My lovely wife returns to the blogosphere

My wife spent a couple of years putting together an excellent weblog called "Granny Miller" that contains a terrific store of information about gardening, food preservation, and small farm skills. Granny Miller was her gift to people who had lost these skills and did not have the benefits of the Grannies that she did; older women in our family and neighbors that taught her. As the economy worsens, these skills become more necessary every day. For those who learn to produce their own food, shelter, and fuel, there is a measure of security in an insecure World. One can take care of their loved ones and neighbors in need in the event of economic collapse, natural disaster, or the many small calamities that will always befall each of us.

Historically, my wife and I live the way most Americans always have; trying to work quietly at home with our hands and meeting our own needs. However, in the past few years, I have seen this traditional American lifestyle under assault by the growth and intrusion of government into many things that were once private affairs.

The Congress actually considering bills to inspect and regulate home gardens

The carbon trading scam, that does I know not what to those of us who heat with our own wood.

Proposals to force us to place RFID chips in our livestock and document their movement.

Government reports that identify people like me as a "potential domestic terrorist" because of my devotion to a belief that unborn babies are human beings and citizens of the republic, or our adherence to the Constitution (including that pesky Second Amendment)

My wife has properly recognized that our liberties to live as we always have are in jeopardy, and we are not the only ones. Motorists are now stopped by federal agents for non traffic matters, and asked for "their papers". Those in power wish to squash political dissent. Most people are split between a false left/right paradigm that allows the two parties and their corporate contributors to control the system. This was the reason that George Washington abhorred political parties, as my wife recently reminded me.


The only way back to what our country once was is through an informed, educated, and active citizenry; quite simply a people fit for self government. That is why I joined the Appleseed program, and that is why my lovely, talented, and courageous wife has returned to blogging: her new site is called Mrs Powel. It is a mix of historical information from the founding era and pertinent news about the precarious state of freedom in Pennsylvania.

Summer Season/July 4th Tea Party

This is a very busy time of year. It is haymaking time, garden work is at its peak.
The bantams are hatching chicks,and best of all the wild black raspberries are here. I am getting about 2-3 quarts per hour when I pick. It looks like the blackberries will come on strong this year as well. I love picking wild berries because it was my first agrarian employment. From the time I was about 5, I loved going off to the woods, eating my fill, and bringing berries back for my mom or Granny to make pies and jelly. I still eat at least a pint every time I pick.

It has been a funny spring. We had a very late frost and the past few nights have been very cool (down to about 50 degrees at night. Some of the warm season vegetables are not doing well, not sick-just lacking "bloom". The cabbage and onions are excellent, the broccoli is fair, and the green beans have been ravaged by deer. We will still get some, but myself or someone else will have to get those beans back in the fall-- after they are converted to protein.

There is not a lot of volume in anyone's first cut hay in this area. Many blame the late frost.

I have also been training Bob, a new farm dog we got from the Venango County Humane Society. He is about 2, and I think he is either part English Shepherd or Australian Shepherd. He has been here for three weeks and is still learning basic commands and just being with us. He is just starting to work ducks a bit, helping me pen them each evening. While I would not necessarily start a cowdog on ducks, They are a much quieter way to start a sheepdog.

I did get away from the farm to attend the July 4th Tea party in Mercer Pa. I could not think of a better way to honor our founders than to take advantage of our First Amendment Rights in this manner. There were perhaps 600 people there. I got there a bit late, so I did not get the main speakers name. His main topic was the Constitution and how both parties have been ignoring it for too long on so many basic matters. It was very heartening to see 600+everyday Americans listen attentively to a one hour lecture on our Constitution. They also gave anyone in the audience three minutes to speak so I got to plug the RWVA and Appleseed. The great thing about this event was that the career politicians did not steal the limelight or co opt the agenda. This was pure everyday Americans who know that the Republic is in trouble. By just being there, they were beginning to educate themselves so that once again we might become a people fit for self-government.


