The Deliberate Agrarian

The Deliberate Agrarian BlogazineDecember 2011

2011-12-31T08:10:00.003-05:00

Dateline: 31 December 2011

Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land,
and feed on His faithfulness.

Psalm 37:3

(Thank you, Karen)

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Looking Back
&
Looking Ahead
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The dawn of a new year is a time to reflect on the past and on the future. I tend to be a reflective person by nature but, for some reason, I’m only half reflective on this last day of 2011.

Perhaps that is because 2011 was an exhausting blur for me. I don’t remember what happened (without looking back over my monthly blogazine posts). The days and weeks and months sailed by. It was all I could do to keep up with the responsibilities of each day. My plate was, as they say, full.

I am realizing more and more that my capacity for work and accomplishment is diminishing with age. Nevertheless, I am hopeful and encouraged by the prospect of another year before me.

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New Land Update

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Last month I told you about the 16 acres of land we expect to buy. To have so much land will be a lifelong dream come true. We have not yet purchased the property, but the only holdup right now is a property survey. Once that is done, the deal should come together without a hitch. Until then I’m trying not to think about it too much, and will avoid further details about it here.

Suffice it to say that a great amount of time and energy will be needed to husband that little section of earth. It will be a lifetime pursuit that never gets fully accomplished. As a deliberate agrarian, I tend to believe that is exactly what every man needs.

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A New Kimball

Another forward reflection brings me to the news that my oldest son and his wife will be having a baby at the end of April. It is to be a boy. I will be a grandfather.

The acquisition of acreage takes on a whole new dimension for me when I consider grandchildren. Woods and fields and streams are natural wonders that every child loves to explore. I don’t know if this child-to-come will grow up in the country but he (and other grandchildren, someday, I hope) will have paternal grandparents with a place in the country—a place where they will find love and acceptance, where good and important experiences will happen, where lasting impressions and memories will be made. That, in itself, is reason enough to have such a piece of land.

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My Goal for 2012

I have set before me the challenge of a new book project in this new year. You may recall that last year’s book project was abandoned. I decided instead to publish the information that would have been in the book in twice-weekly installments at my newest blog, Agrarian Nation. I will continue Agrarian Nation to the one-year mark (April 1, 2012). Then I’ll decide to continue, or not.

The working title for my next book is...

The Planet Whizbang

Eclectic Idea Book For Gardeners

I have been developing and gathering ideas for several years, with this book in mind, and feel that now is the time to start to make it happen. Maybe I'll even get it finished this next year. I am excited about the project but daunted by the task. I know from past experience the enormous amount of work, time, and life energy that goes into producing a book.
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A Deliberate Hiatus
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A hiatus is "a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process," and that is exactly what must happen with this blog as I take on my stated goal for 2012. Thus, for at least the next four months, blogazine posts here will be very small. I will write a short monthly update and that will be it. It will be hard for me to not blog as usual. But it will only be for a season.

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Jim Gerritsen Speaks at

Occupy Wall Street

Jim Gerritsen and his family operate Wood Prairie Farm way up in Bridgewater, Maine, which is where my family roots run deep. Back in 2006 I posted an essay here titled Aroostook's Wood Prairie Farm, in which I expressed my admiration for Jim Gerritsen, and I provided the text of an excellent speech he gave on the state of agriculture in this country.

Well, shortly after posting my comments regarding the Occupy Wall Street protest in last month's blogazine, I discovered that Mr. Gerritsen made the long journey from little Bridgewater to big New York to speak at an Occupy Wall Street protest. It was his first time in New York.
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I don't disagree with any of the concerns and statements expressed in that film clip. That doesn't mean I agree with the whole Occupy Wall Street protest, but this clip and Gerritsen's involvement does, from my viewpoint, cast a different light on the movement. I support what the speakers say in the film and their right to say it.

Nevertheless, I still maintain that a widespread Occupy The Land movement, as I explained last month, is a more productive, practical, positive and vitally necessary response for individuals and families to take in the face of corporate domination and enslavement.

One More Thing—Jim Gerritsen is president of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, which is at the forefront of a valiant class action suite against Monsanto's patented, genetically modified atrocities. Please click the OSGTA link, and if you agree with what they are doing, please give a donation (as I have done) to the effort. Jim Gerritsen explains more about Monsanto and the lawsuit in This YouTube clip of his entire speech at the OWS protest.

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Joel Salatin
(Down Under)
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In the following movie, Joel Salatin gives sage advice to anyone who wishes to get a start in farming. I found a nugget of good advice about what to do with my new land in this clip. It is exactly what I was thinking I should do for the first year.

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More About
Sweet Potatoes

This painting, by John Blake White of South Carolina, was presented to the United States Senate in 1899. It is titled, "General Marion Inviting a British Officer to Share His Meal." The meal was sweet potatoes. According to the artist's son, “the figure of Marion is a portrait from memory, as my father, when a boy, knew him well. Marion’s farm adjoined the plantation of my grandfather.”

My thanks to a Deliberate Agrarian reader in Indiana who sent me a link to Marion's Men, which was posted by his son, James Faris, a Reformed Presbyterian pastor, at the blog, Gentle Reformation. It's a great story about the historical significance of sweet potatoes.

For those who don't know, General Marion was portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie, The Patriot.

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Lifestyle

Entrepreneurship

"...years ago, when my father was encouraging me in entrepreneurship he pointed out that there are two types of entrepreneurship: money-making entrepreneurship and lifestyle entrepreneurship.

Money-making entrepreneurship is what most people think of when they think of entrepreneurship. Basically you come up with a business idea based on whether you think it will be successful at making money, and you start it. Hopefully you will be right and after the business has grown to a certain point you will be able to hire others to run it, or sell it. Then you will be able to afford to live the lifestyle that you want. Basically, the best money-making business is one that provides the most amount of money with the least amount of effort.

Lifestyle entrepreneurship differs from money-making entrepreneurship not necessarily in its goal, but in its means of achieving that goal. Ultimately, the goal of both is the ability to be able to have the type of lifestyle you desire. And whereas money-making entrepreneurship seeks to find a business doing something that you don’t necessarily like in order to be able to afford to do what you like, lifestyle entrepreneurship seeks to find a way to merely make a living doing what you want in the first place"

That quote comes from an essay titled Agri-lifestyle by Noah Sanders at his blog, Redeeming The Dirt. I think Noah's father is a wise man.

What Noah has written resonates with me because my Planet Whizbang entrepreneurial efforts are all about lifestyle entrepreneurship. I want to leave my industrial-world job, come home, and operate my home business while husbanding a section of land. I'm very close to realizing this dream.

y m
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Fire
(the song)

My cousin Billy, up in Maine, made mention in his annual Christmas letter of going to see the folk singer, David Mallet. He mentioned that Mallet's song, Fire, "evokes stories of tragedy in my maternal line."

Well, as cousins, we are connected by the maternal line (our mothers are sisters), so I was curious to understand what he meant, and I looked up "Fire" on YouTube. I knew right away what he meant when I heard the song. Here is a fine rendition of "Fire" (by a man other than David Mallet).

The tragedy in our maternal line evoked by this song would be when our grandparents lost their farmhouse to a fire back during the Great Depression. I wrote about it at this blog post: The Cherished Letter.

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UK Mastercrafts

Monty Don hosts the 2011 UK television series, Mastercrafts

While perusing through YouTube looking for how-to information on working green wood, I came upon Mastercrafts, a BBC television series that focuses on six different traditional hand crafts in the United Kingdom.

I am a woodworker at heart and thoroughly enjoyed the show about green woodcraft. But the other shows were also very informative and interesting. Here are links to my three favorite episodes...

Green Woodcraft

Blacksmithing

Thatching

Part 4

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The Truth
About Roundup

Back in 2006 I wrote an essay here titled, They Are Not Human. It was about the herbicide, Roundup, and Monsanto, the company that makes it. If you read that essay, you'll discover that I have a deep and abiding loathing for Monsanto. They are the epitome of evil in corporate form.

And so it is that I am pleased to see the truth about this company and their wicked technology exposed by Don Huber, a professor of plant pathology at Purdue University.

Dr. Huber has been involved in plant research for 50 years. He knows what he's talking about when he challenges the safety of glyphosate (Roundup) and genetically modified crops.

In an online interview with Dr. Joseph Mercola, Huber reveals some alarming details about the dangers inherent in our food supply, as a result of widespread glyphosate usage. Anyone who eats food should take the time to listen to what this man has to say.

Please note that if you listen to the Don Huber interview, you will need to listen carefully in order to best understand what he is saying. Some of it may go over your head, especially in the beginning, but please stick with it. Once the initial technicalities are discussed, the interview gets more to the point. Huber is a brave man to challenge Monsanto.

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16-Year-Old
Builds House

Austin Hay is building his own mortgage-free home. Mini homes on wheels make a LOT of sense for people who are getting started in life, or who just want to simplify. (Such homes would also not be subject to property taxes, like we have here in New York state.)

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Pagan Christianity?

"The institutional church system and structure are not biblical."

Frank Viola & George Barna

"Pagan Christianity?"

I heard about Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices a few years back and decided not to read it. Then I came across the book again, bought a copy, and I just finished it a few days ago.

Pagan Christianity? is a powerful blow to the institutionalized church. It reveals the history behind common Protestant church practices and shows how the church-as-we-know-it has been profoundly shaped by pagan culture, beginning in the third and fourth century, and right on up to today.

This book will rock your world of pew potato churchianity. It is impossible to read "Pagan Christianity?" and not be convicted about the manifold shortcomings of the modern church. That was, at least, the case with me.

I dare say, no church denomination in the world would recommend "Pagan Christianity?" to their members. It is a subversive book, to be sure, but I'm persuaded that it is mostly right in it's facts and conclusions. Some things deserve to be subverted. That said, I dare you to read it.
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Update on The

Planet Whizbang Wheel Hoe

A Planet Whizbang wheel hoe, with oscillating stirrup blade, is a remarkably efficient tool for garden cultivation.

Back in March of 2009 I introduced my Whizbang wheel hoe here (at This Blog Post), and two months later I began selling wheel hoe kits at the web site, Anyone Can Build A Planet Whizbang Wheel Hoe.

Since then, I've sold hundreds of wheel hoe kits and I've gotten a lot of great feedback. I've sent a surprising number of wheel hoe kits to foreign countries, like Canada, Australia, New Zeland, England, Spain, Ireland, India, Romania, Taiwan and Japan. The amazing thing to me is that the wheel hoe is unheard of in some of those foreign countries.

A homemade Planet Whizbang wheel hoe. Simply beautiful.

I am mentioning the Planet Whizbang wheel hoe here now because winter is a good time to make your own wheel hoe with one of my parts kits. They are still on sale for $99 (postage paid). CLICK HERE for details.

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Planet Whizbang
Scratch & Dent Book Sale
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.Something new in the new year is that I have established a "scratch & dent" page at my Planet Whizbang web site. New copies of my books, with minor cover blemishes, are being sold there at a discount. While supplies last.

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Looking For

Howard Douglas King

I am much obliged to Howard Douglas King for introducing me to the whole concept of Christian Agrarianism. I have written about King and his influence on my thinking at The Christian-Agrarian Writings of Howard King. Several years ago, I e-mailed Mr. King and he responded, allowing me permission to publish one of his agrarian essays to this blog. But I have lost his e-mail and I can not find contact information for him anywhere on the internet.

Is there anyone reading this who knows how I can get in touch with Howard Douglas King?

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Here's wishing you all a blessed New Year in 2012

The Deliberate Agrarian BlogazineNovember 2011

2011-11-29T19:12:00.011-05:00

Land Ho!

The word “ho,” as in “Land ho!,” is used to “express surprise or joy,” or “to attract attention to something sighted.” And so it is that I use it here.

Those of you who have read this blog for the past few years know of my long-held dream to own and husband more land than our current 1.5 acre lot. Truth be told, I’ve had a longing for acreage since I was 16 years old. My dream has, however, been hindered by my lack of money, coupled with my personal aversion to debt.

Years ago I provided for my family by working in the building trades. My wife, Marlene, did not work outside the home. Finances were always tight. But we lived simply, and frugally and managed to save some money.

In 1998 I was brought low, financially and personally. All savings, all retirement money—everything I had worked so hard for (except our little home on the 1.5 acres), was gone. I could hardly bring myself to work. I was depressed. It was a tough, humbling, Lord-God-in-heaven-why-me? time in my life.

The hope of owning more land was not on my mind when I didn’t have enough money to pay the everyday bills. But I came through the intense personal anguish of that time with a whole new perspective on life. I had worked hard and striven for a degree of success, only to lose it all. God had taken my little success away in order to let me know that I needed to focus on other more important things, like faith and family. He made it clear that He would provide what I and my family needed—that I should work hard to provide, but not strive for material success. Then He providentially provided me with a job that paid $12,000 a year. That was not much money to support a family of five in 1999.

I got through that humbling episode in my life and was a better man for it. The $12,000 job lasted a year and God again providentially provided me with a job that paid more. I started to think about someday owning a section of land again. The dream had not died, but it was tempered by the realization that it might be realized and it might not. If it did not happen, I was okay with that. But if it was to be realized, God would supply the land in His time. I needed to be patient.

In February of 2005 my Grandmother Kimball passed away. I thought I would receive an inheritance that would fulfill my vision for land. But it did not happen. That was a disappointment, but it was not devastating. God had prepared me to deal with such disappointment five years earlier when, in the time of anguish, I trusted in His sovereignty and providential will. If I was ever to realize the dream of more land, God would provide it some other way.

In June of 2005 I started this blog, The Deliberate Agrarian. Three months later, I posted a blog titled My Vision And A Fond Adieu, in which I told of my vision for more land (explaining why I wanted it) and let it be known that I was not going to blog much anymore in order to focus on the vision. In retrospect, I guess I did not realize at that time that this blog was to become a key factor in bringing the vision to reality.

Two months after my fond adieu I was back and blogging with a passion— a passion to share with others about my life, my family, and my Christian-agrarian worldview. Many of those early blog essays are preserved in my book, Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian.

At some point in the course of blogging it occurred to me that I should mention the Whizbang chicken plucker plan book that I self-published back in 2002. My original intention was not to promote my little Whizbang home business with the blog. But when I did, people responded. Sales increased with the internet exposure.

Over the years I published more plan books and in December of 2007 I figured out how to use the free blogger.com format to make my own web sites. A few months later, I realized I could easily integrate PayPal online ordering buttons into the web pages. Sales took off.

The money has not come easy, and it has not come fast, but it has come. Marlene and I have continued to live simply and frugally here on our little parcel, saving, and seeing something amazing happen in our lives. A couple years ago we came to the realization that God may well provide us with the resources to fulfill our land vision (it is Marlene’s vision too) through our home business.

Along the way, we came very close to buying three different properties, but they did not materialize. Two of them did not materialize because I would have had to borrow money from a bank. In moments of weakness, I had decided to do that. I had a friend telling me I was crazy to wait until I had enough money to buy land. He said “You’ll never have land if you wait to save the money." He strongly encouraged me to buy a nice big home and property...now. He said my wife deserved a bigger house. “That poor woman!,” he exclaimed.

But I came to my senses before getting the loans. My convictions against debt were too firmly ingrained. I loathe debt. I don’t believe God wants his children shackled to debt. Though I might (and did) justify a short season of calculated debt bondage early in life to acquire land or a basic home, I can’t justify personal debt for decades—or a lifetime.

