Small Farm

I got my new issue of Small Farmer's Journal yesterday and like always, it is chock full of good info for someone looking to farm with horses or have a small "mom and pop" operation. That seems to be the direction I'm heading when I retire. Big garden, fruit trees, bramble fruit, chickens - the whole Green Acres sort of thing. I grew up on a place just about like I've got now. The old drafty farm house, big barn, a couple of outbuildings and lots of grass to mow. When school was out, my brothers and I had chores to do but then we were off and running. We built forts, camped out, went fishing, played baseball and generally did what every kid who lived in the country did. Mom never really worried about us. I guess she figured we'd show up at meal time and we usually did. It truly was a great way to grow up. We never had much money but we never really seemed to notice.

I read the book Last Child in the Woods and the author describes what he calls Nature Deficit Disorder. Kids growing up without any exposure to green except maybe a trip to a park once a year. Most all their entertainment some form of electronics and no use of the imagination. Never being out of the sight of an adult for fear of the bad man lurking in the bushes. In my neighborhood all the parents must have read the story by O'Henry about the guy who kidnapped some little brat and instead of getting the ransom money, he had to pay to get the kid off his hands. Times have changed but the need to get outside and get the stink blown off, as Mom used to say, sure hasn't.

So, if you take the Small Farmer's Journal and what they espouse and mix in some Last Child in the Woods philosophy, you've got a recipe to turn back the clock about fifty years or turn it ahead about fifty depending on your point of view. The small farmer can provide himself and family a reliable source of good food without the enormous transportation costs. It takes a lot of fuel to move that hard, tasteless tomato across the country. Small scale agriculture is right scale agriculture. The Small Farmer's Journal pushes a lot of draft horse farming but much of what they preach is adaptable to operations darn near as small as window box gardening. If you have the children involved, they have the responsibility of chores and the experience of contributing to the common good.

Next time you sit down to eat, think about where your food comes from. Support your local farmer's market this summer. Get the kids out of the house. For the first time in the history of mankind, a shorter lifespan is being forecast for the youngsters due to the lack of exercise and lousy diet. We can change that.