April 20, 2025
Parallel Polis Publishing
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.
We are thrilled to unveil an exciting new feature that will undoubtedly revolutionize your Gab experience. Say hello to Gab Clips, an innovative addition to our platform that allows you to create and explore short, portrait-style video clips that you can easily swipe through.
We are in a time of great spiritual awakening. I cannot tell you how many conversations I have had with young men, many of whom have little or no background in church, who realize how spiritually sick our world is. As a pastor, usually my first advice would be to “find a good church.” But in our day, such advice is much easier said than done. The great sickness of our world is also reflected in the dearth of good churches.
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.
I recently took my family on a trip to the Zoo and felt an overwhelming sense of shock at the state of the people around me there. The atmosphere seemed reminiscent of a scene from “The Walking Dead,” with a clear sense of emptiness in everyone’s eyes. Witnessing this lack of meaning and despair on people’s faces saddened me profoundly, but I am not without hope.
Modern life is meaningless. Our young people believe they have no other purpose on this earth other than to seek pleasure and entertain away their boredom. Tens of millions in our country live this way. Is it any wonder that we have never been more anxious, depressed, and suicidal?
Like many in the Millennial Generation, I went to college and enjoyed four years of few responsibilities and seemingly endless opportunities for fun with friends. Your first taste of life as an adult is pleasure island. You are young with unlimited free time and can do whatever you want. Even if you are a Christian and you avoid the bacchanal of drunkenness, drugs, and fornication, you still become accustomed to a slightly more wholesome dissipate lifestyle. You assume this is what adult life is. For many in my generation, you leave college and continue to chase that same high. You find a job—if you are lucky—and have less free time. You are separated from most of your college friends. But you become desperate to relive those glory days, even if only Friday night through Sunday.
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?
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 concept of building a parallel economy and nurturing a new Christendom offers an inspiring vision for those seeking alternative frameworks to secular society’s crumbling infrastructure. This is something we’ve been working towards here at Gab for several years now and I’m excited to share some more of that vision and highlight a few of the great people laying the foundation of a new Christendom with their work.