Therefore, I was persuaded that God would supply the money for land in His time. If He did not, that was okay. We are blessed. Our needs are met. More land than I now have has never been a need in the true sense of a need.

In the most recent almost-purchase last year (for a couple acres right next to our property) we had the money to buy and a signed purchase offer. The owner never followed through. We still don’t know what happened with that. Clearly, it was not in God’s plan for us to have that property. That’s the way we looked at it.

Except for a couple momentary lapses of faith (going to the bank for a loan) we have firmly believed that God would provide not only the finances, but the exact property that is right for us, and that He would do this in His time. Thus, I have not been consumed by the idea of finding land. Fact is, we have not spent much time actively looking for land. I have had a peace about this and a contentment that it would happen—or not—and if it happened we would just know when it was right. Once again, this surrender of outcome and patience came directly out of that time of loss and personal anguish that I went through back in 1999.

That is the story, the testimony of my vision, and the work of God in my life regarding this vision. Now, at almost 54 years of age, comes the next chapter of the story....

Last month I “just happened” to see my down-around-the-corner neighbor at the local lumber yard. Pat is a couple years younger than me and I’ve known him since high school. Way back then, my best friend Art, and Pat and another guy and I spent a few days hiking and camping on the Finger Lakes Trail. So we’re old friends but our friendship these days consists of friendly waves when one or the other drives by.

When I saw Pat at the lumberyard, I asked how he was doing. His father had died a couple months ago. I sent a condolence card. I told him in the card that I had liked his dad, that he was a decent down-to-earth man, and that was the truth. Pat’s dad lived down around the corner, right across the road from Pat.

Except for a stint in the Marines during WW2 (where he saw action in the Pacific theater), Pat’s dad had lived all his days right there on a section of land that was once part of his parent’s farm. Fact is, the road I live on, Murphy Hill Road, has his family’s name on it.

Years ago, Pat's dad, Mr. Murphy, would pull his car over on the side of the road when he saw me working in my garden, and we would talk. As he got older and couldn’t drive, one of his kids would take him for rides and they would drive by slow so he could see my garden. The last time I spoke with him was in the parking lot at the drug store in Moravia (the little town we live near). Pat was in the store getting something. Mr. Murphy and I exchanged pleasantries for awhile. He asked about my family, and was particularly interested in my “oldest boy” who he knew was in the Army.

When I saw Pat in the lumber yard I asked about his dad’s house. I had heard one of the grandchildren would move in. Pat said that no one in the family was interested in the place. So he was planning to list it with a real estate agent.

The house is a basic doublewide trailer on a full basement. I knew it was at least 30 years old. But Mr. Murphy kept it up nicely. I put four replacement windows in the south end of the house back when I was a contractor. I also knew Mr. Murphy owned the wooded gully on the west side of my property. So I casually inquired how much land went with the house.

“Sixteen acres,” he replied.

I expressed surprise. Pat told me all the woods down the road to his brother-in-law’s place were part of the property, as was the large field behind his father’s place.

I wondered aloud, “How much were you thinking to ask for it?

“Well, we had a realtor up to look at it and he said we should ask $90,000. But that seems kind of high. We would take less than that.”

We conversed on the subject a bit longer and I asked Pat to hold off on listing the property until I had a chance to think about buying it.

I went home and told Marlene. Her interest was piqued. Then I took a walk into the woods behind our house, down the gully, across the stream and up into Mr. Murphy’s field. As I walked, and thought, and came into the field, looking south and across the valley to the east, it occurred to me that this place was just right. A section of land that I had never considered before, that I never expected to be for sale, and that had been right next door to us all these years, was now available, and I had a good feeling about it.
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I told Marlene what I felt. She and I walked the land together. She felt the same. A week later we looked at the house, and offered $55,000 for the property. Two weeks later Pat got back to us and said they needed $60,000. We thought about it another week and agreed to that price.

The small yellow circles are the corners of the property. Note the contrast between the size of my 1.5 acres and the new acreage. (click picture to see enlarged view)

That amount of money, plus closing fees, and the attorney’s charges will literally empty our savings account. God has provided us at this time with just enough. I can't imagine a better way to spend inflating dollars. It looks like the vision is about to become a reality.

An autumn view from our current property line into the New Land. In the summer months the woods are lush with undergrowth and the trees are full with greenery.

I don’t usually share specific details about my personal finances, but I have done so here because I want to testify to the blessings of God in providing for us the way He has. It is a remarkable story because such a dream was far, far from reality just a few years ago, and none of it would have been possible were it not for God’s blessings and direction.

I'm also sharing these details here because so many of you who read this blog have purchased my books and the other Whizbang products I sell. And some of you have even donated money to me by way of my Agrarian Nation blog. So it is that many people across America (and around the globe) have, in a small but tangible way, contributed to the fulfillment of the land-vision I have had for nigh unto 38 years. For that, I thank you.

Another view of the woods and stream in the New Land. The log in the foreground provides a convenient walkway across the creek.

Now, after having told you my story, I should add that it has not happened yet. The land is in sight, the land seems certain, but we are awaiting a survey and then the lawyers get more involved. Anything could happen to change this situation between now and the day we sign the official papers. If it does, we will faithfully accept the outcome and patiently wait on God for his direction. But, like I said, this property feels right for us, no problems are anticipated, and I believe it will happen.

View from the northeast corner, looking southwest

Stay tuned, Lord willing, I’ll have much more to say, and show, and share with you about this land in the months and years ahead.

Deliverance From Debt

The economic system of our industrialized world is built on debt and the perpetuation of debt. National debt. Business debt. Personal debt. Wage and debt slavery is encouraged and perpetuated by the industrial system.

To work, and save, and do without, so as to avoid taking on debt, is to live in a way that is completely contrary to the industrial-world norm. But, to the extent that you can do it, you experience a degree of freedom that few people in the industrialized nations know. It’s a good feeling.

If you are in debt and want to get out of bondage, check out Gary North’s Deliverance From Debt web site. He has a completely-free 12-week course specifically for Christians who want to get out of debt.

Tent City in N.J.

Home Sweet Homeless Tent Home

While America is in the midst of a continuing economic depression that threatens to get a lot worse as a result of increased monetary inflation, and I am spending my life savings on 16 acres of land, there are homeless people banding into community on public land outside Lakewood, New Jersey. Good for them! If you have not seen this remarkable story, check it out At This Link (make sure you scroll down to see all the pictures).

Professor Webb

Makes The M.E. News

Professor Webb has been dead for 48 years, but his historical insights about our modern age, and his predictions about the future are still right on.

I was pleased to see Mother Earth News magazine publisher, Bryan Welch, mention the late Professor Walter Prescott Webb in a current-issue M.E.N. article titled, Unplugging Our Economic Ponzi Scheme.

Professor Webb should be no stranger to readers of this blogazine, as I’ve mentioned his remarkable book, The Great Frontier, and his “boom hypothesis of modern history” here numerous times (see This Essay for more information).

Mr. Welch mentions an “Economic Outlook” article published in Mother Earth News back in 1977 when the magazine’s founder, John Shuttleworth, was at the helm. Here is part of what Shuttleworth wrote back then:
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“Western man’s clever technology, self-motivation, work ethic, economic system, and regard for the individual all came after and are all solidly rooted in the windfall resources and profits of The Great Frontier... And now that most of the cream has been skimmed from this windfall, capitalism (the economic system so ideally suited for the exploitation of a seemingly endless storehouse of natural riches) will decline, prosperity will slip through (our) fingers...

“...Western Man’s 450-year-long expansionary binge—which was fueled by inexpensive, plentiful energy and other natural resources—is now drawing to a close. And, just as Walter Prescott Webb predicted [in 1951!] ... the industrialized nations of the world are having a difficult time understanding what is happening to them.”

Thirty-four years have passed since John Shuttleworth wrote those words and, for that matter, Shuttleworth himself has passed on. In those three decades we have experienced something of an economic boom, predicated largely on the rise of the personal computer and internet (something that was unknown in 1977), as well as further exploitation of natural resources (including human natural resources) in undeveloped countries. Thirty-four years is, however, a very minor blip in the span of history, and such a blip does not in any way detract from the truth of Webb's historical prognosis. Not at all.

To read professor Webb’s book (published 60 years ago) and understand his boom hypothesis (it's very easy to understand) is to see the big picture of modern history like few people in the world do. Many people are now lamenting the current economic crisis and confused about the future, yet this current crisis (far more serious than a mere recession) was entirely foreseeable and predictable, as is the future course of industrialized civilization. The handwriting has been on the wall, but hubris, ignorance and denial keep most people from seeing it.

Bryan Welch makes the point (as did Webb) that the economic system of capitalism as we have known it, built on expansion, will have to adapt to the reality of limited resources. As Welch succinctly puts it: “Our economic tools ... are obsolete today.”

I couldn’t agree more. As I’ve stated here many times in the past, industrial capitalism will collapse. Another economic system will replace it. I’m of the mind that we are in the early stage of the inevitable collapse. Fortunately for us all, it has been a slow collapse thus far. I hope that will continue to be a slow decline.

But when “the system” is so huge, so interconnected, so centralized, and to a increasing degree, so tenuous, a trigger event can lead to a shockingly rapid collapse. Then what?

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Well, obviously, when any life support system collapses (and industrialism is surely a life support system), lives that are completely dependent on the system, will be lost. At the least, life will get much more difficult for everyone—but especially for the most dependent.

That said, I feel compelled to reiterate the common theme of this blog since it’s inception back in June of 2005...
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Eliminate as many of your industrial-world dependencies as you can!

If you would like to read the Economic Outlook published in Mother Earth News magazine back in May of 1977, Click Here.
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Is Modern Day Homesteading

Only For The Rich?

A home without a mortgage!

Early in 2008 (before the economic crash that came in the fall) I posted an essay here titled Agrarian-Style Economic Self Defense. A lot of people have read it since then. Some have commented. In the most recent comment a woman asks a question that I think is well worth considering and answering...

These are great suggestions and are certainly not radical to me, but they are not entirely practical. A few years ago, when the economy was crashing, my partner and I were thinking along the same lines as you. We moved from the city to rural Maine with the idea that we would buy a small piece of land, build our own home out of reused materials, and develop our own self-sufficient farm. My partner is a designer/builder, I have gardening experience, and we are both DIY, hard-working people. Our dream seemed entirely possible. Except for one big problem... we only had $50k for the entire project. Buying the land, building the home, etc. After spending 6 months looking for property, we realized that with $50k, we could not afford to buy land, let alone afford to build the house. We did not want to get a mortgage because we did not want to acquire debt (like you talk about). We also did not want full-time jobs, as that would leave us with no time for us to build the home and tend the farm. Also, what kind of jobs are there in rural Maine?! We could have looked for cheaper land way up North in the sticks, but then we would be far removed from resources and community. The cheaper land up North is also not suitable for gardening. We have now given up on our dream because, to put it bluntly, we are too poor. The modern homesteading idea isn't like how it was for the back-to-earth hippies in the 70's. Modern day homesteading is only for the rich. My question to you, Herrick: How can I, a low-income person with very limited capital, put your agrarian self defense suggestions into action?

My Answer

Having plenty of money makes everything easier! Judging from many homesteading-focused blogs I’ve seen, there are lots of people who have sufficient financial resources to buy everything they need for an “instant” homestead. There is nothing wrong with that. I can think of no better way to spend a lot of money than to establish oneself and one’s family on the land.

However, that doesn’t mean, and I do not believe for a moment, that a lack of money is any reason not to pursue a more self-sufficient homesteading lifestyle. All a lack of money means is that it will be harder to do and take longer to realize.

I’m afraid that many who dream of leaving their modern lifestyle of relative ease, wage slavery, and dependency on the industrial providers have an unrealistic vision of homesteading.

“Poor” homesteader wannabes are going to need some cash flow, which is to say, a job. And that usually means a job off the land, in the industrial world, at least until you can get a home business built up. Even those back-to-the-earth hippies of the 1970’s needed money (known as “bread” in the nomenclature of the era).

Therefore modern-day homesteaders will probably have to be part-time homesteaders, “working for the man” to get money while, at the same time working on the land towards their freedom and independence.

There is no shame in being a wage slave for a season in order to help establish a self-reliant homestead. The shame comes in being a wage/debt slave, totally dependent on the system, taking the easy way, for the rest of your life.

It is entirely possible to build your own home, raise and preserve your own food, cut your own firewood, and so on, while working a regular job. It just means you’ll have to work harder and more deliberately to achieve your goals. A lot of people are doing this.

Modern homesteading with little money may require a substandard house—not the homestead house of one’s dreams. For example, it’s possible to buy a used manufactured trailer home for real cheap, but how many moderns are willing to pursue their homesteading dreams in such a place? I dare say that most moderns who consider homesteading would rather have a mortgaged house in suburbia than a paid-off trailer on land in the countryside. There are, of course, other inexpensive housing options, but they are also far too humble for most people.

The point is that, in order to homestead with little money, you need to do two important things:

1.) Make your homesteading dream fit your finances and budget.

2.) Look at homesteading as a journey, not a destination, and pursue it one step at a time. It may well take you a lifetime of focused effort to arrive at your homestead dream.

Along the way, you’ll want to pursue a way to make money off the land or, more likely, from a home business that may not be directly connected to the land. The reality is that almost nobody can produce sufficient income to support a family from a small, affordable section of land. But you can husband the land to provide so many of your subsistence needs that far less money will be required to live on than you otherwise would need.

As for getting started at homesteading with $50,000 (an amount that many people would consider "rich").... there is a nice 5-acre rural lot a short way from my house that just sold for $20,000. Another nice 5-acre lot not far away is for sale for $30,000. Anyone with $50,000 to spend can get a homesteadable section of good land around me debt free. The remaining $20,000 would be enough to build a garage/ barn that could also provide living quarters. You would be in a beautiful rural community with small cities (jobs) about 45 minutes away in two directions. This kind of land is readily available in other rural sections of New York state.

In conclusion, let me state that simple living, raising one’s own food, and greater self-family-and-community reliance is the essence of modern homesteading (and the agrarian life). I categorically reject the notion that it is impossible for all but the rich to achieve this lifestyle!

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Occupy Wall Street?
(I've Got A Better Idea)

As an afterthought to what I wrote about professor Webb, and the ongoing decline of the corporate-industrial economic system, I'd like to say something about the Occupy Wall Street protests. I have not followed the movement closely, but it appears to be composed of people who have bought into the industrial-world "dream" and they are now upset because they've discovered it's a pipe dream. They are frustrated, angry modern Dependents. I agree that legitimate political process has been hijacked by corporate interests in cahoots with politicians (one of the O.W.L. grievances I've heard). But the frustration, anger and hopelessness is a breeding ground for all sorts of half-baked solutions.

These protesters might better accept that corporate capitalism is dying (it doesn't need any help from them), that socialism is also a failed economic system, and that it's time to deliberately and hopefully move into the "default paradigm" of agrarian life and localized economies.

Government and business are not going to meet our needs; they aren't going to ensure freedom from want. Thus, the most positive thing Occupy Wall Street protesters can do is take active steps to drop out of the "system" as it is and work to create a new system of scaled-down, decentralized, self-family-and-community reliance.

Get out of the cities. Get back to the land (Occupy The Land!). Husband the land. Make it fruitful. Live in such a way that you don't need much. Work to learn and apply the ancient and practical skills of agrarian life. Work for your freedom—freedom from the industrial system. Anything else is an exercise in futility. Don't follow the angry herd. Lead by doing something radical but positive.
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A Family Bakery

Nick Stam and his family (12 kids!)

