The Deliberate Agrarian: January 2012

Dateline: 31 January 2012

An Old Family Picture: From left to right, my grandfather, Dr. Herrick C. Kimball (at 38 years of age), Roger T. Hall, and Carl Johnson. The picture was taken in 1940 at Camp Munsungan in Northern Maine. My grandfather was one of seven original owners of the camp. Those were the days, eh?

As explained last month, The Deliberate Agrarian is now in sabbatical mode as I focus my energies into producing The Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners.

Progress on the book has been slow and it has ground to a complete halt in the past week or so as I've diverted my attention to more pressing local concerns, as you can see in this new web site.

The land purchase I've written about here in the recent past is still moving ahead. We are still waiting for the land to be surveyed.

In other news, today, this last day of January, marks another trip around the sun for me. I'm 54 years old. I don't like birthdays like I used to. :-(

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On a more upbeat note, I received a nice letter this past month that I think is well worth sharing with you here, and I do so with the author's permission....
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Mr. Kimball,

My name is Noah Partridge, and I have been enjoying your blogozine for several years now.

I am a young farmer leasing land in central Oregon, and I would like to thank you for the many contributions you have made to small-scale, productive agriculture, through your wonderful designs, products, and positive moral message. I love a tool which lacks nothing, and has nothing in excess--and your tools certainly qualify.

Also, I have noticed that many people have commented on your blog about the frustration they experience, with wanting to homestead, but not having sufficient money to buy land, equipment, seeds, livestock, etc.

I would like to offer up for consideration, an approach which I have found to be extremely simple and surprisingly effective.

Across this nation, there are countless millions of acres of arable land which are untended, but which could be yielding a wealth of foodstuffs. The owners of these properties, are generally pained to watch the heritage of their grandfathers (and the inheritance of their grandchildren), lay fallow and unmown, year after year.

When I began looking for land to lease (I could not even conceive of buying land, with my tiny nest egg), I decided to focus on these properties, and bring the "house" to the field, so to speak.

I realized the least expensive way to live comfortably (relatively speaking), was to either live in a yurt, a canvas wall tent, or used RV. I had lived in a wall tent in Wisconsin for a season, while interning on a farm (Not winter, I might add), and found it very comfortable, even without plumbing, or electricity. My fiance refused to live in an R.V., so that left some shelter with canvas walls.

I knew where I wanted to live, so after selling all unnecessary valuables (what do you really need, in a yurt?), I posted an ad in the local Craigslist farm section, just to test the waters. My ad went like this:

Wanted: Pasture For Lease

Hello, I am a young farmer looking to lease 10-20 acres of pasture in this area. I will raise a wide variety of vegetables and animals, without using any pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, etc. I would need to live on the property, and will build a small yurt, or a canvas wall tent. I am a honest, hard-working, and positive person. I do not smoke, drink, or do drugs of any kind. I am a competent carpenter, and handyman, and own a number of high quality tools. I will work hard to improve your property, and can provide as many references as you would like. Thank you very much for your time, and your consideration.

Within 2 weeks, I had well over 30 serious responses. It was unreal. People offered to build me studios, lease me their equipment, and more. They were, I dare say, competing for my services, or more likely, competing to share in my dream.

I ultimately found a wonderful, god-fearing couple, who were overwhelmed with their 40 acre property. They offered the house, and half of the property to me, rent-free, in exchange for providing the labor (and skill) needed to remodel it.

I also help them with any small jobs which they find difficult. I bring them firewood, mow their pastures, and keep up their fencing. They allow me the use of their tractor, and any other equipment that is just "laying around."

I am finally farming, and they are finally improving their property, both at almost no cost.

In conclusion, you do not need money to live simply, and richly. When a man has the earth and skies before him at all times, he wants for almost nothing.

Please keep up the good work Mr. Kimball, and I look forward to using your tools.

Noah Partridge

Noah,

Your letter is an inspiration to me, and I hope it will be to others. You are living proof of that old adage, "Where there's a will, there's a way."

P.S. When I was 19 years old, and working in Vermont, I lived for a summer in a tent. Actually I just slept there at night. As I tell the story in This Essay, "I don't think I've ever slept better in my life."

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I dug the following Abe Lincoln quote this past month and posted it over at my Agrarian Nation blog. I present it here as Abe Lincoln's response to the Occupy Wall Street movement (he seems to be echoing my previously discussed "Occupy The Land" advice).

"Populations must increase rapidly, more rapidly than in former times, and ere long the most valuable of arts will be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil. No community whose members possess this art can ever be the victim of oppression in any of its forms. Such community will be alike independent of crowned kings, money kings and land kings."

—Abraham Lincoln (1859)

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Last month I posted here telling you all about the places in the world that I've sent a Planet Whizbang Wheel Hoe parts kit. Then, two days later, I got an order for a wheel hoe kit from Vanuatu.

Vanuatu? Where in the world is Vanuatu? Well, Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands 1,750 kilometers east of Australia. Here's a bird's-eye view...

Vanuatu

That looks like a great place for me to get away from it all, so I can focus on getting my book done!

And then I got a nice e-mail from the person in Vanuatu...

Hi Herrick,

I'm a reader of your Deliberate Agrarian and Agrarian Nation Blogs. I am managing a 20 hectare prawn farm in Port Vila which is inside a cattle ranch so we have land to spare. We have 2 hectares of pig pasture with about 40 pigs of different sizes and age, roughly an acre of vegetable garden, free ranged Sasso chickens and a duck yard with about 250 Muscovy ducks.

I'm actually from the Philippines and am working here on a contract. We're saving money to buy a farm back home where we can do prawn and fish farming mainly and raise vegetables and farm animals too.

Your blog and the links you share are a inspiration to me. We are Christians too and attend the Potter's House church in Vila.

I bought the wheel hoe kit to help you a little in your quest to own that 16 acre piece of land. God bless!

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And while I'm posting letters, I got this one in the mail yesterday...

Herrick,

Just a quick, long overdue note of thanks for your effort! Your writings are extremely meaningful to me, as a 67 year old reborn Christian agrarian.

Several years ago, I picked up your book, "Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian," at a conference. Been hooked ever since!

Should you find yourself in eastern NYS with time on your hands, stop for a visit! All the best to you and yours!

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Letters like I have posted here this month are proof positive that some of the nicest folks in the world read this blog. My life is enriched and blessed by your thoughtful comments.

It makes turning 54 seem not so bad. :-)

Thank you!

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That's it. I really want to get this new book I'm working on done before spring. Here's wishing you all a great February.

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...LATE BREAKING NEWS...

I just got home from work today and Marlene informed me that our high school friend, Roger Phillips, sent me a congratulations because my Whizbang chicken plucker plan book made Jimmy Fallon's Books You Shouldn't Read List. I never heard of Jimmy Fallon but that's him in the picture above. Click on the picture to go to the short movie clip and see what Jimmy Fallon says (it's at 3:20 into the movie).

Thanks Jimmy!