My Goals to Becoming a Self-Sustainable Farmer

-Part 1 of ?

By Jeremy Myers

June 27, 2009

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may live properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

1 Thessalonians 4 (ESV)

My desires to become self-sustainable stem from the belief that I have been called by the Holy Spirit of the God of Israel to this work.  As He is the helper that guides us from the moment we are baptized into the body of Christ.  Not a baptism of water but of the Holy Spirit which comes at the moment we accept Christ as our sacrificial Lamb (Mark 1:8).  It is this baptism, a work of the Holy Spirit and not Man, that brings about the change in man from old to new and to bring one under the love and discipline of God.

To be self-sustainable one must think of how God created the world to work in nature.  Everything works in cycles and everything has a beginning and an end.  Death is not a waste but a chance to grow anew not in a reincarnation sort of way, but in a way of passing on the torch.  Just as composted dead grass creates wonderful soil, so too does death to the world, its worries and its fears, create anew and refresh man. God spoke through the Apostle Paul to say: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).  I believe that work is not truly fulfilling unless it is work in the ground as God had originally ordained in the Garden of Eden, first while Adam and Eve were in the Garden (Genesis 2:15), and second when they were sent out of the Garden (Genesis 3:23). Does this mean that parts of your job cannot be fulfilling? No, I refer to the over all benefits of the farming lifestyle versus the regular career that does not mean you are not doing right to work a job.  But there is an indescribable calm, an inexpressible peace, and an incommunicable rest one finds while toiling under the sun on his farm with his livelihood on the line if he cuts corners.  It’s a feeling of the pace of a steady horse that with power plows through to bring to life a dry and dusty land.  The work must be done, but equally true is the fact there will always be work to be done.  This creates a steady trod to which one thinks and does work.  “Sure there is work to be done, but enjoy your life while you work, don’t go too fast, don’t worry about that ‘look’ over your shoulder. Take pride in what you do and rest in the promises of God.”

Does it cost to run Nature?  If it does who’s money and where does it come from?  Of course it doesn’t cost.  God created everything to work in unison. The grass grows in the field to feed the deer whose fertilizer adds nitrogen to the ground and its meat is food.  Rocks erode providing minerals to plants to take up their roots. The sun (and the Son) is the one source of power that makes it all work.

Why must we be so dependent on others to work for us?  Okay let’s say there is no real reason not to take advantage of others’ talents.  That’s reasonable, but what happens? We become dependent on their definition of quality, good price, and we are now existing at the point that if they stop producing, we fail too.  And to what is the benefit?  Is it to be able to do more with less effort and knowledge?

Now comes the final question; why do more when less brings more contentment and therefore happiness? Let me explain, lets say you go to work to pay for the bills which allow you to have a life style you think will be acceptable.  There is nothing wrong with that…in fact I currently am doing that to some extent to fix mistakes I have made in the past and now to provide for my new baby, as well as to provide for that ultimate farm of the future.

Now let’s say that because you have a job that lets you pay for heat in the winter you now have more time because you don’t have to cut firewood for a woodstove.  So what do you do with that free time? Most people come home at night and flip on the Television and stay there till bed. Is it wrong to use it on something else like going out to the movies or loafing in the easy chair?  No of course not, but what is the benefit?  Do you gain time with your family doing something together that bonds your relationships? Some may say that watching TV together is bonding time but I disagree because it only becomes a time to sit in a vegetative state and remove ones self from reality which produces nothing but a desire for more loafing. What happens in nature? Something is always producing something.  Even the playfulness of a wolf pup produces muscles and coordination for it to work and find food later. So the answer, I believe, is no, you don’t gain from idleness unless it is directed at resting.  Do you gain heat for the cost of the food you eat? No.  What happens when you do not spend the food you eat (it’s a fuel remember)?  You grow unhealthy.

That is why I believe that working a farm is the best lifestyle you can have.  You work hard when there is work to do and you sleep well when it’s time for sleep, because this kind of work fulfills a man and gives him long days of life. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1. It is true that it will cost to provide this self-sustainability, but that is why the Founders of the American Constitution felt that land ownership was so important to every day Americans.  It provided the ability to “pursuit happiness”.  They never said you would find happiness but you can most definitely pursuit it!  Land is the beginning of the self-sustainable journey with out land you might as well be a nomad and a scavenger. Now my plan is to work a regular job to pay for the necessities to build such a machine that can be lubricated (feeding animals, plowing soil..etc) and allowed to produce for me and my family.

Continue to Part 2.