I was perusing some past episodes of Kevin Swanson’s Generations Radio program and happened upon an exceptionally good story about a family bakery in Canada. The program is an interview with Nick Stam (pictured above with his whole family). It’s a half-hour program and well worth listening to if you have an interest in establishing a family economy.

Also, In the introductory commentary, Kevin Swanson makes an incredibly insightful statement. After giving some sorry social statistics about our modern culture, he asks why are these things so? And then he answers his question, saying it is because...

“Fathers left the family farms. That’s the most significant social change in 6,000 years of world history. Fathers left the family farms.”

You can listen to the program at this link: Family Life at a Bakery in Canada—Creating a Great Family Economy.

And for more details about the Stam's family business, read this article: Nick The Dutch Baker
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More Big Sweet Potatoes

John Christ out in California sent me the above picture of his daughter and some of his homegrown Beauregard sweet potatoes. He says the biggest potato weighs 6lbs 13oz and the potatoes shown in the picture weigh as much as his daughter.

For those who missed it, I posted an essay on growing sweet potatoes in the north at This Link. My biggest sweet potatoes were half the weight of John's, and I thought they were plenty big.

From what I gather, longer growing seasons translate to bigger sweet potatoes. According to the 2007 Guinness Book of World Record, the largest sweet potato on record was 81 pounds 9 ounces and it was grown in Spain.

Every Day Religion

Serving God in Your Daily Calling
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834—1892)

In my Agrarian Nation blog I post excerpts from 19th century New England farm almanacs. The almanacs I take excerpts from were secular publications, but they were decidedly Christian in their worldview. The following excerpt is a case in point. It appeared in the 1871 edition of Thomas's Farmer's Almanac and is attributed to "Spurgeon" which would be Charles Spurgeon, a British preacher of that era. I recently watched a good documentary about the life of Charles Spurgeon on You tube. Here is the link: C.H. Spurgeon: The People's Preacher.

"We must come back to our point, which is, not to urge all of you to give yourselves up to mission work, but to serve God more and more in connection with your daily calling. I have heard that a woman who has a mission makes a poor wife and a bad mother; this is very possible, and at the same time very lamentable; but the mission I would urge is not of this sort. Dirty rooms, slatternly gowns, and children with unwashed faces are swift witnesses against the sincerity of those who keep others’ vineyards and neglect their own. I have no faith in that woman who talks of grace and glory abroad, and uses no soap and water at home. Let the buttons be on the shirts, let the children’s socks be mended, let the roast mutton be done to a turn, let the house be as neat as a new pin, and the home be as happy as home can be. Serve God by doing common actions in a heavenly spirit, and then, if your daily calling only leaves you cracks and crevices of time, fill those up with holy service."

Into The Fray...

Rose Belforti, a Dexter-cow dairy farmer, artisan cheesmaker, and part-time town clerk in the little town of Ledyard, New York has been harassed and her business boycotted because, as a Christian, she could not in good conscience issue same-sex marriage licenses.

fray: noun, heated dispute or contest.

I am far less politically active and politically interested than I once was. Back in 2008 I wrote an essay titled Politics & Meeting Vice President Cheney, in which I explained my disgust with the political system and my strongly-held intention to no longer be involved with party politics.

Nevertheless, I left the door open, stating that I might help a political candidate in the future. My exact words were... "I will go to battle, but I will choose my battles carefully, as the Lord leads me.”

Well, four years later (this last election), the Lord led me to get involved in a very contentious political race involving a Christian woman, same-sex marriage, and religious freedom. It was a local race that made the national news.

I got involved by creating an “unofficial” web site for Rose Belforti (pictured above). It was unofficial because I did it on my own, without asking or telling Rose (she had no web site of her own). I also mailed a postcard to every voting household in the town, inviting them to view the web site.

Those of you who are interested can see the web site at www.RosieForClerk.com, and you can learn more about the gay activist shenanigans directed at Rose Belforti.

I created the web site with the same absolutely free blogger.com format that I have adapted to make all my web sites. I paid $20 for the domain name. The internet is an amazing tool.

You can read a pretty good article about Rose Belforti and the courageous stand she took at this link: “Gay Marriage” vs Religious Freedom in N.Y. State
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Politically Incorrect
Cheese?

Raw-milk from grass-fed Dexter cows is used to make this amazing probiotic kefir blue cheese.

One of the things that really motivated me to create www.RosieForClerk.com was the boycott of Rose Belforti’s Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery cheese. I explain the boycott on This Page of the web site. According to a local newspaper article, Rose has seen a 50% decline in her cheese sales as a result of the boycott.

Some of you may remember that Marlene and I toured the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail back in May of 2010 (mentioned in This Blogazine Post) and that was our introduction to Rose Belforti’s remarkable kefir cheese. I wrote...

Our most enjoyable stop on the trail was Finger Lakes Dexter Cheese Creamery. I think they are currently milking six Dexter cows and they make a probiotic kefir blue cheese that is absolutely remarkable (it is pictured above). Their web site describes the cheese as “ooey-gooey rich and pungent, zingy, saliva popping Kefir blue!!!” That pretty much sums it up. The cheese is alive!

Lovely Dexter Blue on a wheat cracker. This cheese is the "official favorite cheese" of The Deliberate Agrarian. If you like blue, try some, and you'll see why I'm so enthused about it!

Rose Belforti tells about her truly unique cheese and how it is made, in this video clip...

If you are a cheese lover, I hope you will support Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery by buying some cheese at This Link

The Gift Of Soap

(Made by Marlene)

Marlene's most popular soap is Lavender Calendula. She describes it as "a wonderfully mild soap that offers the pleasing scent of lavender and the healing properties of dried calendula petals."

Last year at this time we offered gift boxes of my wife's homemade soaps here. I want to mention that they are once again available and you can learn much more at this link: Morning Glory Soapworks Gift Boxes

The Wisdom of

John Ploughman

An original copy of John Ploughman's Talk

Charles Spurgeon wrote a book titled, John Ploughman's Talk. He describes it in the Preface as follows:

In John Ploughman's Talk, I have written for plowmen and common people. Hence refined taste and dainty words have been discarded for strong proverbial expressions and homely phrases. I have aimed my blows at the vices of the many, and tried to inculcate those moral virtues without which men are degraded. Much that needs to be said to the toiling masses would not well suit the pulpit and the Sabbath; these lowly pages may teach thrift and industry all the days of the week in the cottage and the workshop; and if some learn these lessons I shall not repent the adoption of a rustic style.

Ploughman is a name I may justly claim. Every minister has put his hand to the plow; and it is his business to break up the fallow ground. That I have written in a semi-humorous vein needs no apology, since thereby sound moral teaching has gained a hearing from at least 300,000 persons. There is no particular virtue in being seriously unreadable.

I will end this month with two quotes from John Ploughman. I found the first in Thomas's Farmer's Almanac for 1888...

"He who respects his wife will find that she respects him. With what measure he metes, it shall be measured to him again, good measure, pressed down, and running over."

This next Ploughman quote can be found in the chapter on debt in John Ploughman's Talk:

Scripture says, "Owe no man anything," which does not mean pay your debts, but never have any to pay. My opinion is that those who willfully break this law ought to be turned out of the Christian church, neck and crop, as we say.

Carrot Tote

Yet another view of the Whizbang Garden Tote

Well, on second thought, I'll end this month with my garden tote. I've been showing you pictures of my prototype Whizbang Garden Tote for a couple of years now. I've really put it through the paces. In the above picture, it's holding 42 pounds of just-dug carrots, which I'm about to store away in garden clamps (you can see a hole in the background).

In addition to holding and hauling garden goods, I recently discovered that our cat, Pepper, likes to curl up in the tote.

This winter I'll be working on my next book project. It will be an idea book for gardeners. One of the many ideas in the book will be the Whizbang Garden Tote. Hopefully I'll get the book done before spring. If not, it will be a two-year project.

Stay tuned....

The Deliberate Agrarian BlogazineOctober 2011

2011-10-30T13:00:00.300-04:00

No October in the northeastern United States should pass without grape pie! We have enjoyed two delightful Concord grape pies this month, compliments of our friend and neighbor Mrs. Varner. Ice cream is not a necessity with a good slice of grape pie, and Mrs. Varner makes the best grape pie I've ever tasted (she uses pig lard in her crust).

They say that time goes faster as you get older. Older people know this to be true. Younger people will come to understand it one day.

I have a similar observation.... I believe the last months of a year go by faster than the first months.

I know there are 24 hours in every day, so I can't explain how these phenomenons can be true. I just know that they are.

And seeing as it's true, it helps to explain why I am scrambling to get this blogazine issue together just two days before publication deadline (I typically start writing it around the middle of the month). It may be a little rough around the edges this month, but here it is......

A GOOD GRAPE YEAR!

Fruit on my vines! Thank you, Lord.

October was the month for harvesting our grape crop and, WOW, what a harvest it was! After a couple lackluster years we had a bumper crop. Grapes are so lovely hanging on the vine, don't you think?

We picked so many buckets of grapes like this!

Marlene put up 13 gallons of concentrated Concord grape juice in pint and quart jars. We love to quaff down a glass of pure, unadulterated, homegrown fruit of the vine, and much prefer simple juice to the fermented option.

We had so many grapes that we were able to share them with five different friends, one of which repaid the favor with a couple of exquisite grape pies. If you have never experienced grape pie, you’ve missed out on something very special (Click Here for some grape pie how-to).

Inspired by the gift of grape pie, Marlene made sure to prepare and freeze several packages of the grapes specifically for pie. Oh, what a blessed man I am too have grapes, friends who make grape pies for me, and a wife who intends to make me grape pies!

For those who may wonder, we do use a Mehu-Liisa steamer to make grape juice (we've had it for several years). We have made grape juice with and without the Mehu Liisa and Marlene will tell you that it is much easier, with less mess and fuss to make grape juice with the steamer—it’s the perfect tool for grape juice, and built for a lifetime of use.

Making Cider

Cider Pressing 2011— Look closely and you will see the layers of mash separated by pressing discs in the pressing tub. Such an arrangement is very efficient for extracting juice from apple mash. My Whizbang cider press is the only home-scale press on the market that utilizes such a pressing system.

When it comes to apple juice (a.k.a., cider) the hands-down best way to make that is with a homemade Whizbang apple grinder and cider press. My cidermaking equipment has pressed well over 50 gallons of cider this season.

After pressing, the juicy, cloth-wrapped layers of apple mash are reduced to a moist crumbly cake.

Not all of the cider was for us. We spent a wonderful October afternoon with a younger couple from our church and their three children making 16 gallons of cider. And my son James and a friend of his have made several gallons on a couple of occasions.

This is my son, James, grinding apples in the Whizbang apple grinder. He used to not mind having his picture taken for publication on this blog. But that's not the case any more (arms and hands are okay)

I have as much fun seeing and hearing about people using my cidermaking equipment to make their own cider as I do making it myself!

Dear Mr. Kimball,

I wanted to write and tell you the TRIUMPH our family is having with the Cider Press and Grinder....My husband is a traumatic brain injury survivor from a ski injury when he was a teen and the part of his brain that was injured is the part that organizes things. I am an adult with attention deficit disorder, so though I can teach college and my husband runs his own painting business you can see we both need our own systems to get things done.

We get along quite well except for the one time a year where we both want to get divorced - or kill each other - for about 15 minutes, and that has almost always been about building projects. I have a vision in mind and in my addled state try to explain it to him and in his confusion he misinterprets my misinterpretation and we are off to the races.

THAT DID NOT HAPPEN THIS TIME! You have written the first set of cider press plans that not only presses cider extremely well, it improves marriages! Your plans were clear enough that we could both follow them without getting confused. Now THAT is an accomplishment.

Potatoes

Some of my fingerling potato harvest in the prototype Whizbang garden tote that I made a couple years ago. Yes, I'm still putting it to use, and it's a downright handy homestead tool. One of these days I will publish plans.

I think I always write about my potato harvest around this time of year. I can't help it. Homegrown potatoes are so beautiful when unearthed and collected. To mention them here is to announce that something amazing has taken place once again. Potatoes are like snowflakes in that no two are alike, thus they are objects of infinitely varied beauty.

I grew a whole row of fingerling potatoes this year. They're not big but we like the flavor and enjoy the novelty. Our basement is now well stocked with spuds for the winter. It’s always a good feeling to get the year’s potato harvest in.

The End of An Era In Our Family

My youngest son, James, at the Ithaca, New York Farmer's Market, helping me sell "Herrick's Homegrown" garlic powder five years ago. He didn't mind getting his picture taken back then. I will say, he's not nearly as cute now. :-)

My youngest son, James, turned 17 in October, and he also completed his “formal” homeschooling. That is a milestone on the path of life.

And my wife, Marlene, has also completed an important work in her life. After 18 years, her responsibilities as homeschool teacher to our three boys is now over.

Life is full of beginnings, endings and transitions, and they are often bittersweet. Maybe, though, after going through algebra for the third time, with boys that don’t much care about algebra, this transition for Marlene is all sweet with no bitter. There was surely sweetness in the journey, and in many memories of that journey.

It is a remarkable feat, especially in this day and age, for a mother to teach her children without ever sending them to the government schools or, for that matter, to a Christian school. Marlene wholeheartedly assumed responsibility for this task in our home.

She recently said to me: “I remember the first day when I started homeschooling. I cried.”

She cried because it did not go according to her expectations. That is typical. Marlene had some things to learn herself. But she was faithful to the calling and held fast to what we both believed was right before God and best for our children. I am so very thankful for her faithfulness

As for myself, I can take little credit for the formal home education of our children beyond that of co-conviction, support, encouragement, and provision.

My sons can read, write and cipher. They know the difference between right and wrong (as defined biblically, not culturally). And they have a good work ethic. I thank God for such an outcome.

I should note that our oldest son did attend a “Christian school” for his last two years. We were persuaded from that experience that Christian schooling is not in any important way equal to, or better than, homeschooling, and we did not make the mistake of sending our other children there.

With this subject of our homeschooling experiences in mind, I feel compelled to say that it grieves me when I see young Christian parents give their little children over to the government schools, and even to Christian schools. Worse yet is when a mother is willing to teach her children at home and her husband will not support her in it. Yes, it is surely harder to homeschool (especially for mothers) but that is to be expected... doing the right thing usually is harder.

I do not relate any of this to condemn, but to affirm and encourage young Christian parents in their biblical calling to teach their children at home.

How To Debone A Chicken

Speaking of education, it gladdens my heart when my children desire to learn new skills and educate themselves. Home schooling is, after all, just a beginning. There is so much more to learn, and enjoy in the learning, like, for example, how to debone a chicken....

James is working as a cook at a popular diner in the rural village of Moravia, which is six miles from our home. In such a position he has far more responsibility than I ever had at his age, and he loves the job.

It occurred to me that I might encourage my youngest son in his cooking pursuits by getting him a DVD titled, The Complete Pepin: Techniques and Recipes. It’s a 5-hour cooking course by the famous French chef, Jacques Pepin.

My kids can tell you that it is typical of me to give gifts that are educational in nature, and, more often than not, my ideas of what they might find interesting and fun aren’t really all that interesting or fun to them. Still, I try. And every so often, I succeed....

Such was the case with the Jacques Pepin DVD. James watched it, and liked it, and has put some of it to good use. For example, he has de-boned a chicken, and cooked it—just like Jacques Pepin!

