tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post4012939123127032992..comments2024-03-28T18:44:08.125-07:00Comments on The Forty-Five: Of Small Places And AgrarianismToirdhealbheach Beucailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-204452584814232192022-12-07T19:07:35.596-08:002022-12-07T19:07:35.596-08:00Ed, the ability to do such things is true wealth i...Ed, the ability to do such things is true wealth in my book.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-83945480439596642412022-12-07T19:06:53.870-08:002022-12-07T19:06:53.870-08:00Robehr, I was not familiar with Louis Bromfield un...Robehr, I was not familiar with Louis Bromfield until your mention (and a quick trip to Wikipedia). He appears to be (yet) another author I need to delve into.<br /><br />I appreciated Herrick's writings and am sorry he posts less often these days.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-20321997088735334042022-12-07T19:04:18.616-08:002022-12-07T19:04:18.616-08:00Will, "Just in Time" is (in theory) a gr...Will, "Just in Time" is (in theory) a great example of interconnectedness which is a mile wide and a millimeter deep. Just a single interruption anywhere destroys the whole chain. Add to it the overall message of "We are all together in this (whatever this is)" when we clearly are not "all together", and the folly becomes clear.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-75058766552016276432022-12-07T15:09:25.213-08:002022-12-07T15:09:25.213-08:00Louis Bromfield lit my agrarian fire many years ag...Louis Bromfield lit my agrarian fire many years ago and Herrick watered it down with Holy Water until it burnt brightly like a Hanukkah menorah . Gawd bless them both . robehr orinskynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-47603894103822237052022-12-07T14:36:23.489-08:002022-12-07T14:36:23.489-08:00The past couple of years have, in my opinion, expo...The past couple of years have, in my opinion, exposed a lot of the folly of the top-down "resilience" that you refer to. We have seen how the supposedly wonderful interconnectedness of everything is so very fragile, not resilient at all. The kind of community connectivity is much more preferable to the elite impositions.<br />Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06715674477635617592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-67321062301300364832022-12-07T06:30:06.497-08:002022-12-07T06:30:06.497-08:00My childhood and STxAR's were virtually identi...My childhood and STxAR's were virtually identical. Our thoughts about moving back if the world "falls to dookie" are also similar. Fortunately I have access to the land to do so but I really need to stock up on some ammunition so I can supplement all the vegetables with some venison, rabbit and squirrel. Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-2151134337972998712022-12-07T06:23:41.668-08:002022-12-07T06:23:41.668-08:00STxAR, yours is very much a less and less common t...STxAR, yours is very much a less and less common tale - most people are much less reliant on themselves than the old days (your host included).<br /><br />I concur that the system as currently constructed is designed to encourage and strengthen neediness and reliance on the system and government rather than interdependence on those around us and especially not self reliant people. Self reliant people have no need for those programs and practices that our government (both Red and Blue) seem to want to force on us.<br /><br />The fact that you are aware and looking is more than most can say.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-24300004233590731642022-12-07T06:20:03.980-08:002022-12-07T06:20:03.980-08:00Thanks Nylon12 (really, thank Leigh - she got this...Thanks Nylon12 (really, thank Leigh - she got this train started). <br /><br />I think more and more people very much want to be left alone and life their lives. It is a mark of our time that those who consider themselves our intellectual and social betters - The OPASB - cannot imagine a world where this is true. In every crevice and crook of our lives, we need their guidance to live life "appropriately". If this is not a growing authoritarianism, I do not know what is.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-49185753235415758982022-12-07T06:17:24.905-08:002022-12-07T06:17:24.905-08:00Wendell Berry is also an excellent writer (althoug...Wendell Berry is also an excellent writer (although my preference still tips to Logsdon; his sotto voce irascibility appeals to me). I do find it interesting that "both sides" of the political divide claim Berry and Logsdon as their own; there are some things that transcend politics.<br /><br />Modernism and technology made great promises to individuals about what life it could give them. What it did not always make plain is what it would cost them.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-9136982057098609582022-12-07T06:14:34.340-08:002022-12-07T06:14:34.340-08:00Ed, cyclic is not a bad way to look at things eith...Ed, cyclic is not a bad way to look at things either - although it does make me ponder the ideas of cities as being cyclic (and does gentrification count as a cycle?). <br /><br />I would posit that it is not completely due to resource consumption that the idea is being revisited. I think it also has more than a little to do with modern society as a whole. Some people move from the large urban areas due to costs; others flee the large urban areas due to conditions or simply a sense that they want some greater aspect of control of their own lives that a large urban area will allow them.<br /><br />Fortunately virtual reality has never really appealed to me - although, mine may be the last generation.Toirdhealbheach Beucailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872794169534403463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-591042047503351312022-12-07T06:07:50.202-08:002022-12-07T06:07:50.202-08:00I grew up near a small farming town. It was a slo...I grew up near a small farming town. It was a slower life than the nearest "big" city. Our self-reliance was pretty well established as a family. I think that is the basic unit of the small town. The squad in the platoon. We grew a lot of our own food, we mined our own water, and we fixed our own stuff. We had an eye out for trouble, whether on the ground or in the sky, I don't remember the sheriff ever driving by our house, tornado sirens were too far away to be of any use to us. We learned a lot.<br /><br />Rugged individualism has been undermined to develop the needy individual and the nanny state. I figure the current system was designed over time for just that purpose. Going from a lifetime of neediness to self-reliance, in my mind, isn't an easy road.<br /><br />My personal trajectory isn't looking so good right now (very narrow data set). If everything falls to dookie in my current situation, I'm hoping I can uproot to a place like I grew up. But I'm not sure how likely that will be.... But the search is on.STxARhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04588850178293194825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-87283908886131640212022-12-07T02:48:59.887-08:002022-12-07T02:48:59.887-08:00Excellent post TB, those that believe they are int...Excellent post TB, those that believe they are interdependent and resilient because they are told that by the state seem to ignore/don't care what the OPASB are doing. Heaven forbid that people think they know what is best for themselves. More and more people are thinking "leave me the $%^& alone!" Sorry for that so early in the morning but some in government want to give you a colonoscopy every....single....day. Nylon12noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-59366298979858849572022-12-07T02:41:55.811-08:002022-12-07T02:41:55.811-08:00I enjoyed reading Gene Logsden books as well as We...I enjoyed reading Gene Logsden books as well as Wendell Berry's writings as well. I think a lot of that line of thinking of living on the land you practiced 'real conservation' on disappeared when the population left the farms and ranches to live on a 'real wage' in the urbans. We forgot how much giving up paper wealth for spiritual wealth of living beyond the sidewalks has. Its the same wind, same stars free for the taking if you decided to go out and enjoy it. Blood pressure medications would be far less required if we all tried that path.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14404262.post-65208885077552880092022-12-07T02:34:16.441-08:002022-12-07T02:34:16.441-08:00I guess more than interdependent or resilient, I t...I guess more than interdependent or resilient, I tend to think of communities as being more cyclic. We started off as an agrarian society. As we became populated, that went away but came again in waves as we progressed westward across the landscape. Eventually that all went away and all those agrarian based towns out here in the rural parts of America were left to rot on the vine. I think as we have come to realize that we are consuming our resources, agrarianism has started to come back again. It is more in vogue these days. People are actually moving from the cities back out into the countryside. But as I said, I think it will only be temporary until the next cycle starts. What that next cycle is, I'm not sure. Perhaps it will be us plugging into the Metaverse and checking out of the reality of this world. Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214319366049620074noreply@blogger.com