The Deliberate Agrarian

The Deliberate Agrarian Blogazine
February 2012

Dateline: February 2012

Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858—1954): He saw the beauty and wonder of creation in a peach, and wrote so poetically and beautifully of it, but failed to see or acknowledge the sovereign God that created peaches (and all the other wonders of the natural world around us).

So long February. I hardly knew ye. My life continues to pass by in a blur as I’m working my regular job, my Whizbang business, trying to get another Whizbang book written, and doing what I can to stop Big Gas from making a Big Mess of my little rural town.

The Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners is now into the page-layout stage. That means I’m taking the text and arranging it on each page, along with illustrations, which I draw directly on each page. All the drawings and all the arranging makes for a very time-consuming process. By modern technological standards, I would guess my hands-on approach to making a book is probably 50 years behind the times. I have 25 pages done. I think the book will be around 150 pages. So I have a long row to hoe yet.

As a result, I will continue to write very short monthly posts here, probably for the rest of this year. At this point, I’m thinking that if I can get the book done before 2013, that will be good, and that is now my goal.

In the meantime, it is my great pleasure to recommend another book to you....
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Born-Again Dirt
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Noah Sanders, over at Redeeming The Dirt blog has written a groundbreaking book titled Born-Again Dirt. It is subtitled, Farming For The Glory of God. I say Noah’s book is groundbreaking because it is the first and only book I’ve ever read that looks at farming and agriculture from God’s point of view, as revealed in scripture.

Every Christian reading this blog who either grows (or has a hankering to grow) a garden, or be any sort of larger-scale farmer, needs to read Born-Again Dirt. It is a Biblical-agrarian primer, laying a proper foundational understanding for God-honoring agriculture.

Noah is a young man but he has written a book that is full of old and largely forgotten (or totally ignored) wisdom. It is abundantly clear in reading Born-Again Dirt that Noah is an intelligent, clear-thinking, humble, and Biblically-grounded person. I dare say his thoughts and conclusions are inspired.

Born-Again Dirt is destined to become a classic in the world of contra-industrial, Christian-agrarian literature. It is the kind of book that, when read, and understood, and applied by young Christians today, will lead to proper perspectives and proper understandings and proper actions. And, years from now, those people will look back and realize how influential the book was in their lives.
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Born-Again Dirt is a book that well-grounded Christian families should read together, and discuss. It is a book that should be given to every young believer in Christ, and every older believer too, if they have any interest in gardening or farming. It would make an excellent textbook for a home schooling family with agrarian inclinations.

I believe that agriculture is a high and holy calling for God's people, and Born-Again Dirt is an excellent guide for Christians who feel that calling.

I like this book so much that I have put it over on the right column of this web site. I hope you will buy a copy for yourself and for anyone you know who can benefit from the sound biblical worldview of agriculture that it presents. The solid biblical understandings in this book need to be distributed far and wide.

Here are a couple of quotes from the book:

"God wants us to reflect His image by displaying the same creativity and care in managing His creation that He did in making it. In this way we fulfill the greatest commandment, loving the Lord with all our hearts, worshiping Him by obeying His commandments and seeking to be like Him."

"...the most prevalent method of agriculture today, industrial agriculture, seems to be based on a worldview that ignores God and elevates man and his wisdom as the source of truth. This humanistic worldview results in a form of agriculture whose primary objective is maximum yield and profit and whose ultimate source of wisdom is science. Hence the large scale and complex technology of industrial technology."

"The solution to the problems with modern agriculture isn't just to return to the way things were done in the past. The solution to the problems of modern agriculture is to establish a Biblical foundation for our agriculture and seek to apply it in every area of our farming. We need to look at both the old and new forms of agriculture through the lens of scripture and try to learn from them. If we seek His truth the Lord can enable us to be more faithful in the area of stewardship than previous generations."

