Farming is not a romantic occupation. In spite of pastoral memoirs like Tim Stark’s Heirloom and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, the reality of farming means backbreaking work and early mornings, poor harvests and lots of worry as Mother Nature hurls hail at a field of ripe corn. But it’s…
Tag: Farming
A Pictorial Paean to Farming and Food
© 2013 C. Bertelsen. No copying of photographs without my permission.
The Zen of Sheep: More than Just a Photo Shoot
It seemed simple enough. A quick visit to a small sheep operation, twenty or so sheep on a spread of five muddy acres, owned by a retired agronomy professor, some fast snaps of the shutter and off I’d be. But that’s not exactly how it happened. When I first walked up to the owner, the…
The Meat of the Matter: A Question of Sacred Reverence
Meat eating presents modern society with a bit of a dilemma. How to raise and slaughter large numbers of animals under humane conditions, while keeping the price down and within wallet reach of most consumers? That’s the major issue, tinged with other, often moralistic, questions. First, right up front, I am not a vegetarian, and…
‘Tis now the very witching time of night*: Lessons from a Rotting Pumpkin
Oh!—fruit loved of boyhood!—the old days recalling, When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling! When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin, Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!** Every October, a nearby farm family celebrates the harvest by opening up their land to the surrounding community. Hundreds of cars…
The Random Herbalist: The Church as Farmer
The Catholic Church influenced many things, even (especially?) agriculture, as this passage from History of the English Landed Interest: Its Customs, Laws, and Agriculture, by Russell Montague Garnier (1908) 2nd. ed, vol. 1, implies. The monastery libraries also held much treasure, opening up the monks to the wonders of old knowledge and enabling them to…
