Small communities taking care of their own, producing their own food and even making their own goods and things for sale.
First, it would obviously be a healthier lifestyle, next it would be better for the environment by creating superior natural products and goods that stand the test of time therefore bypassing the throw away goods, furniture, etc. of today.
Just look at the masterpieces of yesterday and how we admire their durability and beauty. Is that lost on us today? I say yes, on some folks but maybe not on all folks. But consider this, have we lost our desire to take the time to understand the importance of the simple healthier agararian lifestyle and the superior crafsmanship of our ancestors?
Agrarianism and the Artisan? Is it a better way of life?
If the answer is yes then it may be time to begin the journey back to the superior lifestyle of our ancestors.
Craftsmanship has always been one of my most-admired traits. The pursuit of quality in what one creates is to be respected, no matter what.
My quibble with the combo of agrarianism and artisanship is the amount of time and effort that must be devoted to pursuing agrarian life at more than a subsistence level. I am not sure that the artisan can exist in a comfortable balance between the necessities of daily life and the demands of his craft.
I believe you are right as far as the situation is right now. These artisan craftsmanship skills and even agrarian skills would take time to master.
Maybe the question might be, “Do we know that lifestyle is better?”
And if we think as an individual it is a better lifestyle, then we need to ask ourselves this next question, what is stopping us from beginning to develop a future Agrarian/Artisan lifestyle?
When children grow up WITH their parents, DOING what their parents and grandparents have done for generations, they become much more proficient at it. Sometimes I wonder, as we struggle to move back to a more agrarian-based life, if we have run out of time: does my generation have enough knowledge or proficiency to pass on, do my children have time to relearn what we can no longer teach, because we have been robbed though the last couple generations (at least) of separating children from parents via mandatory factory public schooling? Only by the grace of God will we be barely able to make it and see our children start to turn things aroundas far as knowing how to provide basic necessities of life, much less rediscovering the fine artisanship of crafts that could be deemed luxury in times of great want, hardship, and upheaval. I wonder if we have the capital of character needed on this our grand venture that may be the saving of many lives, and a way of life. I feel most of us are too soft anymore.
Now kw your statement on we as americans being too soft is very profound. When I grew up I spent most of the day running around in the woods, exploring, hunting with toy bows and arrows and slingshots, and building forts. Zoom forward today and watch me have a difficult time tearing my kids away from the latest video game.
But I guess seeing our people become ignorant of the old ways I decided to do something many years ago. I started collecting books on how to do things the old way. That is making furniture, blacksmithing, wood working, plant identification, farming, leatherwork, even making leather shoes the old way to name a few subjects. There probably isn’t a subject out there on the old ways of surviving and making things that I don’t have covered. So for myself I have acquired a record of that knowledge shared by the experts of yesterday.
Its very difficult to make a move in this direction but if each person picks just one thing now and slowly begins to nurture that skill, within time a like minded group of individuals would have accumulated a wealth of knowledge that could be used in a future agrarian community.
I, too, have acquired a huge library of how-to books on homesteading, needlecrafts, etc. etc. etc.
I have time to practice NONE of these things, as the pressures of my job keep me hopping 10-11 hours a day on average, and my only child is academically-oriented rather than agrarian.
So, where do we fit in the agrarian frame of reference?
Many years ago I had a friend who claimed the high point of Western civilization was Ohio, 1900. The small towns, the emphasis on learning, the establishment of libraries, refinement being held up as a virtue, active church membership. All the things necessary for the good life.
Perhaps the agrarian life could be supplemented by the best of small town life? I am not sure that my friend was wrong in his estimation (although Ohio I might quibble with) that there needs to be a critical mass of people for life to progress intellectually and aesthetically.
I have seen the agrarian life through my own family; while I can see myself having a few chickens, I cannot see myself having my grandmother’s chicken farm.
God bless,
Laurel
p.s. Kinswoman, you are dead on the money about what it takes to pass on a real agrarian tradition, absolute attention and training of children alongside adults. I hope and pray our kids can scramble enough to learn what they must know, if we are to become agrarian again. Myself, I am not sure that at my advanced age my body is up to the full agrarian lifestyle.
Well, it might be that a few of us here do believe in the superior agrarian lifestyle. Knowing that we admire it and wish we actually could live it, what then actually can we do now?
If we are alive there is always something we can do.
Can we quilt? I say look no further than the amazing skill of the Amish or your local quilting club.
Can we farm? Where is the local farmer that can help. A back yard garden will suffice for your begining.
Can we work with wood? Is there a local college that teaches wood working?
Do we love leather? Is there a leather shop in town that wouldn’t mind some (free) help in exchange for teaching some skills?
The real question here is what is your dream and God given gift?
I say look deep inside and ask yourself what really is it that you wish to do within the agrarian/artisan lifestyle, then move towards your dream.
Network with likeminded individuals who share this same dream with you and see who can help, who can assist, or who can provide emotional support. Create this network of like minded people and begin to develop your dream.
>>Its very difficult to make a move in this direction but if each person picks just one thing now and slowly begins to nurture that skill, within time a like minded group of individuals would have accumulated a wealth of knowledge that could be used in a future agrarian community.