You can purchase a copy of Noah's book at this Amazon.com link: Born Again Dirt at Amazon.com

You can also purchase a copy of the book from the Born-Again Dirt web site: Born-Again Dirt

Here is a link to a Kevin Swanson radio interview with Noah Sanders: Farmer Boy 2012: Dirt and Dominion

"Peach"

I dug some carrots out of my garden clamp the other day. They were fresh and cold, perfectly preserved under the soil in my frigid February garden. I did this after recently reading the essay, “Peach,” by Liberty Hyde Bailey. And I thought to myself how neat it would be if I could clamp peaches like carrots, so as to enjoy them in the midst of the winter. That is, of course, impossible, but it was a fun thing to consider.

If you are in an area of the world where winter is still firmly in place, and you are dreaming of the fresh fruits that will come with the growing season ahead, here is a treat (written in 1927) for you from Mr. Bailey, a Deliberate Agrarian from days gone by....

Peach

Here I hold a peach. It is a shapely oblong-spherical body nearly three inches in diameter, pleasant to clasp in the fingers, choice in its fragrance, captivating in its intergrade of tints. I do not know why it came here. I know that last winter a bare tree stood in yonder orchard, giving no sign of any intention but to be a bare tree. Then one day it shook itself loose in the glory of the resurrection we know as spring, and a sheet of pink brilliancy covered it.

The blossom fell. Leaves came. A little object began to swell on a last year’s twig, white-gray and fuzzy and solid. A brown, dry, papery ring fell from its end. The threadlike point withered and dropped away. The object gradually grew, we do not know why, it became as large as a marble and almost as hard, the white-gray fuzz turned to green, a groove showed along its side. Presently it took form, a blush was on the sunny side, and a passerby exclaimed, “Oh, there is a peach.”

A man from Mars, perhaps one no further away than the depths of the great city yonder, seeing this savory fruit in my hand and the flexible tree in the orchard, would not connect one with the other.

Out of the tree, bare but a few months ago, this great peach has come, the birth of a twig no thicker than my pencil. Tree and twig and peach all came out of the soil and the air. This peach is oxygen, yet you never saw oxygen to recognize it as a separate substance; it is hydrogen, yet you have not seen hydrogen as an entity; it is carbon, the carbon you see in yonder smoke; it is nitrogen, that you have not perceived as such although you are always within it; it is calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, that you have seen only in their compounds; it is iron, the iron that is in the locomotive even now belching to start from the station over there; it is potassium, and other elements beside.

It is water—water delicately and deliciously flavored with many intricate compounds. Perhaps this peach is nearly ninety percent water, yet so nicely is the fluid held in fiber and cell that I revolve the fruit as I may and it does not spill.

This peach is sunshine. It is night, the twilight and the dawn. It is dew and rain. It is noon, and wind, and weather. It is heat and cold. It is the sequence of the seasons, winter and spring, summer and autumn, and winter again, all of which have gone into the tree that gave it birth.

It is the linkage of the elements and the days, and the showers that freshen the earth. The peach is more, even, than all this: it is a living thing, vital with its own protoplasm, performing a thousand secrets hidden deep in its cells, containing its own energy to assimilate and to grow and to catch the tints of the rainbow and the fragrance of clean, fresh winds.

Here with light pressure I part the fruit in halves. The aroma is an elixir. The wrinkled pit or stone is in the center, surrounded by a darker luster like an aureole; for securely inside this stone lies the mysterious kernel, which is an embryo peach tree; and next year the embryo will not forget to grow, if buried in he ground, nor fail to make a peach tree; and in the years to come, when you and I shall not be here to see, it or its progeny will bear peaches still.

The continuity of the centuries is in the flat kernel within this stony pit. I do not know why a peach pit and not a plum pit is in this place; I do not know whence on the earth the peach came; I do not know how or why this fruit chose to elaborate its nutrients in such proportions as to make itself a peach and not an apricot. Had I before me unlabeled chemical analysis of a peach and an apricot I suppose I could not tell which was which, so nearly would they be alike; size, shape, color, texture of skin and flesh, seasons, most of the attributes that distinguish the two fruits to us, might not be shown. Yet here is the peach in my hand, perfect and complete; it is mine.

