Why I do not support Ron Paul for President

Special Edition

There are a wonderful variety of opinions in the Agrarian movement, and this is how it ought to be. Of course, just because there are multitudes of opinions does not mean that all (or any) of them are correct and have merit. Agrarianism is not all Christian (it never was and neither will be before the Lord returns - Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian), and even among professing Christian agrarians there will be a wide expanse of ideas and positions. There were Yankee agrarians on the wrong side of the war of Northern Industrial Aggression, and I suppose there were a few Christians on the wrong side of that conflict as well. Such is the way things are, and I suppose if everyone agreed with me... well, it would be a better world but it might not be as interesting. That isn't to say that we're all right, because we are not... I am, but that shouldn't blunt the impact of what I am saying, which is that there are quite a few men who I like and respect and admire who are really phenomenally wrong on this particular subject.

By way of full disclosure, I must say that at one time I was an avid Reagan Republican and activist. My wife and I worked in politics as volunteers, I had dinner and conversation with Pat Buchanan in '92, I served as a County Precinct election judge in the '96 election - appointed by the Republican County Clerk. After that I was deeply involved in the Patriot movement (a ridiculously misnamed movement if ever there was one) and spoke all around the country at Patriot and Militia meetings, Preparedness Expos, etc. I have received standing ovations from large crowds for fiery patriotic speeches, and my flesh loved every minute of it. The problem is that I was fabulously wrong then, and I am mature enough now to admit it. I do not apologize for my zeal or for my love of freedom. I do, however, apologize for my blindness and errors that likely caused (and may still cause, since many of my writings are still out there) others to stumble.

When I was a young man, I was involved in many unsavory and un-Christian behaviors. Older folks would warn me, but I wouldn't listen. They just didn't understand... of course. That is the way of immaturity. When you have bought a false premise, and when you build your structure from the bottom up on a shaky foundation, then you will always think you are right because a cursory inspection shows the structure to be sound. Unhappily, when pressure is applied, the structure will collapse. When I was a firebrand in the Patriot circus there was one guy who would always burn me up. He was many men, but he was one guy. That guy was the guy who refused to be moved by my rhetoric, or to be inspired by my zeal. That guy would shake his head and walk away - muttering that one day I would probably "get it", and hopefully not too late. That guy had lived through the wars, fought the battles, and learned enough to know better. It is too simplistic and unfair to call the guy "cynical", "negative", "jaded", or "a pessimist".. being right about a situation doesn't make you cynical or a pessimist. It makes you a pragmatist, and truth ought not to be belittled just because it is unpopular and sometimes sad. That guy would email me and point out the fallacies in my logic, and the weakness in my foundation. He would always point out some blatant, obvious truths (the ones I didn't want to face because it would mean the death of my delusions and an end to the fantasy world I had believed since I was a child) and he would seriously burn me up. I would rant and rave against cynical "do-nothings" who always chide and snear, but never fight. I felt superior to that guy, because at least I was "doing something". Yeah. I was fooling myself, lying to my audience, and ignorantly supporting the system that was intent on killing my hopes of a better way of life. I was Otis, the town drunk from Mayberry, who always had a key to his own cell, and could let himself in and out whenever he pleased. I convinced myself that, so long as I could rant and rave, then I was free - and I never paused to focus on the velvet bars and chains in my heart and thinking, which were the love of the world, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life that kept me from obeying God regardless of what men do or who they elect. I forgot that I am a pilgrim and a wanderer, an ambassador for an absentee King, and a gazingstock and hateful thorn in the side of a nation and world that hates God.

In my hatred of Socialism and Communism, I became a fascist - a statist just the same.
In my hatred of Statism and Authoritarianism, I became a worshipper of the Goddess Libertas - an idolater just the same.
In my hatred of idolatry, theft, graft, murder, and greed, I became a supporter of a system where these sins are intrinsic and even necessary.
In my sheer hatred, I hated everything but the country, society, social structures, morals, culture, and religious system that hates God.

I am guilty, but I was conned...

