve Stockton inspires a more reverential attitude toward these affectionate and intelligent creatures as she shares captivating stories and photos of ranch life.
At the center of the narrative is Daisy, the matriarch of the herd. Through the daily ritual of milking, Stockton forges a relationship with Daisy that deepens with each passing "When you have a milk cow, you are together every day, no matter the weather, no matter either of your moods. The hind leg of this twelve-hundred-pound animal towers over you as you crouch beside her... both of you aware of the fact that one well-aimed kick could kill you if she wished. Yet you are allowed to rest your cheek and forehead against her warm belly as you milk... her trust in you entwined with your trust in her, you become family."
For anyone who loves animals or cares about the environmental impact of their food, Stockton explores conservation and the important role of cattle in local ecosystems, models the humane treatment of animals, and shows how pastured cattle can be our allies in averting climate crisis. Blending together narrative, science, and thoughtful reflection, Meditations with Cows offers a moving portrait of the rhythms of work, life, and hardship on the ranch.
- GenresNonfictionMemoirAnimals
272 pages, Hardcover
First published September 29, 2020
34 people are currently reading
362 people want to read
About the author
Shreve Stockton
9 books67 followersI’m 33. I live in a town of 300 people, where it’s a sixty mile trip to the nearest grocery store and not uncommon to swing by the post office or bar on horseback.
In 2005, I had plans to move from San Francisco back to New York City - plans that were derailed when I rode through Wyoming and fell in love with this place. I went on to New York, but a month later turned around, returned to Wyoming, and moved to the area where I had only spent one day.
For more about the "Farmily" and my life in Wyoming, visit my new site HONEY ROCK DAWN !
You can also see more of my writing and photography at Vespa Vagabond , a site recounting my solo ride across the country on a Vespa.
My first book, a health guide and cookbook, was published in 2005.
You can check it out here.
For tidbits, random thoughts, and spontaneous updates on the "Farmily," join me on Twitter or Facebook!
In 2005, I had plans to move from San Francisco back to New York City - plans that were derailed when I rode through Wyoming and fell in love with this place. I went on to New York, but a month later turned around, returned to Wyoming, and moved to the area where I had only spent one day.
For more about the "Farmily" and my life in Wyoming, visit my new site HONEY ROCK DAWN !
You can also see more of my writing and photography at Vespa Vagabond , a site recounting my solo ride across the country on a Vespa.
My first book, a health guide and cookbook, was published in 2005.
You can check it out here.
For tidbits, random thoughts, and spontaneous updates on the "Farmily," join me on Twitter or Facebook!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
February 4, 2023
I'm so grateful I found this book while browsing the new releases shelf at my local library ~ I absolutely loved it. While the title is what grabbed me, the entire experience is what swept me away. Yes, this is a memoir about Stockton's relationship with her cattle, but it's about so much more, too. Birth, death, farming, and the nature of our existence ~ she accounts for all of it.
There is a great deal to learn here about sustainable agriculture, creating an ethical food system, and mostly, the nuance and complication of any battle about what the "right" way to eat may be. Stockton is very clear about her issues with monocrops (corn and soy especially) and CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) but also acknowledges the privilege involved in being able to choose where her food comes from. Beyond this, though, she questions the validity of the claim that simply eliminating meat is better for the environment, as well as the dream of some to save the world with lab-grown meat. Her assertions about the benefits that animals bring to the land, and returning land to natural grazing are incredibly compelling ~ imagining millions of acres being returned to this sort of beauty brings tears to my eyes.
Yes, Stockton considers her time with her cattle meditative. And yes, she loves them dearly. And yes, she also does eat the meat of her cattle. She has several pets within the herd, but her descriptions of how the majority of her cattle live and how they transition to being food is actually quite beautiful and worth contemplating. Again, nuance. There is a history here. And hope. It will certainly make me consider my food choices more carefully going forward.
There is a great deal to learn here about sustainable agriculture, creating an ethical food system, and mostly, the nuance and complication of any battle about what the "right" way to eat may be. Stockton is very clear about her issues with monocrops (corn and soy especially) and CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) but also acknowledges the privilege involved in being able to choose where her food comes from. Beyond this, though, she questions the validity of the claim that simply eliminating meat is better for the environment, as well as the dream of some to save the world with lab-grown meat. Her assertions about the benefits that animals bring to the land, and returning land to natural grazing are incredibly compelling ~ imagining millions of acres being returned to this sort of beauty brings tears to my eyes.
Yes, Stockton considers her time with her cattle meditative. And yes, she loves them dearly. And yes, she also does eat the meat of her cattle. She has several pets within the herd, but her descriptions of how the majority of her cattle live and how they transition to being food is actually quite beautiful and worth contemplating. Again, nuance. There is a history here. And hope. It will certainly make me consider my food choices more carefully going forward.
March 5, 2022
I didn't realize when I put this book on hold that it was by the same author as The Daily Coyote which I LOVED. In this book Stockton talks about how not long after adopting Charlie, the coyote pup that is the focus of her first book, she also starting raising beef and dairy cattle. She got her first dairy cow, Daisy, because she wanted a reliable source of raw milk and her boyfriend was already raising cattle and had the land needed. Then she decided to start raising beef cattle for herself and others who were seeking grass-finished beef raised in a humane and regenerative way. Ironically, her farming business was subsidized by her art - her books and photography. Her artistic work also allowed her to create her own schedule so she could be around her cows when more needed like during calving season. While she does talk about the horrors of CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) and the benefits of regenerative farming (for both the food and the land), the majority of the book is her writing about how much she enjoys being around the cows, how much they've taught her, and just how much she enjoys this quiet, farming life she found. She also talks a lot about some of the specific cows she developed a closer relationship with and how their personalities are so unique. I've personally not spent much time around cows, but I remember the first time I visited Joel Salatin's farm and on the farm tour we were near some of the cows and they ALL walked over to the fence to check us out. I think most farm animals are much smarter and more intelligent than we give them credit for - probably because it makes it easier to eat them if you think they are dumb. While this book is very different than The Daily Coyote, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's also got lots of beautiful photographs from Stockton throughout the book.
Some quotes I liked:
"It's not that bulls aren't dangerous, it's that there's a difference between dangerous and mean. All bovines can be dangerous because of their size and strength - far more people are killed each year by cattle than by sharks." (p. 33)
"In the United States, methane emissions from 'manure management' have risen nearly 70 percent since 1990, while emissions from enteric methane (bovine burps) have increased by just 8 percent. Grazing and foraging animals don't create manure management problems - CAFOs do." (p. 108-9) [But Bill Gates wants us to think the only solution to climate change is fake meat - which is a different kind of manure problem.]
