Not everybody that read the Whole Earth catalog and tried to go back to the land ended up as a WEF crypto Nazi, although far too many did. Sorry to hear that that’s what path Stewart Brand took. Wouldn’t it be better if we just gave California back to Mexico?
I am really torn Doc, because I would love to see you this Saturday in Rochester at the Summit for Truth, but I also participate in a 5-hour Farmers Market on Saturday mornings after which I am usually exhausted!
Couple things: the Caucasian (white) population in California (circa 2023) has been a minority for almost two decades now....but now being a minority, 'whites' have no set-asides or 'affirmative action' state sponsored programs. "Reconquista" had been the goal of the Mexicans for many generations - and they HAVE succeeded in that quest.
One of the all- time misconceptions (actually a flat-out LIE perpetrated by La Raza), is that Mexico had always "owned" the land in what became California - and that white people "stole" the land from Mexicans. If the Spanish Conquistadores are considered 'whites' that would be partially true as they began the appropriation of native American Indian lands in San Diego, but it was the Mexicans who in reality "stole" the land (of) the MORE than 100 native Indian Tribes from the Tolowa, Karok, Shasta and Modoc Indian Tribes along the northern edge, to the Ipal, Tepal, and Quechuan along the southern edge border with Tijuana.
The Mexicans were Not "indigenous" - the Native Indian Tribes were; and ALL their tribal lands were appropriated in the name of the King of Spain; and the native Indians were subjugated and slaughtered by Spaniards and Mexicans who were "granted" 50,000 acre rancho's by the King of Spain.
Unless it has been scrubbed, The California Indian Library Collection has a color map titled "California Indian Pre-contact Tribal Territories" can be viewed on-line. ( I have that file if anyone is interested)
Thank you Tom, for sharing some lost and buried facts. This slight of hand has gone on for too long and unless you dig for the timeline, it isn't revealed. No wonder we have lost integrity, honesty and co-operation in today's world, it was stomped on hundreds of years ago.
Yep, this is the challenge and beauty? of this planet called Earth/Gaia/ Terra. We do reincarnate to balance out our differences and are offered the chance to evolve. This certainly is not the heaven we were told about, but the way there...
Mexico didn't have it for all that long, always been a weak claim IMO in the world of land grabs. Also, Mexico never really left, which is part of what I like about it here, I like Mexicans overall, their culture, food and work ethic. What we need is for Californians to take back California but it won't happen because everyone is on dope.
Too many people really have been taking Soma, known generically as carisoprodol, a sedative hypnotic which, when combined with alcoholic beverages, produces the Soma Coma.
Carisoprodol has some additional effects, but is largely a prodrug of meprobamate (Miltown, Equanil), aka, "baby ludes". It has sort of a narrow therapeutic index, and withdrawal can be messy.
No, we don't give CA back to Mexico. The New State of California is being formed and is well on its way to fruition. The new state will encompass the present borders with LA, San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento being the old CA and separated from the rest of the state as its own state and political entity. The House of Representatives' vote to okay it is all that is needed. Of course once approved there will be plenty of work needed to be done to work out the financial aspects.
Have to return to bottom up! We are now in top down! Congress needs to repeal legislation that allowed corporations to have same rights and privileges as American citizens! Opened the flood gates of $$$$ to corrupt our political system to the extreme!
Yes, that was a major turning point in our politics allowing the oligarchs to buy a good chunk of the people including the politicians and the managerial class resulting in a total political and economical domination why their names stay hidden from the public. I wonder whose genius idea was that, and why were the "little" people fast asleep?
It certainly is encouraging to see that there is a strong movement. My grandson spent 8 months in Norway learning the craft of no dig farming and he spent the spring and summer making small gardens for clients here in North Georgia.
My concerns are about the government machine already moving toward elilminating individual farming, even small self sustaining gardening. By last count I think there have been 93 food processing plants mysteriously, coincidentally destroyed by fire. There is most assuredly a plan in motion. Just this morning I read James Corbett's substack on the similarities of what is happening globally and Stalin's life-ending takeover of agriculture. I would like someone else to give me perspective on this. How do you get around big gov forcing you to stop?
I wonder about that too? If someone else takes over the land how will others use it to grow stuff? I'm wondering if government will actually shoot people who dare to plow and plant? Will we just sit and starve while there are tractors just sitting there ready to be used? Will there be an uprising?
Yes, certainly a concern. Although I live in suburban Baltimore, I have 3 lovely raised vegetable beds and I have wondered if there will be any government interference. They won't stop me though, there's always indoor hydroponics!
I don't even want to think how bad it is, or what the cause would be for outlawing personal gardens. I think that's a world I do not want to be in. I do hold out hope that some will find works arounds. One thing I am assured of, the old geezers who think they are gods who are determined to enslave us, will actually pass on to their rewards. The sooner the better.
I am most certainly a weed, for sure. That jogged my memory of a poem someone posted in another forum. I think of this as a warning to those elites who believe they are invincible.
THE OLD INVINCIBLE T.R Milford 1895-1987
I’m a weed, I’m a weed,
One of the old untamable breed.
I never came from a packet of seed.
Nobody made me line up in a drill,
Nobody showed me which spaces to fill;
I find my footing wherever I will.
I am no cosseted nursery child,
Nobody keeps my pedigree filed,
I am wild, I am wild, I am wild!
Do you think, sister Pink,
That it’s nice to line borders on somebody’s orders?
The man who kindly plants you,
When he no longer wants you,
Will throw you out to rot.
Won’t you speak, Mr. Leek?
Do you like being made to stand stiffly on parade?
He’ll never let you flower
Who has you in his power.
