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  • From: Richard Moyer <ramoyer AT gmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] A research project is born
  • Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 10:39:30 -0400

Kathryn wrote:
"Now I know someone has GOT to be talking about how all these fit together.
But I haven't seen it yet. So my first task is to find out if anyone has
written anything discussing all these aspects together and how they relate to
each other. If there really truly is no conversation yet about these
topics, then by gosh and by golly there oughta be. So, the hunt begins for
more information."

Kathryn,
"You have been given questions to which you cannot be given answers.
You will have to live them out - perhaps a little at a time.'
And how long is that going to take?'
I don't know. As long as you live, perhaps.'
That could be a long time.'
I will tell you a further mystery,' he said. 'It may take longer."
— Wendell Berry (Jayber Crow)

My parents grew up working on farms, but moved (or WERE moved,
according to Wendell Berry) to the city for higher income potential
and other siren songs. But my parents passed a love for growing,
preserving food and eating local and well to me, and to my children,
through a suburban garden and hunter-gatherer vacations. I primarily
rediscovered that family legacy, and gained permission to reclaim and
choose it through the writings of Wendell Berry, Gene Logdson, and
Joel Salatin. Berry and Logsdon have been thinking and writing about
these issues for 50 years. Novels such as "Hannah Coulter" and
"Jayber Crow" are one entry point, as are collections of Berry
agrarian essays such as "The Art of the Commonplace". Logson's
"Living at Nature's Pace, Farming and the American Dream" is also
practical and inspiring, as are his "All Flesh is Grass" and "The
Contrary Farmer". Both men have thought long and hard about current
educational systems, and what needs to be celebrated, abandoned, and
reclaimed to nourish agrarian economies, including farms, farming
families and farming communities.

If you have children you can read to or with, consider the "Little
Britches" series by Ralph Moody, and the "Little House" series by
Laura Ingalls Wilder. Both are rich with heart-rending and
instructive detail of success, failure and perseverance of household
and farm economies.

You will find others pursuing your questions at local and regional ag
conferences. Read the speaker bios, attend the sessions and ask those
that inspire you what reading they recommend.

Personal note: Three years ago, I transitioned from 25 years of
teaching and research to full-time farming. So it's time now to go
pick lettuce, onions, mache, mushrooms and chard for afternoon market.
And to package and mail seeds I have grown for Southern Exposure Seed
Exchange.

Richard Moyer
SW VA




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