Like Grandfather, Like Grandson

I don't know who this grandfather and grandson are but I like the picture.

The diner where James works is called “The Gathering.” It is popular for its home cooking. Every so often James will call his mother for cooking advice. The other day he called to get Marlene’s potato soup recipe. That pleased her to no end.

A lot of “regulars” come in to the diner every day. By now, the older folks know James and several know he is the grandson of Jay Myers (Marlene's dad). Jay was a man that a lot of people hereabouts knew and remember. He was a dairy farmer, and a cattle trucker in his later years, after he sold the farm. He was a big man, a hardworking man, and a decent, down-to-earth man.

James does not remember his grandfather Jay very well because he died in 1997 when James was only three years old. But it so happens that James is a lot like his grandfather.

It is a powerfully good thing for a grandson, who never really knew his grandfather, to grow up in the same community where his grandfather lived and to hear good things about the man. James has been blessed with such an experience.

The industrial culture we live in, so focused on material success, has, for over a century, encouraged young people to leave their rural homes and go to the cities, or to far away places so they can make a lot of money. And so, the pursuit of money has trumped the preservation of cohesive extended families in small rural community. I have never wanted that for my children, or encouraged it in my family.
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Kittens

They're an arm full.

Do you remember Pepper, the cat that came to us a month or so ago? Well, she evidently came to us impregnated. Before Marlene could make an appointment to get her “fixed” she swelled up and had seven adorable little ones.

Auction

The two handmade, Depression-era quilts in this picture sold for around $30 each. I don't know where my mother got them.

We had an auctioneer come to my now-deceased parent's house and take anything they felt had value. They took a truckload, cleaned it up and sold it all in a few hours earlier this month.

It was a fun and sad at the same time to see everything get auctioned off. If you read my July blogazine issue, you may recognize the man in this next picture as Earl Murphy.

Earl & the Victorian sisters— my stepfather maintained that the ladies in the print were distant kin on his mother's side of the family. The woman who won the bid for the sisters had bright green hair.

Earl’s picture sold for seven dollars. The two Victorian-era sisters in the gold frame above Earl sold for $35. We went intending to buy two items and we bought both. One was the hanging lamp in this next picture. It went for $125. I would have paid more, but I would also have paid less that day were I not bidding against a call-in bidder that saw this photo online.

This adjustable hanging oil lamp was once owned by my stepfather's parents, Earl & Marion Murphy. It is brass with a hand-painted glass shade. It hung for many years in their summer camp at Holland, Mass. I have always liked it.

That lamp was one of the highest priced items of the whole sale. The other item we wanted was an old wicker rocker. It too came from the Murphy camp in Holland. It’s comfortable. My mother liked it very much. Ten bucks.

We bought my mother's blue wicker rocker for ten dollars. Sentimental value, yes, but it is also very comfortable to sit in.

I was satisfied with the auctioneer and how he handled the sale, but things went real cheap. The economic decline has hit auctions and antiques hard.

Have you ever heard it said that antiques are a good investment? That might be true when the economy is good and people have money to spend. But not now. Furniture that used to bring $250 or $300 now sells for maybe $50. As a result, the estate realized very little money from the sale. The curse of poverty that seemed to dog my stepfather through his life has extended even to the sale of his possessions.
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Stuff-Purging

"The Sheriff"

So we are in the final stages of cleaning out my parent’s house. A very large dumpster is in the driveway. It is the second one we will fill too the brim this year. That’s what happens when your parents die and leave you with a house full of stuff— you sell some, you keep some, you give away some, and then you send two massive dumpsters chock-full of what’s left too the landfill.

And in the process of this task, you evaluate (once again) your own personal accumulation of stuff. You wonder to yourself what of your life’s accumulation your heirs will keep and what they will throw in a dumpster.

For example, what of the wood-burned artwork pictured above? I did that when I was maybe six years old. I clearly remember finding the scrap of board in the basement and deciding to use a woodburning pen to make a picture (it is a cowboy sheriff, of course). Then I painted it with watercolors and presented it to my mother. She was delighted, as any mother would be. My mother kept it and, in later years, hung it in the kitchen. Will my children cherish that?

Had I grown up to be famous like, maybe, Pablo Picasso, it would be a different story (I dare say, Pablo could have created such art at six years old). My children would then sell the board for a few million bucks, which just goes to show how foolish people with a lot of money can be.

Would I sell it for a million bucks?.... Well of course I would.

The board has no value beyond that of well-seasoned firewood. Or perhaps I could repurpose it into a piece of “yeoman furniture,” as my son Robert and I once did with a broken down old desk. But I resolved to throw out the sheriff and brought the board to Marlene to proudly announce my decision.

To my surprise she said: “Noooo. Don’t throw that out!”

Marlene (who is also in the serious stuff-purging mode) had announced to me earlier in the day that she decided to toss the now-worn-out quilt she made and gave to me for Christmas back in 1976. I was shocked. So there I was making a similar difficult stuff-purging decision, and she told me not to do it.

A friend of mine once told me, “It’s a lot easier to save things than to get rid of them.” And this same person also said, “It’s a lot easier to buy something than it is to sell it.” I don’t know if those statements make sense to you but they sure do make sense to me. The bottom line is that stuff-purging is just plain hard.

Where Have All

The Christian-Agrarian

Homesteader Blogs Gone?

Herrick,

I'm picking up on a rather troublesome trend. I've had the dream of homesteading for a few years now but due to financial issues it has remained only a dream. Within the past two months a property has come available to us that will allow me to pursue this dream FULLY. Feeling a renewed interest in this endeavor I decided to go back and start reading some of the old homesteading blogs that I used to read for inspiration. To my surprise... THEY'RE GONE! Reading back through your blog over the years I would say 3/4 of the links to other blogs inside your posts lead to pages that no longer exist. Have you noticed this too? Have these people just moved and I'm looking in the wrong place now? Or has there been a drop off in the number of people writing about homesteading and Christian-agrarianism? If so hopefully its just a drop off of people BLOGGING about it, and not actually doing it.

Thanks,
Matt

Thanks for the question Matt. Come to think of it, you're right. A lot (probably most) of the early Christian-agrarian blogs that sprung up around the time of The Deliberate Agrarian (birthdate: 6/18/05) are inactive or gone. Some have "reinvented" themselves. This blog is one of the exceptions.

I suspect that most of the blogs that are no longer around are not here because of the time involved in producing a blog. It's requires a surprising lot of hours, and in many instances people get discouraged because of low readership. Or they get discouraged because they realize they are spending so much time on the internet when they have more important things to do!

As for "Christian-agrarian" bloggers, there was an initial spasm of excitement about the term, followed by a wave of concern that it wasn't a good thing to call oneself a Christian-agrarian. I think that came about because some people adopted the term who were not the best of examples, and others thought, "If that's Christian-agrarianism, I don't think I want to be associated with it."

And then some people thought that maybe by calling oneself a Christian agrarian, it was taking something away from Christianity—that Christianity should not be associated with anything but Christianity.

One blogger derided Christian agrarianism as something suspiciously bad that he didn't want to associate with, and then reinvented his blog and named it Christian Rancher (or Christian Farmer, or something like that), which really befuddled me.

So Christian agrarianism is something that many Christians are hesitant to associate with, even though they are, for all practical purposes, Christian agrarians. Whatever.

As I've said in the past regarding this issue, what you call yourself is beside the point. As for myself, I'm a Christian and I'm an agrarian, and I don't mind putting the two together. In fact, I find it a beautiful combination that is honoring to the Lord. After all, the agrarian calling for Christians is entirely biblical.

That said, there are several newer blogs by Christians who take their Christian and agrarian calling seriously. Some can be found on the right side of this page. One of the newest is Redeeming The Dirt: Encouraging Born Again Farmers to Pursue God-Glorifying Agriculture, by 23-year-old Noah Sanders down in Tennessee.

A Letter From
(and to)
Kathryn

This famous 1849 painting by Asher Durand is titled "Kindred Spirits." The two men in the painting are Durand's good friends—artist Thomas Cole and the poet William Cullen Bryant. A kindred spirit is defined as "a person whose interests or attitudes are similar to one's own." All three men were kindred spirits in that they shared a deep love for the beauty of God's creation.

I get some of the nicest letters from people who read this blog and have read my books. Some are e-mailed and some are handwritten. I am humbled by the kind and appreciative letters I get. But I am also a little troubled because it is getting harder and harder for me to reply to everyone. It isn't that I get THAT many letters, it's that I am just flat-out busy with my regular job and my Whizbang business and so many things I have on my plate these days!

Please understand that I read your letters, I am greatly blessed and encouraged by your letters, and I set them aside with the intention of responding—but then I get pulled into the busyness of my life, and months go by and I feel worse and worse that I just can't find time to respond. I say this as an apology to those of you (and you know who you are) who have written and not heard back from me.

And I especially apologize to Kathryn who wrote me the following letter back in July.....

Dear Mr. Kimball

This morning, as I sat weeding my bean rows, I was reminded of your book, Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian. My mind recalled the chapter you wrote on thinning a bed of carrots.

My late father came across your book four years ago, and soon after, I picked it up. I enjoyed your book then, and I still pick it up now and again.

This morning, with the sunrise in front of me, and my fingers dark brown from the dewy dirt, I decided I'd do something I've wanted to do for a while now: simply write to you to let you know what a joy it is to hold your book in my hands and read about a complete stranger, and yet, in sharing the same sentiments about many things, feel as if we could have been lifelong friends.

This is a simple thank you from a 19 year old who is grateful for all your hard work and willingness to share personal stories with us.

May God bless your family,

Kathryn _______

Dear Kathryn,

The words and sentiments that you have expressed in your letter reveal to me that you are a sweet, sensitive young woman. That is a rarity and so nice to see.

I'm sure that you were a great blessing to your father, and I am truly sorry for your loss.

I don't know if you have seen the movies or read the Anne of Green Gables books, but there is a part in the story where Anne says to Marilla (the old woman who has adopted her):

"Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

I dare say, Kathryn, that even though you and I have never met, we are kindred spirits, and it is splendid to find it out! As far as I'm concerned, we are lifelong friends.

This belated response to you is from a 53 year old who is most grateful for your thoughtfulness in writing me.

God bless you,
Herrick Kimball

LAND?

As this issue of The Deliberate Agrarian is going to press there is an unexpected positive development to report....

We may be purchasing a section of land. Sixteen acres of field, and woods and water. I’ve talked of buying land a couple times in the years since starting this blog, and it hasn’t amounted to anything. But this time I have a pretty good feeling about it.

Stay tuned.....

Growing Sweet Potatoes in My Northern Garden

2011-10-20T11:23:00.003-04:00

A Deliberate Agrarian Special Report

Dateline: 20 October 2011

I grew this amazing 3-lb Beauregard sweet potato in my garden this year. It was one of the easiest things I've ever grown.

Sweet potatoes are rarely grown by gardeners in the northern latitudes. Fact is, I’ve been gardening for nigh unto forty years and it was only three years ago that the idea of growing sweet potatoes here in Central New York State seriously entered my mind. It was then that a friend of mine showed me some sweet potatoes he had grown. They were huge, beautiful specimens of the Ipomoea batatas and I was duly impressed. That was when I determined that I should grow (or, at least, try to grow) sweet potatoes too.

As is so often the case when I get it into my head to do something new, a couple years (or more) may elapse before I finally get around to actually doing it. Some further incentive along the way helps. The incentive for me to finally grow some sweet potatoes came earlier this year when I read This Article in Mother Earth News magazine.

The author, Ken Allan, of Ontario, Canada is an authority when it comes to successfully growing sweet potatoes in the north. Mr. Allan wrote a whole book on the subject. Sweet Potatoes For The Home Garden : With Special Techniques For Northern Growers is a book that every gardener who loves sweet potatoes and desires to grow them should have in their personal library.

The Book

Ken Allan's 200-page sweet potato how-to manual was self-published in 1998. It is not available from Amazon.com and I’m sorry to say that it is not available from any U.S. garden catalogs that I am aware of. But it is available directly from the author (details at This Web Site), and that is where I got my copy. If you get a copy of the sweet potato book, please let Mr. Allan know that you learned about the book from me.

Now that we have those introductory comments out of the way, I’d like to provide you with a select few quotes from Ken Allan’s book and tell you about my first sweet potato harvest.

The first thing we northern gardeners need to understand when it comes to growing sweet potatoes (I assume you southern gardeners already know this) is that they are not grown, cured, or stored anything like the more common solanum potatoes (a.k.a., “Irish” potatoes or, as the old farm almanac editors called them, “murphies”). Here’s a quote from the book:

“When an experienced gardener uses knowledge of similar crops as a guide to growing sweet potatoes, the reward is a small crop of small tubers which have little flavour and which spoil sometime before Christmas. The potential, when you do everything right, is to have a large crop of the best sweet potatoes you ever tasted, with the additional bonus that, in conditions that are easy for the average gardener to supply, they keep better than any other crop.

Indeed, quite aside from eating quality and nutritional value, longevity in storage is one of the best arguments for making sweet potatoes a staple in the home garden. If this is counter to what you have read or observed about sweet potatoes, it is because the storage requirements of sweet potatoes are not generally known.”

I ordered sweet potato “slips” from Burpee. I chose the Beauregard variety because I liked the name and the description said that Beauregard is a large, very orange sweet potato. Slips are nothing more than short lengths of leafy stems that sprout and grow out of sweet potato tubers placed in water. They are totally unremarkable little pieces of vegetation, and it was hard to imagine that they would ever amount to anything much.

Nevertheless, I followed the directions for planting as given in the Mother Earth News article (and in the book). In time, the little slips grew to a dense tangle of vines.

I hoed up close to the fledgling row of vines with my Planet Whizbang wheel hoe as they spread out and did nothing else with them all summer. I didn’t even water them when we had a lengthy dry spell. The vines grew lustily; they dominated and suppressed virtually all weed growth. Which is to say that sweet potatoes are very easy to maintain and grow in the garden. I added no fertilizer to my soil and there were no problems with insects.

Come the first light frost this month (October) some of the vines suffered frost damage and I went looking for “the book” to see what I needed to do next. There I read...

"Sweet potatoes should never be allowed to cool below 50°F (10°C) and preferably not below 55°F, either in the garden or later in storage. This fact may dictate harvest time. Soil temperature usually drops to 50°F at the time of the first frost. Sweet potatoes don’t mature, they just keep on getting larger until the weather gets cool. Since expansion of the fleshy roots is most rapid in late summer and early fall, harvest should be delayed as long as the weather holds. They won’t do any growing at 60°F or below, however, so for those of us in the north there is little to be gained in leaving them in the ground past the second or third week of September (unless they are protected by a cold frame or some form of rowcover)."

It was October 10th when I read that and I hastened to put my soil thermometer to use. I was concerned that my soil temperature would be less than 55°, but it was 60°. I commenced to dig....

Digging potatoes by hand with a garden fork is always hard work but it’s always downright satisfying when you uncover a lot of good potatoes and, boy howdy—did I find potatoes!

This is what the sweet potatoes look like with some of the earth around them removed.

I harvested four bread trays of sweet potatoes like shown here.

I had read something about properly curing sweet potatoes and found the full story on this critically important (but little understood) process in Chapter 10 of Ken Allen’s book:

"Curing sweet potatoes involves holding newly dug tubers at a fairly high temperature and humidity long enough for important physiological changes to take place: the skin becomes impermeable to moisture; cuts and scrapes scab over; starch is converted to sugar. The higher the curing temperature, the shorter the curing period. Optimum conditions are 85° to 90°F and 80% to 90% humidity for five to seven days. If the temperature is reduced to 80° to 85°F then the curing time can be doubled."

