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Posts published in “Parallel Economy”

Confessions of a Steward—Beginnings

Confessions of a Steward—Beginnings

By Guest Post on February 6, 2023

By Joel Salatin, Plain Values

Does God Care How I Farm? That question defines my life’s work and vision because it moves the visceral, practical decisions I make in my farming vocation to a place of sacredness and godly living. If God cares about physical and practical things in my life, then my theology and belief structure are more than academic pursuits.

They are not just discussion groups and conversations. If God cares how I farm, then I should enthusiastically embrace searching for techniques and protocols that please Him. After all, it’s all His stuff. The courthouse may say I own this land, but ultimately I don’t. Legally and culturally, I may advocate for property rights, but really it’s all God’s property. Does He care how it’s handled? Does He care how I leave it? Does He care what I do with it?

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The Roundtable — Amish Insights on: Pride

The Roundtable — Amish Insights on: Pride

By Guest Post on January 31, 2023

by Ivan Keim, Plain Values

First, a note from Marlin Miller, Publisher of Plain Values Magazine:

Across the news and nation, I have sensed a renewed drive to get communities together again, more like the “good ole days.” Now, I’m not a fan of wishing to go back, but the interest and thoughtful questioning of a few of my Amish friends confirmed my hunch time and again. We have assembled a panel of Amish folks, some older and a few younger, who are passionate about strong communities and taking care of one another as God asks us to.

The Amish are not perfect, but they do take care of one another in extraordinary ways, and I believe we have much to learn from it all. There are not many more well-known examples of this than “a good old-fashioned barn raising!” Philippians 2:3–4 says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but to the interests of others.”

Our family has had the luxury of having grown up in and around Amish communities our entire lives, and we do indeed have wonderful neighbors. I have no doubt that The Roundtable will become a favorite for many of our readers in the months to come.

Marlin Miller, always looking for more friends

Continue readingThe Roundtable — Amish Insights on: Pride
How Four Adoptions Led to a Magazine

How Four Adoptions Led to a Magazine

By Guest Post on January 24, 2023

by Marlin, Plain Values

What do the Amish, little ones with special needs, two nonprofits, four adoptions, two one-room schoolhouses from the 1800s, and a monthly print magazine have to do with homesteading in 2023? It is the story of our family, and it is a joy to share how the Lord has pieced it together over the last twenty years. My name is Marlin Miller, and here we go!

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Lessons from Livestock, Part Three

Lessons from Livestock, Part Three

By Guest Post on January 21, 2023

When the Lion Lies Down with the Bug

by David Treebeard

Read Part One
Read Part Two

The other day I was hauling a couple of cows to the slaughterhouse when a new-model truck with blacked-out windows blazed past me on the left. Big block letters on the rear window read: “LIONS NOT SHEEP.”

It was a nice truck, and I’d guess that the driver was an impressive guy — strong bench press, profitable business, maybe no exogenous mRNA in his bloodstream — but I’m also sure this truck bro is actually a particular type of sheep. A sheep in lion’s clothing, if you will, and I know that precisely because he considered himself to be a lion.

Continue readingLessons from Livestock, Part Three
Lessons from Livestock, Part Two

Lessons from Livestock, Part Two

By Guest Post on January 17, 2023

To Be or not to Bug

by David Treebeard

Read Part One
Read Part Three

When animals become numbers, human numbers are not far behind. For the past several hundred years since the imaginations of Descartes and other enlighteners permeated our power structures, people have been treated as machines or numbers – abstract variables that can be subtly manipulated, to achieve certain goals. This is how the modern government exercises its power through an upside-down form of Christian “pastoral” leadership.

What if the way a culture treats livestock is an indication of how its political leaders will treat people?

Continue readingLessons from Livestock, Part Two
The War Against Chaos

The War Against Chaos

By Guest Post on January 13, 2023

by J.Pilgrim

I’m typing this out while I’m racked out in the back of my SUV in a Walmart parking lot in a college town, sipping a beer. I was attempting to spend New Year’s Day camping at the homestead, but my fan belt frayed out on the drive and ripped off the top of the dipstick. I assume that the fan belt is a delayed casualty of the sub-zero cold we had a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t know for sure. I do know I’m not going to risk driving home and having the belt completely fall apart.

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The Visual Examination

The Visual Examination

By Guest Post on January 12, 2023

The Art and Science of Watching your Animals

by A.L. Bork DVM

The squeak of the grass, as it’s pinched between tooth and gum, harmonizes with the slow, baritone hoof beats of the flock advancing across the shadowy hillside. Each individual navigates independently, but pulses forward in unison with the band, as if obeying a silent command to push on just past the next sunlit clearing, and then the next, and the next.

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Do Your Part

Do Your Part

By Guest Post on January 10, 2023

Become an Active Citizen of the Parallel Economy in 2023!

by The Parallel Economist

Commit to becoming an active citizen of the Parallel Economy this year!

Gab’s progress in creating the Parallel Economy’s web infrastructure has been both extraordinary and inspiring. Andrew Torba’s leadership has been unparalleled, but the Parallel Economy is bigger than Gab’s management. The Parallel Economy requires the hundreds of brave businesses that have trail-blazed on Gab Marketplace, but even they are not the whole of the Parallel Economy, even on Gab.

The Parallel Economy needs everyone to succeed, and that means the thousands of Gab users and hundreds of thousands of Gab readers to be active citizens. Building a new economy is not a spectator sport. The Parallel Economy needs all hands on deck!

You must become an active citizen of the Parallel Economy!

Continue readingDo Your Part
Lessons from Livestock, Part One

Lessons from Livestock, Part One

By Guest Post on January 6, 2023

The Living Scripture of Creation

by David Treebeard

Read Part Two
Read Part Three

Nature is under God’s control, and all the parts of nature are part of His symbolic language. This means that all of creation offers spiritual lessons. To farm, log, or fish is to interact with an animated parable of Christ, spoken by wordless creatures. A Christian culture needs this natural engagement, because if nobody stoops down and gets their hands dirty in the earth, then nobody can build cathedrals and gather together to pray heavenward. 

Continue readingLessons from Livestock, Part One