02/15/2017
Young farmers are having a moment. These books of essays from legendary names are full of practical advice for those getting started in farming. More than that, they are apologia for the small farmer and a celebration of wisdom transferred among generations. Just like James Rebanks's best-selling A Shepherd's Life, the message in these titles is that farming is hard, important, and needs to be taken seriously and thoughtfully (though with appropriate humor). Farmers, young and old, are speaking up for themselves, and everyone who eats can learn something from them.The Stone Barns Center is a nonprofit that works to improve American farming, foodways, and soil. With Letters, it has compiled advice to young farmers from an impressive array of writers from various backgrounds, including international and urban. Some contributors take the writing assignment more literally than others do, but by including farmers, chefs, activists, and entrepreneurs, the essays form a cohesive vision of contemporary farming, including real solutions for problems such as climate change and jobs in rural areas.Farmer, blogger, and journalist Logsdon's (Gene Everlasting; A Sanctuary of Trees) book takes the same tack, with advice based on personal experience and a deep knowledge of farm literature. It is a useful companion to the Stone Barns offering, putting its contributors in context. Logsdon wrote humorous accounts of small-scale farming for decades, and finished this book just weeks before his death in 2016. As a self-styled "contrary farmer," he tells it as he sees it, and his personality shines through in the idiosyncratic conclusions. His portrait of rural America provides much-needed nuance to the rhetoric prevalent in politics lately. VERDICT Anyone who gardens, particularly for food, will take something away from these books. Actual farmers may not need the advice but will appreciate the pep talk.—Margaret Heller, Loyola Univ. Chicago Libs.
2016-12-26
An elegant, modern georgic in prose by "contrary farmer" Logsdon (Gene Everlasting, 2013, etc.).Of a piece with the works of Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, and other modern back-to-the-landers, Logsdon's last book (he died in May 2016) comprises a set of essays addressed to an imagined young person contemplating a life in the fields. "There's no such thing as the American farmer," counsels the author at the outset. Instead, there are beet farmers, dairy farmers, flower farmers, marijuana farmers, and even "moonshine farmers," which makes it difficult to categorize all the different kinds of farmers and to subsume them into any meaningful political organization. The point is that because there is so much diversity in farming, anyone with intelligence, gumption, and stick-to-itiveness shouldn't be dissuaded from having a go at it. Of course, there are plenty of reasons not to farm, and Logsdon isn't shy of enumerating the challenges, from the fiscal and physical ones to matters that embrace even the heart: one of his essays concerns how to find a suitable helpmeet out in the sticks, where, as a former seminarian, he discovered "there were girls peeking out from behind every crossroads stop sign in the county." Times change, but the struggle continues, one aspect of it the corporatization of farming. Oddly, there Logsdon finds an ally in the chain restaurateur Bob Evans, who encouraged those who would listen to invest in biological over mechanical solutions, saying, "tractors don't have babies." Logsdon is encouraging without being Pollyannaish, homespun while also sometimes arch: "On the occasions when I have had to travel in city traffic, the thought always occurs to me that people who must commute into cities to work spend about as much time just waiting for traffic lights to change as it takes me to write a book." From raising cattle to organizing markets, there's much value here for every aspiring farmer, whose work requires brains along with brawn.
Kirkus Reviews-
“An elegant, modern georgic in prose by ‘contrary farmer’ Logsdon (Gene Everlasting, 2013, etc.). Of a piece with the works of Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, and other modern back-to-the-landers, Logsdon’s last book (he died in May 2016) comprises a set of essays addressed to an imagined young person contemplating a life in the fields. ‘There’s no such thing as the American farmer,’ counsels the author at the outset. Instead, there are beet farmers, dairy farmers, flower farmers, marijuana farmers, and even ‘moonshine farmers,’ which makes it difficult to categorize all the different kinds of farmers and to subsume them into any meaningful political organization. The point is that because there is so much diversity in farming, anyone with intelligence, gumption, and stick-to-itiveness shouldn’t be dissuaded from having a go at it. Of course, there are plenty of reasons not to farm, and Logsdon isn’t shy of enumerating the challenges, from the fiscal and physical ones to matters that embrace even the heart: one of his essays concerns how to find a suitable helpmeet out in the sticks, where, as a former seminarian, he discovered ‘there were girls peeking out from behind every crossroads stop sign in the county.’ Times change, but the struggle continues, one aspect of it the corporatization of farming. Oddly, there Logsdon finds an ally in the chain restaurateur Bob Evans, who encouraged those who would listen to invest in biological over mechanical solutions, saying, ‘tractors don’t have babies.’ Logsdon is encouraging without being Pollyannaish, homespun while also sometimes arch: ‘On the occasions when I have had to travel in city traffic, the thought always occurs to me that people who must commute into cities to work spend about as much time just waiting for traffic lights to change as it takes me to write a book.’ From raising cattle to organizing markets, there’s much value here for every aspiring farmer, whose work requires brains along with brawn.”