So proper curing is essential to long storage and Mr. Allan explains what exactly makes this so...

"What happens during curing is that a layer of suberin forms in the skin of the fleshy root, enclosing each tuber in its own little organic plastic baggy. In suberization, starch is converted to unsaturated fatty acids which combine with oxygen to make suberin, a remarkable mixture of waxy substances which allows the tuber to breathe but which holds in almost all of the tuber’s moisture. Suberin, in combination with wound priderm (which forms a corky layer over wounds), seals in moisture and seals out rot-producing organisms, thereby protecting against infection. Cured sweet potatoes do lose moisture but the loss is very slow. A properly cured sweet potato can sit at room temperature in the open air for several months and lose scarcely any weight."

Proper curing is also absolutely necessary if you want a truly sweet tasting potato— a natural malt-sugar sweetened potato.

Allan stresses that curing should begin immediately upon digging and he offers several ideas for how and where to get your just-dug sweet potatoes properly cured. He states....

"Gardeners who don’t have a climate controlled room will have to use some ingenuity to provide the warmth necessary for curing, and there are almost as many solutions to this problem as there are gardeners."

A climate controlled room could be nothing more than a spare bathroom or big closet in your house with a heating source and thermostat. But I have a small house with no room to spare. So my solution to the problem was a small chicken coop that I undertook to make several years ago and never finished. It was out behind my workshop, along with several junk lawnmowers, bicycles and other such items. I cleaned the chicken house out, put a small electric “milkhouse heater” inside and powered it with an extension cord out the window of my shop.

A milkhouse heater just inside the sliding door of this small chicken house took care of the heat source for my makeshift sweet potato curing kiln.

One end of my new “curing kiln” was completely open and I covered it with several layers of painter’s drop cloths, held in place with spring clamps. I placed my potatoes in plastic bread trays, stacked them in the kiln, and monitored the temperature with a digital thermometer (it's a handy tool to have on the homestead).

I closed in the end of the "kiln" with dropcloths.

A view behind the drop cloths, into the "kiln."

My kiln worked very well. The temperature fluctuated between 85° and 105°. After seven days I brought the warm potatoes into our house.

Kiln-cured sweet potatoes about to go into storage. Each of those egg baskets is holding 45 pounds of tubers.

That old wainscot cabinet is in our living room, just off the kitchen, and not far from the woodstove, which is our only source of heat. The temperature can really fluctuate inside our home on winter days. Hopefully that cabinet will do the job.

I packed 110 pounds of sweet potato tubers into the bottom of the cabinet.

My 110-pound sweet potato harvest stored away.

We have not yet tasted the potatoes. I’m giving them another month to cure in the cabinet. After we cook some up I’ll report back here with the taste-test results.

If those sweet potatoes do taste good and keep good you can bet I will grow them again in next year’s garden. If I decide to grow the Beauregard variety again I won’t have to buy my slips. I’ll simply grow my own. It’s easy to do and full details are in “the book.”

Thank you Ken Allan!

The Deliberate Agrarian BlogazineSeptember 2011

2011-09-30T19:00:00.003-04:00

Dateline: 30 September 2011

Holland Congregational Church in Holland, Massachusetts (photo link)

On the 17th of this past month we buried the ashes of my mother (who died eight years ago) and my recently deceased stepfather. That’s a load off my mind.

My stepfather, a Marine Corps veteran, was buried with military honors. Before folding the flag, as shown below, a third Marine off in the distance played taps.

Military honors for my stepfather, Richard C. Murphy

It was a lovely day to be buried, and the rural New England cemetery in Holland, Massachusetts provided a quiet, beautiful final resting place. I especially like that old stone wall in the background.

Pastor Bruce Plumley of the Holland Congregational Church (pictured at the top of this page) conducted a fine, God-honoring graveside service, with 8 family members and five old friends of my father in attendance. Though Pastor Plumley had not known my stepfather, he read my June blog essay and utilized some of the information therein.

Holland Massachusetts is really off the beaten path and I assumed the little old Congregational church was a small fellowship, struggling to keep the light shining, like so many little old rural churches in America. But it turns out that is not the case.

According to Pastor Plumley, "Holland Congregational Church was founded in 1765 by 80 local people who all signed a covenant to hold fast to the Word of God, to preach the Gospel and to provide a place of worship for families to be raised up in the faith. At this time we have approx. 300 people that attend on Sunday with three services at 8,9:30 and 11."

After the short service, we enjoyed a nice luncheon in the Pineapple Room at the historic Publick House (General Lafayette visited there in 1824) in Sturbridge, only eight miles from Holland.

Marlene and I stayed two nights at the Publick House and spent one day together at Old Sturbridge Village. We’ve been to the Village a number of times but it had probably been six years since we were there last. Not much has changed. It is a Village frozen in time and that time is mostly around 1830. Here’s what the Sturbridge Village web site says...

The period portrayed by Old Sturbridge Village, 1790-1840, is of major significance because it was a time in which the everyday lives of New Englanders were transformed by the rise of commerce and manufacturing, improvements in agriculture and transportation, the pulls of emigration and urbanization, and the tides of educational, political, aesthetic, and social change.

I snapped this picture of Marlene in a garden gazebo by the Salem Towne house...

Marlene at Sturbridge Village

And here’s a picture of yours truly by the water-powered grist mill...

This place is an ideal vacation destination for deliberate agrarians.

That granite stone I’m sitting on caught my eye. It looked like it might make a good sink stone. I was thinking of sink stones because I had just been to the Freeman Farm house and saw this...

Granite sink at the Freeman Farm house (click to enlarge)

I don’t recall ever seeing a hand-carved granite sink like that before and it really struck my fancy. It reminded me of This You-Tube Clip from the great British series, Victorian Farm, in which they show the making of a granite sheep feeder. Wouldn’t it be something to make your own kitchen sink!

In the kitchen of the Freeman Farm house, three women in period dress were making cheese. I asked if they milked the cow that morning and it so happens they milked two of the village cows. I believe they are Devon cows. We met them a little later....

Sturbridge Devons, viewed through the bars

The Freeman Farmhouse kitchen with its large fireplace was quite sparse. That’s because in 1830 the industrial revolution in America had not yet made so much stuff for people to buy and cram into their houses.

Ladies in the Freeman Farm kitchen. They are making cheese in the wood tub on the left side of the table. The one lady looks like she might be talking on her cell phone but I can assure you that was not the case.

DETOUR

Before I talk about making cheese at the Freeman Farm, I’d like to tell you about something that has been on my mind for some time and this seems as good a place as any to talk about it....

I’ve come up with a new/old idea that I hope to implement someday. I call it the post-industrial kitchen. Unlike the modern kitchens of our time, my post-industrial kitchen will have no fancy built-in cabinetry and countertops. It will have work tables and a few freestanding “yeoman furniture” cupboards. Where will all the food and small kitchen appliances go? Those things will go into a walk-in pantry room immediately adjacent to the kitchen. The pantry will have an abundance of floor to ceiling shelves . There will be a place for everything and everything in it’s place, and everything will be readily accessible, not stuffed into so many built-in cupboards.

Speaking of which, Marlene and I have acquired an old, freestanding cupboard that would be perfect in a post-industrial kitchen...

The "Wainscot"

That big, homemade cabinet came from my parent’s house and we have always called it “the wainscot.” An auctioneer that came to the house told us the cabinet was made in the late 1800’s. He told us that a few years ago, when middle class people had more money to spend at his auctions, a wainscot cabinet like that would have sold for around $1,500. But these days, it might only bring $600. So Marlene and I kept it.

See that hole in the corner of the drawer? It's a genuine mouse hole!

Years ago, my stepfather and I hauled the wainscot out of a run-down old house. It was in rough shape. Tin can lids were tacked over spots where mice had gnawed holes into the cabinet. My mother spent a lot of hours cleaning and refinishing the piece. So it has a lot of sentimental value.

Another genuine mouse hole. That one had a rusty tin can lid tacked over it when my parents first got the cabinet.

Once the mice ate their through the door into the bottom of the cabinet, they proceeded to chew their way up through the two shelves above, as you can see in this picture.

How much do you think it would cost to make a kitchen with no built-in cabinets and fancy countertops? Answer: Wayyyy less than the average modern kitchen (the average mid-range kitchen remodel is now around $20,000)

I dare say my post-industrial kitchen, with it’s adjoining pantry room, will be very inexpensive to make. Yet, it will be functional and convenient to use. It will also be much easier to keep clean.

A hand-carved granite sink might be nice.

Another Detour

I hope to implement this idea of a post-industrial kitchen in seven years ( I will be 60 years old). That’s when I would like to build a new country home for Marlene and I— a “retirement” home, if you will, on a little more acreage than we now have. It will be a practical, functional country home. And it will be bigger than the little place we now have. Bigger so we can be a little more hospitable.

When I tell Marlene of this plan (which she likes), she wonders how I will ever find time to build another house. Good question. I can barely find time to keep the lawn mowed these days.

Well, maybe it won’t happen. I’m used to my plans not happening, and don’t hold too tight to any of them, but I still think it’s good to have plans. And now that you’ve endured my post-industrial kitchen idea, and my daydreaming, it’s time to get back to Freeman Farm....

Freeman Farm at Old Sturbridge Village (photo link)

As I was saying, the ladies at Freeman Farm were making cheese the day we visited. I asked them about rennet, which is what gets added to the milk to firm it up. The cheese ladies informed us that rennet comes from the lining of the fourth stomach of a cow. I must admit that, though I knew a cow has four stomachs, I did not know rennet came from the fourth.

Being the inquisitive reader that you are, I’m sure you are wondering what the names of the four stomachs of a cow are. Well, let me tell you... In sequence, they are the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. Now, I wonder if the old timer’s knew those names?

On the table was a short length of tree branch bent into a circle and a section of abomasum was stretched flat and tight with a web of string inside the circle (if you click on the picture of the cheese ladies above, you will see an enlarged view and the circle with stomach is there on the table).

The old timers scraped some lining off the stomach and added it to the milk. I asked the ladies if that is what they were using and they reluctantly admitted that they used commercially available rennet tablets. But one of the ladies told me they once did use some stomach lining to make cheese.

Vegetable storage bins in the Freeman Farm root cellar

In the basement root cellar of the Freeman Farm house we found a man with a candle sifting sand from one box to another. He was getting ready to layer vegetables in the sand for winter storage. Here’s what a sign at the top of the root cellar explained...

After the harvest, root vegetables like turnips, beets, and carrots were buried in bins of slightly damp sand to stay moist and firm. Potatoes keep well in bins without sand; their tough skins keep moisture in. Cabbages are strung from the ceiling rafters. The outer leaves shrivel around the cabbage head to provide a barrier that keeps the head moist.

Also on the sign was this quote...

The cellar...was a vast receptacle... In the autumn, it was supplied with three barrels of beef and as many of pork, twenty barrels of cider, with numerous kinds of potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots and cabbages.

Samuel Goodrich
Recollections of a Lifetime, 1857

Twenty barrels! That’s a lotta cider. And it’s not sweet cider that they kept in those barrels.

Before leaving the Freeman Farm I made sure to take the following picture...

Boot Scraper at Freeman Farm

I love practical little details like that hand-wrought iron boot scraper. Mud was, of course, much more prevalent in the old days.

Here’s another detail that I liked...

A stone gate post at Old Sturbridge Village

Split rail fences were the typical wood fence on rural New England farmsteads. The rails were commonly referred to as "bars."

Agrarian Economics

Allan C. Carlson

In last month’s essay here I stated that modern corporate capitalism as an economic system is destined to fail. Some readers of this blog get a little bit miffed when I say something negative about capitalism. After all, we have all been brought up to believe that capitalism as we know it today is as American as apple pie. There are even people who think that modern capitalism is biblical!

The so-called conservative talk show hosts of America all love modern capitalism. In their minds the only other option besides such capitalism is communism or socialism, and if you don’t like capitalism, than you must be a socialist or a communist. These media talking heads appear to be completely ignorant about agrarian economic principles. And since most rank and file American "conservatives" get their information and talking points from the talk show hosts, agrarian economics is pretty much unheard of.

It behooves thinking people to understand what an agrarian economic system would be like because, as I mentioned last month, modern capitalism is not sustainable, and both socialism and communism are clearly unjust economic and political systems.

If this subject interests you as much as it does me, I recommend professor Allan C. Carlson's speech...

Beyond Capitalism & Socialism: Rebuilding an American Economy Focused on Family and Community

(if you click that link you can listen to a recording of Allan Carlson giving his speech to an audience at Washington State University back in 2010)

Family Based Economics

At the heart of any agrarian economic system is a prevalence of productive home economies. That said, it's nice to see Kevin Swanson at Generations Radio not only talking about “family economics” but actually having a family economics conference...

Here’s how Kevin Swanson introduces the conference at his blog:

“What if you didn’t have to rely on a big corporation to make a living? What if your family could work together to build an economy that not only provided for your needs, but even produced extra for you to give to others? What if you didn’t have to give the best hours of your day to support the vision of your boss, your bank, or some bureaucrat in Washington DC?

What if you had a fruitful family economy?

As the economies of the world teeter around us, more and more families are discovering the vision for work and economics that has existed for over 4,000 years. This vision is family-based production in the context of the household. Forget about world GDP, population implosion, or the CPI for just a moment, and consider the power of a family unit knit together in relationship, love, and honor—all diligently working toward the single goal of being productive for the kingdom of God."

I hope this Family Economics Conference is a great success. However, I have a feeling that "family economy" as it will be discussed at that conference will be defined and limited to a "family business." I may be wrong (and I hope I am in this respect) but if the conference emphasis is solely on making money in a family business in order to support the family by buying everything the family needs (or wants), that would certainly not be a "vision for work and economics that has existed for over 4,000 years."

Traditionally speaking, the 4,000 year history of family economies was something much deeper and more intimate than just a family business.

Of course, true family economies predated the industrial era. As industrialism spread, it destroyed the traditional family economy. First it lured men (husbands and fathers) away from family farms and home-based cottage industries to the cities and factories where traditional ways of life and work were exchanged for a narrowly-focused job and a wage. Sons & daughters and wives followed the menfolk into the industrial work world. Instead of working together, individual family members went their separate ways; the family economy was sacrificed to support the industrial economy.

Traditional family economies involved immediate and extended family members all working together (and typically within small communities) to supply their subsistence needs for food, fuel, clothing, shelter, health care, education, entertainment (and so on) largely from the land, without being subservient to or dependent on any other economic system. A broad spectrum of skills, responsibilities, and interdependencies came into play. Yes, a family business certainly was part of traditional family economies, but only a part.

I applaud any effort to reestablish any semblance of the family economy (this is a critically important thing to be doing, especially as the dominant industrial economy of the developed western world is now in decline), but to do so without embracing the richness and wisdom of traditional understandings is a mistake.

The Agrarian Urbanist

Richard Grossman, a.k.a., The Midland Agrarian, has a new blog titled The Agrarian Urbanist. If you have read Richard’s online writings (and the late, great “Granny Miller” blog of his wife) you know that the Grossmans have a very well informed understanding of agrarianism, both practical and philosophical.

