I had a hard time putting this book down. Gene Logsdon's words resonated with me and helped me understand the direction we needed to go. His book “Homesteading” gives detailed instructions on everything you need to do for each calendar month. He also gives detailed instructions on fruit growing, separate from the complete vegetable growing edition. His insights inspired me, but his opposing views entertained me.
I read his book over and over again. I've read it almost every year for the last 10 years. I have a tattered copy sitting next to me that I always refer to when I'm in a pinch. He said that every serious organic grower should have in their collection, books on agriculture written before World War II. I think his advice is more relevant today than ever.
Computers make our lives easier in at least some ways. Having information at our fingertips anywhere in the world is appealing. But lately, some of the information I've been getting is wrong.
I recently bought some green bean seeds. I was trying different varieties hoping to find something rabbit proof. But to my dismay, an internet search and the package said I needed 1/2 pound per 100 foot row. That's double what I've been planting for years. So I relented and bought the correct amount of seed. I ended up with twice as much seed as I needed.
I ended up planting more rows closer together, but I didn't want to. Clearing 100+ quarts of beans from the garden is a lot of work. Even harder than clearing all that stuff is keeping the kids away. Predators in the home are more relentless than those in the yard.
As my wife and I typically end our day sitting on the porch sipping alcoholic beverages, I can’t help but be grateful for all we have and amused by the things we’ve learned, like where the phrases “pecking order” and “egg in the face” fit in (from a troubled hen eating an egg only to be caught by a watchful farmer).
We are so blessed, yet so ignorant, that the problems I search for online and read about obsessively could have been solved by anyone, even a child, just a few generations ago.
Today I found myself having to use technology to interpret information from an old book. The references used are beyond my comprehension and incomprehensible. One of my tractor manuals says that Henry Ford designed tractors to be mechanically simple because their only competition was the horse. I have two college degrees and still don't understand how it works. I recently adjusted the points 6 times trying to tune it just before it shorted out the entire electrical system.
I love technology and use computers every day, but I have a deep respect and gratitude for the knowledge that people in the past had to survive. I'm glad to have access to technology, but I'll continue to collect and read old books, just as I have to keep proving to my computer that I'm not a robot.