He’ll boil you in a pot.
Can I suppose, Lady Rose,
That you actually enjoy being treated like a toy,
While they play genetic games on you,
And stick their fancy names on you,
Caught in a breeder’s plot?
Asking no help, I’ve learnt how to survive,
Millions have perished, but I'm still alive.
Freely I scatter my prodigal seeds,
Sun, wind and rain will provide for their needs.
Man cannot always be digging and hoeing,
While he’s asleep I get on with my growing.
Bravely he orders his frontal attack,
Where he’s not looking, I quietly come back.
I don’t expect mercy, I won’t ask for pardon.
And when all the pedigreed trademarked pretties are gone,
That's encouraging. Gives me hope that the younger generation is going to pick up the pieces and rebuild. My grandson, age 31, learned a lot in Norway about old school farming. Funny how the WW2 victory gardens were promoted by the government. How far down the slippery slope we have come. I have no idea how bad this will get before it gets better. Praying without ceasing.
The constant mistake of mankind is to forget that we are ‘stewards' of God’s creation. A steward is a position of meritocracy, one of deep trust and authority… but in the place of another. To use God's creation with authority, but with respect and to make it thrive. Man mistakes (or usurps) himself as ‘creator’ or ‘king’… and views both the land and his fellow caretakers as cogs in the machine to enrich himself. Pride, arrogance, hubris… leads to greed… and greed always lends itself to dehumanizing others.
Well, I'm jealous! Joel Salatin has been a hero of mine for many years. I am so glad you and Jill were able to attend the conference, I really enjoyed hearing about it. And I still have a copy of "The Whole Earth Catalog," now many decades old. Thank you for sharing this adventure!
WEC was an eye and mind opener to me when it came out in late 60's/early 70's... Quite the open door to new possibilplities.
I remain very glad it was published.
I visited one of those intentional communities, during my youth, on a motorcycle run up the east coast. i think it was called Twin Oaks, in N. Virginia... very nice place filled with idealistic kids.
The problem with these places is that they run into reality:
1. Some people work, some people do not.
2. Everyone eats. So some live off the work of others. This becomes irritating over time as it becomes obvious who is contributing and who is not.
3. This leads to a breakup, as no one wants to carry those that do not contribute...
4. Which leads to ownership issues => if the place breaks up, who gets it? With the inflation (partially govmt driven) the real asset is the farm.
5. Since it is in effect a commune, the real contributors can wind up with nothing.
So, this is why private ownership is best. What you soe, you reap (if you manage it right)... and if the govmt does not leach too much from you.
My understanding is Bernie Saunders spent about 6 months at one of these places in Israel. I have heard he was one of the ones that did not like to work, but liked to talk. He did not last, but has been in politics for years.
The first socialist style Utopian community was established in the US on 4/27/1825 in Indiana it was called New Harmony and set up by Robert Owens a British Industrialist. He thought of it as a new moral world. There had been communities of religious groups established prior to that time and many after that were and are very successful. On July 4th, 1826—he delivered what he termed the “Declaration of Mental Independence.”
“I now declare to you and to the world that man up to this hour has been in all parts of the earth a slave to a trinity of the most monstrous evils that could be combined to inflict mental and physical evil upon the whole race,” he said. “I refer to private property, absurd and irrational systems of religion and marriage founded upon individual property.” The commune had no private property and religion was made fun of - as for families the community raised the kids. His model “utopian socialism” lasted about 2 years and only that long because many folks felt sorry and offered to assist them so they would not starve to death The three main tenants of Marxism is elimination of private property, elimination of religion and removal of family and it did not go over well here.
The only place I have seen it work is in Israel, the kibbutz movement. Many have been successful. Of course, it would be wise to be armed... as the army cannot be everywhere at once. They used to be in the old days.
Very interesting - might try the Foxfire Books - Yuns can learn some things which might come in handy like - Hog dressing, faith healing, planting by signs, moonshining, wild plants, spinning/weaving, wagon making, corn shuckin, preserving food, snake handling (well maybe not - but I know a church in WV which may still be practicing it). Actually - the books are fascinating - first published in the 1970s and the students were tasked with writing down the stories of the older generations and how things were done. There were over 10 volumes published and I believe they are still in print. STAY FREE
While browsing through some of the Whole Earth Catalogue Dr Malone posted, I was drawn to the article regarding Foxfire. What an amazing group of young people who published these! I would wish there were such intellectual students today who could do the same!
I am so sad that I am of such an age today that I cannot participate in such endeavors as homesteading/farmsteading and living off our wonderful earth. I admire those of you who can and are doing so.
I'm too old to do those things. We do have weavers and spinners in rural Missouri. And there is always the Farmers Almanac. I used it to geld my colts and wean my foals.
Might be best to put those books on TikTok narrated by friendly youth influencers.
Oh I remember those coming out I think shortly after I left High School! I vaguely remember thinking, what could I possibly learn from these? Growing up in rural New England, mostly Vermont, and with parents who were very DIY from large farm families, I feel lucky that "the old ways" are near to my heart.
If I knew back in 1958 what I know and experienced since, I would have purchased the 90 acre farm outside of Steubenville OH that was offered to me for $90.00 per acre. I worked on that farm through my teenage years and was in college in Detroit. Thought I was going to be this great marketing major who would make lots of money. The hilltops of the farm were stripped and the coal removed, was leveled out and the top soil put back in place to become productive again. I knew it would be hard work and I didn't want to do that. But ending up in the construction business I realized I did like hard physical work and have done it well into my 80's. Gee, if only I had known what I know now back then. Aaaahhh!