I’ve never given much thought to the combination of agrarianism and urbanism because I've always believed that agrarianism and urbanism are opposite concepts. But I have no doubt that urbanism can be improved by applying agrarian concepts, and I'm curious to read what Richard Grossman has to say on the subject.

Also, I know that many people who read this blog live in urban areas and have agrarian inclinations. So you may find The Agrarian Urbanist of particular interest.

In the Agrarian Urbanits's first blog post, Richard mentions Andres Duany and provides a link to a web page where we learn...

"Duany believes the metaphorical asteroid -- call it peak oil, climate change, the collapse of complex structures -- is on its way. He's trying to push the body of planners and architects toward a small-town America that more closely resembles pre-1850 America than pre-1950."

Hmmm... this Duany fellow has my attention. Another quote from the same link...

Agrarian urbanism, he explained, is different from both "urban agriculture" ("cities that are retrofitted to grow food") and "agricultural urbanism" ("when an intentional community is built that is associated with a farm)." He was thinking bigger: "Agrarian urbanism is a society involved with the growing of food."

On Raising Children

I support my family in part by writing how-to books, and I have a lot of ideas for books that I'd like to write someday, but I can assure you that I will never write a book about how to properly raise children. That's because, when you write a how-to book it's important to know your subject well and be good at it. I don't feel I am either of those things when it comes to parenting.

I'm compelled to mention this because I have received a number of e-mails over the years from parents who are concerned about their children and how to raise them so that, first, they follow the parent's Christian faith and, second, they embrace the wisdom of agrarian life.

Parenting with such goals in mind is a high and important calling. It is also incredibly difficult to do because it is so downright countercultural. To make matters worse, numerous internet bloggers present their children and their family as remarkable examples of virtue and wisdom. I fear that I myself may have been guilty of this in past essays, and the thought of it prompts me to recommend a "disclaimer" essay I wrote a few years ago titled: My Christian-Agrarian Reality

I dare say, well-intentioned and God-fearing parents can get mighty discouraged when they compare their family to some of the "model" families found on the internet. I know this because I've compared, and I've gotten discouraged. I should know better. You should know better.

I mention all of this as prelude to the following excerpt from the essay, "Family Work," by Wendell Berry, and found in his book, The Gift of Good Land.

The point of Berry's message in this essay is the vital importance of passing on important family values by establishing a productive, family-centered, home economy (not, I hasten to add, defined as a "family business"). Though Mr. Berry presents the family-centered home economy as a healthy concept and fundamentally agrarian, it also happens to be biblical (and I'm sure he knows that).

I'm persuaded that anything biblical is also contra-industrial and, therefore, as I've already stated, difficult to do. But spiritual conviction coupled with righteous indignation is a powerful force for industrial-world nonconformity, especially when we're talking about the sacred responsibility of raising children.

Thus it is that so many Christian families in this day and age are coming to understand that establishing a healthy and functional agrarian-based home economy is profoundly and fundamentally important. In short, it's the right thing to do.

That said, I present the following perspective from Wendell Berry. This excerpt is only the end portion of a larger essay, all of which is well worth reading. The final two paragraphs sum up nicely what we concerned parents need to keep in mind, especially as our children get into their adolescent/teen years.

If we consume nothing but what we buy, we are living in “the economy,” in “television land,” not at home. It is productivity that rights the balance and brings us home....

[Home-based] productivity, however small, is a gift. If we are parents we cannot help but see it as a gift to our children—and the best of gifts. How will it be received?

Well, not ideally. Sometimes it will be received gratefully enough. But sometimes indifferently, and sometimes resentfully.

According to my observation, one of the likeliest results of a wholesome diet of home-raised, home-cooked food is a heightened relish for cokes and hot dogs. And if you “deprive” your children of TV at home, they are going to watch it with something like rapture away from home. And obligations, jobs, and chores at home will almost certainly cause your child to wish, sometimes at least, to be somewhere else, watching TV.

Because, of course, parents are not the only ones raising their children. They are being raised also by their schools and by their friends and by the parents of their friends. Some of this outside raising is good, some is not. It is, anyhow, unavoidable.

What this means, I think, is about what it has always meant. Children, no matter how nurtured at home, must be risked to the world. And parenthood is not an exact science, but a vexed privilege and a blessed trial, absolutely necessary and not altogether possible.

If your children spurn your healthful meals in favor of some concocted by some reincarnation of Col. Sanders, Long John Silver, or the Royal Family of Burger; if they flee from books to a friend’s house to watch TV, if your old-fashioned notions and ways embarrass them in front of their friends—does that mean you are a failure?

It may. And what parent has not considered that possibility? I know, at least, that I have considered it—and have wailed and gnashed my teeth, found fault, laid blame, preached and ranted. In weaker moments, I have even blamed myself.

But I have thought, too, that the term of human judgment is longer than parenthood, that the upbringing we give our children is not just for their childhood but for all their lives. And it is surely the duty of the older generation to be embarrassingly old-fashioned, for the claims of the “newness” of any younger generation are mostly frivolous. The young are born to the human condition more than to their time, and they face mainly the same trials and obligations as their elders have faced.

The real failure is to give in. If we make our house a household instead of a motel, provide healthy nourishment for mind and body, enforce moral distinctions and restraints, teach essential skills and disciplines and require their use, there is no certainty that we are providing our children a “better life” that they will embrace wholeheartedly during childhood. But we are providing them a choice that they may make intelligently as adults.

Cidermaking 2011

This picture shows my son James (part of him) feeding apples into our homemade Whizbang Apple grinder. The grinder will chew them up as fast as he can stuff them in, and the mash flows into a bucket, ready to be pressed.

If you have read this blog for long, you know that our family makes apple cider every year about this time. And you know that, after several years of development, I came up with my own Whizbang Cidermaking equipment. If you have a source of apples, I recommend cidermaking as a great family activity, and I can assure you that no other home-scale cidermaking equipment on the market is as easy to use and productive as my Whizbang system.

Yesterday morning my son James and I made cider on the back patio. We worked together for an hour or so to press a bunch of free-for-the-picking apples (maybe three bushels in all) that Marlene got from a friend earlier in the week.

My Whizbang cider press utilizes a simple 2x6 board and small hydraulic jack to press a basket of apple mash.

We ended up with about ten gallons of wholesome, unadulterated sweet apple cider. Eight gallons of that were put into jars and set aside to ferment into vinegar (just like I tell and show how to do in This Essay).

With my Whizbang cidermaking system, a stack of pressing discs and cloth-wrapped bags of apple mash are layered up inside the pressing tub. Pressure is put to this "cheese" (a traditional cidermaking term) and the result is faster, easier, more thorough juice extraction. In this picture I am holding some of the just-pressed mash. No other home-scale cidermaking system on the market utilizes this very effective pressing technique.

Yesterday was our first cider pressing of the season. There will be more. And we will also be making Whizbanged applesauce!

Agrarian Nation

Shucking corn with grandma.... The traditional family economy in action!

I continue to post twice-weekly at my Agrarian Nation web site. Here are links from September...

Farmer's Calendar Excerpts from September 1825, 1839, and 1842

Spurious Butter (1885)

Meditation While Singling Mangolds

Farmer's Calendar Excerpts From 1851 and 1852

What Young People Should Know (1867)

Farmer's Calendar Excerpts From 1857 and 1858

How to Make Milkers (1867)

Farmer's Calendar Excerpts from 1859, 1860, 1862 and 1863

Fodder Carrots

—:::—

Thanks for reading this edition of the Deliberate Agrarian monthly blogazine!

—:::—

Tales From The Green Valley(with episode links)

2011-09-26T13:33:00.012-04:00

Anyone with an interest in agrarianism and history will appreciate the excellent 2005 BBC documentary series, Tales From The Green Valley. Five people go back in time for one year and operate a typical 1620 English farm.

In 1620, King James I was on the throne—the same King James that commissioned the famous King James translation of the Bible.

This period in English history is of particular interest if you admire the Mayflower Pilgrims, as I do. 1620 was their era. The Pilgrims were simple rural farm people before fleeing to Holland, and it was the exact year of 1620 that the Pilgrim separatists set sail from Holland for America in the Mayflower.

Tales From The Green Valley does not portray a Pilgrim farm and does not reflect the Separatist beliefs (for example, the Pilgrims did not celebrate Christmas), but it does a fine job of explaining (and showing) the typical rural culture of that time.

For a perspective on the Pilgrims that you may have never heard (they did not come to America primarily for religious freedom), I recommend my essay titled, Pilgrims and the Christian-Agrarian Exodus of 1620

The entire series of half-hour Tales From The Green Valley television programs can be viewed on YouTube in 15 minute segments. Below is an organized list of links to all the episodes. I hope you and your family will enjoy these as much as I have.

September

Episode 1
Part 1
Part 2

October

Episode 2
Part 1
Part 2

November

Episode 3
Part 1
Part 2

December

Episode 4
Part 1
Part 2

January

Episode 5
Part 1
Part 2

February

Episode 6
Part 1
Part 2

March

Episode 7
Part 1
Part 2

April

Episode 8
Part 1
Part 2

May

Episode 9
Part 1
Part 2

June

Episode 10
Part 1
Part 2

July

Episode 11
Part 1
Part 2

August

Episode 12
Part 1
Part 2

The Deliberate Agrarian BlogazineAugust 2011

2011-09-03T02:05:00.006-04:00

Dateline: 31 August 2011

I was driving to my job in the city early one morning and saw a sight that etched itself deeply into my mind. I wished I had a camera with me. The picture would have told a story— a story of so many elderly people in this nation as the economic depression deepens, if not of the economy itself.

What I saw was a thin, aged, white-haired man, tall and stooped, both hands on a walker in front of him, carefully making his way across the street. That in itself was not so unusual, but what the man was carrying shocked me. Slung crosswise over his left shoulder and hanging against his right side was a dirty canvass newspaper bag. The old man was delivering newspapers!

The harsh reality of our failing economy is settling itself into the heart and mind of America. Remember the masses who swarmed to see and support the silver-tongued politician? They hoped in his message of hope, based on political solutions, and now they are profoundly disappointed. The gullibility, the blindness and the abject ignorance of so many people in this nation is utterly astounding.

What these masses do not and can not bring themselves to understand is that the industrial era is drawing to a close. The Industrial party is almost over. Everything will change (is already changing). So-called “conventional wisdom” will no longer apply. It’s time to embrace traditional wisdom....
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Agrarian Nation 2050

Professor John E. Ikerd

Earlier this year I started a new blog titled Agrarian Nation. Twice a week (every Monday and Friday) I post an excerpt from the pre-1900 agricultural writings (mostly from old farm almanacs). The premise of Agrarian Nation is that the industrial age is drawing to a close and we as a nation will, of necessity, revert back to a more agrarian way of life. That has, in fact, also been an underlying theme of this blog which I started over six years ago.

I considered giving my Agrarian Nation blog the title of Agrarian Nation 2050 because it seemed to me that by then we would be well into the epic cultural transition that lies before us. (I also thought Agrarian Nation 2050 would make a great t-shirt slogan, but I don’t wear t-shirts with slogans).

So imagine my surprise when I recently discovered a speech titled, Back to the Future: Small Farms in the Year 2050, that was given in May of this year by John E. Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural & Applied Economics at the University of Missouri. Professor Ikerd and I are clearly on the same page in many ways. I will provide a link to the full text of his speech but first I want to share some excerpts...

I believe the changes of the next fifty-years will be at least as big as those of the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s

The economic growth of the industrial era was made possible by an abundance of cheap energy – first the old growth forests, then surface mining of coal, and for the past 100-years, by shallow reservoirs of oil and natural gas. There was plenty of energy to support two centuries of economic growth. However, the old growth forests are gone. We are blowing up bedrock and mountain tops to get the remaining coal and natural gas. We are drilling for oil deep beneath the oceans and in the remote corners of the world. We are not out of fossil energy, at least not yet, but we are quickly running out of cheap energy.

The industrialization of agriculture, and the government policies that supported it, have been an absolute failure. Our current systems of farming and food production are not sustainable. A larger percentage of Americans are more “food insecure” today than during the 1960s. Those who can afford to buy enough food are far less healthy. We are not meeting the needs of the present and certainly not leaving equal or better opportunities for the future. An industrial agriculture is not sustainable. Fundamental change in agriculture is not an option; it is a necessity.

Thomas Jefferson believed strongly that the “yeoman farmer” best exemplified the kind of “independence and virtue” that should be supported by the new democratic republic of the United States. He believed financiers, bankers, and industrialists could not be trusted and should not be encouraged by government. In light of our current financial situation in the U.S., “Jeffersonian Democracy” still makes a lot of sense.

The farms of 2050 will be smaller than most of today’s commercial farms because sustainable farms must rely less on fossil energy and more on management and labor, meaning more smaller farms and more opportunities for farmers.

Professor Ikerd foresees that America will return to a nation of many small, independent, sustainable farms that supply the food needs of local populations, just as was once the case in this nation.

In order to get from here to there Ikerd says that the nation must “create a new vision of a better future.”

That new vision must begin with the realization that we don’t need more economic growth.

The challenge for Americans today is not to try to restore unsustainable economic growth, but instead to learn to live “wisely, agreeably, and well.” We already have enough “stuff.”

No economic growth? No economic growth! Professor Ikerd must be some sort of fringe lunatic. It’s just plain un-American to say (or even to think) that we don’t need economic growth. This man dares to disagree with industrial orthodoxy? Heretic!

The only thing worse than saying that we don’t need economic growth is to say something negative about capitalism, especially if you are a Christian conservative and have been a registered Republican for the past 35 years (that’s me). But modern corporate-capitalism is the spawn of industrialism, and this industrialism has only been possible because of an abundance of easily obtained natural resources, and it won't last.

To put it in more agrarian terms: the taproot of modern industrialism feeds off of abundant, inexpensive natural resources. Starve the root and the plant will get weak and sick, and eventually die.

Thus it is that capitalism as we have known it is not sustainable because infinite growth in a world of finite resources is impossible. So capitalism as we have known it will fail. To cling to capitalism is to grasp at straws.

The days of resource abundance are over. This fact is very clear when you understand Walter Prescott Webb’s boom hypothesis of modern history. It is becoming clearer every day as the reality of resource depletion increasingly makes its way into the news reports. Perpetual growth is a myth. I’ll say it again... modern capitalism will fail. It is inevitable.

Nevertheless, the powers that be will do (are doing) all they can to preserve the current economic system. We are seeing unprecedented cooperation between multinational corporations and governments to advance the profit and control goals of the corporations. This includes the banking sector, of course. Government is now a more effective tool than ever in the hands of the corporate giants. It is government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.

Millions of people are still hoping in the empty promises of blathering politicians, inept economists and a modern news media that is focused less on the truth and more on entertainment.

Many millions of people can’t comprehend what will be because they are so attached to what has been. Yet, those who hope in the industrial institutions and the industrial promises will be continually disillusioned in the years ahead.

The system will eventually collapse.

In light of the emerging reality of, first, economic collapse and then, eventually, systemic collapse, I believe it behooves us all to question every premise of corporate-industrial-capitalism. Where we live. How we live. The kind of work we do. How we raise and educate our children. What we value as important in life. What we spend our money on. What we eat. How we acquire our food. What we expect of government. How we invest our time and resources. And, most importantly, how we relate to God. All of these facets of our life must be seriously reevaluated.

We can ask these questions now, and make voluntary changes now, in our individual lives, so that we are far less likely to be harmed by the collapse. We can do this now, regardless of collapse, because it is the right thing to do. We can eschew materialism, embrace simplicity and place our hope, not in failing institutions, but in God’s grace and his mercy.