"I closed my eyes and silent tears traveled down my face. I've been providing humanely raised beef to my customers for nearly a decade and I still cry when my steers transition to food. Not from guilt, not exactly from sadness. I cry from the sheer intensity of being so closely involved in the circle of life and death, and death for life. We're all involved in this - every time we eat or drink, no matter what we eat and drink - but often from such a distance that we don't feel it. That distance, that disconnect, is so much easier than feeling the enormity of life and death with every bite. But no one is outside it." (p. 120)
"It's not about not getting attached. I love my cattle. I eat my beef. I cry when they die. I sell their bodies because I believe in this work. It's all so incredibly complicated. And it should be complicated. The neat, sterile packaging in grocery stores removes the general public from the processes of how that meat came to be; absolves the consumer from any responsibility for what happens to the living beings that provide us meat; and allows CAFOs to proliferate with profit as the only driving force." (p. 124-25)
"If someone is buying jewelry or new clothes every month, or paying thousands annually for climate control in a four-thousand-square-foot house with three people living in it, but balks at spending more money for sustainably raised food, I'll side-eye them. The idea that food should be the cheapest thing we spend our money on is the dark side of capitalism: the system has been rigged to train us to buy cheap food so we have money to spend on more clothes and knick-knacks than we need - often made by exploitative labor - or make payments on a brand new car." (p. 136)
"In 2017, over 180 million acres of cropland in the United States were planted to corn and soy - over 90 million acres of each. It's hard to visualize 180 million acres. To put it in context, in 2017, all the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States - sold fresh, frozen, and processed into french fries, tomato sauce, almond milk, and so much more - was done on less than 10 million acres, or about 5 percent of the land used for corn and soybeans. That's a lot of corn and soy. So what's it all used for?...Between 4 and 14 percent of the total field corn crop goes to human food products, like candy and soda pop, and industrial use, like packaging. [40 percent to ethanol, 36 percent to animal feed, 10-20 percent exported]...[About half of the soy crop is exported, the other half is processed into oil and meal.] Soybeans are 20 percent oil, and the oil is used in processed foods, for biodiesel, and industrially, in products like adhesives, ink, and foam. The other 80 percent becomes soybean meal, and 97 percent of our soybean meal goes to animal feed. The remaining 3 percent of soybean meal goes to processed human food like mock meats, tofu, and soy milk." (p. 146-47)
Some quotes I liked:
"It's not that bulls aren't dangerous, it's that there's a difference between dangerous and mean. All bovines can be dangerous because of their size and strength - far more people are killed each year by cattle than by sharks." (p. 33)
"In the United States, methane emissions from 'manure management' have risen nearly 70 percent since 1990, while emissions from enteric methane (bovine burps) have increased by just 8 percent. Grazing and foraging animals don't create manure management problems - CAFOs do." (p. 108-9) [But Bill Gates wants us to think the only solution to climate change is fake meat - which is a different kind of manure problem.]
"I closed my eyes and silent tears traveled down my face. I've been providing humanely raised beef to my customers for nearly a decade and I still cry when my steers transition to food. Not from guilt, not exactly from sadness. I cry from the sheer intensity of being so closely involved in the circle of life and death, and death for life. We're all involved in this - every time we eat or drink, no matter what we eat and drink - but often from such a distance that we don't feel it. That distance, that disconnect, is so much easier than feeling the enormity of life and death with every bite. But no one is outside it." (p. 120)
"It's not about not getting attached. I love my cattle. I eat my beef. I cry when they die. I sell their bodies because I believe in this work. It's all so incredibly complicated. And it should be complicated. The neat, sterile packaging in grocery stores removes the general public from the processes of how that meat came to be; absolves the consumer from any responsibility for what happens to the living beings that provide us meat; and allows CAFOs to proliferate with profit as the only driving force." (p. 124-25)
"If someone is buying jewelry or new clothes every month, or paying thousands annually for climate control in a four-thousand-square-foot house with three people living in it, but balks at spending more money for sustainably raised food, I'll side-eye them. The idea that food should be the cheapest thing we spend our money on is the dark side of capitalism: the system has been rigged to train us to buy cheap food so we have money to spend on more clothes and knick-knacks than we need - often made by exploitative labor - or make payments on a brand new car." (p. 136)
"In 2017, over 180 million acres of cropland in the United States were planted to corn and soy - over 90 million acres of each. It's hard to visualize 180 million acres. To put it in context, in 2017, all the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States - sold fresh, frozen, and processed into french fries, tomato sauce, almond milk, and so much more - was done on less than 10 million acres, or about 5 percent of the land used for corn and soybeans. That's a lot of corn and soy. So what's it all used for?...Between 4 and 14 percent of the total field corn crop goes to human food products, like candy and soda pop, and industrial use, like packaging. [40 percent to ethanol, 36 percent to animal feed, 10-20 percent exported]...[About half of the soy crop is exported, the other half is processed into oil and meal.] Soybeans are 20 percent oil, and the oil is used in processed foods, for biodiesel, and industrially, in products like adhesives, ink, and foam. The other 80 percent becomes soybean meal, and 97 percent of our soybean meal goes to animal feed. The remaining 3 percent of soybean meal goes to processed human food like mock meats, tofu, and soy milk." (p. 146-47)
December 8, 2020
Dairy cow whisperer – who’ll change the way you think about cows, including their role in reducing global warming (Reflections on more than ten years of raising dairy cows in Wyoming): How many teenagers “dreamed of having a dairy cow?” like Shreve Stockton did. Or were voted “Most Likely to Wake Up in a Strange Place?” like Stockton tells us in the opening sentence of her intimate and evocative new memoir on being in the 1%. Not the 1% of wealthiest Americans, but the tiny fraction of “grass-finished” 100% organic dairy cow farmers among an industry dominated by the “Big Four”: “concentrated animal feeding operations” or CAFOs. Stockton may still be unique from other one percenters. She’s had the most intimate and awesome experiences with dairy cows.
Between Stockton’s unusual dairy cow raising story, her poetic prose, stunning photographs, and eye-opening, timely information, Meditations with Cows is a beautiful, inside and out, meaningful read.
At twenty-eight, Stockton’s dream and high school prediction came true in a small rural town in Wyoming, a world far away from New York City where she’d lived and thirty miles from any town bigger. A world she got lucky to have found for someone who feels “just enough is everything.” She started off living in a bare-boned, 12 x 12 foot cabin on a 40-acre piece of property leased by someone she met walking on the side of the road, when he – Mike – was in a pickup truck. Daisy is the cow who changed her life; Mike made that happen. Her story is full of new experiences that transformed her wanderlust life in profound ways, learning to live “beyond the noise.” In the moment, “wholly present.”
Daisy, who graces the cover, was her first dairy cow love. She’s mostly a Brown Swiss American breed, mixed with some of Britain’s Jersey breed. Both are known for their abundant milk production. Stockton became in “awe of the intimacy of milking”; of “how you could rest your cheek and forehead against her warm belly and milk”; of “farm fresh milk” that was “ecstasy in liquid form”; and how Daisy’s “maternal instincts bloomed like a Wyoming sunrise: epic, encompassing, brilliant.”
It’s not just Daisy’s striking looks, but her friendliness, intelligence, intuitiveness, and loyalty that Stockton, and the reader, marvel at; Stockton spends a lot of time “marveling” at being loved by her giant and gentle cows. We marvel too at the marvelous pictures of the author lying in a golden field resting, meditating, with her arms spread out across Daisy’s big white-blond body, and stretched out across the top of a 2,000 pound, black cow she adopted, with her cowgirl boots hanging down his rear. She named him Baby, but he gained 100 pounds a month so by the time he was nine months old or 1000 pounds his name was changed to Sir Baby. Some of the other gorgeous photographs sprinkled throughout can be found in these links: http://honeyrockdawn.com/category/daisy/, and https://shrevestockton.com/wordpress/.... Stockton isn’t just a literary artist, she’s also a professional photographer.
Milking Daisy twice a day, the author soon found herself with far more gallons of milk than she could possibly drink or share. This led her into the dairy world of making yogurt, buttermilk, and butter that “gleamed like sunlight.”
Milking Daisy taught the author how fundamental trust was to the process, reinforcing the unique human-animal bond. Daisy taught her the true meaning of meditation: a state of peacefulness when your mind is free of the daily stresses of life, much like how we feel when we go on vacation or spend time in nature. For us, these are escapes; for Stockton this is a good portion of her life.
Stockton wants us to know a lot about cows, starting with the basics: the word cow. She explains the differences between adult males and females: a male that can breed (bulls) versus one that can’t anymore (steers); a virgin female (heifer) compared to a female who’s birthed a calf called a cow. To the rest of us, they’re cows, but the distinction matters. Daisy was a young heifer when she met Sir Baby a bull. They bred Frisco and Fiona, whose mixed genes turned her into an attractive “strawberry” color. The bond intensifies when you’ve observed, assisted in their births, and raised them with “love while we can.”