And hopefully this latest trend in urban-to-rural will bring a renewed emphasis on healthy, happy, patriotic family life along with respect for the whole earth.
The family farm turns boys into men. Everyone is to work together to make it a success. It teaches hard work brings huge benefits , food , clothes , shelter etc. It teaches family values. It teaches survival. My dad started his fam renting 25 acres of land. He rented a basement house that had an outhouse. They bathed in a tub of water and hauled the water outside. But through hard work he purchased those 25 acres , built a house on top of the basement house. He built it himself with some help from his father. That is the house I was raised in. He turned his 25 acres into a large farming project. How? Lots of hard work, and a vision of what his farm could be. He was the hardest working person I knew. He said his hobby was work. He loved to work. So my daddy could spend time with me in the Summer , he would take me out irrigating, burning stubble, and herding the cattle. I was driving at age 10. At that time my dad used siphon tubes to irrigate. He was fast. Of course after the siphon tubes came sprinkler pipes, then wheel lines and circle movements.
I have always tried to have a garden, sometimes large and sometimes small. I guess it is the farm girl in me to grew my food.
If you live in the cities you can still grow food. Maybe you can grow food in pots on a patio . Get to know your neighbors. Share you bounty of food with them. Have block parties. That can be your little community.
We met Joel over 15 years ago attending one of his first workshops on his land after he was featured in 'Omnivores Dilemma' as one of the smartest farmers in America. He is an authentic, no BS guy and we loved his books to which I wrote an unsolicited extensive review of one and to which I got a beautiful thank you note for doing. More than a few of his quotes have his stuck like glue, "After over 12 years of education people only know how to pull out a charge card to support themselves"...a wake up call if I ever heard one. "If you think you are going to 'go it alone' on a farmstead think again. It requires people with skills to work together." Having spent decades visiting intentional communities to chase the dream of connected community, my takeaway is this.... This post says, "The communes eventually collapsed, for the usual reasons, which included poor resource management, factionalism, and financial limitations" but this in my view, incomplete. In fact drugs (esp. pot) keep many in mañana mode. There are a cast of takers who are there to have others not yet help raise their kids...but burden others with the chore...nor are they willing to do the hard work of house and farm management. There was the 'free love' aspect that proves that there is a reason why monogamy is most often chosen for sanity. Most of these places were 'hippie vibe' which means that the group 'cohesiveness' is actually pressure to conform to the zeitgeist of the tribe. It was a pressure that they claim to have left behind when they escaped the system. Most places were always in process of 'becoming' and organization messy and clutter was cool. The take away for me?...the only surviving communities are those that are organized around a religious belief...the monasteries, the Amish...etc. Joel and his family who work with him are deeply Christian before they are farmers. You MUST first be on the same page re: your world view and have the same work ethic to make it a success. (We have decided that a few like minds are the way to go and so we have split our 12 acres into 3- 4 acre lots so independence and shared knowledge and resources are in balance. VisitHigherGround.com)
My Daddy was truly a homesteader before the term was popularized, we ate what he grew, he utilized every inch of his small acreage 10-15 I think to provide for his family, he worked a full time job for 45 + years and spent the rest of his time, plowing with his mules early on, milking a cow, raising chickens, raising rabbits for meat, peanuts, greens and various garden vegetables, Mama canned just about everything. I live on a small portion of this property now, wanting to get a few chickens, raise a few vegetables and do more canning, he was a great man, married to a kind gentle woman, I was so lucky ❤️
We are both Berkeley refugees who would no doubt die before seeing any parsnip from our own garden. But you can contribute well to local farmers via supporting farmers’ markets. They have programs where you can pay the farm in advance of season to help them plant. Also, there are more numerous urban type folk who can certainly band together in some fashion. Some have buying co-ops. Many home school, of course. Even better is the idea of “religious” communal efforts. Medieval monasteries were just that and they saved Western civilization. Elder seniors of like mind can do the same. We do not need conventional “retirement” homes and worse.
I’d love to retire to a community farm where we grow our own food and feed for our chickens and other farm animals. The retirees should be able to purchase or build a small maintenance free, energy efficient one level space. I’ve dreamed of this place with ponds stocked with fish, easy walking paths, a community house for pot luck dinners, music, religious services, and so much more. Am I describing a commune? Why yes, I believe I am!
Long ago we experienced the beauty of knowing your neighbors, their children and grandchildren. It was a time we helped one another mend the fence, harvest the large summer gardens of those who could plant them, we lived off the land in a cooperative manner with our neighbors. That’s how I grew up and my heart longs to return to that simple life if just for a while before the end of my days on earth.
After Bobby Kennedy was killed in the summer of 1968 and the war in Vietnam escalated, many of the young reformers gave up on the dream of challenging the status quo and decided to start to move “back to the land”.
My high school buddies and I had all stayed in contact after graduation, joined the work force, got married and started having children of our own. In 1970, together, we planned and hiked the fifty mile long West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. This camaraderie eventually led to us quitting our jobs, moving to Mabel Lake and the birth of the Common Good Co-op.
We found a small community called Kingfisher nestled beside the Shuswap River that felt like it must be Paradise. We experimented for two years, with an alternate life style that was at times challenging but also incredibly rewarding. I learned a lot about human nature, our capacity for sharing and caring, but also our primal desire for privacy, friendship and respect. These lessons would help guide me later in my life.
The following outline describes a structure that I believe could contribute to the success of some of the pioneering efforts to establish a new direction for society.
Rational:
This structure is designed to encourage participation and the exchange of ideas and at the same time solve the paralyzing problem of the consensus decision process.