You have made the conditions right. You have tilled the soil. You have protected the tree from enemies. You have guarded it for several or many years. You have beheld the miracle.

Though Liberty Hyde Bailey does not mention God, we who know Him and serve Him can read that essay with profound appreciation, not only for peaches, but the sovereign God who created peaches. Peaches are a testimony of God’s awesome power, and they are a small but tangible measure of His common grace on all mankind. The same goes for carrots.

I hope to see you here on the last day of next month for another short update. Have a blessed March.

Michael Bunker Does It Again.....

Dateline: 16 February 2012

(Special Report)

Those of you who are regular readers here may recall last year’s February blogazine post in which I reviewed Michael Bunker’s about-to-be-published book, Surviving Off Off Grid. In short, I liked that book very much because it was a contra mundum manifesto that offered some of the most wise and practical information you’ll find for preparing to deal with the collapse of industrial civilization. I’m not speaking here of economic collapse (though that is bound to be part of the big picture), I mean the collapse of the very underpinnings of our current modern world system, which is dependent on electricity (the grid) and cheap, plentiful crude oil.

Anyone with a clear and humble understanding of world history, can see that our “advanced” world system has become so interconnected, so interdependent, and so morally bankrupt, that collapse is inevitable. Complexity always leads to vulnerability, and hyper-complexity like we now have equates to hyper-vulnerability.

When the collapse happens, our centralized energy distribution systems, centralized production systems, and just-in-time supply systems will no longer provide for the millions of people who depend on those systems. We will revert to the decentralized “default setting,” which is localized agrarian culture. Life for those who can quickly adapt will be much more like it was before the industrial aberration emerged for its historically short season of time.

How civilization-as-we-have-known-it will eventually unravel and exactly how life will be in the aftermath is anybody’s guess. There have been a lot of Hollywood movies based on apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic scenarios. I don’t usually watch such movies. And, likewise, I don’t usually read post-apocalyptic novels, but I have made an exception by reading Michael Bunker’s newest book, The Last Pilgrims.

Frankly, I would never have even considered reading The Last Pilgrims were it written by anyone else. But I’ll read anything written by Michael Bunker because his worldview is profoundly Biblical and agrarian. That’s a rare combination these days. Precious few people write as well and as consistently from that perspective.

I won’t go into detail about the story line except to say that it takes place in the wilds of Central Texas twenty years after the collapse of industrialized civilization. It involves a pacifist agrarian community that is facing an attack from the armies of the King of Aztlan.

While I’m not qualified to compare The Last Pilgrims to any other post-apocalyptic novel, and I don’t read enough other novels to rate it like somebody who does read a lot of novels, I can tell you, very simply, that the story drew me in and it didn’t disappoint me. There is a lot of action, and intrigue, and twists and turns to to the tale. The characters are interesting and, in some cases, very endearing.

All the great themes that you want in a good book are in The Last Pilgrims—love, honor, duty, courage, self-sacrifice. There is violence and some brutality (this is a postapocylyptic novel, after all) but it is “within bounds,” as is the language. And the love between men and women is expressed without sex.

So, yes, I liked this book. I was, in fact, a little surprised at how well I liked it. And this is how good I liked it.... when I reached the last page, I wanted to read more (fortunately, there will be a next book in the saga).

Now, don’t get me wrong... Michael Bunker’s writing is not on par with great novelists like (fill in the name of a great novelist here), but the man has written a downright good story. And if you’re in the mood for a good story, I really do think you'll enjoy The Last Pilgrims.

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P.S. The Last Pilgrims is being officially launched with a “book bomb” on February 24th. So please wait until that day to buy a copy. And here is the Amazon.com link where you can buy your copy: The Last Pilgrims

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For more details, check out the book's web site: The Last Pilgrims Web Site

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The Deliberate Agrarian Blogazine
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!

The Deliberate Agrarian Blogazine
December 2011

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