I was conned into forgetting history, first - that my people have always been strangers, separate from the greed and avarice of the bloodthirsty nations around them. They have always been persecuted for their separatism and their unique and solitary devotion to God above earthly and worldly politics. I was conned into being ignorant of my own history as well. I was never taught, and I was too lazy to learn the history of God's people and heritage. When Rome became corrupted and evil beyond belief in the early centuries of the past millennium, my people didn't hang around and vote for the lesser of two (or three) evils. They fled to the valleys of the Alps and became the Valley people (the Vadois or the Waldenses). When they were invaded by the Romish armies of conquest, they didn't sit around and vote their way to happiness. They fled, or they fought, or they died saying NO to Rome. When many of them fled Europe for the Americas, they didn't start political action committees, or voting blocks. They worked the land as agrarians and worshiped God according to their consciences until they were restricted from doing so by the "Protestants" of New England. Then they went south. The true Baptists spread out across the south and became the bedrock of Southern Agrarianism. I was conned into being ignorant and lazy and into not caring about God's heritage. I was conned into forgetting that, because of the peculiar successes of southern agrarianism, the south was invaded, my people were killed, the political institutions were placed in the hands of military governors and the people were disenfranchised and FORCED to vote for one or more of their invaders, or not vote at all. The people who did these deeds are the ones who now require that I joyfully support their system of empire and conquest, which continues even today. They have not stopped killing and they have not stopped "democratizing" and they have not stopped pillaging, raping, looting, stealing, or colonizing - all in the name of freedom. I forgot that God taught his people how to live in foreign bondage and occupation, and at no time did that mean that they were to be assimilated completely into the worldly culture and society around them.

Now, I hate election years as much as I hate the wordly "holiday season" and for the same reasons. Because the same people, nice as they may be - but ignorant of the truth and of God's opinion on the subject, dance and flit around forcing their foreign practices and cultures on everyone else around them. Four years ago (and four years before that, and four years before that... and so on) I was inundated with emails and messages from do-gooding "christians" who were adamant that I pray... PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!!! that God would not judge this country, and that He would give us a good, Christian leader. Hmm.... yeah right. The people are ignorant of God's pattern of justice, adjudication, and punishment. I received another one of these emails the other day from a good Christian man, who still somehow believes that there is still time to intercede on behalf of Judas Ameriot and his system of Baal. It's time for Isaiah 58, they say... Pray, Pray, Pray... Where in all of the Bible are we encouraged to pray for the support, succor, and success of the wicked or of a wicked system? Does not the Bible say, "Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies"? Is there any question that the Amerikan system hates God? While we are encouraged to pray for our enemies (Matt. 5:44), we are taught by Christ Himself what that prayer is supposed to entail (Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do). God does not overthrow wicked systems and nations by the electoral system, He overthrows them by 1st - giving them over to a wicked mind to do that which is inconvenient and wicked in His sight, then 2nd - by causing them to crumble from within due to sloth, greed, lust, and blatant sin, and 3rd - by bringing the enemy in like a storm to overthrow them and to destroy them. That is the history of God and nations.

But, but, but... 2 Chronicles! God promises to heal our land if we repent! Uh...

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Ch 7:14)

How many ways can modernists be wrong? Let me count the ways...

1. If my people... not secular, greedy, imperial powers, but MY PEOPLE. In the Old Testament this referred to physical Israel, the nation who He chose out of the world. This was TYPE, fulfilled by the anti-type in the NT, not "Amerika", but the children and people of Jesus Christ, God of very God, the Son of God, the Messiah and head of the elect body.

2. which are called by my name... Called by His name... CHRISTians, not those called by the name of Amerigo Vespucci, which "Amerika" is. (An aside... Vespucci was a Roman Catholic son of the notary of the Money Changer's Guild of Venice - imagine that!). The people which are called by His name are the true Body and Bride of Jesus Christ, everywhere in the world, they are not Amerikans.

3. shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; not "continue in them", or "vote to prolong them", or "vote to defend them", but TURN FROM THEM, cease from them in humility and prayer. A vote in Amerika today is a vote to sustain the status quo, and the vote only is for the DEGREE of the status quo. One candidate is 100% for the status quo, and another is 75% for the status quo... The anti-establishment candidate is only 55% for the status quo.