The Community:
The Community Association consists of members, associate members, and guests. Members can sponsor a guest to join the community. Community members have responsibilities and benefits. The long term goal is to provide a healthy environment for an extended community based on cooperation and sharing, eventually providing food, shelter, transportation, health and dental care, recreation and education services for the members.
Startup Funding:
The community will be self funded and sustainable. The founders will provide the initial Community Fund to establish the facility. When the Lodge is ready for occupancy we will start to invite seniors to apply to become Founding Members. We will eventually form our own Credit Union. Founding members will be expected to liquidate their assets, resolve their family financial commitments and then contribute the balance to the Community Fund. This initial contribution will be redeemable on departure from the community.
Cooperative Governance:
Step 1: Guiding principals are formulated and Founders establish a base to support the development of a community association.
Step 2: Incorporate a co-op to manage assets and structure the community membership requirements.
Step 3: Establish a dispute resolution council. Founders will choose the original Chief. The Chief will then choose the original five Shepherds, two the first year, one the second year and the final two in the third year. Shepherds will serve for a term of 5 years. A Shepherds’ term may be extended one time only, for an additional two years, with unanimous agreement of the Council.
Council Member Representation:
The Chief has no set term. A retiring chief will be succeeded by the Shepherd who has been a member of the Council for the longest term or has unanimous support of the other four Shepherds. The Shepherd Council will always consist of five members. When a Shepherd retires the Community members will submit up to three candidates to apply for the vacancy. The Shepherd Council will then choose one of the applicants.
Dispute Resolution Procedure:
Members are encouraged to resolve conflicting issues according to the founding principles. The Shepherd Council can be asked to make a determination to resolve an issue. The Shepherd Directive can be appealed to the Chief. The Chief’s decision can only be overturned with unanimous agreement by the Shepherds.
Administration:
The Chief may from time to time designate Guides to oversee the planning and scheduling of the communities’ daily events.
General Business:
The community will establish various ad hoc committees to deal with issues pertaining to the well being of the community. The committees will be structured following the Cooperative Governance principals by first electing a Leader who will then choose five Advisors.
There will be two permanent committees established: Development, to determine future community projects and Finance, to allocate funding resource priorities.
Renumeration:
Every contributing community member will receive the same weekly stipend.
They call Joel Salatin the most famous farmer in America. He is an unusual man, his understanding of soil biology gives someone like me a headache. I have read most of his books and subscribe to the Stockman Grass Farmer, which he writes for and edits. Many of the things we are doing come from Mr. Salatin. I do have one thing against him. I see this from Kit Pharo as well. Kit is another individual promoting a change from status quo agriculture. We own a great many of Mr. pharo’s bulls. Both of these guys can be quite dismissive and even condescending toward what they see as statue quo farmers/ranchers. I don’t like this and think it is a mistake to be this way. I live and work among farmers/ranchers every day of my life. They are some of the smartest, most resourceful, persevering people on the planet. The average American farmer feeds 166 people annually according to Farm Bureau. In 1960 the average farmer feed just 26 people according Farm Flavor.
There are many questions about sustainability and profitability that need to be explored today. This has led my family into our current adventure of bring Kit Pharo’s cattle genetics into our herd. This has not turned out to quick, easy or cheap to do. For instance, we have currently spent $150,000 on Mr. Pharo’s bulls and are planning to by five more at their Alabama bull sale in November. It takes a fair amount of fearlessness for status quo producers like we were to jump off the diving board.
Just as people moving from blue states to red ones often bring their political and environmental beliefs with them, so do city dwellers moving onto a homestead. They are often disgruntled by the lack of zoning laws and by the neighbor farmer bailing hay a 2:00 A. M. In the morning. I have often been amazed that people have so little insight into themselves.
“We are gods and might as well get use to it”, pretty well sums up the problem the human race faces. The more distant we are from awareness of our creatureliness the more problems we face. No real progress can be made until the human person accepts their created status and all that goes with it. Moving out of the city or from one state to another changes nothing. Along with the Earth Movement we need an awakening to who we really are as Gods children.
I also read "The Last Whole Earth Catalog" and even though I'm an urban woman through and through, I found the energy exciting.
But I also remember how so many hippies and counter-culture mavens became yuppies and went for the moola. Brand is an extremely intelligent man, but he's addicted to what's new and stylish. He started one of the first internet groups, the Well, and wrote "The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M.I.T." (I have a used copy but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.)
You know the old sayings "What goes around comes around" and "Everything old is new again"? I think we're seeing a resurgence of solid values.
I'm glad you and Dr. Jill Malone are enjoying your homesteading and I look forward to your updates.
For those that have an interest, here is the 1970 Whole Earth catalog
https://wholeearth.info/p/whole-earth-catalog-spring-1970?format=spreads&index=31
Not everybody that read the Whole Earth catalog and tried to go back to the land ended up as a WEF crypto Nazi, although far too many did. Sorry to hear that that’s what path Stewart Brand took. Wouldn’t it be better if we just gave California back to Mexico?
The two seem to be merging at present anyhow.
I am really torn Doc, because I would love to see you this Saturday in Rochester at the Summit for Truth, but I also participate in a 5-hour Farmers Market on Saturday mornings after which I am usually exhausted!
😋😋😋
Couple things: the Caucasian (white) population in California (circa 2023) has been a minority for almost two decades now....but now being a minority, 'whites' have no set-asides or 'affirmative action' state sponsored programs. "Reconquista" had been the goal of the Mexicans for many generations - and they HAVE succeeded in that quest.
