By: Emily Hershberger, Plain Values This Month’s Question:Springtime is a busy time of the year for homesteaders. How do you keep such large families seemingly…
Posts published by “Guest Post”
Or more accurately, what is a human?
by John Heers, First Things Foundation
What is a human right? To answer this question I propose that we investigate first things first. What is a human?
From the Isle of Mann in the sea between England and Ireland, sometime around the 7th Century AD, we find this story: Human beings are the survivors of the events of Ragnarök, a great war between the gods of the Norse. The two survivors, Lif and Lifthrasir, man and woman, gave birth to humans and it is the goal of these humans to appease and stay in alignment with the victorious gods of the Ragnarök.
From Nicea, a town in modern-day Turkey, in the year 323 AD, we see this: A human being is by grace, what Christ is by nature. God became man so man can become like God.
By: Ivan Keim, Plain Values
This Month’s Question:
What does restoration look like in your community?
Answered by: Ivan Keim, a minister in his local Amish church
By Rory Feek, Plain Values
On our recent trip to Amish country in Ohio to spend time with the team at the Plain Values office, Marlin put together a small gathering of folks from the community, and I sang a few songs and shared a few stories with them. But I think my favorite part of the trip was when he took us around and introduced us to his neighbors, Ivan and Emma, a young Amish couple in their mid-thirties.
By Joel Salatin, Plain Values
Last month I laid the foundation for the patterns and whys of animal movement. Failure to systematically and routinely move domestic livestock is perhaps the single biggest failure in animal agriculture.
But how? Fortunately, we have infrastructure today that makes learning ancient herding techniques unnecessary. In extremely remote and unpopulated areas, herding is still practiced. But in more populated and developed areas, it’s not practical. I don’t know anyone capable of telling a milk cow to stay in a 10 by 20-yard spot in a pasture and have her obey.
By Joel Salatin, Plain Values
The single biggest cost—and hurdle—in starting a farm of any size is the land cost. Our own nation has gone from free land to extremely expensive land. Old farmers today who acquired their land in the 1960s often have a hard time appreciating the land cost issue for aspiring new farmers.
When my mom and dad bought our place in 1961, it was $90 an acre, and feeder calves sold for $180; one acre would grow half a calf per year, which means the land and production were in a 1:1 ratio ($90:$90). Today, the land is $7,000 an acre, and that calf is worth $700; the land receives no more sunlight or rain and still grows half a calf worth $350. That means today’s land:production ratio is 20:1 ($7,000:$350), which is a far cry from the 1:1 in 1961.
By Shawn & Beth Dougherty, Plain Values
The corn in the garden is already more than knee-high, and the first planting of green beans has been gracing the supper table for more than a week, so summer must really be here. And even with temperatures in the high eighties making heat wrinkles over the county road, we’re happy to see the seasons advance. Pretty soon there will be okra to fry and tomatoes in our salads. The land is generous in July.
By Rory Feek, Plain Values
I once made a trip north to Amish country in Ohio to visit and spend time with Marlin and his team at the Plain Values home office. In the few days that I was there, I returned home with some unexpected personal insights that I thought I might share in the next column or two. The first one has to do with automobiles, or actually maybe the lack of automobiles in the world of the Amish, and also recently in mine.
By Marlin Miller, Publisher of Plain Values
Have you ever tried to do something nice for someone only to make a mistake that messes up everything you had planned?
Why Leaving Godless Places Is Loving Godless Places
by Joel Webbon
My book, “Fight By Flight: Why Leaving Godless Places Is Loving Godless Places,” recently sparked quite the controversy online. Many have asked, “Why an entire book dedicated to the topic of whether or not Christians should leave blue states? Why devote so much time to this particular topic, especially a niche topic that’s likely to be polarizing?”
My answer is simple: Because I spent several years of my life compelling Christians to stay in California (where I previously lived and pastored), it seems only right to devote some time and energy to righting the ship. This is not some kind of gospel-less penance. Rather, the Scripture teaches that each of us should strive to do good works in keeping with our repentance (Matthew 3:8). That said, I recognize that I must be careful not to make the same mistake, only this time, in the other direction. Therefore, my desire is for Christians to seriously consider whether or not their choice to remain in hostile contexts will inhibit them from full obedience to all of Christ’s commands. I want these Christians to know that it is permissible, and in some cases even commendable, to leave. At the same time, I want Christians to know there are exceptions to the rule. In some cases it is permissible, and even right, to stay.
To this end, my little book is intended to serve as merely the kindling for the fire of serious thought, prayer, and discussion. Ultimately, the decision is up to you, your conscience, and the Lord.
The internet is raging over France. Everybody has declared that it is a race war. This is it for the Frogs: the diversity immigrants have finally snapped; the incompatible Africans are finally being honest about their hatred of the White French and they’re burning down the country. It’s over this is the End. Well, if that’s the whole story then we have nothing to talk about. But I’m not that way inclined, I like stories. So, I’m joining the man who sat down calmly to eat a sandwich in the middle of a street battle to look at what’s happening to the collapsed imperial power – something I call the Vending Machine – of Europe known as the French Republic. All is not as it seems in the croissant utopia. It’s time to look at the French story over a sandwich.
by John Heers, First Things Foundation
I’ve just returned home from a trip to the Georgian Republic. I went there to visit one of our First Things Foundation field workers. His name is Oswald, a great guy. During my trip I was reminded by a Georgian friend that some of the oldest human remains have been found in Georgia. He told me the Caucuses is the original home of humanity. And that made me think about the word Caucasian, and the word race and all of that wondering has led to this month’s article. Let’s talk about race, shall we?