By Jim Hines
A light breeze fluttered through the pines as I sat beneath, listening, wondering and thinking.
I was at The Pine Grove on the hilltop where I grew up on my family's ranch just north of Lake Casitas. A land rich with nature, a land teeming with wildlife and a land which molded me into the person I am today.
Growing up close to the land, living and working on our organic farm, I bonded with all the wild which surrounded me in my everyday life: two creeks flowing with life-giving water, a ranch pond, beautiful plants galore, high mountains, vast meadows and wildlife from small to large. Being raised as a free-range kid, I loved exploring and learning about the natural world of the thousands of acres which surrounded me.
One cannot grow up surrounded by natural beauty and not develop a passion to protect all that is WILD!
Travel we did—my parents and I—to far off places, exotic Africa (as a young boy), the great national parks of America, and the fabulous gardens of the United Kingdom. I was blessed to be among wonder and awe.
It pains me to see so much destruction being done in our world, so I do my best with the resources I have available to me to attempt in my own way to stop the killing of wildlife and the destruction of our great wild places.
The land I grew up on is one of my places of solitude, a land where I find peace.
Find your passion my friends and then take a deep breath and start on your journey to make our world a better and more compassionate place for all of us.
Start in your neighborhood, then expand if you wish to protect that special wild place you treasure far from your home. I can tell you from experience your passion, your dedication and your positive inner strength will allow you to protect the places you care about.
Bond with the WILD! and form bonds with others. Then your journey begins.