4. then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin... until then I do not hear or forgive. Until then, the nation (professing Christianity) will continue in apostasy and heresy, and will continue in their love of the world, and will continue to be given over to the heathen, and be tramped underfoot. I WILL NOT HEAR THEM, says God.

5. and will heal their land. Not "Amerika", but the Church of Jesus Christ, the Body of Christ. Those who repent and abandon idolatry, wickedness, and every evil and crooked way - these are the nation of God, and the land of the truly free.

And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. (Num. 16:26)

The Part that hurts...

This is the part that hurts, so gird up your loins. Think of this as me evaluating the old me, back when I was a red-blooded Amerikan and hip to install righteousness in her institutions. If the dart hits you too, then so be it - but, like I said, it will hurt...

The reason that people want to "fix" Amerika, is not because they want a righteous nation, or because they want righteous government and institutions. If they truly wanted that, then they would obey the scripture which commands that they flee iniquity, "come out from among her and be ye separate", and they put their hands not in with the wicked. People want Amerika fixed because it means a continuance of the status quo, and of the wicked ways, and of comfort and relative prosperity, and of 401k's, Monday Night Football, home mortgages, vacations, Google and YouTube. People want Amerika fixed because they love their dainty lives, and they cannot separate from worldliness or hate it. They like comfortable couches and 300 channels and on-demand video and the Paris Hilton/Wal-Mart culture of get it now, but get it.

Now, I have just become "that guy" and I shake my head at people who ought to know better. My love of this world has faded and has grown dim as God has revealed more and more of Himself to me. I do not seek peace and comfort in this world, because I do not plan to be long in it, and this is not my country. All political bluster, patriotic polemics, and flag-waving idolatry aside - I do not train my children to be participants in the great Amerikan experiment, or cogs in the great Amerikan machine. I train them to be lovers of God, and worshipers of Him, and to see duty in a far greater and deeper way than merely the pulling of a lever or the punching out of a "chad". Our God can cause us (Christians - not Amerikans) to persevere and succeed while we are hidden in the wilderness and in the palm of His hand. The storms that gather around us can pass over us while we are hidden in Him. Our God can sell us into slavery for our sins, He can punish us for our iniquities, or He can cause the waters from the mouth of His enemies which pursue us and our lives to be swallowed up by the earth. In any case, He is righteous and good and right. He does not need Ron Paul and neither do I. Though I have a carnal heart which is inclined towards the rhetoric of freedom and the machinations of political Liberty, it is just the carnal heart and not the mind of Christ that inclines me so. Amerika has a building that identifies its heart and symbolizes its mind; That building is the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. Atop that building is an idol made with hands, a statue of the Goddess Libertas (Persephone), called Lady Liberty to Amerikan idolaters. Her feet stand on her sacred ground, and I for one have nothing to do with her. She is the "goddess" of the underworld, and has her roots in paganism. From her went forth the decrees that crushed freedom and liberty in the Agrarian south, and from her went forth the laws that subjugated and destroyed the Agrarian cause. The passage of time does not make right of wrong, nor does it cleanse the blood of God's people, philosophy, and worldview from the land. I cannot support what God hates, and I cannot believe that fixing Amerika will satiate a just and righteous God. Ron Paul may be a "good man" (if there were such a thing), but He loves the wrong country, and His idolatry is no different from that of those who built the molten calf to worship.

Our greatest and most inalienable right is not the right to profit, land, travel, "freedom", or the right to keep the fruit of our labors. Our greatest and most inalienable right is the right to say no, and to not participate in the follies of the world. If God allows (and only if He allows) they can kill me and take my land. They can imprison me and chain me to a wall. They can waterboard me, or torture me to death. They can take my children and train them in their schools. They can rape the land for corn for the masses, or they can scrape it and put up a mall. They can burn it and make it a perpetual hissing , or they can sell it off to a people more inclined to bow to their will. What they cannot do is make me agree to it and participate in it. They cannot and they will not.