Mike is also seen as a growing relationship. The two are like dairy cow soul-mates. After he lost his daughter, he turned his grief into something restorative. He too cares deeply and differently about the life of a cow. Some are Special Projects he never sells, letting them die of old age, which is not done with “tens of thousands of cattle to upward of a hundred thousand cattle at any given time” packed into pens without regard for their health, freedom, and safety, “a reflection of how the rest of our economy works.”
Still, there’s so many more cows raised that cannot possibly be kept. Ethical questions arise as to how to reach scale humanly. Stockton cannot bear to have her cows spend their last days in confinement, so she entered another new world: the risky business of selling organically farmed beef, forming her own company called Star Brand Beef. Her journey and success are documented in these pages, along with an alarming picture of how most of the cattle business operates. Risky as a writer too when you’re as passionate and well-read as Stockton is, to avoid sounding overly preachy. She’s an activist at heart, who wants to back up her opinions with facts. She does so by quoting a wealth of resources, referenced in a substantial bibliography that shows she’s as devoted to health and the environment as she is to her dairy cows. By weaving technical data and suggestions about doing things differently in between scene-after-scene of fascinating stories about raising Daisy, her babies, and other cows (like 3M and Six), Stockton has found an effective way to pull off her human-animal stories and her environmentalism.
Of course, not every scene is Pollyanna. Plenty of scary emergencies that require fortitude and wherewithal, such as a difficult birthing when a calf is breech and the vet is unable to arrive on time, when life is on the edge. Death and grief come too, but there’s never a time when the author regrets. It’s all been worth it.
Wyoming’s weather is also a formidable presence. The temperature drops to minus 10, 20 below zero in the winter, and pounding rain in the middle of a 100 degree summer can be treacherous when the dirt where the cows roam gets too deep and muddy like quicksand, described in a vivid rescue.
The memoir also provides lessons in appreciating solitude “as absolutely divine.” When “it was impossible to feel lonely while lying on the earth or beneath the explosion of stars.” When you’re “surrounded by too much life to feel alone.”
The memoir is also about belonging. “When you belong to a place, you are in a relationship with the land. Being in a relationship requires attention.” Stockton’s voice is one of gratitude for “the interconnectedness of everything.”
Stockton’s transformation went from “What can I get?” to “What can I give?” to “How can we achieve together?” The million-dollar question we’re all wondering about. The answer gave her “an almost superhuman endurance.” What could it mean for the rest of us?
Lorraine (EnchantedProse.com)
Between Stockton’s unusual dairy cow raising story, her poetic prose, stunning photographs, and eye-opening, timely information, Meditations with Cows is a beautiful, inside and out, meaningful read.
At twenty-eight, Stockton’s dream and high school prediction came true in a small rural town in Wyoming, a world far away from New York City where she’d lived and thirty miles from any town bigger. A world she got lucky to have found for someone who feels “just enough is everything.” She started off living in a bare-boned, 12 x 12 foot cabin on a 40-acre piece of property leased by someone she met walking on the side of the road, when he – Mike – was in a pickup truck. Daisy is the cow who changed her life; Mike made that happen. Her story is full of new experiences that transformed her wanderlust life in profound ways, learning to live “beyond the noise.” In the moment, “wholly present.”
Daisy, who graces the cover, was her first dairy cow love. She’s mostly a Brown Swiss American breed, mixed with some of Britain’s Jersey breed. Both are known for their abundant milk production. Stockton became in “awe of the intimacy of milking”; of “how you could rest your cheek and forehead against her warm belly and milk”; of “farm fresh milk” that was “ecstasy in liquid form”; and how Daisy’s “maternal instincts bloomed like a Wyoming sunrise: epic, encompassing, brilliant.”
It’s not just Daisy’s striking looks, but her friendliness, intelligence, intuitiveness, and loyalty that Stockton, and the reader, marvel at; Stockton spends a lot of time “marveling” at being loved by her giant and gentle cows. We marvel too at the marvelous pictures of the author lying in a golden field resting, meditating, with her arms spread out across Daisy’s big white-blond body, and stretched out across the top of a 2,000 pound, black cow she adopted, with her cowgirl boots hanging down his rear. She named him Baby, but he gained 100 pounds a month so by the time he was nine months old or 1000 pounds his name was changed to Sir Baby. Some of the other gorgeous photographs sprinkled throughout can be found in these links: http://honeyrockdawn.com/category/daisy/, and https://shrevestockton.com/wordpress/.... Stockton isn’t just a literary artist, she’s also a professional photographer.
Milking Daisy twice a day, the author soon found herself with far more gallons of milk than she could possibly drink or share. This led her into the dairy world of making yogurt, buttermilk, and butter that “gleamed like sunlight.”
Milking Daisy taught the author how fundamental trust was to the process, reinforcing the unique human-animal bond. Daisy taught her the true meaning of meditation: a state of peacefulness when your mind is free of the daily stresses of life, much like how we feel when we go on vacation or spend time in nature. For us, these are escapes; for Stockton this is a good portion of her life.
Stockton wants us to know a lot about cows, starting with the basics: the word cow. She explains the differences between adult males and females: a male that can breed (bulls) versus one that can’t anymore (steers); a virgin female (heifer) compared to a female who’s birthed a calf called a cow. To the rest of us, they’re cows, but the distinction matters. Daisy was a young heifer when she met Sir Baby a bull. They bred Frisco and Fiona, whose mixed genes turned her into an attractive “strawberry” color. The bond intensifies when you’ve observed, assisted in their births, and raised them with “love while we can.”
Mike is also seen as a growing relationship. The two are like dairy cow soul-mates. After he lost his daughter, he turned his grief into something restorative. He too cares deeply and differently about the life of a cow. Some are Special Projects he never sells, letting them die of old age, which is not done with “tens of thousands of cattle to upward of a hundred thousand cattle at any given time” packed into pens without regard for their health, freedom, and safety, “a reflection of how the rest of our economy works.”
Still, there’s so many more cows raised that cannot possibly be kept. Ethical questions arise as to how to reach scale humanly. Stockton cannot bear to have her cows spend their last days in confinement, so she entered another new world: the risky business of selling organically farmed beef, forming her own company called Star Brand Beef. Her journey and success are documented in these pages, along with an alarming picture of how most of the cattle business operates. Risky as a writer too when you’re as passionate and well-read as Stockton is, to avoid sounding overly preachy. She’s an activist at heart, who wants to back up her opinions with facts. She does so by quoting a wealth of resources, referenced in a substantial bibliography that shows she’s as devoted to health and the environment as she is to her dairy cows. By weaving technical data and suggestions about doing things differently in between scene-after-scene of fascinating stories about raising Daisy, her babies, and other cows (like 3M and Six), Stockton has found an effective way to pull off her human-animal stories and her environmentalism.
Of course, not every scene is Pollyanna. Plenty of scary emergencies that require fortitude and wherewithal, such as a difficult birthing when a calf is breech and the vet is unable to arrive on time, when life is on the edge. Death and grief come too, but there’s never a time when the author regrets. It’s all been worth it.
Wyoming’s weather is also a formidable presence. The temperature drops to minus 10, 20 below zero in the winter, and pounding rain in the middle of a 100 degree summer can be treacherous when the dirt where the cows roam gets too deep and muddy like quicksand, described in a vivid rescue.
The memoir also provides lessons in appreciating solitude “as absolutely divine.” When “it was impossible to feel lonely while lying on the earth or beneath the explosion of stars.” When you’re “surrounded by too much life to feel alone.”
The memoir is also about belonging. “When you belong to a place, you are in a relationship with the land. Being in a relationship requires attention.” Stockton’s voice is one of gratitude for “the interconnectedness of everything.”
Stockton’s transformation went from “What can I get?” to “What can I give?” to “How can we achieve together?” The million-dollar question we’re all wondering about. The answer gave her “an almost superhuman endurance.” What could it mean for the rest of us?
