11 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
11 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
Before I was meeting to talk with Jordan a few days ago, on his entryway table was a book - "Family Friendly Farming" by Joel Salatin, a rather outspoken and prolific farmer in the Shenandoah Valley. I only read a few pages before we started talking but after that I knew this was a worthwhile book, so I borrowed it and read all 300-something pages in the past few days.
|
|
|
|
As a head of a family, head of a farm, and man of God, you need to read this book. I've ordered a copy to you.
|
|
|
|
In chapters "Encourage Separate Child Business", "Multiple Use Infrastructure", and "Complimentary Enterprises", he writes on the importance of children having their own enterprises within or connected to the farm.
|
|
|
|
"Commonly, our sleuthing showed that these farms were producing five tons of cow goodies per year. Then I'd flip over to the fertilizer budget and they'd be spending $15,000 a year on fertilizer... These farms could have easily put a child in charge of a composting program and other nutrient cycling techniques, eliminated the fertilizer bill, and thereby created a full-time salaried position."
|
|
|
|
There's a vision here not of just "expansion" and "enterprise" but of connectedness in the enterprise. That we can use (at least mostly) existing general-purpose capital to create additional opportunities and return and stewardship opportunities.
|
|
|
|
I can't really summarize it with justice, but it's the clearest articulation of the spirit I am drawn to, and it's something that's not only doable, but worth doing. |