As we pass another independence day, I am reminded that our liberties are a gift from God. This does NOT mean that we as Christians seek temporal power as a means in itself. I was privileged to hear Rev. Dr. T David Gordon preach at Grace today, and when I think about Christians and government I always remember this excellent essay of his on the subject. However, we do have some very specific things to say to this culture and place, as Fr. Robert Hart reminds us in this very good sermon.

Persecution in Connecticut

This from Chris Rosebrough, the admiral over at Pirate Christian Radio, all Christians need to follow what is happening in Connecticut (as well as growing persecution in the UK) I was actually shocked by the constitutional implications of this state interference in church affairs, and I am pretty hard to shock these days.

You can listen here.

New Site for Appleseed Range

I have a new weblog for the Appleseed Range. I will continue to post here about the farm and whatever else crosses my mind. I will occasionally cross post in both weblogs. However, I wanted to have a site for anyone planning to attend an Appleseed here and needing practical information without sifting through posts about how to build a sheep feeder, or various events in the life of a small Anglican church.

The new site is here.

Appleseed Update

Just a quick post: Readers of this journal may know about our offer to use a part of our farm for the Appleseed program, as well as my own experience in this program, this past Patriot's Day.

It is now official. I am the host of the Timothy Murphy Memorial DAR (Designated Appleseed Range). After a poll of RWVA members, it was decided to name the range after a Pennsylvania born Hero of the Revolution, Timothy Murphy.The story of Timothy Murphy is proof how one common man can make a difference in history. His shot at Saratoga, helped win that battle, and Saratoga was the victory that allowed American diplomats to gain French and other European help.

The first Appleseed clinic will be here on August 15-16. Anyone can register at
the RWVA site. There is free primitive camping here, or nearby motels and full service campgrounds.

RWVA is a nonprofit group, Kids shoot free, Active duty military shoot free, ladies shoot free. Revolutionary War reenactors may also attend and shoot free if they wear their uniform (at least the first day and hopefully explain some of the history of their uniform). For the rest of us, the Clinic is $45 per day or $70 for both days. Register for both days and get a cool free T-Shirt. If the T-shirt is not enough, The combination of safety instruction, marksmanship training and American history is well worth a weekend.

I will be posting much more on this later.

A Northern Agrarian Tours the South.

The Month of May is always a busy time, and this May was busier than most, as we traveled a couple of weeks ago. I actually wrote this two weeks ago, but have just had a chance to post it now.

My lovely wife and I are homebodies, but as her family is scattered from Massachusetts to South Carolina, we periodically need to meet various family obligations. So for the first time in two years, we spent a night away from home---actually four nights. Our destination was The South Carolina Low Country between Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

One of the reasons we don't travel much is that we have many responsibilities here. Leaving overnight forces us to call upon friends and family to watch over our livestock. They don't seem to mind, and are competent at the task, but every time I leave I feel like a new mother leaving her baby for the first time. I fret and worry the whole time.

Another reason is that I believe that my home country is superior to all others and I see no reason to leave it. However, I do understand that many other people feel this way. The peculiar love of ones home countryside was understood so well by Kipling:

God gave all men all earth to love,
But, since our hearts are small
Ordained for each one spot should prove
Beloved over all;
That, as He watched Creation's birth,
So we, in godlike mood,
May of our love create our earth
And see that it is good.

So one shall Baltic pines content,
As one some Surrey glade,
Or one the palm-grove's droned lament
Before Levuka's Trade.
Each to his choice, and I rejoice
The lot has fallen to me
In a fair ground-in a fair ground --
Yea, Sussex by the sea!

I rejoice that my own lot has fallen in the middle ground between the Ohio River and Lake Erie.

The final reason I dislike travel is I don't ever feel like I have anything to get away from. When I get tired of my off farm job, I work at home in the garden or cutting wood. By the time I am sick of that, its time to go back to my off-farm job.
We don't need to go to the park, because we have our own park at the back of the farm. My wife and I both enjoy being together for simple things: going to town to buy groceries and beer, or going to buy bedding plants. For a big treat we take a day trip.