I've become the old guy in the corner - "that guy" who shakes my head at those who say the same things I once said, and fight for the things for which I once fought. I can't make anyone listen, but I can still say "no". They call Dr. Ron Paul "Dr. NO" since he votes no on almost everything. Good for him. He and his supporters, of all people, should understand why I will say no to him. My conscience doesn't allow any other position. If Ron Paul is the man they claim he is - then he will applaud that.

"No"... think about it.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Votational Education

11/29/07 - 5th Day - After Breakfast. Our friend Herrick Kimball over at The Deliberate Agrarian has a new blog post up today entitled: I Support Ron Paul for President. I appreciate his willingness to alienate some readers by speaking his mind and his conscience on the issue - and I am thankful for his positions on freedom and limited government. However, I will probably, if the Lord wills, be posting an extra-special edition of the blog entitled Why I Do Not Support Ron Paul for President. I don't do this to argue with Herrick, who I appreciate and who I am sure shares my beliefs and concerns on many issues - including the issues of freedom and benevolent and limited government, but if we were having this friendly discussion on my porch on a nice November evening (we can do that down here in Texas) I would respond strongly - and since Agrarianism is a philosophy and worldview that fosters strong opinions and friendly discussion, I feel compelled to respond. So expect that front porch response soon...

In the meantime, read my article on the subject from 2004 when freedom lovers were being harangued by professing "christian" fascists in the neo-con movement to support George Bush, and simultaneously were being harassed by well-meaning but ignorant do-gooders in the Constitution party to support some unelectable and unknown Jesuit trained Catholic named Peroutka:

Why Christians Should Not Vote

And remember... everyone who does not write in my name for President is actually voting for Dukakis... and everyone who DOES write in my name is actually voting for Bob Dole. A vote for me is a vote for not voting. Don't get me started...

Ok, we continued our work in the root cellar yesterday, and I actually made a trip to town to the grocery market where I spent a lot of money on bulk sale items since we had not been grocery shopping in ages. The folks at the grocery were glad to see us, and one of the old guys who carries our bags to the car (yes, they still do that here) kept saying "How is your root cellar?", and "You gonna put all this stuff in your root cellar?". He has told me on a few previous occasions about his fond memories of root cellars when he was a boy, and he is fascinated that anyone would have such a thing today.

It's a bit chilly this morning (38 degrees) and the prognosticators are calling for 62 as a high today. They are also calling for some more rain maybe this Sabbath, which would be nice. Hope everyone who wants it got the latest episode of Q&A Fridays that I mailed out yesterday.

God Bless y'all,

Michael

Handy Dandy Ideas For You

11/28/07 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. It is close to mid-morning and I am working down in the root cellar. Down here it has stayed temperature stable at 57 degrees even through the cold spell we had over the weekend. Tracy and Danielle continue canning smoked Turkeys and broth, and it is great to see the fruit of our labors down here in the root cellar. Last night, Danielle intended to make Mackerel Croquettes but learned that Tracy had made cornbread with the last of the readily available corn meal. I told Danielle, "Not to worry, I will make supper from storage". Here is how it went:

Tracy made tortillas from stored flour. Danielle boiled some rice. I went to the root cellar for:

1 jar of beef broth (from January '07 when we canned some roasts)
1 jar of hamburger meat (from the Longhorn steer we butchered in October)
1 jar of green beans (from this summer's garden)
1 jar of diced tomatoes/peppers

Add all but the green beans (these were a side dish) in a pot over the fire. Add 1 can of stored corn and 1 can of stored, sliced potatoes. I added a couple of cups of water because my broth is pretty thick and because the rice would soak up a lot of the water. Season with garlic salt and/or powder, basil (organic, bought and stored from the Amish), onion powder, seasoned salt. Simmer until hot (less than 30 mins.) Serve with heaps of butter and tortillas, with homegrown green beans on the side. Yum.