Network with likeminded individuals who share this same dream with you and see who can help, who can assist, or who can provide emotional support. Create this network of like minded people and begin to develop your dream.<<
Yes, now that as I evaluate where we are presently as compared to fifteen years ago, one or more of us has raised/processed/sold chickens for eggs and meat, raised/milked/doctored goats, hunted/processed deer, made leather clothing from the hides of deer and goats, milled wheat from a Missouri organic what farmer and made all our bread products, formulated/mixed/custom packaged/sold bake mixes with the organic wheat flour, worked a couple seasons on an organic vegetable farm that provides gourmet produce to five-star restaurants, homebirthed, homeschooled, provided hospice care in my home for a terminally ill grandparent (“homedying,” if you will), helped neighbors (mostly elderly) in our rural community after tornadoes or with fencing/roofing/moving/haying/construction/painting, run all outside and field operations and equipment on a large dairy, coordinated the quick assembly of neighbors at the home of a man being wrongly harrassed by a local deputy for “child abuse” (resulted in the deputy backing off and the case being closed), gone into the woods with a chainsaw and come out with fence posts or wood to heat the home for the winter, traded chores with neighbors when we have to go out of the area, visited for a few days with the invalid wife of a farmer who was way behind in planting due to weather, etc.
So maybe we are learning a bit, after all, about how to function and be useful in a rural community, and on the side, play piano, organ, and blugrass gospel on the traditional instruments to throw some fun into the mix as well.
I would appreciate the actual experiences of others (as suggestions or encouragement) if you are so inclined to post them. Thanks.
But back to the original point of this post, we don’t do many of them well, and are experts at few or none, really. And as middle age settles upon me, I WANT to do less of them, except for posterity’s sake.
...are experts at few or none, really. And as middle age settles upon me, I WANT to do less of them, except for posterity’s sake.
Sometimes I think we overestimate the “expertise” of our ancestors. My grandmother was an expert cook, but she learned how to manage a chicken farm as she went along. It wasn’t something her parents knew and handed down to her. Oh, and she raised seven kids at the same time.
I know what you mean about middle age, being firmly plunked in the middle of it, with a birthday coming up. Sometimes hiring the plumber seems much less painful than fixing it myself.
Perhaps God says children are a blessing because they can handle the jobs around the homestead that the young do better….because of greater strength, flexibility, etc.
I have been posting information on agrarian life, homesteading, and how-to’s in a sticky topic—please feel free to post information you have as well!
I, too, have acquired a huge library of how-to books on homesteading, needlecrafts, etc. etc. etc.
I have time to practice NONE of these things, as the pressures of my job keep me hopping 10-11 hours a day on average, and my only child is academically-oriented rather than agrarian
My problem exactly. Still on the hamster wheel of earning Federal Reserve Notes.
If you ever see one of those really old Maytag washing machines that has a wringer on top of it, GET IT! Those are really good for tanning. An old Maytag washer, and a dryer with the heating element removed so it tumbles but doesn’t heat.
However, my wife won’t let me experiment with such things in the house I share with her. I need my own barn/workshop to do these things.
I have gotten pretty good at growing and preserving food. Of course it’s not that difficult, but it is pretty important, and it’s a LOT of fun. My daughter is at an age where she wants to earn money but she’s too young to get a job, so she says she’s going to help grow vegetables this year and go with me to sell at the market.
One thing I’d like to do beyond growing vegetables is make zeer pots, which is a method of passive refrigeration You take a large pot, put some wet sand in the bottom, put a smaller pot in (where your food goes) and put more wet sand around it, and of course put a lid on top. You could definitely sell these to yuppies at farmer’s markets once you explain what they are (passive refrigeration). And invented by an African no less!
Anyway, I think that the coming Economic Depression Peak Oil etc., is going to force a return to the Agrarian and Artisan lifestyle. Those of us who are dabbling in it now will have a running start.
As the Depression sets in, try to help your neighbors get self sufficient—for two reasons. One, so they don’t rob you and instead help provide for a common defense and Two, because you might be able to convince them to adopt a healthier ideology and morality.
One last thought—I love this forum! I’ve been waiting for a forum to talk with Kinist homeschooling and homesteading moms and back to the land dads (like myself). I think the main problem of America begins with the degeneration of the household, and reform begins with reforming our household. The word “economy” is from a greek word, “oikos” which means household.
The dream/vision/plan/strategy that keeps me going is the idea that we provide so much for ourselves that we put large corporations out of business while we ourselves become financially independent. The Japanese actually did something like this in hte 1980’s. They were such fanatical savers that they wrecked the Japanese economy and the government was handing out vouchers and begging them to go shopping. I envision a popularization of agrarian/artisan local economy (because people will say “wow, I’m happy for the first time in my life!”) and corporations won’t be able to appropriate it/commoditize it. Shopping malls will be ripped out for farms again, and the economy will “crash” but few will care.
>>>the economy will “crash” but few will care.<<<<
I think the economy will crash before we get so ready as a society that “few will care.” There are so many who have no clue about what is soon to come…
Yes kinswoman, quite true. What I was saying was the ideal. What is really going to happen is desperation forcing the agrarianism and artisanship on people.
The worst thing about the agrarian lifestyle is not the lifestyle itself, but aging as it limits one’s strength to perform it. How will a Kinist society provide for its elders? I understand how the family will care for them as primary caregivers, then the church. However, I am unclear about us in the transitional stage, with children who may or may not adopt a true Kinist lifestyle.
Speaking from the trenches,
Laurel
caring for my own, both older and younger