We can work with our hands, our hearts, our families, like-minded friends and what resources we have to learn the fundamental skills of agrarian life; to be less dependent on the industrial system. And we can be eternally thankful for the most basic of blessings, as we should be.

John Ikerd speaks of hope and vision for the postindustrial era. Hope and vision are essential to making a successful personal and family transition. They are essential to living a full, rich, happy life, industrial collapse or not.

Please understand that collapse is not synonymous with the end of the world, just the end of the world as we have known it. I believe that 2050 could look much like 1850. There were people in 1850 who lived full, rich, happy lives. There were also people in 1750 who lived full, rich, happy lives. And before that.

Yes, people certainly lived more primitively compared to today, and they worked much harder to provide for their sustenance, but it wasn’t necessarily a terrible existence. Sure, some people had terrible situations, but some people today have terrible situations too.

In 2050 there will still be beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The birds will still sing their songs. There will still be the joys of seed time and harvest. Billowing clouds and sparkling stars and little babies will still delight us. Life, and love, and hope, and friendship will still exist. In other words, the essential blessings —God’s common graces—will still be here for mankind.

If this collapse happens in my lifetime, and it is given to me to survive the difficult political and social transition, and God allows me to live to 2050, I will be 92 years old. It is possible that I will see the fall of industrialism and the establishment of a new agrarian era. What an exciting time to be alive.

(You can read professor Ikerd’s speech at This Link)

Higher Education Scam?

The established conventional wisdom of the industrial paradigm tells us that a college education is necessary; that it is is an essential key to success and prosperity and happiness. But in the topsy-turvy era of postindustrial transition that we find ourselves in, the old rules no longer apply. This is certainly the case with higher education. If you are considering college, or know someone who is, check out the YouTube movie above. It provides a countercultural perspective on college education. The movie has been on the internet for less than three months and has nearly two million views already. It is one hour long. I’ve watched it twice

My Advice
To The Younger Generation

I have told my sons that one of the best careers they can get into is growing food. I’m not talking about large-scale, industrialized, debt-bondage farming with its many dependencies. I mean small-scale, diversified, sustainable farming with a horse or two, selling food to a local market (like Grant Gibbs and so many other “New American Farmers”).

My boys aren’t interested. Few young people are. It is, after all, hard work for little pay, and it isn’t a very popular vocation. But if you are inured to hard work, love the land, have an independent, countercultural, bootstrapping spirit, are stubborn in you convictions, and focused on learning and succeeding, long term, you will succeed, especially if you start when you are young. Joel Salatin’s book, You Can Farm, is the first textbook I recommend.

Of course, you must also eschew materialism and embrace voluntary simplicity. Unless you are fortunate enough to be tapped into a trust fund or some other inheritance, you will not be able to afford a large modern home with so many modern conveniences and entertainment devices. You will not be able to afford new vehicles and clothes and vacations. You will not be able to afford shopping carts full of convenience foods and frequent visits to restaurants. You will not, in other words, appear successful like all those people who pursue the modern American vision of success.

But I’m talking here about a different kind of success.

Young people who embrace the postindustrial paradigm of success and personal independence now, who learn how to grow food for themselves and their communities, who learn the skills of subsistence and how to live in a sustainable manner, will be ahead of the curve— they will be valued for their skills and contributions in the years ahead. They will be vibrant, integral components in the reemerging Agrarian Nation.

The Toxic Gasses

of Materialism

I am a supporter of Ligonier Ministries and receive their monthly magazine, Tabletalk. The current edition has some particularly good articles. One is an interview with Paul David Tripp. The magazine asks Mr.Tripp...

What do you believe to be the most serious issues plaguing the modern Christian family?
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His answer...

One of the greatest challenges to the Christian family is rampant, culturally-institutionalized, media-promoted, hero-driven materialism. Maybe more than ever before, our culture has embraced the delusion that life can be found in the physical, material creation. The created world has no ability whatsoever to satisfy the cravings of our hearts. The creation is meant to be a finger that points me to the one place where real life and rest can be found—God. Because this materialism plays on the deepest idolatries of our hearts (Romans 1:25), it leaves us fat, addicted, and in debt. As a culture, we spend too much, we eat too much, we try to experience too much, and we are way too busy, all in the vain hope that we will find life where it cannot be found. It is hard to be a family living in Western culture and not breathe in the toxic gasses of its materialism.

The Challenges
Facing Christian Youth
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In the same Paul D. Tripp interview mentioned above, Mr. Tripp is asked...

What are the biggest challenges facing Christian adolescents today, and how should the church be involved?

His remarkably insightful answer (in part)...

You could argue that the struggles of teenagers today are exactly what they’ve always been. Teens don’t tend to hunger for wisdom and correction. They tend to be legalistic (arguing about where the boundaries are); they tend to be unwise in their choices of companions; they tend to be susceptible to sexual temptation; they don’t tend to live with the future in view; and they tend to be blind to the true condition of their hearts

For us, these struggles are reinforced by three things in our culture. First, our teens live in a culture where biblical faith and values have a very small place in the cultural discussion. Second, they are told again and again every day that life really can be found in material things. And finally, they live in a culture where intensely intrusive and constantly available media puts the philosophy of the culture in their face. All around me I see teens in Christian families assenting to biblical belief buy buying the idols of the surrounding culture.

The emphasis on that last sentence is mine. I think Paul Tripp really nails it in this summation of the current state of Christian adolescence. Sadly, I see it to some degree in my own family. I’m sure many of you parents can relate. I find it interesting that Mr. Tripp answered only the first part of the question. “How should the church be involved” was not addressed. Perhaps it was edited out to save space.
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Get Wisdom
('bout media)

Phillip Telfer of MediaTalk 101

It’s funny how one thing leads to another on the internet, and before long you discover something that is especially good. That was the case with MediaTalk 101. It started with SermonAudio.com when I decided to search for sermons containing the word, “farm.”

That took me to a list of sermons, one of which was Is The Family Farm Viable in the 21st Century? by Kevin Swanson. But that wasn’t actually a sermon. It was a “radio program” from Generations Radio. I listened to some of the programs there and found them far more thought-provoking and interesting than anything on my Sirius satellite radio.

One of Kevin Swanson's interviews was with Phillip Telfer of MediaTalk 101. So I went to the MediaTalk web site and ended up buying a copy of the DVD, Media Choices: Convictions or Compromise?

Did you know that every time you watch a movie, you are hearing a sermon? The same holds true for watching a television program, or playing a video game, or listening to a song, or reading a book, or a magazine article, or, even... reading a blog. It’s all media and no media is neutral—all of it communicates a message. All media speaks to us when we submit ourselves to it. And all media does not, as I’m sure you are aware, preach a good sermon.

That’s the premise of the Media Choices DVD I bought, and Phillip Telfer does an excellent job of speaking to teens about this subject. Like Paul D. Tripp’s comments above, Phillip Telfer sees clearly that media entertainment has become one of the biggest roadblocks to the spiritual growth of young people.

However, unlike Mr. Tripp’s short reply in Tabletalk magazine, Philip Telfer provides solutions to the problem of worldly media. Telfer is a gentle, wise warrior for the truth, and he effectively communicates to teens how and why they should be careful and discerning about their media choices. His message is clearly biblical. I recommend this DVD to any parent with a preteen. Better yet, get Mr. Telfer to come to your church or homeschool group to present his message personally.

By the way, this message of Christian compromise with media is not just for adolescents. Did you know that the average age of video game players is 35 years old? That is an incredibly sad statistic.

And did you know that the average American watches 4.7 hours of television each day? And after living the average life span of 77.9 years of age, the average American will have spent 15 years of his life sitting in front of the television?

That’s so incredible that I did the math myself. It actually comes out to 15 years and a few months, and it must assume that television watching starts on the first day of a person’s life. Close enough.

I’m pleased to be able to report that I am well below average in this television-watching statistic because I almost never watch television and haven't in years (and I despise video games). Even still, there are ungodly mainstream media “sermons” of various kinds that I have submitted myself to and Mr. Telfer’s excellent message has led me to renewed conviction in this area of my life.

R.C. on 9/11

The aforementioned Ligonier Ministries is headed by Reformed Theologian, R. C Sproul. In the current issue of Tabletalk magazine (also aforementioned here), R.C. provides a perspective on the 9/11 tragedy that you certainly will not hear or see from any mainstream media. That’s because the mainstream media does not have a biblical worldview, as does Mr. Sproul. Here, in part, is what R.C Sproul wrote...

When two evangelical leaders, Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell, suggested that 9/11 may have been a divine judgment upon our sinful culture, they were hissed, booed, and shouted down to the point that they issued public recantations. The American psyche has no place for a God who judges people or nations. God can bless us, but God forbid He ever judges us.

We are like Habakkuk, who, in his consternation over the fact that God used a foreign power to chasten His own people, stationed himself in a watchtower, demanding an answer from God as to how He could allow such wickedness to prevail. Unlike Habakkuk’s reaction when God answered that question in His Holy Word, our lips do not quiver, our legs do not shake, our bellies do not tremble, nor does rottenness enter our bones (Hab. 3:16). Rather than repent in dust and ashes before a holy God, we continue to shake our fists in His face, demanding a more benevolent providence from His hand.

But God does not say to us as Americans: “My country right or wrong.” God requires nations as well as individuals to repent of their attempts to be autonomous, sovereign rulers, trying to displace Him. Any nation that seeks to supplant God’s sovereignty with its own is doomed. It is doomed to failure, it is doomed to destruction, and it is doomed to insignificance.

My fear is that we haven’t learned very much from 9/11. On 9/11, ten years ago, more babies were destroyed in the wombs of their mothers than people were killed in the terrorist attack in New York. That destruction continues to this day. The greatest attacks on the sanctity of life come not from al-Qaeda but from those who destroy their young. God will not continue to tolerate any nation that practices that culture of death and barbarism.

What is most tragic is that when we were given a wake-up call ten years ago on 9/11, we pushed the snooze button and went back to sleep.

You can read the entire editorial at This Link.

A Great Agrarian Read

If you missed my posting here a couple days ago about John Stewart Collis and his delightful book, The Worm Forgives The Plough, please check it out at this link: In Praise of John Stewart Collis

More Books...

Patrice Lewis, over at the blog, Rural Revolution, asked me a few months ago if I would be interested in reviewing her new book, Simplicity Primer. Well, I'm interested in reviewing any book, but finding the time to actually read the book is often difficult. So I perused Patrice's book and read a few of the essays and came to the conclusion that it is less a book about simplicity and more a book of opinionated good advice for making wise decisions and living a wholesome, happy life. It occurred to me that Patrice would make a fine advice columnist, and probably be better than any other advice columnist out there.
.

Since Simplicity Primer is a book of short, readable essays, I thought it would make a fine "bathroom reader," and that's where I put it. My hope was that maybe my sons would pick it up and some of Patrice's wisdom would impact them (the book is especially good for young people to read, or so it seems to me). Since then, My wife, Marlene, has said to me on two different occasions, "I really like that Simplicity book."

And now, as I am writing this, I just went upstairs to fetch the book, but it wasn't in the bathroom.... it was on Marlene's bedside table.

Get yourself a copy HERE.

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Michael Bunker is now writing a futuristic novel titled, The Last Pilgrims. You can read much of the book online. If nothing else, check out the 4-minute movie trailer for the book (at the web site). It's impressive.

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And speaking of movies, the amazing Bartlett brothers up there in North Dakota are now making a movie of their own. You can check out their trailer and learn all about the production at the official Excelsior movie web site.

Excelsior

(the poem)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I discovered the following Longfellow poem (written in 1841) when I was in 11th grade (1975). Excelsior spoke to me at that time because it was about a young man of strong convictions on a journey. He faced difficulties and temptations along the way but stayed the course. I memorized the poem back then and have thought of it often over the years.

The shades of night were falling fast,

As through an Alpine village passed

A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,

A banner with the strange device,

Excelsior!

His brow was sad; his eye beneath,

Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,

And like a silver clarion rung

The accents of that unknown tongue,

Excelsior!

In happy homes he saw the light

Of household fires gleam warm and bright;

Above, the spectral glaciers shone,

And from his lips escaped a groan,

Excelsior!

"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;

"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,

The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"

And loud that clarion voice replied,

Excelsior!

"Oh stay," the maiden said, "and rest

Thy weary head upon this breast! "

A tear stood in his bright blue eye,

But still he answered, with a sigh,

Excelsior!

"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!

Beware the awful avalanche!"

This was the peasant's last Good-night,

A voice replied, far up the height,

Excelsior!

At break of day, as heavenward

The pious monks of Saint Bernard

Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,

A voice cried through the startled air,

Excelsior!

A traveller, by the faithful hound,

Half-buried in the snow was found,

Still grasping in his hand of ice

That banner with the strange device,

Excelsior!

There in the twilight cold and gray,

Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,

And from the sky, serene and far,

A voice fell like a falling star,

Excelsior!

In Praise of John Stewart Collis

2011-08-31T17:29:00.003-04:00

There are a lot of agrarian authors for agrarian-minded readers to choose from. Gene Logsdon and Wendell Berry come to mind immediately. Joel Salatin, John Seymour, E.P. Roe, William Cobbett, Liberty Hyde Bailey, and even Henry David Thoreau also fall into the category of popular agrarian writers. Were I to ponder further, I’m sure I could come up with many more names but, at the moment, I’m too enthralled with John Stewart Collis to give mind to any others.

I discovered Collis’ book, The Worm Forgives The Plough, in the best way.... by “chance” at our local library's yearly used book sale.

Marlene and I took numerous boxes of books to the sale this year. They were from my mother and father’s house, which, since the passing of my father, we are trying to clean out. My mother loved to find good old books at yard sales and she loved to show them to me. I’m much the same way. The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree, eh?

But I’m trying to reform my ways. To cut back on my habit of bringing home far more books than I will ever read in my lifetime. So I told Marlene very specifically that we were going to drop our donations off and I would not spend any time browsing the many tables. But I lied. It was too much of a temptation. 50-cents for any paperback!

Thus I discovered The Worm Forgives The Plough, and I couldn’t be more pleased. The book, published in 1973, is actually a compilation of two books that Collis wrote in the late 1940s. They consist of a series of essays that are recollections from the years Collis worked as a farm hand in England during World War II.

John Stewart Collis was not born to farm work but he was a willing student. And it so happens he was a student of rural life and ways when farming was still done much the same as it had been done in England for centuries prior to the agricultural industrialization we see today. As Collis states it in the Preface...

"This book was written just before both the corn-rick and the hay-rick were deemed unnecessary by modern methods. The change of scene followed rather swiftly. Thus this book is about the last of its kind that can now be written in England."
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In the postindustrial era that lies before us, I believe we will see a return to traditional ways of farming. With that in mind, The Worm Forgives The Plough provides a glimpse into what farming will be more like in the days ahead.

But a more important reason to get this book is that, if you like to read of the old rural ways of life, you simply will not find a better book. John Stewart Collis is a remarkably good writer. His memories, his observations, and his opinions of those years he spent working the land are expertly crafted and a pure delight to read.

One of the things I especially like about Collis' essays is that they are honest recollections; he does not romanticize. He tells the truth about how dull and brutally hard farming could be, but there is beauty in such a life and he captures that too. The following essay (slightly shortened by me) is an example of what I like about John Stewart Collis.

