Farming for self-sufficiency
(Page 4 of 18)
January/February 1974
By the Mother Earth News editors
John and Sally Seymour take us through any project they describe from start to finish, elaborating each step of the way. Their chief mentor is William Cobbett, whose Cottage Economy (1833) is to England what Thoreau's Walden is to America.
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Suppose you want to know how much land you should have—how much of your family's food you can grow on one acre, five acres, or twenty acres? The Seymours give facts and experiences of all kinds, but conclude, "If a family controls an acre of good land for every member of that family, that is very well indeed. "
If you are concerned about the nature and content of soil, the Seymours take you through the fascinating intricacies of potash, phosphate, and nitrogen. Humus? You 'll itch to make a compost heap after they explain it! Horses? Prepare for a practical guide through handling, harnessing, shoeing, and feeding a horse. There is also a homely probing into the use of machines and why they have decided to use a secondhand tractor (as we did on Lane's End, as we grew older). Of plowing, says John, "I don't believe there Is a more entrancing occupation." You 'll never want to live without it.
As for cows, calves, and such, you will see yourself putting on rubber gloves and turning the young animal In the uterus for calving. But then, If you've followed instructions and properly fed and cared for the mother, she will be so healthy, that one evening she will have her calf by herself In some Isolated spot. In the morning you 'll find the calf eagerly nursing, and the cow licking her baby's tail.
You will read about milk—that marvelous, almost perfect food, except for iron. And cheese, a frugal but nutritive way to store summer surplus for winter use.
You'll become a friend of the pig—a very Intelligent and cooperative animal that helps plow your rough acres and rewards you with good bacon and (John maintains) delicious fat. (It isn't fat, but lack of exercise, that causes thrombosis!) For curing bacon or salting fish, look for no better guides than the Seymours. The same may be said for making wine (of parsnips no less) or beer or baking bread, or the details of raising poultry—chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons—of all breeds, with an account of their excellences and mediocrities. The same for sheep, goats, and rabbits.
You have surmised that the Seymours are not vegetarians—though they give the vegetarian argument a fair handling. They conclude, however, that a homesteader must live with nature; that soil cannot retain its tilth without animal waste; that nature produces animals (especially males) in surplus and that man (an animal himself) has been entrusted with the sensitive and ethical care and killing of animals for his survival needs.
Neither are the Seymours ascetics or aesthetes, eschewing good food and eating. They relish food of quality. You know they respect and treasure food because of the effort and skill they have put into producing it. For them it is both source and result of their own life and energy. They enjoy everything from delectable strawberry jam or a fresh apple to tripe (animal intestines), which, properly prepared as they do It, is "too good for any king."
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