One of the all- time misconceptions (actually a flat-out LIE perpetrated by La Raza), is that Mexico had always "owned" the land in what became California - and that white people "stole" the land from Mexicans. If the Spanish Conquistadores are considered 'whites' that would be partially true as they began the appropriation of native American Indian lands in San Diego, but it was the Mexicans who in reality "stole" the land (of) the MORE than 100 native Indian Tribes from the Tolowa, Karok, Shasta and Modoc Indian Tribes along the northern edge, to the Ipal, Tepal, and Quechuan along the southern edge border with Tijuana.
The Mexicans were Not "indigenous" - the Native Indian Tribes were; and ALL their tribal lands were appropriated in the name of the King of Spain; and the native Indians were subjugated and slaughtered by Spaniards and Mexicans who were "granted" 50,000 acre rancho's by the King of Spain.
Unless it has been scrubbed, The California Indian Library Collection has a color map titled "California Indian Pre-contact Tribal Territories" can be viewed on-line. ( I have that file if anyone is interested)
Thank you Tom, for sharing some lost and buried facts. This slight of hand has gone on for too long and unless you dig for the timeline, it isn't revealed. No wonder we have lost integrity, honesty and co-operation in today's world, it was stomped on hundreds of years ago.
Thank's DD.
Unfortunately, what's done is done and most likely will never change.
Yep, this is the challenge and beauty? of this planet called Earth/Gaia/ Terra. We do reincarnate to balance out our differences and are offered the chance to evolve. This certainly is not the heaven we were told about, but the way there...
Very interesting. Kind of similar to the arguments over who really owns Palestine!
Mexico didn't have it for all that long, always been a weak claim IMO in the world of land grabs. Also, Mexico never really left, which is part of what I like about it here, I like Mexicans overall, their culture, food and work ethic. What we need is for Californians to take back California but it won't happen because everyone is on dope.
Right along with the namesake of your screen name who predicted that in our Brave New World everybody would take Soma and be happy!
I have seen people arguing with a parking meter. It was over awhile ago.
Too many people really have been taking Soma, known generically as carisoprodol, a sedative hypnotic which, when combined with alcoholic beverages, produces the Soma Coma.
Carisoprodol has some additional effects, but is largely a prodrug of meprobamate (Miltown, Equanil), aka, "baby ludes". It has sort of a narrow therapeutic index, and withdrawal can be messy.
No, we don't give CA back to Mexico. The New State of California is being formed and is well on its way to fruition. The new state will encompass the present borders with LA, San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento being the old CA and separated from the rest of the state as its own state and political entity. The House of Representatives' vote to okay it is all that is needed. Of course once approved there will be plenty of work needed to be done to work out the financial aspects.
Good idea, but I doubt the Dems would want to create two more conservative US Senators, unless we gave them more Senators somewhere else
Have to return to bottom up! We are now in top down! Congress needs to repeal legislation that allowed corporations to have same rights and privileges as American citizens! Opened the flood gates of $$$$ to corrupt our political system to the extreme!
Yes, that was a major turning point in our politics allowing the oligarchs to buy a good chunk of the people including the politicians and the managerial class resulting in a total political and economical domination why their names stay hidden from the public. I wonder whose genius idea was that, and why were the "little" people fast asleep?
President Regan signed that into law.
Yes indeed. You can't help but wonder just what Ronald Regan had in mind.
It certainly is encouraging to see that there is a strong movement. My grandson spent 8 months in Norway learning the craft of no dig farming and he spent the spring and summer making small gardens for clients here in North Georgia.
My concerns are about the government machine already moving toward elilminating individual farming, even small self sustaining gardening. By last count I think there have been 93 food processing plants mysteriously, coincidentally destroyed by fire. There is most assuredly a plan in motion. Just this morning I read James Corbett's substack on the similarities of what is happening globally and Stalin's life-ending takeover of agriculture. I would like someone else to give me perspective on this. How do you get around big gov forcing you to stop?
https://open.substack.com/pub/corbettreport/p/history-repeating-the-war-on-the?r=y5ww8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
I wonder about that too? If someone else takes over the land how will others use it to grow stuff? I'm wondering if government will actually shoot people who dare to plow and plant? Will we just sit and starve while there are tractors just sitting there ready to be used? Will there be an uprising?
Sometimes I think what they want is an uprising so they can identify and erase the remnant who refuse to be enslaved. All things old are new again.
Yes, certainly a concern. Although I live in suburban Baltimore, I have 3 lovely raised vegetable beds and I have wondered if there will be any government interference. They won't stop me though, there's always indoor hydroponics!
And windowsill sprouting!
I don't even want to think how bad it is, or what the cause would be for outlawing personal gardens. I think that's a world I do not want to be in. I do hold out hope that some will find works arounds. One thing I am assured of, the old geezers who think they are gods who are determined to enslave us, will actually pass on to their rewards. The sooner the better.
No one can stop the weeds. There will be guerilla gardening, and the home owners' associations will go mad due to the disorder.
I am most certainly a weed, for sure. That jogged my memory of a poem someone posted in another forum. I think of this as a warning to those elites who believe they are invincible.
THE OLD INVINCIBLE T.R Milford 1895-1987
I’m a weed, I’m a weed,
One of the old untamable breed.
I never came from a packet of seed.
Nobody made me line up in a drill,
Nobody showed me which spaces to fill;
I find my footing wherever I will.
I am no cosseted nursery child,
Nobody keeps my pedigree filed,
I am wild, I am wild, I am wild!
Do you think, sister Pink,
That it’s nice to line borders on somebody’s orders?
The man who kindly plants you,
When he no longer wants you,
Will throw you out to rot.
Won’t you speak, Mr. Leek?