Lorraine (EnchantedProse.com)
March 20, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir of "farmily" life from Ms. Stockton. I loved The Daily Coyote and had very high hopes for this book as well. I loved her honesty and the details of the love she has for Wyoming's land and animals. A few chapters of the book were vitally important earth science information, but it felt funny reading it in the grand scope of the book, almost felt like someone slipped a agricultural study into the book without the publisher's knowledge.
If I was a teacher I'd make this book required reading in high school!!!
My favorite quotes:
"Stores make it so easy to disconnect from the process of how our food came to be, but the process is potent."
"....how many of the barriers we believe are insurmountable in our own lives are nothing more than sticks held at eye level."
"The ubiquity of screens, the tyranny of emails, the time on the phone spent sitting on hold with entities to which we are nothing but numbers."
If I was a teacher I'd make this book required reading in high school!!!
My favorite quotes:
"Stores make it so easy to disconnect from the process of how our food came to be, but the process is potent."
"....how many of the barriers we believe are insurmountable in our own lives are nothing more than sticks held at eye level."
"The ubiquity of screens, the tyranny of emails, the time on the phone spent sitting on hold with entities to which we are nothing but numbers."
May 6, 2024
I thought this book would mostly be a memoir of a family dairy cow but it was much more than that. The author weaves in her time with Daisy, raising cattle, sustainable farming practices, the current cattle industry. I really enjoyed it.
November 14, 2020
In reading this book I felt a strong degree of ambivalence towards the author. On the one hand, there is much to praise about the author's approach to animals and her realization of the personality that cows have and her ability to intuitively relate to and deal thoughtfully with animals who are mistakenly thought to be stupid. Yet while this is a major point in her favor, not least because her ability to reflect upon the personality and spirit of cows makes her a kindred soul to my own father in at least that respect. On the other hand, I can't help but feel as if she comes to her love of simplicity for the wrong reasons. This is not a book that really flatters the author as a judge of character--she whines too much, criticizes people for being white despite being every bit as much of a whitey as I am or anyone else is, and generally shows herself as one of those unattractive hippy types with plenty of leftist self-righteousness combined with an unfortunate lack of self-awareness. It is all too common that the self-righteousness of leftists, especially those who (like this author) spend their time railing against commercial practices while engaging in them at the same time cannot exist without a high tolerance for their own hypocrisy and a low tolerance for self-examination.
This book is about 250 pages long and is divided into three parts and eleven chapters. The first part of the book discusses the author's own attempts to belong in rural Wyoming, by no means an easy thing to do with chapters on becoming family (1), harmony and hope (2), communicating with cattle (3), and belonging to a place (4). This is followed by a second part of the book, which contains chapters on the author's thoughts about using nature as a model (5), dealing with issues of conflict and tension (6), and looking at the issue of the culture of agriculture (7). The third and final part of the book contains chapters that discuss the uncertain faith of the author in herself when she does her laundry and misses the death of one of her beloved cows (8), deals with the ritual work of taking care of animals (9), thinks about her cows as lucky and privileged (10), and reflects on her meditations with cows (11), after which there are acknowledgements and references to close the book.
By and large, though, the author reveals herself to be a complicated person, and her relations with her animals is similarly complicated. Having not read her previous book about her relationship with a coyote that she adopted and spectacularly failed to raise in such a manner that it was safe to release into the wild, there is at least some context for this book that I am missing. That said, the author simultaneously appears to cultivate and shun publicity, giving out enough information that someone may find her out, especially thanks to the helpfulness of her neighbors, while at the same time upset that people would seek her out without calling her first to set up an appointment, even as she brags about her nontraditional work hours that leave her plenty of time to snuggle with cows. The author's solution to this, seeking to spend more time in the remote mountains where she would be more difficult to track down, does appear to be good for her peace of mind but bad for her blogging. One of the more interesting aspects of this book, and one that reflects on the author's overall lack of self-knowledge, is the way that the author's ambivalence towards so much encourages the reader to feel ambivalent towards her, as she is likely to draw ambivalence both from the right and from the left.
This book is about 250 pages long and is divided into three parts and eleven chapters. The first part of the book discusses the author's own attempts to belong in rural Wyoming, by no means an easy thing to do with chapters on becoming family (1), harmony and hope (2), communicating with cattle (3), and belonging to a place (4). This is followed by a second part of the book, which contains chapters on the author's thoughts about using nature as a model (5), dealing with issues of conflict and tension (6), and looking at the issue of the culture of agriculture (7). The third and final part of the book contains chapters that discuss the uncertain faith of the author in herself when she does her laundry and misses the death of one of her beloved cows (8), deals with the ritual work of taking care of animals (9), thinks about her cows as lucky and privileged (10), and reflects on her meditations with cows (11), after which there are acknowledgements and references to close the book.
By and large, though, the author reveals herself to be a complicated person, and her relations with her animals is similarly complicated. Having not read her previous book about her relationship with a coyote that she adopted and spectacularly failed to raise in such a manner that it was safe to release into the wild, there is at least some context for this book that I am missing. That said, the author simultaneously appears to cultivate and shun publicity, giving out enough information that someone may find her out, especially thanks to the helpfulness of her neighbors, while at the same time upset that people would seek her out without calling her first to set up an appointment, even as she brags about her nontraditional work hours that leave her plenty of time to snuggle with cows. The author's solution to this, seeking to spend more time in the remote mountains where she would be more difficult to track down, does appear to be good for her peace of mind but bad for her blogging. One of the more interesting aspects of this book, and one that reflects on the author's overall lack of self-knowledge, is the way that the author's ambivalence towards so much encourages the reader to feel ambivalent towards her, as she is likely to draw ambivalence both from the right and from the left.
May 25, 2022
Je n'ai jamais caché mon immense amour des vaches, bien au contraire, et ce n'est donc pas étonnant que je lise de temps en temps des livres qui en parle. J'avoue que le titre ne m'a pas du tout accroché et que j'ai bien failli ne pas me procurer ce livre sinon mon manque de lecture sur ces êtres fantastiques que sont les vaches et j'aurais définitivement manqué une bonne lecture.
Sous la forme d'un mémoire, l'autrice aborde entre-autres chose des questions politiques comme l'environnement, les changements climatiques, l'empreinte carbone, la biodiversité, la diversification des sols, la complémentarité entre les cultures et l'élevage et qui citent quelques sources à ce sujet pour appuyer son argumentation (une chose très rare dans un mémoire). Le cœur du récit reste toutefois sa vie aux côtés de vaches, de sa découverte des magnifiques créatures, des moments qu'elle aura passé avec les vaches. Elle aborde les naissances de veaux, la mort de certains de ses proches, la maladie, les nombreuses craintes qu'elle aura pour les vaches avec beaucoup d'empathie et d'émotions (l'autrice n'hésites pas à nommer des épisodes dépressifs ou ses immenses chagrins suite à la perte d'une être cher).
C'est à la fois très descriptif du quotidien d'une "éleveuse" qui fait un peu tout manuellement (y compris la traite), avec des exemples de journées typiques qui sont contrastés avec des éleveurs un peu plus gros (et finalement avec des grosses entreprises qui n'ont que le profit en tête et non pas le bien-être des vaches). Sans être un manifeste de "retour à la terre", c'est un appel à fortement reconsidérer l'élevage, l'agriculture bio et l'importance de prendre le temps, des habitudes, un rythme de vie qui a aidé à de nombreuse reprise l'autrice à passer à travers des moments difficiles.
Une belle lecture, on y apprend beaucoup de choses, j'apprécie tout particulièrement les quelques lectures de livre qui ponctuent l'ouvrage, l'amour des vaches, la réflexion politique et environnementale à laquelle je ne m'attendais pas du tout d'un mémoire avec ce titre. Une bonne découverte!
