Caleb Stegall, stiffening our spines in the comboxes of this thread over at Front Porch Republic:
The sooner we are collectively disabused of the notion that all we need is more book (or 'net) larnin', the sooner we'll be off our cushion and out the door. You want to farm. Great, so farm. Start small. What you lack isn't knowledge, but skill. Go talk to some locals. I recommend the feed store as a near infinite source of local knowledge and wisdom (which, by the way, is exactly where the old timers told me what I'm telling you now). Financially, stay out of debt, don't buy stuff you don't need, and learn how to work hard.
I have no patience for those who blame the world or the age we live in or the flood of Progress for their failure to have the life they supposedly want. This victim mentality is even uglier in conservative nostalgics (and I say that as one who is intimately familiar with the emotion). It needs to be ruthlessly dealt with. The worst thing that can happen to gatherings like FPR is that they have a tendency to become a place for parlor dress-up mind games for spoiled misfits each nursing their own grievances. A kind of virtual second life for conservatives who get to imagine the world they want without engaging in any of the real work, sacrifice, pain, and suffering that is required to attain the real thing. If preventing that hurts a few feelings, so be it.
You have bootstraps. So use 'em.
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In agreement with forestwalker, and even more so with Son of Okies. Stegall's act is wearing thin. I can just imagine what those locals say about him when he finally shuts up and leaves the feed store.
Two years ago I was looking seriously into establishing a homestead. I am no longer. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Small farmers are leaving farming in droves. One can think of them as idiots and trust one's own wisdom or one can try to understand. For us, the realization finally came that you can't poor yourself to wealth. Watching your expenses are important indeed, but revenue and income matter too. I'm not going to begrudge him for his hobby farm, but it is just that. If it makes him happy so be it, although smoking is probably a cheaper hobby. And while I certainly respect Salatan, he pulls in $10,000 for each speaking engagement. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being a public speaker. There's also nothing wrong with Sheets doing real estate seminars.
Hi, Badger: I don't begrudge people their hobby farms - as long as one person has a viable job (i.e. out of it they can pay the taxes, any legally required insurance, and keep their children from neglect), a small farm can for many be a wonderful hobby. Look at how much money people spend (or, well, spent) on cruises, extreme sports, expensive extracurriculars for kids like hockey, etc. At least with a hobby farm you get exercise, fresh air, vegetables, maybe some honey or even goat milk. As long as the member of the couple who stays at home enjoys it, what's not to like? We don't do it because my husband isn't interested, but I can see the appeal. You're right, though, for the vast majority it *will* be a hobby, not a means of making a living wage.
Matthew Lickona hits the nail on the head with nostalgia: its a form of that kinda Manichean sentimentality described best -- as Flannery O'Connor channels Augustine -- here:
H/T http://www.matthewlickona.com/blog/blog.html
That's what I can't abide in the writing of Peggy Noonan, or those who would make a cottage industry out of beatifying Reagan, like Mr & Mrs Gingrich Bonny Jindal and their ilk. Faithful Christians all but dangerously deluded about what that means for human action, with their preference re: 'other peoples families' of the collectivism of politics and a total lack of respect for the real family's economic individuality (all are for using inflation - aka monetization of public debt -- as a policy tool). They favor moral hazard for the masses, stealing from taxpayers to keep their influential friends in power. That kind of conservativism isn't a virtue, its a vice, "enemies domestic" I think the inaugural pledge terms it...
My dad's favorite joke is about the farmer who won the lottery. They asked him what he was going to do with the money. He said, "Well. I guess I'll keep fahmin' till it's all gone."
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