Thomas Jefferson Agrarian Ideal

I am afraid there is a time coming in this country where the Thomas Jefferson Agrarian Ideal will become the de facto standard. I do not think the vision is bad, but the pain we will experience to get there will cause headaches.Without a doubt in my opinion the greatest President we have ever had. An outstanding man on many levels the Thomas Jefferson Agrarian Ideal was a home-run. It was the vision that small communities of self-sufficient farms would serve as the backbone of this country.

Thomas Jefferson (hereby refereed to as TJ) was very fond of the farmer as some of his writings shows

“Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth.”-1781

“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it’s liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.”-1785

TJ as evidenced by his writings shows that he believes valuable citizens are the small farmer. I think a modern day viewpoint is that of Joel Salatin and he articulates that in his latest book. We have allowed our food system to be high jacked. It is up to us to fix this problem.

It is imperative to start today to strengthen your relationship with your local farmer. America can return to his roots as Time reported in their article on Joel. Given all the uncertainty in today’s world and the deplorable conditions in this countries food supplies the local farmer is the answer.

Anyone that has planted crops or had a garden knows it can be a lot of work. While we are in transition to the Thomas Jefferson Agrarian Ideal I would suggest you build the relationship now. My local farmer has a beautiful program that allows a lot of flexibility.

TJ was an amazing man and he accomplished a lot of things. I think he was right in that our ultimate survival is based on an agrarian society. I think we have deviated to far away from it for it to happen easily. It is time to be prepared for any disruption in the economy or the food supply.

Learning to grow, preserve, and support local food is something that has to be done immediately as time is running out. TJ would be amazed at the state of our country. We have certainly gone to long without a rebellion.

GB²