Oct 15, 2023·edited Oct 15, 2023Liked by Robert W Malone MD, MS
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?
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!
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?
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.
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
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.
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?
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!
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
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.
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
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.
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.