Before you read the essay I want to make sure that you understand the old meaning of the word “corn” that Collis uses. When he speaks of “the rising corn” he is not talking about corn on the cob, or maize. He is speaking of growing seeds. Check out this definition of corn from Webster’s 1828 dictionary for a more precise definition.

—:::—

The Third Day of Creation

By John Stewart Collis

A fortnight to three weeks having elapsed since I broadcast seed with Arthur, I decided to have a look at that field. ...

On approaching the field I saw a low green mist clinging to it, which turned out to be substance in the nature of grass, now covering what had been the brown surface of the field. I dug up a spadeful. We had sown a mixture of oats and peas. Those handfuls of round and oblong caskets that I had helped to broadcast, had performed a peculiar act after leaving the hand and reaching the soil. Quite dead in the sack, it had seemed; but on touching the soil they had become animated, alive, and full of surprising moves. It were as if that little oat-seed, a tiny and inferior-looking piece of matter such as one might chip off a log, had been galvanized on being touched by Earth—making me think of gunpowder when touched by Fire. The envelopes had exploded. The pea seeds, those hard little balls like dented miniature ping-pong balls, had softened and shot downwards white webs and claws as long as my fingers, and shot upwards into the air a complicated system of green tubing and frills. The oat seeds, the shape of tiny fish, had performed a similar feat below and had sent up into the air long thin pieces of material like green ribbons. No matter how they had fallen on the ground or how they lay when they had fallen, they had all exploded in two directions only—down and straight up. None slanted, all persevered the perpendicular.

We glorify the present only when it has become the past. This is a recognized tendency in terms of history. It is equally true in terms of metaphysics. We imagine that Creation took place in the remote past. No doubt it did; but the same thing takes place today. The Third Day of Creation, as fabled in the book of Genesis, happens once every year no less certainly than the Sixth Day happens all the time. If this were not so the world would speedily dissolve. As I stand beside the rising corn I feel no need to have been present on the Third Day of the First Week, since I am witnessing the same thing. The same Force is at work, the same Voice obeyed. That which I would have seen then, I see now—sheer miracle, pure purpose. He who tries to dispose of this, uttering some mumbo-jumbo about ‘chance’ or ‘mechanism’ is the only real heretic, the only real atheist. All other denial, all other unbelief is mere speculation, and of no consequence. But this denial of clear witness is not speculation, and reveals the denier, not as a clever casuist, but as a stupid ass.

I have spent some time in the company of the philosophers and the priests, and have taken long journeys with them in search of the Absolute. It was all necessary. For only then could I understand that it was not necessary, and if we will but look out of the window the answer is there. It is clear to me now that if we take the trouble to regard phenomena, with the eye, not of a child, but of an adult who weds intelligence with wonder, we shall soon find ourselves at ease with The Problem of Purpose and all the rest of it.

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The Deliberate Agrarian BlogazineJuly 2011

2011-07-30T20:31:00.036-04:00

Dateline: 31 July 2011

July was the month for fresh raspberries around here. Marlene and I picked berries almost every day for three weeks. We heaped them into our morning bowls of oatmeal and drizzled maple syrup on top. A great many packages of just-berries are now in the freezer.

My 5-month hiatus from blogging continues....

Well, sort of.....

I want to express my sincere thanks to those of you who commented at last month’s blog post about the death of my stepfather.

Since then, we have been focused on dealing with all those things that must be done to settle an estate. We have met with the attorney, an auctioneer is scheduled to come and cart away anything of value, and we have sorted through a lot of stuff. I will be very glad when this chapter of my life is over.

Going through the family papers of my stepfather has been a revelation, especially the letters and pictures of his parents. The remaining ephemera of their lives is all packed into a couple of cardboard boxes. I knew almost nothing of these people, and now that I do, I feel compelled to briefly share their life story with you...
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One Family’s Story
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A young Marion Andrews with her father, the Rev. George Wakeman Andrews. The Rev. was a Congregational minister in Dalton, Massachusetts for many years, and a man of some acclaim. He was a director of the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society and the Anti-Saloon League. The book page with inscription (click the picture to enlarge) was evidently saved by Marion all her life. One would assume the page came from a Bible, but only the page (and the fatherly advice) survives.

Marion Andrews (above) was my stepfather's mother. She was born on April 1, 1899.

My stepfather’s father, Earl Murphy was born in 1901. He was actually born Lawrence Vincent Fitzmorris. His mother died of medical complications a few days after his birth and, unable to care for the baby, his father dropped little Earl off at the home of one of his wife’s relatives in Charlemont, Massachusetts. They renamed the child Earl Lawrence Murphy and raised him as their own. This was done without any government notification or social services involvement.

Earl learned of this story and his unoffical adoption after he was grown and had trouble getting a passport.

Earl Lawrence Murphy as a boy in Charlemont Massachusetts.

This next picture shows Earl and Marion around college age. We don't know how they met.

Marion Andrews and Earl Murphy circa 1921

Marion graduated from Wheaton College and Earl from Boston University. They were married July 31, 1926 (a month after Earl’s graduation) at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston.

In this next picture we see Earl and Marion shortly after they were married. Earl was a tall (6’2”), good looking man. He found work as a traveling textbook salesman and did that for 26 years. The couple soon settled into a nice home at 60 Garfield Street in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Earl and Marion Murphy circa 1927. Marion called Earl “Jack.”

In December of 1929, their first child, David, was born. Later in her life, Marion compiled a chronicle of her and Earl’s life together. The highlights of each year, from 1926 to 1960 are in a 5” by 8” spiral notebook. The way the excerpts are written, I would guess they were transcribed from journal entries. In the notebook for 1929 she describes David as “Our lovely baby—all golden curls at three months—happy and a joy.”

Marion, David, and Earl, circa 1930.

My stepfather, Richard, was born in December of 1931. It appears that the Murphys got through the Great Depression without much difficulty. They even went on a European cruise in 1934, touring Germany (Adolph Hitler became Furher in 1934), Austria, Switzerland, England, and France. They put together a detailed photo scrapbook of that trip, and others they took. In this next picture we see the happy family.

The Murphy Family, circa 1939. Richard, Marion, David, and Earl

In April of 1949 David died suddenly of a heart attack while a student at the University of Massachusetts. He had just won a music scholarship to Syracuse University. Two months later, Earl wrote a reflective three-page synopsis of his son’s death, the events that followed, and his feelings. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“It’s surprising—or perhaps it isn’t—what a hole it makes in our lives. I guess Dave was all tied up with our hopes and dreams. He was doing so very well. He was smart, popular, seemed healthy, was doing excellently in everything at school. We had such hopes for him.”

“David is lucky. He will never live to have his dreams inevitably changed by time nor feel the sorrows that are a component part of even the happiest mature lives. He was sitting on top of the world and was very happy....He was a joy as a son. He was bright, companionable, clever, and had a delightful sense of humor. I think I miss more than anything else our little jokes together...”

The Murphy family received over 700 cards and letters of condolence after David’s death.

Marion and Earl were educated, erudite, and cultured people. It appears that David was much the same as his parents. But Richard, my stepfather, was none of those things. Among the old papers are carbon copies of letters from Earl to his rebellious second son during the boy’s late teens and early 20s. They reveal great distress about his fast lifestyle, excessive drinking and disrespectful attitude.

After a stint in the Marine Corps came Richard’s first marriage and a divorce. His two young sons ended up in foster care for awhile. Earl and Marion were heartbroken. There is sadness heaped on sadness in the story of this family. And it gets worse.

Judging from the photos, you would think that Earl and Marion really had their lives together, but some of the surviving letters reveal a different story, especially later in life. Earl, a drinker from his youth, evidently became an alcoholic. In one letter to Marion, Earl apologizes for his drinking and his “hedonism.”

On top of this, the family experienced economic hardship (which Earl blamed on his irresponsibility) in the late 1940’s. It appears that Marion came to the marriage with some financial resources but, in time, they had dwindled significantly.

Earl left the sales job and managed a hotel. Marion helped him in that job. They rented their house in Springfield out to another family. Then Earl got a job as director of public relations for Goodwill Industries in Springfield.

There was marital stress and a separation for a little while. Then, in 1958, at 57 years of age, after a couple of unsuccessful surgeries, Earl died of rectal cancer. Marion struggled on, working as a house mother at a college dormitory, before dying from a stroke in 1962.

When I told Marlene that I was going to briefly tell the story of Earl and Marion, she said, “But it’s not a happy story. It’s so sad.” That is true, and I haven’t even told you what I consider the saddest part of all...

Conspicuously absent from Earl and Marion Murphy’s many letters is any indication that they had a sustaining religious faith. They were actively involved in a large Methodist church for practically their entire married life, and it is evident that they were very social people, but there is not one iota of evidence at all in their personal writings that their Christianity had any depth; that it was anything more than a skin-deep “Churchianity.”

It appears that Earl and Marion were so close, yet so far away from the wellspring of hope, peace, and spiritual strength that a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ as Lord can and will bring into a life, no matter what the circumstances. That is, to my way of thinking, the ultimate sadness in this story, and it is all the more poignant when you consider that admonition from Marion’s “Papa” on her 9th birthday...“Search the scriptures.”

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I should note that the story for Richard got better. He settled down, ended up marrying my mother, and they had a good marriage, though they had their share of difficulties. My mother matured into a godly woman who did search the scriptures. It made all the difference in our family and in my life. I'm thankful for that.

Reflections

On The Purpose Of Life

Marion Murphy's spiral notebook, open to the date David died, is in the center of the picture. Adjacent to that is a letter from Earl to Marion shortly after they were married (He begins it: "My dear little wife,"). Earl's obituary is to the right. A larger picture of Marion is at the upper right. David is pictured in the center. (click to enlarge)

When you die, and the record of your lifespan is reduced to some papers in a box, what will be the story those papers tell to those you left behind? Will your children and grandchildren be blessed, inspired or encouraged by such a legacy? Or will they be saddened by it? That is the question I am asking myself these days.

One thing is for sure— life is short. If you live to be 100, life is still short. Generations come and generations go. We all play our bit part (and everyone’s life is only a bit part) in the grand history of the world. Then we are gone. We may be remembered fondly (or not) in the hearts and minds of some who knew us, but only for a short season. In time, they will be gone too. If a picture of you happens to survive more than a couple of generations, anyone who sees it will look at you as a stranger.

The prophet Isaiah stated this all very well in the Old Testament:

“All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.”

All of this could be an inducement to melancholy, but only if one were not cognizant and attuned to the highest purpose of all human life. Unfortunately, very few people in this world know this highest purpose. Even less understand it, believe it and take it seriously.

The answer to this great question of man’s being (like the answers to so many other great questions) is found in the Bible, and the essence of it was beautifully distilled into a simple question and answer by a group of Christian scholars 354 years ago.

Millions of youngsters once memorized the first question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism in the years since it was put together (1647). It was widely known and understood in early America (when we were a Christian-agrarian nation). The Pilgrims and the Puritans knew it well.

Nevertheless, it is a rare modern Protestant evangelical that is familiar with the Westminster Catechism. Personally, I’ve attended a variety of evangelical Protestant denominations since I was a teenager and never recall ever hearing of this catechism, or, for that matter, any catechism.

Perhaps you are like I was. If so, let me introduce you to it...

Q. 1: What is the chief end of man?
(this question is also phrased, “What is the primary purpose of man?”)

A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

That answer is the key to living a “successful” life; to playing your part well in the history of the world. There is no room for philosophical confusion and melancholy in this foundational doctrine of Christianity.

Implicit in this matter of glorifying God is an attitude of humility before Him, and submission to his laws. According to the Puritan preacher, Thomas Watson (1620-1686), glorifying God “consists in four things: 1. Appreciation, 2. Adoration, 3. Affection, 4. Subjection. This is the yearly rent we pay to the crown of heaven.”

There is, of course, more to this subject, and I dare say it all boils down to Papa’s advice (see above)... “Search the scriptures.”

One Pastor’s Sorry Example
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NASCAR preacher

We can oftentimes understand better what something is by observing an example of what it clearly is not. That said, you can see a remarkable example of not glorifying God by listening to the above pictured Baptist pastor’s recent invocation at a NASCAR race in Nashville, Tennessee.

CLICK HERE to see an example of not glorifying God

God is in no way, shape or form glorified by that pastor's performance. His public prayer served to bring glory to himself. When you use prayer to amuse, to entertain and to advertise products, you make a mockery of God and the Christian faith. This example of apostasy brings to mind Neil Postman’s excellent book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, in which he states...

“I believe I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.”

On The Other Side Of My Family

Among my mother’s papers were a couple of old photographs I had never seen before...

(click to enlarge)

That picture looks like it was taken in the front yard of my Great Grandfather Elias Moses Philbrick’s farmhouse in Easton, Maine. My grandfather, Percy Philbrick, is in the center and my grandmother, Gertrude, is beside him. The smiling girl at Percy’s right shoulder is my mother, Mary, their youngest child. I would guess she is around 16 years old.

I find it interesting that the picture was taken with everyone on the ground, not in lawn chairs or on the front steps of the house.

My mother's father, Percy Orlan Philbrick, of Fort Fairfield, Maine

The above picture shows my grandfather again. Are those rutabagas? Whatever they are, he evidently grew the roots and I suppose they went into the cellar to help feed the family through a long, cold Northern Maine winter. Have you ever eaten rutabaga? My mother cooked mashed rutabagas once a year, on Thanksgiving.

Fort Fairfield Maine high school class pictures from the 1950s.

What does a son do with the inherited photos of his mother's high school friends (as pictured above)? I will probably throw them away. But I will keep the two pictures at the bottom. The smiling young man with the glasses (class of '54) would marry Mary Philbrick a few years after high school, and I would be their only child. The pretty girl in the picture beside him is my Aunt Carolyn (class of '56), who reads this blog and occasionally comments (she probably knows who all the people in those pictures are).
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Eating From The Garden

In July

A down-to-earth homegrown meal.

By the time July rolls around, we are eating entire meals from the garden. The picture above is exemplary of a July meals here on our humble homestead.

The potatoes in the bowl of peas-and-potatoes are Russian Banana Fingerlings. After growing two hills of the fingerlings last year, we planted a 50ft row this year. They are delicious. The peas were Alderman, grown on a trellis (for easy picking).

The salad has romaine lettuce, carrots, onions, and tomatoes, all from our garden. I grew the beets too. Only the apple pieces and sunflower seeds came from away. The salad dressing was a maple syrup and vinegar recipe, both ingredients made here on our little homestead.

Marlene and I delight in such food, picked fresh, as we need it, just a few steps out the kitchen door and across the driveway. It is meals like you see in that picture, and quiet moments together eating such meals, that underscore the wholesomeness and simple beauty of a deliberately lived agrarian lifestyle.

And there is always the next crop to anticipate, like the Concord grapes that are doing so well this year....

My Concord grapes in July. They will darken to purple and be ready to pick after the frost comes later in the fall.

One More Thing

Her name is Pepper

We now have a cat. It just showed up and we fed it, so now we own it. This is a first cat for Marlene and I in our 31 years of marriage.

Our previous dog would (and did) kill cats. But our current dog, the beagle, runs away from cats.

You longtime readers may recall that we planned to get a Blackmouth Cur pup this past spring. Well, that didn't happen. We had too much going here to take on a cur dog. And we still do. But I think it will happen one of these days.

I could write more but I'm still on a five-month break from blogging. :-)

I hope you will stop back here for a brief update on the last day of August. See you then.