Golden

"Black gold" is known to most of us as oil.  Many landowners who have had oil discovered on their property over the years became extremely wealthy (monetarily speaking).  For us baby boomers, the theme song from The Beverly Hillbillies brings back memories of the comical tale of rural folks who hit the jackpot when black gold came bubbling up on their land.  Oil, thus wealth, thus assumed financial security, changed their lives forever (in some ways good, in some ways bad).  

Time has changed my perspective on a LOT of things, and striking it rich via black gold is one of them.  No longer does the discovery of oil on our property interest me.  I now value two other resources on our land far more than I do the prospect of an oil discovery:  compost (another sort of black gold) and fresh water.  Those two priceless elements are critical for our longterm food security, the natural abundance on our land, and our personal longterm health.   

Moe (my lovely bride of 39 years) and I are now learning how to manage and sustain both in a way that is cyclical and recursive.  To my knowledge, my friends who have oil wells haven't figured that one out for their black gold (yet anyway).