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I broke with conventional agriculture in 1928 and over the next 25 years spent my time and money on a losing cause, trying to form an independent farm organization and save the family size spread. Then, for 10 years after that, I tried to promote natural or organic fanning again without much success. At that point I was contacted by a noted Chicago allergy specialist to produce what he called "chemically uncontaminated food" for his patients. My problems were over: I grew my crops without chemicals or drug stimulants and set a fair price for those products. City people beat a 150 to 175 mile path to our door and from then on I cared not who was Secretary of Agriculture.

We had to crawl before we could walk, of course, just as you do in building a market for any product. One of my nicest business relationships began when a young woman telephoned my wife and asked whether we had any wheat on hand. We did, at $1.70 per bushel. The caller seemed surprised to find it so cheap and asked how much I'd sell. I told her we had about 50 bushels, assuming she'd want just one or two.

A few days later, several pickup trucks and cars full of young women and children rolled into the yard and we all had fun for the next hour while I scooped 54 bushels of wheat into sacks, buckets, and cans. "Next time," I said, "why don't you come about the middle of July and get wheat direct from the combine? Bring a lunch and we'll have a picnic." This they did and have continued to do every year. Last year, though, they came with a big truck, got 122 bushels, and paid the market price (which by that time was $4.21 a bushel) in cash.

Which just goes to show that if you grow a product the public wants, and educate your customers to make the most of your service, you can do well as an organic farmer. Your soil will do well, too, and be the richer and better for your being there.

Looking back over this article, I realize that I may seem to be opposed to education. I'm not. My objection is not to education but to the use of our educational system as a tool by those who wish to control and dominate the American people. A "good student" today is one who can absorb the secondhand material in the book. That has little to do with real education the development of the mind.

Years ago, when I was in college, I told my dad that my buddy Marion was going to "finish" his education. "I hope you do that when your toes turn up," said my father and I've tried not to let him down.

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