Sous la forme d'un mémoire, l'autrice aborde entre-autres chose des questions politiques comme l'environnement, les changements climatiques, l'empreinte carbone, la biodiversité, la diversification des sols, la complémentarité entre les cultures et l'élevage et qui citent quelques sources à ce sujet pour appuyer son argumentation (une chose très rare dans un mémoire). Le cœur du récit reste toutefois sa vie aux côtés de vaches, de sa découverte des magnifiques créatures, des moments qu'elle aura passé avec les vaches. Elle aborde les naissances de veaux, la mort de certains de ses proches, la maladie, les nombreuses craintes qu'elle aura pour les vaches avec beaucoup d'empathie et d'émotions (l'autrice n'hésites pas à nommer des épisodes dépressifs ou ses immenses chagrins suite à la perte d'une être cher).
C'est à la fois très descriptif du quotidien d'une "éleveuse" qui fait un peu tout manuellement (y compris la traite), avec des exemples de journées typiques qui sont contrastés avec des éleveurs un peu plus gros (et finalement avec des grosses entreprises qui n'ont que le profit en tête et non pas le bien-être des vaches). Sans être un manifeste de "retour à la terre", c'est un appel à fortement reconsidérer l'élevage, l'agriculture bio et l'importance de prendre le temps, des habitudes, un rythme de vie qui a aidé à de nombreuse reprise l'autrice à passer à travers des moments difficiles.
Une belle lecture, on y apprend beaucoup de choses, j'apprécie tout particulièrement les quelques lectures de livre qui ponctuent l'ouvrage, l'amour des vaches, la réflexion politique et environnementale à laquelle je ne m'attendais pas du tout d'un mémoire avec ce titre. Une bonne découverte!
December 4, 2023
I read Meditations with Cows about a year ago, yet still remember most of it vividly. Stockton’s love for her animals shines through every page, and the full-page color photography helped me connect to her most memorable cows. “Meditative” is truly the perfect descriptor for this work.
I took a complicated ethical conclusion from this book, which seems to be the author’s intent. I have mixed feelings personally about eating meat, and this book did not alleviate them. Rather, it added some nuance to my thinking. I have still drastically reduced my meat consumption, but I feel more comfortable buying meat at farmer’s markets because of this book. Stockton’s political messaging feels almost too complicated to be useful, which at times felt refreshing and admirable, yet at other times was frustrating for me as a reader.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, but it’s not for everybody. It’s an excellent choice for someone with above-average food systems knowledge hoping to complicate their thinking. I am grateful for Stockton’s writing, and the care she shows to all creatures — especially Daisy, Frisco, and Charlie — is evident.
I took a complicated ethical conclusion from this book, which seems to be the author’s intent. I have mixed feelings personally about eating meat, and this book did not alleviate them. Rather, it added some nuance to my thinking. I have still drastically reduced my meat consumption, but I feel more comfortable buying meat at farmer’s markets because of this book. Stockton’s political messaging feels almost too complicated to be useful, which at times felt refreshing and admirable, yet at other times was frustrating for me as a reader.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, but it’s not for everybody. It’s an excellent choice for someone with above-average food systems knowledge hoping to complicate their thinking. I am grateful for Stockton’s writing, and the care she shows to all creatures — especially Daisy, Frisco, and Charlie — is evident.
January 31, 2023
Reading this book feels like someone took every thought I’ve had or lesson I’ve learned growing up working on a cattle ranch and put it on paper. 1000/10 recommend reading this book.
September 27, 2021
I was so moved by this book that I couldn't put my thoughts into words right after reading it. Now it's been a week since I finished it and I wish that I had written this review sooner because I'm sure that there will be so many things I forget to include. I became fully immersed in Shreve Stockton's world of cows, farm life, and the wonders of nature.
Though I'm a vegan and don't understand any killing of animals, I respect the way that Stockton lives her life and wish that all meat eaters would live by her values and beliefs. Settling into a solitary existence on a farm in Wyoming had not been her plan. She expected to move back to NY but during a cross country Vespa trip from LA to NY, she stopped off in Wyoming and fell in love. Based on her vivid descriptions of the natural world that surrounds her, I can understand the draw. The main attraction for me, however, was her relationship with her animals. She catalogues her life milking her dairy cow, Daisy, helping her cows birth calves, and bonding with the cows that live on her farm. I was constantly amazed by her lack of fear when something went wrong and the medical care she was able to give to her animals in the heat of the moment when no one was there to help her. She seems to trust the universe in a way that is difficult for most of us to do.
The part I both respected and was saddened by was when she wrote about the steers (young male cows--adult males are bulls) that she raises for meat. Yes, I am happy that they live a life of freedom and peace, grazing in the hills, but the fact that she brings them to the butcher and has them killed for meat is still something I can't support. I don't like that she refers to the process as these animals "transitioning." No matter what euphemism you use, it's still the killing of an animal. (It makes sense that Stockton names all of her female dairy cows but does not name her steers.) At the same time, I wish every animal that is killed for meat had the life that these animals do. Her chapters about the food industry are heartbreaking and powerful, as she describes the horrific conditions that exist in most factory farms and the devastating effect they have on the environment. She talks about monocrops and CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) and gives the pathetic details of how they perpetuate the unhealthy, inhumane practices of the food corporations that run them. As much as I protest against the killing of animals, I wish more people would support the small business she runs selling her meat. Not only is the meat free of hormones or other harmful chemicals, but it comes from animals who were not tortured and did not release huge amounts of stress hormones. I always say that eating animals who had a terrifying life of suffering can't possibly be good for people.
I spend as much time as I can outdoors, especially when I'm off over the summer, and this book made me feel connected to the natural world in an even more philosophical way. There were times I was moved to tears and times that I felt such heartfelt love for these animals that I wished I could hug them. Stockton is an impressive woman and one of the rare ones who yearned for a certain type of life and actually went out and made it happen.
Though I'm a vegan and don't understand any killing of animals, I respect the way that Stockton lives her life and wish that all meat eaters would live by her values and beliefs. Settling into a solitary existence on a farm in Wyoming had not been her plan. She expected to move back to NY but during a cross country Vespa trip from LA to NY, she stopped off in Wyoming and fell in love. Based on her vivid descriptions of the natural world that surrounds her, I can understand the draw. The main attraction for me, however, was her relationship with her animals. She catalogues her life milking her dairy cow, Daisy, helping her cows birth calves, and bonding with the cows that live on her farm. I was constantly amazed by her lack of fear when something went wrong and the medical care she was able to give to her animals in the heat of the moment when no one was there to help her. She seems to trust the universe in a way that is difficult for most of us to do.
The part I both respected and was saddened by was when she wrote about the steers (young male cows--adult males are bulls) that she raises for meat. Yes, I am happy that they live a life of freedom and peace, grazing in the hills, but the fact that she brings them to the butcher and has them killed for meat is still something I can't support. I don't like that she refers to the process as these animals "transitioning." No matter what euphemism you use, it's still the killing of an animal. (It makes sense that Stockton names all of her female dairy cows but does not name her steers.) At the same time, I wish every animal that is killed for meat had the life that these animals do. Her chapters about the food industry are heartbreaking and powerful, as she describes the horrific conditions that exist in most factory farms and the devastating effect they have on the environment. She talks about monocrops and CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) and gives the pathetic details of how they perpetuate the unhealthy, inhumane practices of the food corporations that run them. As much as I protest against the killing of animals, I wish more people would support the small business she runs selling her meat. Not only is the meat free of hormones or other harmful chemicals, but it comes from animals who were not tortured and did not release huge amounts of stress hormones. I always say that eating animals who had a terrifying life of suffering can't possibly be good for people.
I spend as much time as I can outdoors, especially when I'm off over the summer, and this book made me feel connected to the natural world in an even more philosophical way. There were times I was moved to tears and times that I felt such heartfelt love for these animals that I wished I could hug them. Stockton is an impressive woman and one of the rare ones who yearned for a certain type of life and actually went out and made it happen.
June 9, 2021
Have you ever wanted to rate a book a 1 star and a 5 star simultaneously? I split the difference and gave it a 3. Good beginning and ending that focused on her stories with the cattle and her "Buddhist like" philosophy of life - 5 stars!