Do you like being made to stand stiffly on parade?
He’ll never let you flower
Who has you in his power.
He’ll boil you in a pot.
Can I suppose, Lady Rose,
That you actually enjoy being treated like a toy,
While they play genetic games on you,
And stick their fancy names on you,
Caught in a breeder’s plot?
Asking no help, I’ve learnt how to survive,
Millions have perished, but I'm still alive.
Freely I scatter my prodigal seeds,
Sun, wind and rain will provide for their needs.
Man cannot always be digging and hoeing,
While he’s asleep I get on with my growing.
Bravely he orders his frontal attack,
Where he’s not looking, I quietly come back.
I don’t expect mercy, I won’t ask for pardon.
And when all the pedigreed trademarked pretties are gone,
I’ll take over the garden.
I am a weed
You have found a proper anthem for the independent thinkers and doers. 😎
Weeds give many surprising gifts.
Ever notice it's the weeds that flourish, pop up in the smallest crack in the concrete, and survive without any maintenance? LOL!
Just by growing, they eventually break the concrete.
I see what you did there. 😊
I love this! thank you for sharing.
“When hoes are outlawed, only outlaws will have hoes.”
Exactly! 😂
We previously wrote about the victory gardens in this substack.
That's encouraging. Gives me hope that the younger generation is going to pick up the pieces and rebuild. My grandson, age 31, learned a lot in Norway about old school farming. Funny how the WW2 victory gardens were promoted by the government. How far down the slippery slope we have come. I have no idea how bad this will get before it gets better. Praying without ceasing.
The constant mistake of mankind is to forget that we are ‘stewards' of God’s creation. A steward is a position of meritocracy, one of deep trust and authority… but in the place of another. To use God's creation with authority, but with respect and to make it thrive. Man mistakes (or usurps) himself as ‘creator’ or ‘king’… and views both the land and his fellow caretakers as cogs in the machine to enrich himself. Pride, arrogance, hubris… leads to greed… and greed always lends itself to dehumanizing others.
Well, I'm jealous! Joel Salatin has been a hero of mine for many years. I am so glad you and Jill were able to attend the conference, I really enjoyed hearing about it. And I still have a copy of "The Whole Earth Catalog," now many decades old. Thank you for sharing this adventure!
WEC was an eye and mind opener to me when it came out in late 60's/early 70's... Quite the open door to new possibilplities.
I remain very glad it was published.
I visited one of those intentional communities, during my youth, on a motorcycle run up the east coast. i think it was called Twin Oaks, in N. Virginia... very nice place filled with idealistic kids.
The problem with these places is that they run into reality:
1. Some people work, some people do not.
2. Everyone eats. So some live off the work of others. This becomes irritating over time as it becomes obvious who is contributing and who is not.
3. This leads to a breakup, as no one wants to carry those that do not contribute...
4. Which leads to ownership issues => if the place breaks up, who gets it? With the inflation (partially govmt driven) the real asset is the farm.
5. Since it is in effect a commune, the real contributors can wind up with nothing.
So, this is why private ownership is best. What you soe, you reap (if you manage it right)... and if the govmt does not leach too much from you.
My 2 cents.
My understanding is Bernie Saunders spent about 6 months at one of these places in Israel. I have heard he was one of the ones that did not like to work, but liked to talk. He did not last, but has been in politics for years.
Draw your own conclusions.
It takes all kinds...
The first socialist style Utopian community was established in the US on 4/27/1825 in Indiana it was called New Harmony and set up by Robert Owens a British Industrialist. He thought of it as a new moral world. There had been communities of religious groups established prior to that time and many after that were and are very successful. On July 4th, 1826—he delivered what he termed the “Declaration of Mental Independence.”
“I now declare to you and to the world that man up to this hour has been in all parts of the earth a slave to a trinity of the most monstrous evils that could be combined to inflict mental and physical evil upon the whole race,” he said. “I refer to private property, absurd and irrational systems of religion and marriage founded upon individual property.” The commune had no private property and religion was made fun of - as for families the community raised the kids. His model “utopian socialism” lasted about 2 years and only that long because many folks felt sorry and offered to assist them so they would not starve to death The three main tenants of Marxism is elimination of private property, elimination of religion and removal of family and it did not go over well here.
I remember reading all about that.
The only place I have seen it work is in Israel, the kibbutz movement. Many have been successful. Of course, it would be wise to be armed... as the army cannot be everywhere at once. They used to be in the old days.
Sophisticated conflict resolution skills were lacking then. They need to be woven into the everyday fabric of the community.
Very interesting - might try the Foxfire Books - Yuns can learn some things which might come in handy like - Hog dressing, faith healing, planting by signs, moonshining, wild plants, spinning/weaving, wagon making, corn shuckin, preserving food, snake handling (well maybe not - but I know a church in WV which may still be practicing it). Actually - the books are fascinating - first published in the 1970s and the students were tasked with writing down the stories of the older generations and how things were done. There were over 10 volumes published and I believe they are still in print. STAY FREE
While browsing through some of the Whole Earth Catalogue Dr Malone posted, I was drawn to the article regarding Foxfire. What an amazing group of young people who published these! I would wish there were such intellectual students today who could do the same!
I am so sad that I am of such an age today that I cannot participate in such endeavors as homesteading/farmsteading and living off our wonderful earth. I admire those of you who can and are doing so.
I'm too old to do those things. We do have weavers and spinners in rural Missouri. And there is always the Farmers Almanac. I used it to geld my colts and wean my foals.
Might be best to put those books on TikTok narrated by friendly youth influencers.
Now that would be interesting!
Oh yes it would!