Foreword Reviews-
"This engaging, conversational book dispenses life advice for farmers and others who seek to live close to the earth. Letter to a Young Farmer is an accumulation of wisdom with a large dollop of humor and a conversational tone that will endear it to almost every audience. The book recalls a conversation with a parent or older family member in that many of its common-sense directives are informed by experience, from the purchasing of land to the management of aggressive rams. But not all the advice here is specific to farmers or 'garden farmers'; general life advice can be extrapolated from discussions of love, finance, and other common-sense aspects of life. Categorizing Letter is tricky at times, perhaps appropriately so, stating that 'contrary farmers,' as the author self-identifies, tend to defy stereotyping. It is philosophical, but it also dispenses concrete advice. Likewise, though it does present useful information, much of this is apocryphal, cast in a slyly humorous way, and even opinionated. For example, the author agrees that climate change is a problem, but he also describes people concerned over the issue as paranoid 'hand-wringers.’ Letter is best read as an inspirational piece. It seems likely to lure many a gardening neophyte to the farm life, though it takes care to stress the difficulty of this path too. Above all, it preaches consistency, locality, and the long view, occasionally contrasting this philosophy with the frantic pace of mainstream modern life. In the book’s worldview, small farming is the key to solving the most serious of our environmental, mental, and physical problems as well as the existential emptiness of consumerism. Yet at the same time, it does not advocate complete abandonment of capitalist modality. Parts of the book recall Buddhist principles of moderation. With its unique point of view, Letter to a Young Farmer is a must-read piece of environmental, agricultural, and social philosophy.”
Booklist-
If Logsdon (1932-2016) had his way, the term contrary farmer would have been every bit as familiar as country farmer. A learned proponent of ‘stay in and stay small' garden farming, Logsdon’s outspoken outlook was completely in opposition to the practices and philosophies of corporate agribusiness. Instead of encouraging farmers to 'go big or get out' by adding more property, more machinery, and more debt, Logsdon championed the idea of working on a more personal scale that allows farmers to appreciate nature and honor tradition while still accepting technology and innovation. In this posthumously published book of essays, Logsdon extols the virtues of finding a good mate, praises the pluck and professionalism of women farmers, and enthuses about the health benefits of a day in the barn. Along with other hard-earned advice about hauling livestock, pasturing chickens, and controlling weeds, Logsdon’s lifetime of farming wisdom is firmly lodged in common sense. Sagacious and sly, practical and poetic, Logsdon’s voice may have been contrarian but it was never condescending.”
“In the midst of our epidemic fear of the future and its so-far predicted emergencies and catastrophes, here is Gene patiently, quietly, with the right touch of merriment, talking about the small, really possible ways of solving our one great problem: how to live on the Earth without destroying it.”—Wendell Berry, from the foreword
Publishers Weekly-
Late Ohioan farmer Logsdon (Gene Everlasting: A Contrary Farmer’s Thoughts on Living Forever) sends a meaningful (though poorly titled) message to up-and-coming homestead farmers. Written during the late stages of an illness that would take the author’s life in 2016, the book stands as his final assertion and rallying cry against the misguided notion, so prevalent at one time, that farmers needed to 'get big or get out.' The book isn’t written in the intimate style of a personal missive as the title suggests; it’s more of an essay collection squarely addressing topics such as small-scale economics, pasture farming, raising sheep, and the 'modern plowgirl,' with practical-minded advice throughout. This work serves as a guiding light and lodestar for farmers facing the modern challenges of any farming operation, large or small.”