In the middle she discusses and justifies her business of selling cattle for meat. She had some interesting points that I found fascinating and helped my understanding about environmental pollution from cattle (CAFOs are evil). However her logic is faulty in regards to eating animals. In the book she states everything dies and then compares the "death of a piece of celery to the death of a cow". Following her logic, the death of a piece of celery is equal to the death of a cow is equal to the death of a human being because "everything dies". Faulty logic as a piece of celery is clearly not the same as a conscious animal or human. She also clearly has mixed feelings about sending her cattle to slaughter as she has to use a euphemism when describing the process - she refers to her animals as "transitioning" - 1 star. I gave this book to one of my friends who owns a small group of cattle that she raises for beef. Will be interested to see what she thinks of it.
I understand we humans have a very complex relationship with animals - some we have as pets, some we use for experimentation, and some we eat. But if people are going to eat animals I would prefer the animal to be raised as humanely as possible (again, CAFOs are evil). Thank you to all the farmers, like this author, and the care they give to animals.
In the middle she discusses and justifies her business of selling cattle for meat. She had some interesting points that I found fascinating and helped my understanding about environmental pollution from cattle (CAFOs are evil). However her logic is faulty in regards to eating animals. In the book she states everything dies and then compares the "death of a piece of celery to the death of a cow". Following her logic, the death of a piece of celery is equal to the death of a cow is equal to the death of a human being because "everything dies". Faulty logic as a piece of celery is clearly not the same as a conscious animal or human. She also clearly has mixed feelings about sending her cattle to slaughter as she has to use a euphemism when describing the process - she refers to her animals as "transitioning" - 1 star. I gave this book to one of my friends who owns a small group of cattle that she raises for beef. Will be interested to see what she thinks of it.
I understand we humans have a very complex relationship with animals - some we have as pets, some we use for experimentation, and some we eat. But if people are going to eat animals I would prefer the animal to be raised as humanely as possible (again, CAFOs are evil). Thank you to all the farmers, like this author, and the care they give to animals.
April 2, 2021
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! Shreve Stockton has led an interesting life (cross-country moped riding, coyote-raising), and she has included her interactions with cows and what she's learned from them in this book. This is a beautiful and simple look at cattle. Ultimately she appreciates them as living things, as domesticated animals, as pets, as friends. She walks us through her learning process - she had no idea what she was doing but figured it out, sharing the process, coming to this deep appreciation for cows that is like nothing I've read before. It touched me. I found Stockton to be refreshingly realistic about life and the costs of being at the top of the food chain. Because of the way she lives, largely remote and reliant on her environment and her own preparedness, she has a unique appreciation for life and nature and the natural order of things that is incredible to read. For those who think that ranching and cattle are generally banes on the environment, she gives a different take, again something I hadn't read before. She gives solutions rather than just list everything that is wrong with our world and our systems. She figured out how to raise cattle without the feed yard and make a living despite all the hurdles. This is a hopeful book, and I wish there were more like it.
I grew up in Kansas and several of my uncles raised cattle, but no one really talked about them. This book makes me want to talk to my cousins and uncles about cows :)
I grew up in Kansas and several of my uncles raised cattle, but no one really talked about them. This book makes me want to talk to my cousins and uncles about cows :)
December 17, 2020
I wish half stars were an option because i am truly between two and three stars. I appreciated the beginning of the book where she talks about observing the cows and having a sense of peace and ease with them.I loved the gorgeous photos of the cows in the pastures. I had to temporarily put this book down when the author began discussing killing the cows for profit. That wasn't where I thought the author would go with book.
December 27, 2020
Beautiful writing and amazing photography. I loved the memoir aspect of this book. The environmentalist side of it was a little heavy handed at times (not that I disagreed with her message), but it's such an important message. The stories of Daisy, Sir Baby, Frisco, Six, 3M and the other animals are worth revisiting. I'm glad I have this beautiful book on my shelf.
November 25, 2020
An incredible book that is as stunningly beautiful as it is of crucial importance environmentally. Stockton describes how loving animals and the land and animal agriculture are, in fact, not mutually exclusive concepts, but rather inextricably intertwined.
February 3, 2021
I loved this book. A chapter at bedtime provided the perfect escape from an overly digital, zoomed out day. Stockton's experience and description reminded me of Walden and also of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books I loved as a child.
February 18, 2021
I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that this might be the most out-of-place books that I've reviewed here on IGC Publishing. We've posted plenty of reviews of genres besides science fiction and fantasy, like historical fiction, philosophy, non-fiction, and biographies, but as far as books that are completely outside of anything I would normally choose to read, I think that Everything That Remains is the only book review so-far published that even comes close to this pick. Much like that "memoir," Meditations with Cows ended up in my reading list because of my shadow-book-club-membership (which is not nearly as exciting and mysterious as it sounds). Anyway, the book club of which I am a shadow-member decided to read this book, and I decided to read along, as I often do.
If I had to describe this book in a single sentence, it would be this: it's A Little House on the Prairie, if Laura Ingalls Wilder had been a 21st century hippie. That might sound like an odd combination, and...it was. In fact, I'm fairly certain that the main reason this book exists is because the author got started in the early days of blogging with a semi-unique story and pictures of cute baby cows and coyotes, gathered a lot of followers, and then wrote a book based on that following. Not unlike The Elephant Whisperer, the author makes some peculiar claims about her ability to commune with animals that I find somewhat doubtful in an objective sense, however much the author may subjectively experience and believe it (I’m sorry, but I don’t think cows can communicate with each other, or anyone else, via telepathy).
Throughout my reading, I kept expecting the book to come to some kind of point or conclusion, but it never did; perhaps that was a foolish expectation for a book called Meditating With Cows, as it really was primarily a random collection of reflections and musing upon cows and the food system in general. Most of this was reasonably well written, and I didn’t have a problem with it, but I did find the parts where the author decided that her experience meditating with cows gave her special insight into world peace a bit of a stretch. In other words, I'll take my grass-fed beef without the side order of political commentary, especially since the author decides that the solution to misdirected government intervention in agriculture is...more government intervention in agriculture. At one point, she spends a chapter complaining about laws and regulations and paperwork and bureaucracy that makes her life so much harder and her business so much more challenging, and in the next she...asks for more. Somehow, that doesn’t seem to me to quite add up appropriately.
Perhaps the most interesting insight of the book was a comment that Stockton made about grass-fed beef having flavors and complexities akin to something like wine, cheese, or chocolate. I must say that particular insight had never occurred to me, despite being able to taste the difference in cheeses, and it is almost enough for me to consider trying some grass-fed beef and making some comparisons. Certainly the author’s enthusiasm and passion for her subject are clear, and I cannot fault her motivations and insights on cows and beef, whatever she might be lacking in a solid grasp of economic philosophy. To have persuaded me, someone who generally dismisses the hullabaloo around “organic” and “non-GMO” labels, to consider a real superiority to grass-fed beef is probably the book’s strongest recommendation.
From the beginning, I expected that this would be a strange read, and it did not disappoint; there were definitely a few moments when I questioned why I was taking the time to read it, and had it not been such a quick read I probably would have put it down. However, for what it is, it’s not a bad book, and I would not recommend against it. Take that as you will. Now, I think I’d like to go have a hamburger.
June 2, 2021
What a beautiful, creative and thoughtful book this is. Shreve Stockton's love for nature and life is presented with clarity and insight. Her empathy for animals leads her to creatively propose solutions
to healthy food issues that would benefit us all. We are clearly and sadly at a crossroads as a culture, as the systems for planet management, food production, farming and sustainability are all at or near a breaking point. Corporate greed and antiquated methodology are literally starting to kill us, and it will only worsen unless we change the systems. That's NOT an easy job, given the nature of politics and the complete inertia of past policies that work for the rich at the expense of the rest of us .
