[Stable-Man]

@Tim Harrigan 14625 wrote:

It seems to be a bit of a hobby for those with traditionally physical occupations to rip on ‘egg head engineers’ for instance and vice-versa. It is common for folks to build themselves up by diminishing the skills and abilities of others, and the less we know about the real depth of decisions that others are face with the easier it is to do. But it seems clear to me that the real winners are those that have had the opportunity or have made the effort to balance their lives with both physical and intellectual challenges. Formal education is not the only source of intellectual challenge.

>>I have seen a good amount of this going back and forth between vocational and formal education. In both automotive and construction trades the engineer is the guy with a bunch of theory knowledge but no pratical knowlege of how a car is fixed, etc. There seems to be some resentment and questions about who’s more valuable.

I am guessing that for those who frequent this site, as we look back at those who provided real and meaningful inspiration regarding career and life choices, few look to those responsible for formal education. Some will, but I see faces much closer to home, farmers and the like who I saw day to day. Not a lot of formal education but so smart in so many ways. Would they make the same career choices today, given the stunning increase in mobility and options available just 2 generations later? Maybe, but probably not.

>>Farming is seen as a risky business, which is why people left the farms for job “security” in factories in the city, but I know from listening to professors that construction is as much of a risk. Financing died during this recession and house construction almost completely halted, and the multi-hundred-million-dollar projects set to start backfired. Lots of jobs are a constant gamble. As I see it food security is what keeps us all alive so we can do the rest of these enterprises, so which sounds like a better job?

At college I know plenty of dumb people, and for them college is great because a bachelors looks good on a resume. And for those that are smart and want to do something like engineering or whatever there isn’t much choice but to get a college degree. Personally I think apprenticeships need to come back into practice because some people don’t do well in college but excel in a concentrated task. The people who think farming is only for a simpleton don’t know anything about it.

Jac–It’s a view shared by a lot of the so called developed world. The tractor is seen as progress and most people don’t challenge it. near horse–In cuba and a many other places the ox is important, but I get the impression it’s seen as a sign of impoverishment rather than owning a machine is just not as economical for the small landholdings they farm. Carl–if you ever make it down thisaway give a talk at one of the colleges like UMD. That’d be cool.

[Stable-Man]

@Robernson 13022 wrote:

Although I am not as educated on draft as y’all I’ll still share my opinion.

I forsee that,in the future, the population of small farms will grow. I would also be of the mind that more people (like myself) will be starting to use animal power. From there I see a boom in animal logging, in an effort to clear land for agricultural use. I would like to see,personally,the timber used for construction of farm buildings but I might be pushing my luck. Then they would begin to grow their own feed and cut their own hay. I would like then for the farms to begin to construct ponds if possable for further self sustainablilty. Then, gardens would grow in size and more people will be preserving food by means of canning.

That would be my ideal outlook. My reasoning is that more people will begin to realize that with the ever increasing price of everyday items,they might be in trouble. Now take that how you care to but that is my philosophy. I would like to see more kids my age (14) become interested in self sustainability.Because(although I am the only one in my family to think like this) I believe that we are going to need to know how to do these things one day. It might not be us,or our children,but someone needs to know how so theat when the time comes we can survive. And quite personally I think that hard working,honest,and intelligent people such as our selves can and will survive,providing that we know how to do these things.

I will get off my soap box now but I would like to leave with these words, Magaret Fitzpatrick said,”I learned the value of hard work by working hard.”
I think that those words are very true and should christen us all with a certain amount of pride.
Thank you and stay safe.
~~R

Just a couple of years ago I left high school, and most of the people there thought the little state park behind our school was “in the middle of nowhere.” Lots of people in the suburbs think similarly of the countryside, an attitude not exactly a breeding ground for success. With a lot of teens leaving the farm for college and a “better” life and the average age of farmers increasing there’s a lot of opportunity for us young people to take over.

The number of farms is increasing, but technically farm only means a piece of land that earns 1000 dollars in produce, and that’s just not going to feed America. There must be something in between. First we need to get people to buy more things farm-direct; as a consequence, their kids get exposure and don’t consider a farm just an empty piece of ground between the mall and their house. Using animals is another thing because our culture has drawn us to big engines and speed. You’ll get a lot of nasty feedback from farmers and non-farmers telling you that animal traction is moving backwards. So, of course, making this work will take generations. Acclimating people to farms, THEN animals, won’t be quick.

edit: I should mention that it seems like a lot of people have an affinity for draft animals, hence the reason why a lot of people like the Amish. But the patience required may be a setback

[Stable-Man]

@ngcmcn 13679 wrote:

A sixty-five year old friend of mine who grew up in California; his Grandfather grew corn…………..they left a bucket of them in the out-house instead of paper!

N

That’s what I was thinking. You can make some corn cob art with some of them, although different varieties have varying cob sizes. The best ones for that are lower yielding, larger cobbed specimens.

[Stable-Man]

The Geography of Nowhere is also a fairly good book by the same author. I read it awhile ago, but he describes the orginal intention and history of suburbs and how they blew out of control when car companies forced trolly and other modes of transporation out of business.

[Stable-Man]

There’s another method of using water power not quite as attractive. Water’s piped up from a creek/river and past a generator and back into the water. Guess it’s called a water generator…

[Stable-Man]

I’m not familiar with what White Horse makes. Couldn’t figure out if they have a website. My understanding is that a ripper is only used where seeds are planted, say 9″ spacing for wheat or 36-42″ for corn, rather than tilling an entire field. Chisel plows are for deep tillage and they’d probably require more power than an animal could supply.

[Stable-Man]

I’ve looked around for alternatives to plowing and come across one row rippers, typically used in Africa, which make a little furrow 5-10 cm deep. A seeder follows it. The ripper point attaches to a walk behind plow. Ripper points are available in the US but only for multi row high hp tractor applications.

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