In my younger days, I had and avidly read copies of many of the Foxfire books.
Oh I remember those coming out I think shortly after I left High School! I vaguely remember thinking, what could I possibly learn from these? Growing up in rural New England, mostly Vermont, and with parents who were very DIY from large farm families, I feel lucky that "the old ways" are near to my heart.
If I knew back in 1958 what I know and experienced since, I would have purchased the 90 acre farm outside of Steubenville OH that was offered to me for $90.00 per acre. I worked on that farm through my teenage years and was in college in Detroit. Thought I was going to be this great marketing major who would make lots of money. The hilltops of the farm were stripped and the coal removed, was leveled out and the top soil put back in place to become productive again. I knew it would be hard work and I didn't want to do that. But ending up in the construction business I realized I did like hard physical work and have done it well into my 80's. Gee, if only I had known what I know now back then. Aaaahhh!
Yes. If only we had known back then what we know now. How many of us say that!
And hopefully this latest trend in urban-to-rural will bring a renewed emphasis on healthy, happy, patriotic family life along with respect for the whole earth.
The family farm turns boys into men. Everyone is to work together to make it a success. It teaches hard work brings huge benefits , food , clothes , shelter etc. It teaches family values. It teaches survival. My dad started his fam renting 25 acres of land. He rented a basement house that had an outhouse. They bathed in a tub of water and hauled the water outside. But through hard work he purchased those 25 acres , built a house on top of the basement house. He built it himself with some help from his father. That is the house I was raised in. He turned his 25 acres into a large farming project. How? Lots of hard work, and a vision of what his farm could be. He was the hardest working person I knew. He said his hobby was work. He loved to work. So my daddy could spend time with me in the Summer , he would take me out irrigating, burning stubble, and herding the cattle. I was driving at age 10. At that time my dad used siphon tubes to irrigate. He was fast. Of course after the siphon tubes came sprinkler pipes, then wheel lines and circle movements.
I have always tried to have a garden, sometimes large and sometimes small. I guess it is the farm girl in me to grew my food.
If you live in the cities you can still grow food. Maybe you can grow food in pots on a patio . Get to know your neighbors. Share you bounty of food with them. Have block parties. That can be your little community.
We met Joel over 15 years ago attending one of his first workshops on his land after he was featured in 'Omnivores Dilemma' as one of the smartest farmers in America. He is an authentic, no BS guy and we loved his books to which I wrote an unsolicited extensive review of one and to which I got a beautiful thank you note for doing. More than a few of his quotes have his stuck like glue, "After over 12 years of education people only know how to pull out a charge card to support themselves"...a wake up call if I ever heard one. "If you think you are going to 'go it alone' on a farmstead think again. It requires people with skills to work together." Having spent decades visiting intentional communities to chase the dream of connected community, my takeaway is this.... This post says, "The communes eventually collapsed, for the usual reasons, which included poor resource management, factionalism, and financial limitations" but this in my view, incomplete. In fact drugs (esp. pot) keep many in mañana mode. There are a cast of takers who are there to have others not yet help raise their kids...but burden others with the chore...nor are they willing to do the hard work of house and farm management. There was the 'free love' aspect that proves that there is a reason why monogamy is most often chosen for sanity. Most of these places were 'hippie vibe' which means that the group 'cohesiveness' is actually pressure to conform to the zeitgeist of the tribe. It was a pressure that they claim to have left behind when they escaped the system. Most places were always in process of 'becoming' and organization messy and clutter was cool. The take away for me?...the only surviving communities are those that are organized around a religious belief...the monasteries, the Amish...etc. Joel and his family who work with him are deeply Christian before they are farmers. You MUST first be on the same page re: your world view and have the same work ethic to make it a success. (We have decided that a few like minds are the way to go and so we have split our 12 acres into 3- 4 acre lots so independence and shared knowledge and resources are in balance. VisitHigherGround.com)
My Daddy was truly a homesteader before the term was popularized, we ate what he grew, he utilized every inch of his small acreage 10-15 I think to provide for his family, he worked a full time job for 45 + years and spent the rest of his time, plowing with his mules early on, milking a cow, raising chickens, raising rabbits for meat, peanuts, greens and various garden vegetables, Mama canned just about everything. I live on a small portion of this property now, wanting to get a few chickens, raise a few vegetables and do more canning, he was a great man, married to a kind gentle woman, I was so lucky ❤️
We are both Berkeley refugees who would no doubt die before seeing any parsnip from our own garden. But you can contribute well to local farmers via supporting farmers’ markets. They have programs where you can pay the farm in advance of season to help them plant. Also, there are more numerous urban type folk who can certainly band together in some fashion. Some have buying co-ops. Many home school, of course. Even better is the idea of “religious” communal efforts. Medieval monasteries were just that and they saved Western civilization. Elder seniors of like mind can do the same. We do not need conventional “retirement” homes and worse.
I’d love to retire to a community farm where we grow our own food and feed for our chickens and other farm animals. The retirees should be able to purchase or build a small maintenance free, energy efficient one level space. I’ve dreamed of this place with ponds stocked with fish, easy walking paths, a community house for pot luck dinners, music, religious services, and so much more. Am I describing a commune? Why yes, I believe I am!
Long ago we experienced the beauty of knowing your neighbors, their children and grandchildren. It was a time we helped one another mend the fence, harvest the large summer gardens of those who could plant them, we lived off the land in a cooperative manner with our neighbors. That’s how I grew up and my heart longs to return to that simple life if just for a while before the end of my days on earth.