" I am separate from the tree, which is separate from the rabbit; yesterday is separate
from tomorrow. But perhaps, by consuming a cow or a chicken or a celery stalk, all of
which must die to feed us, we are meant to be reminded, daily, at the cellular level, of
the interconnectedness of everything. That, in fact, nothing is separate; everything is
linked. That we are part of it, that we are made of it. With each bite, we are reminded;
what was outside of me becomes me. With each bite, we are reminded that every choice
we make touches everything everywhere, and the choices we make today determine the
future. "
Is this book just a good idea that will get ignored??? Is it possible for a major upheaval of four huge, wealthy corporate giants who control the meat industry and have created their own network of sustainability, however unhealthy and misguided it may be, to change?????? They certainly are not simply going to go away, admit their errors and change. They will fight to destroy any opposition and drag us all into oblivion so they can continue to make their share holders rich. That's what Shreve Stockton is up against......that's what planet scientists are up against with the fossil fuel mega-corporations........ what free healthcare for all is up against vs a greedy insurance for profit juggernaut that colludes with big pharma to dictate and ensure their endless profit taking.
Stockton is hopeful and believes it's possible. It will not be easy and will require a lot of help from governments as well as all of us. But what choice do we really have??? If we can't change these dysfunctional, thieving systems that exist for their own benefits rather than the good of us all, what future do we???? We can't wait until it all falls down or implodes, despite the fact that that is exactly what human nature has shown us throughout history as the likely end game.
" If the human experiment is to succeed, we must watch and learn. Nature gives us a
master class: billions of years of practical experience to our ten thousand year of
agriculture and seventy years of industrial agriculture. Nature shows us that strength
is found through cooperation. That success is achieved through a network of support-
ing relationships. Nature shows us that death is unavoidable, but that death can, and
should, nourish life. Nature shows us that nothing exists in a vacuum, that every action
has a reaction. And that every single one of us - a fraction of a billionth of the popula-
tion - has power and our actions matter, our choices matter. "
Maybe it can all be a simple solution of showing, proving and convincing others that there are options besides greed and success for some at the expense of others. It's a hard sell, but nature can help show the way. WE need to change out of " Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" into a new way of thinking and behaving. It's a huge challenge that I would personally support.
to healthy food issues that would benefit us all. We are clearly and sadly at a crossroads as a culture, as the systems for planet management, food production, farming and sustainability are all at or near a breaking point. Corporate greed and antiquated methodology are literally starting to kill us, and it will only worsen unless we change the systems. That's NOT an easy job, given the nature of politics and the complete inertia of past policies that work for the rich at the expense of the rest of us .
" I am separate from the tree, which is separate from the rabbit; yesterday is separate
from tomorrow. But perhaps, by consuming a cow or a chicken or a celery stalk, all of
which must die to feed us, we are meant to be reminded, daily, at the cellular level, of
the interconnectedness of everything. That, in fact, nothing is separate; everything is
linked. That we are part of it, that we are made of it. With each bite, we are reminded;
what was outside of me becomes me. With each bite, we are reminded that every choice
we make touches everything everywhere, and the choices we make today determine the
future. "
Is this book just a good idea that will get ignored??? Is it possible for a major upheaval of four huge, wealthy corporate giants who control the meat industry and have created their own network of sustainability, however unhealthy and misguided it may be, to change?????? They certainly are not simply going to go away, admit their errors and change. They will fight to destroy any opposition and drag us all into oblivion so they can continue to make their share holders rich. That's what Shreve Stockton is up against......that's what planet scientists are up against with the fossil fuel mega-corporations........ what free healthcare for all is up against vs a greedy insurance for profit juggernaut that colludes with big pharma to dictate and ensure their endless profit taking.
Stockton is hopeful and believes it's possible. It will not be easy and will require a lot of help from governments as well as all of us. But what choice do we really have??? If we can't change these dysfunctional, thieving systems that exist for their own benefits rather than the good of us all, what future do we???? We can't wait until it all falls down or implodes, despite the fact that that is exactly what human nature has shown us throughout history as the likely end game.
" If the human experiment is to succeed, we must watch and learn. Nature gives us a
master class: billions of years of practical experience to our ten thousand year of
agriculture and seventy years of industrial agriculture. Nature shows us that strength
is found through cooperation. That success is achieved through a network of support-
ing relationships. Nature shows us that death is unavoidable, but that death can, and
should, nourish life. Nature shows us that nothing exists in a vacuum, that every action
has a reaction. And that every single one of us - a fraction of a billionth of the popula-
tion - has power and our actions matter, our choices matter. "
Maybe it can all be a simple solution of showing, proving and convincing others that there are options besides greed and success for some at the expense of others. It's a hard sell, but nature can help show the way. WE need to change out of " Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" into a new way of thinking and behaving. It's a huge challenge that I would personally support.
November 14, 2020
This book is so important for anyone who cares about the future of this planet, when global warming is threatening our very existence. With Shreve's unique insight, based on where and how she lives, she gives her thoughtful observations and diligently researched analysis on how raising cattle humanely and responsibly can decrease dangerous carbon emissions and ultimately help in the fight to save the planet.
She explains the intelligence of nature, how everything works together and symbiotically and how humans can enhance this natural relationship or destroy it.
She also explains in painstaking detail how grass fed and grazing cattle (without synthetic fertilizer and pesticides) works to naturally preserve the land and therefore creates lush pastures over time – eradicating the need for fertilizers and pesticides. How monocrops (soybeans, corn) along with the use of insecticides, pesticides, etc, destroy the perfect ecosystem that would otherwise be in effect on that land. This book is a wake-up call, and an extremely important and persuasive argument for changing the way farm animals are treated and handled.
One quote from the book:
"Nature is an exquisite demonstration of cooperation at the micro and macro levels – incalculable species working together for the health and prosperity of the whole"
One huge take away from this book is the devastating effect of CAFO's,(concentrated animal feeding operations) not just for the poor cattle that must endure them, but for our environment. One can only hope that as we become more enlightened we will learn that treating animals humanely and responsibly also serves to save the planet.
She explains the intelligence of nature, how everything works together and symbiotically and how humans can enhance this natural relationship or destroy it.
She also explains in painstaking detail how grass fed and grazing cattle (without synthetic fertilizer and pesticides) works to naturally preserve the land and therefore creates lush pastures over time – eradicating the need for fertilizers and pesticides. How monocrops (soybeans, corn) along with the use of insecticides, pesticides, etc, destroy the perfect ecosystem that would otherwise be in effect on that land. This book is a wake-up call, and an extremely important and persuasive argument for changing the way farm animals are treated and handled.
One quote from the book:
"Nature is an exquisite demonstration of cooperation at the micro and macro levels – incalculable species working together for the health and prosperity of the whole"
One huge take away from this book is the devastating effect of CAFO's,(concentrated animal feeding operations) not just for the poor cattle that must endure them, but for our environment. One can only hope that as we become more enlightened we will learn that treating animals humanely and responsibly also serves to save the planet.
July 8, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. A few of the scientific chapters dragged on a bit. Not because it wasn't important - indeed it made a lot of sense - but because it was a little (a lot) over my head.
I've never really thought about befriending cows. From a distance they appear to be. gentle giants. The author says this about cattle: "Frisco bubbled over with the exuberant joy and camaraderie of a dog. In a way, and to degrees, this comparison is true of cattle, they leader their names, if they are lucky enough to be named, and come when called. They are affectionate and intelligent, loyal and intuitive each with their own personality." P58 Who knew.
Stockton is an amazing woman who has traveled across the United States on a Vespa, writes a blog, creates art and photographs, and is not shy about digging in and getting her hands dirty when it comes to cow care. She makes the a great argument for small family run cattle farms that treat their livestock and the natural environment as opposed to the 4 big companies that keep cows in horrible conditions. (you have to read it to grasp her reasons for letting cattle/other ruminants living off the land that was basically made for them.)