When we travel, we try to avoid large Cities. We took The Interstate through West Virginia and western Virginia (near Galax. Then we cut through the heart of North Carolina, through towns such as Yadkinville, Salsbury and Rockwell. The area is interesting to me because there was once a fairly prominent Pennsylvania German presence there.

Here is a great country store we stopped at south of Mount Airy; friendly proproetor and a great selection of Case knives.



The South is not ideal sheep country, and we saw more meat goats than sheep in the Carolinas. However, we did see this nice flock that had some Tunis among them. This was interesting to me, as Tunis were the breed of choice in the South before the Civil War.


I find the Low Country interesting, because it is the natural world there is so foreign to me. None of the tree of plant species are familiar.


The soil is very sandy, and I am somewhat amazed that anything grows.



I appreciate the low country, but would have a hard time adjusting my agrarian skills to survive there. However, I do like the local people. On Sunday morning, I attended early Service at All Saints Anglican on Pawley's Island.


The Parish was extremely warm and hospitable. Like many of the parishes in western Pennsylvania, the folks at All Saints are involved in court cases with the liberal Episcopal Church which is more interested in their real estate than their souls. As this parish was deeded by The King for an Anglican church in 1736, I would like to see it stay in faithful hands. However, like many orthodox in the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, they will continue to meet wherever they can, if they lose.

The church had a fine bookstore, and I spent part of the afternoon reading JC Ryle and John Rocyhana, while perched somewhat unsteadily in a Pawley's Island Hammock.


We also spent about 20 minutes at the beach, and both of us had had enough. While the inland low country is foreign to me, it is a place where real people have lived for generations and built lives. I appreciate that it has its own cuisine, crafts, and local culture. By contrast, the beachfront resort areas are what James Kunstler would call capitals of unreality. People are drawn to live there under an illusion that they can escape from labor and live a carefree lifestyle of golf and parties. Even the old people in the beachfront communities dress (and often act) like graying adolescents. There is too much traffic, too much noise, it looks like one restaurant for every 3 people. I cant help but think that if someone believes that Myrtle Beach is getting away from it all, their life is WAY too hectic. Give me my northern agrarian rat race any day.

Small Scale Grain Raising is Back in Print !

There are many helpful gardening and beginning homesteading books. I collect books from library sales and flea markets, and many cover the same ground in different ways. There are many good books to tell someone how to start vegetable seeds, plant a garden. preserve the harvest, and save heirloom seeds, as well as milk a goat, raise chickens or cut firewood. However, if you want to move beyond these common basics into how to raise a patch of wheat and make your own bread, or plant an acre of corn to feed your own chickens, the list grows MUCH shorter.

I commend to anyone interested, Small Scale Grain Raising. Gene Logsdon wrote this classic years ago. There is material in there that can be found nowhere else. Unfortunately, the book is an agrarian cult classic and used copies were trading on Amazon for up to $100. I paid $3.00 for mine, was very stingy about loaning it out, and kept it in a mylar book cover.
It is very exciting to see this come back in print in an affordable edition.

Many of the skills in this book are not hard. Growing grain is very easy. Spill some oats or wheat on the ground at the right time of year and they will grow. The key is processing that grain. Logsdon makes processing small grains like wheat, oats, and buckwheat possible for someone growing on a quarter acre "pancake patch".

The best place to buy the book is from another agrarian-the good folks at Cumberland books. You can find it here

I only have one issue with the 1977 edition that I hope was corrected in the new one. Logsdon uses and discusses the classic American Scythe. I inherited one and used it until I found out about the vastly superior Austrian Scythe. The American scythe is clunky and awkward. The Austrian scythe is a joy to use. I bought mine about 8 years ago from the Marugg Company. I also recommend them.