Garlic is harvested, time to cure

Good evening

We got sheep!

View from the wet land

First seeds planted of the season, black locust trees, future source of nitrogen fixation, pollinator food, sheep forage, and high quality fuel wood

The peepers have announced that Spring has arrived

When you witness something beautiful, three miracles are co-arising at once, the miracle of being, the miracle of the awareness of being, and the bliss that breaks the confines of its functional value

High water mark

Good morning

Moon and Venus

For me the potential of Spring starts in February. Not quite done with Winter rest, but new stirrings beckon. Time to prepare the soul to steward a new growth of creation, envision, acquire seeds, prune and plant trees, plan for new animals, and as always, pray

If I am a Christian and I believe I will be reconciled and restored back to God, and if I believe that my relationships are essential to who I am, then I must believe that my relationships will also be reconciled and restored, and that there is no salvation that is not universal

It's a beautiful thing to have faith that all parts of yourself, all of your relationships, experiences, and interests, no matter how seemingly disparate, disjointed, and dysfunctional, are forming an organic and essential divine unity that will be revealed in due time

In my view there are two competing Christian visions. One in which a fortunate elect are saved from an otherwise tragic creation, and another in which all of creation is being worked out and will eventually be reconciled and restored back to God. I know which vision I prefer...

I don’t have a favorite season, every season is an experience to be witness to

I will be taking the month of December off from this site. Y’all behave!

We need memetic mediation (aka spiral wizardry) more now than ever! thesideview.co/journal/the-...

Ladies and gentlemen, your next Secretary of Agriculture, deeply steeped in the business model of farming the government www.ewg.org/news-insight...

Good morning old friend

My wife made customized plates for the kids

I ran meat chickens last year but I probably won't do it again. Even rotated and pastured, the feed costs are substantial. Doesn't make sense when *checks notes* ruminants exist. There is also the little thing that my chicken tractor washed away in the flood, seems like a sign

Thread on reforesting land. In 2012 we moved to new house on 15.5 acres. ~6 acres old growth forest. Rest hayed pasture. Started transplanting saplings first year and every year for 6 years. Now The Meadow is a forest. 3 species Chestnuts including 25 15/16ths American. 70 species of trees

Great and terrifying book. Perhaps setting it in 2024 is a bit ahead of schedule, but not by much

I’d give some more homestead updates but mostly I’m just replacing the fencing around trees that washed away in the storm. Pleasant enough, but not exactly click-bait

We live in an interconnected world that affects our day to day We also aren’t evolved to be constantly plugged into a digitally mediated ‘society’ from which we hold strongly valanced opinions Best to keep tabs on the bigger picture, but to invest emotionally in what you can see and touch

I’ve heard a couple of explanations of this, that RFK is selling out and/or this is a dominance ritual imposed by Trump, but just hear me out: eating the burger is a sacrifice he must make to the seed oil gods in order to clear the way for the Good Works

The most interesting accounts are those that hold a strong point of view but are able to view it as an object and critique it when necessary

My 6-year old is improving in his art, and has started teaching me art classes where I copy what he does and then he critiques

If you’re going to triangulate, triangulate across plausible considerations of truth, not across current poles of the overtone window

Billy Strings is probably overhyped in the bluegrass world, but he’s actually pretty good. I think Doc Watson would be proud

"The two sides of the New Testament's eschatological language represent not two antithetical possibilities tantalizing or menacingly dangled before us, posed one against another as challenges to discernment, but rather...

I find the RFK nomination a mixed bag. I don’t like his stance on vaccines, but I do like his stance on regenerative agriculture, healthy eating, and industrial chemicals in the food system. Remains to be seen whether his power will be net good or bad

An update for those not on X: I left Doomer Optimism a few days ago but I won’t be out of the podcast game for long. Hoping to start up another in the Spring, tentatively titled The Metamodern Agrarian Revival podcast, and it will be collaborative I’m open to ideas about guests and topics

X is now the social media platform of the Regime. I’m curious to see what this platform will become

How are you doing today?

Decided to poke my head back in here to see what was going on

July 1

Let the portal grow

Geeking out about the aesthetics of this cabbage and broccoli bed in different lighting a couple hours apart

July 1

If I could pass any 10 policies, this is what they would be: 1. Phase out ag and fossil fuel subsidies 2. 10x budget for NRCS, fund holistic watershed governance 3. Stronger chemical reg vis a vis safety 4. Grants for field schools & community land trusts 5. Resource extraction taxes

Most critiques of 'degrowth' are pretty uninformed, but it's kind of their fault. A better framing is *regeneration*, discernment as to what we want to grow / degrow. We want to grow ecological health and well being...we want to degrow extractive / wasteful linear throughput

Markets on their own evolve into capitalism and destroy communities and the planet. Markets embedded in the commons have the potential of being harnessed for the common good

My 5 year old already loves when we read Calvin and Hobbes even though so much of it goes over his head, can't wait to keep reading and for him to continually discover new layers

Looks like we'll be getting some grapes and apples this year

Lush green after 2 days of rain. Most garden beds have something coming up

*Logs into Bluesky* some kind of war going on, close Bluesky and get back to homestead chores

We built this treehouse for our kids, but it doubles as a meditation and siesta spot

Two of the biggest challenges for the local food system where I live are 1) the ability for young would be farmers to access land, and 2) the lack of labor because all the people who would want to work on a farm can't afford the housing and cost of living

Attending a local Food Security and Sustainable Agricultural workshop today, multiple segments of the local food system represented. Lots of complexity, solidarity, and successes/challenges expressed. This is prefiguration...