As with her other pets, Stockton's caring for her cows is an act of love. She feeds, brushes, milks, and sits with her cows but draws the line at letting them in the house. She, on the other hand spends plenty of nights in the corral and/or pastures in all kinds of weather. From the sound of it, using a cow for a back rest as you lie in the grass on a sunny day, sounds kind of idyllic. Perhaps its best to start off with a calf.
I've never really thought about befriending cows. From a distance they appear to be. gentle giants. The author says this about cattle: "Frisco bubbled over with the exuberant joy and camaraderie of a dog. In a way, and to degrees, this comparison is true of cattle, they leader their names, if they are lucky enough to be named, and come when called. They are affectionate and intelligent, loyal and intuitive each with their own personality." P58 Who knew.
Stockton is an amazing woman who has traveled across the United States on a Vespa, writes a blog, creates art and photographs, and is not shy about digging in and getting her hands dirty when it comes to cow care. She makes the a great argument for small family run cattle farms that treat their livestock and the natural environment as opposed to the 4 big companies that keep cows in horrible conditions. (you have to read it to grasp her reasons for letting cattle/other ruminants living off the land that was basically made for them.)
As with her other pets, Stockton's caring for her cows is an act of love. She feeds, brushes, milks, and sits with her cows but draws the line at letting them in the house. She, on the other hand spends plenty of nights in the corral and/or pastures in all kinds of weather. From the sound of it, using a cow for a back rest as you lie in the grass on a sunny day, sounds kind of idyllic. Perhaps its best to start off with a calf.
March 21, 2021
I have enjoyed Shreve Stockton’s journey since stumbling across her blog in 2007 about her journey home from college and falling in love with a Coyote name Charlie. She traveled from coast to coast in her Vespa after college and was captured by the beauty of Wyoming. She returned shortly after her trip to live there permanently.
Not long after moving to Wyoming, a sole surveying coyote pup was dropped at her doorstep. The rest of the litter and mother was culled by a government program to reduce this natural predators for the local ranchers. In her blog and in 2010 her book, The Daily Coyote, Shreve shared with the world her beautiful photos of Charlie (the pup) and her life as she learned to live with him. The journey was a continuing lesson about her place in the world and her place within nature.
Mediation with cows opens Shreve’s world to her readers a bit more. We learn that she began expanding her family with cows, very slowly. She learns to “mediate” with her first dairy cow, Daisy and again her understanding of the world expands. Through her experience with cows over the last 10-15 years, she comes to understand both the science and the nature of our world, global warming and she does what she can to make the world of the dairy and meat industry a little bit better, even though it does not bring her financial gains-her art is more productively solvent for her. She learns to understand and respect the role of both life and death in our journey.
All of her work is greatly appreciated by this Vegetarian Reader 💗
Not long after moving to Wyoming, a sole surveying coyote pup was dropped at her doorstep. The rest of the litter and mother was culled by a government program to reduce this natural predators for the local ranchers. In her blog and in 2010 her book, The Daily Coyote, Shreve shared with the world her beautiful photos of Charlie (the pup) and her life as she learned to live with him. The journey was a continuing lesson about her place in the world and her place within nature.
Mediation with cows opens Shreve’s world to her readers a bit more. We learn that she began expanding her family with cows, very slowly. She learns to “mediate” with her first dairy cow, Daisy and again her understanding of the world expands. Through her experience with cows over the last 10-15 years, she comes to understand both the science and the nature of our world, global warming and she does what she can to make the world of the dairy and meat industry a little bit better, even though it does not bring her financial gains-her art is more productively solvent for her. She learns to understand and respect the role of both life and death in our journey.
All of her work is greatly appreciated by this Vegetarian Reader 💗
December 15, 2024
This book was different than what I expected, but in a good way. I expected this book to be a memoir about a woman and her cow(s) and what she learned from her/them from her time spent with them. While this is true, there is so much more covered in this wonderful book. This book has come to me during a time when it means a lot. This book provides facts in a perspective I hadn’t totally considered before. Discussing sustainability, cohesiveness of agriculture and nature working together, and where and how your food is processed are all important points for us to review for ourselves and for society as a whole. While the facts are presented in one obvious mindset, these are things people no matter of their lifestyle choices can benefit from if not just through education alone. As someone who is currently questioning their choices about the food I’m eating and where it is sourced and someone who has dedicated a lifetime to agriculture and animal husbandry, this book was right up my alley. I will be interested to read the authors other works and keep updated through her social media.
November 17, 2020
3.5 - I really enjoyed listening to the author's love of and respect for environmentally sustainable, humane cattle ranching. She thoughtfully explains the carbon benefits to grass fed cattle and not the big commercial beef producers. Contrary to popular belief cattle alone aren't the bane on climate change and carbon emissions, it's how the majority are choosing to support the commercial beef industry that is hurting the environment. Stockton and many others like her, offer local options for eating sustainably. Her love for her animals shine through in this story. I especially enjoyed the many tales with birthing cows and helping them with their calves. Definitely a passionate woman trying to change the world in small but meaningful ways. If only more people would prioritize operations like hers.
October 8, 2024
Such a beautifully written book. Both poetic and factual (complete with six pages of references!). The author’s love for her cows and the beautiful Wyoming land she grazes them on is so strong. I wish that this book, that showcases Ms. Stockton’s concern for our planet and its future, and her knowledge about improving the sustainability of farming and farmed animals, could be required reading for all involved in agriculture or thinking about becoming involved in agriculture.
My only criticism is that the beautiful color photographs of the many cows that she writes about don’t have little titles underneath them, so we can know which cows are which.
Lately I’ve been wanting to rescue a donkey or a mustang or a cow,and now I REALLY do. If I could only find a cowboy too, perhaps I could really go all in!
My only criticism is that the beautiful color photographs of the many cows that she writes about don’t have little titles underneath them, so we can know which cows are which.
Lately I’ve been wanting to rescue a donkey or a mustang or a cow,and now I REALLY do. If I could only find a cowboy too, perhaps I could really go all in!
December 19, 2020
I've been a longtime follow of the author's and really enjoyed reading more of her work and about her fascinating life. The book is beautiful, with color photos scattered throughout, and I really enjoyed it. Meditations with Cows is packed full of information and narrative alike, and has a large focus on the cattle/agricultural industry and its environmental impacts. Though one might not expect such writing in a book of this title/genre, I found it to be a natural extension of Shreve's memoir and worthy of inclusion. Unlike many memoirs, this one left me with a lot to think about in my own life, and my impact on the environment. I hope to return to this book again in the future, as Shreve's writing is multi-layered and will offer something new with every read.
January 13, 2022
What isn't there to like about Shreve Stockton and her commitment to life. I was drawn in with the Daily Coyote. If you liked that, then this book won't disappoint. From the opening waking up on a cow, the reader is drawn in to the lesser known adventures of life with cows. Raising, birthing, calving, driving, and loving them from sun up to sun down. Stockton gives us hope that a world that follows a naturally sustained balance where animal, landscape and humans co-exist holds promise. It's worth the read. A drive through the country will never be the same again.
April 7, 2023
This was an excellent reflection on the state of cattle farming and how it can be better. I learnt a lot about the American cattle farming system reading this and Shreve gives an optimistic alternative to the status quo. I also loved reading about her personal experiences with her dairy cows; she's an excellent story-teller. A delightful read.
October 9, 2020
Philosophy, biology, agriculture, ecology, animal husbandry, birth and death — this book has all that and much more. But mostly it’s about love. The author’s love of her life and the animals and people in it shines through the book. It will stay with this reader for a long time.
October 28, 2020
I know so much more about cows now and although I won't go visiting any at our wonderful nearby farms, I do have a new respect for them. This book was wonderful, a little too much science in the middle, but I recommend it for anyone who wants to know learn more animals souls.
January 18, 2023
This book was life changing. Although many of these concepts of regenerative agriculture are ones i’ve learned in class, this book elaborated on them even more and made me excited for the future of agriculture and deepened my love and appreciation for cows.
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