Intentional Communities - Introduction;
After Bobby Kennedy was killed in the summer of 1968 and the war in Vietnam escalated, many of the young reformers gave up on the dream of challenging the status quo and decided to start to move “back to the land”.
My high school buddies and I had all stayed in contact after graduation, joined the work force, got married and started having children of our own. In 1970, together, we planned and hiked the fifty mile long West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. This camaraderie eventually led to us quitting our jobs, moving to Mabel Lake and the birth of the Common Good Co-op.
We found a small community called Kingfisher nestled beside the Shuswap River that felt like it must be Paradise. We experimented for two years, with an alternate life style that was at times challenging but also incredibly rewarding. I learned a lot about human nature, our capacity for sharing and caring, but also our primal desire for privacy, friendship and respect. These lessons would help guide me later in my life.
The following outline describes a structure that I believe could contribute to the success of some of the pioneering efforts to establish a new direction for society.
Rational:
This structure is designed to encourage participation and the exchange of ideas and at the same time solve the paralyzing problem of the consensus decision process.
The Community:
The Community Association consists of members, associate members, and guests. Members can sponsor a guest to join the community. Community members have responsibilities and benefits. The long term goal is to provide a healthy environment for an extended community based on cooperation and sharing, eventually providing food, shelter, transportation, health and dental care, recreation and education services for the members.
Startup Funding:
The community will be self funded and sustainable. The founders will provide the initial Community Fund to establish the facility. When the Lodge is ready for occupancy we will start to invite seniors to apply to become Founding Members. We will eventually form our own Credit Union. Founding members will be expected to liquidate their assets, resolve their family financial commitments and then contribute the balance to the Community Fund. This initial contribution will be redeemable on departure from the community.
Cooperative Governance:
Step 1: Guiding principals are formulated and Founders establish a base to support the development of a community association.
Step 2: Incorporate a co-op to manage assets and structure the community membership requirements.
Step 3: Establish a dispute resolution council. Founders will choose the original Chief. The Chief will then choose the original five Shepherds, two the first year, one the second year and the final two in the third year. Shepherds will serve for a term of 5 years. A Shepherds’ term may be extended one time only, for an additional two years, with unanimous agreement of the Council.
Council Member Representation:
The Chief has no set term. A retiring chief will be succeeded by the Shepherd who has been a member of the Council for the longest term or has unanimous support of the other four Shepherds. The Shepherd Council will always consist of five members. When a Shepherd retires the Community members will submit up to three candidates to apply for the vacancy. The Shepherd Council will then choose one of the applicants.
Dispute Resolution Procedure:
Members are encouraged to resolve conflicting issues according to the founding principles. The Shepherd Council can be asked to make a determination to resolve an issue. The Shepherd Directive can be appealed to the Chief. The Chief’s decision can only be overturned with unanimous agreement by the Shepherds.
Administration:
The Chief may from time to time designate Guides to oversee the planning and scheduling of the communities’ daily events.
General Business:
The community will establish various ad hoc committees to deal with issues pertaining to the well being of the community. The committees will be structured following the Cooperative Governance principals by first electing a Leader who will then choose five Advisors.
There will be two permanent committees established: Development, to determine future community projects and Finance, to allocate funding resource priorities.
Renumeration:
Every contributing community member will receive the same weekly stipend.
They call Joel Salatin the most famous farmer in America. He is an unusual man, his understanding of soil biology gives someone like me a headache. I have read most of his books and subscribe to the Stockman Grass Farmer, which he writes for and edits. Many of the things we are doing come from Mr. Salatin. I do have one thing against him. I see this from Kit Pharo as well. Kit is another individual promoting a change from status quo agriculture. We own a great many of Mr. pharo’s bulls. Both of these guys can be quite dismissive and even condescending toward what they see as statue quo farmers/ranchers. I don’t like this and think it is a mistake to be this way. I live and work among farmers/ranchers every day of my life. They are some of the smartest, most resourceful, persevering people on the planet. The average American farmer feeds 166 people annually according to Farm Bureau. In 1960 the average farmer feed just 26 people according Farm Flavor.
There are many questions about sustainability and profitability that need to be explored today. This has led my family into our current adventure of bring Kit Pharo’s cattle genetics into our herd. This has not turned out to quick, easy or cheap to do. For instance, we have currently spent $150,000 on Mr. Pharo’s bulls and are planning to by five more at their Alabama bull sale in November. It takes a fair amount of fearlessness for status quo producers like we were to jump off the diving board.
Just as people moving from blue states to red ones often bring their political and environmental beliefs with them, so do city dwellers moving onto a homestead. They are often disgruntled by the lack of zoning laws and by the neighbor farmer bailing hay a 2:00 A. M. In the morning. I have often been amazed that people have so little insight into themselves.
“We are gods and might as well get use to it”, pretty well sums up the problem the human race faces. The more distant we are from awareness of our creatureliness the more problems we face. No real progress can be made until the human person accepts their created status and all that goes with it. Moving out of the city or from one state to another changes nothing. Along with the Earth Movement we need an awakening to who we really are as Gods children.
“We are gods and might as well get use to it”. -- as said Eve to Adam.
I also read "The Last Whole Earth Catalog" and even though I'm an urban woman through and through, I found the energy exciting.
But I also remember how so many hippies and counter-culture mavens became yuppies and went for the moola. Brand is an extremely intelligent man, but he's addicted to what's new and stylish. He started one of the first internet groups, the Well, and wrote "The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M.I.T." (I have a used copy but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.)
You know the old sayings "What goes around comes around" and "Everything old is new again"? I think we're seeing a resurgence of solid values.
I'm glad you and Dr. Jill Malone are enjoying your homesteading and I look forward to your updates.