Well, hardly nothing. The farmstead has provided me with everything needed and more. A super abundance that only nature can provide, along of course with the blood sweat and tears of labor from those before me, and now myself. Only a temporary steward, my task is clear; to lay the groundwork for future farmers.
A lot has been stated in this series already, (go into the archives) but some things are glaringly absent. Where is the livestock, lifeblood of the farm? Where are the crops to feed people? Where are the people?
Ya’ know, there’s a lot of romantic hype around farming, not hard to find, makes us feel good about it with the beautiful animals and happy families cheerfully toiling away, the harsh realities neatly tucked out of sight so as not to get us discouraged.
They don’t talk about the mounting debt and dismal market prices, the miniscule profit margins (if any profit at all) and a standing wage no one in their right mind would willingly accept. The gamble of pitting themselves against the elements, surpassed only by the predatory practices of the lenders.
Farmers are not complainers, by and large, because they do what they do out of choice. Maybe because in the long run the benefits outweigh the detriments.
WORKS Farm has something very few farms possess - freedom from debt. My blood sweat and tears enabled me to get here, and here is where it stays. No mortgage, no rent, no car or truck payments, no expensive machinery owned more by the lenders and on loan unless unable to continue paying. No tractor, no farm.
In our monetized high maintenance low return world cash is king. That’s the nothing referred to. Walked away from a lucrative career with no golden umbrella, no unemployment compensation, no 401K, no retirement plan. Zero income. But it got me WORKS. Everything here is paid for, everything except taxes, the perennial debt.
That’s pretty good news, and there’s more good news. My stewardship goals have been clear from the beginning: regeneration allowing the trees to grow where they do work, allowing the shrubs to do their thing where they do it best, allowing the waters to flow and the wildlife grow. WORKS is already a heaven on earth without doing much because without cash, not much else can be done. But it’s enough…for now.
And then there is substack.com. Aside from the pleasures of writing for the pleasure of it, there is outreach, part of the farming operation and what this series is about. Sharing the knowledge and inviting you into this world because agriculture is the key to humanities long term prospects, and it is in peril. We must act…now.
The question in everyone’s mind is, what can we do?
Support your local farmer and eat better in the process, support this farm because it will take all of us to sow the seeds for a better future. Deprive the enslavers of your wealth because without it, they will no longer be. One dollar, one vote.
The over consumptive ruling classes, greed driven technocrats, global financial elites will view this as sedition and are working overtime to quell it. That’s the point. Self-sufficient people are a threat. They know they are outnumbered exponentially and if word gets out we can do without them, well…
WORKS is far ahead of the pack in terms of sustainability simply because it’s not enslaved by debt. From here, the future seems brighter.
That doesn’t help repair buildings, build fencing and bring in livestock since everything has a buy-in price. Livestock is multipurpose, for building soil, for maintaining vegetation, for companionship and of course for sustenance. Without livestock the farm withers and dies an under-utilized resource.
This has been a working farm for 175 years and it’s my absolute duty to continue that trend, for now and into the next 175 years. We owe it to those who come after us, and for ourselves in the present. That, my friends, is good work.
WORKS is secured, and you can be a part of it. This farm practices 100% transparency, you can come here and see all of it. If you have an idea, you can put it to work here. If you have money, you can use it here, we’ll see to it you get more than your money buys.
WORKS is now a crowd funding site. You can pledge right now, should we decide to monetize we will give you fair warning and an opt out in advance. The current income here is below the Federal Poverty Level. Senior Social Security is enough to pay property taxes, utilities (which are sparse) and put some food on the table, not much else. My role is to maintain what is practical and move ever forward while there is strength in my body. Your role is whatever you make it. The present steward will not be the last one here.
S&UP will remain free along with its series. I am a volunteer here and am seeking other volunteers. Want to do some good work? Join us.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for being you.
David, what do you think about bee hives? I’d help to financially support an apicultural farm !
Kelly, there's a lot to like about beekeeping, part of critical architecture, a great community and lots of health benefits. As a money maker it comes down to scalability (a topic coming soon). There's a large apiary just down the road (Anabaptist) and more hives nearby as well as a common cottage industry among good farmers.
Here's the interesting part: bees leave the hives sometimes taking a queen, or rather following her looking for new territory. You'll need a queen and preferably feral (survivors of the dreaded virus killing them off). Just happens that a swarm takes up in one of the exterior walls of my house every year, of course coming along with their queen.
You do the research and gather the materials to harvest the swarm and queen (this is quite do able), bear all expenses to set up the hive and maintenance will be easy. The operation is yours, if it fails try again or clean up the site. How's that?
It's a great project with a small footprint and big benefits, get yourself a healthy queen and you're set.