Ok, once again I mention the joy of this because it never gets old to me. It is always a great joy and supreme pleasure to enjoy a wonderful, fast, tasty meal from our storage and preparations. By the way, this fed our family of 6 with two full quart jars of soup left over! This is why I harp and preach on preparedness, separatism, Agrarianism, etc. We didn't have to run to the market. We ran to the STORE. The word "store" meant "the storage", where food is stored. Only in a system that began to be corrupted did the "market" (where food and goods were traded) turn into a "store", where the family had no storage (or very little), and the food was produced and sold at the corporate "store" for immediate consumption. The "store" as storehouse is a corruption of God's design. The old-timers said things like "I trade with so-and-so", meaning that they did business with them. The market was a place where you traded. You took in fresh eggs and were given market credit for trade in items you needed. Ideally, you would produce and store your own stuff, but if you needed salt and could not produce it, you took in eggs, cream, cheese, etc. and traded for it. Traders became "buyers", buyers became "shoppers", shoppers became "consumers" - and like we said in a recent forum discussion, the word "consumer" (which is what all Amerikan's are called) means "destroyer". When a thing is consumed it is destroyed. The Bible has much to say about the destroyer, so go look it up.

Eggs-ellent

We have had some discussion recently on BiblicalAgrarianism.com on the storage of whole fresh eggs. I mentioned that we store dozens of eggs in "waterglass" which is sodium silicate, a natural substance used for egg storage for a century. You simply put clean, fresh, unwashed farm eggs in a large jar and pour a mixture of 1 part waterglass to 4 parts water (I think that is correct, but do a search on BA to check it out), and store in a cool dark place. Well, we had some discussion about how that would work, and since we had not at that time eaten any of our waterglass stored eggs, I could only speculate based on what I had read. Some articles said that this made eggs "good" for up to a year, but that they really started to degrade in quality after 5-7 months. This would work out fine, because a working homestead should only lose production (due to a molt or a die off) for this short amount of time. A new chick can be brought into production in under a year. Anyway, due to the cold snap we saw a dramatic drop off for a few days in our egg production. We began to give the chickens heated water in the mornings and some egg layer ration and this brought them back on line in a week or so, but for awhile there we were only getting a few eggs a day. So during the Thanksgiving week we had company and Danielle wanted to make her trademark morning egg casserole but we didn't have enough eggs. She sent me down to the root cellar to bring up a jar of about two dozen waterglassed eggs. *We use pickle jars*

The waterglassed eggs were excellent. Out of the two dozen eggs, only about three were not useable. The cassarole was magnificent and tasted great and no one got even the slightest bit sick. Success. You can put close to two dozen eggs in the smaller pickle jars, and up to 3 dozen in the bigger jars. Waterglass is relatively cheap too. We bought ours at Lehman's where it is more expensive than you can find elsewhere, but 1 gallon of waterglass is enough to preserve 50 dozen eggs! If you are an egg producer, you only need to store enough eggs to get you through a bad spell - worst case scenario all your layers go offline or are killed somehow and you have to start over. We generally only lose production for a week or two, sometimes a month or so if there is a molt. We keep our chickens producing through the winter with warm water and egg laying ration. The warm water itself got them from producing about 1 or 2 eggs a day to over 8 eggs a day in only 2-3 days. Yesterday Liviu and I went and bought some egg laying crumbles and added this to their food, and with the warmer temps and sunshine we should be back in full production in a week. According to the magazine articles I read, waterglass can be used on store bought eggs as well, but they will not generally last as long since they have been washed. Ideally you will use clean, but unwashed farm eggs for this process. I also read where larded eggs will last as long as waterglass eggs. I have never tried this, but here is the process and if someone out there uses this process, please feel free to comment and/or correct any errors I make: You can either store the eggs completely submerged in lard (which doesn't sound like a good deal to me... too much wasted lard), or you can coat the eggs in lard. To use the lard coating process, you take the clean but unwashed eggs and check them to make sure they are good eggs, with no cracks or holes. Smear lard all around the shell and coat it well, making sure to cover the whole surface. Then you polish the lard off with a towel. Well coat the egg again, and leave just enough lard on the surface to lightly coat it. Place the egg in an egg carton or crate. Do this to all the eggs you want to preserve, then store them in a cool, dark place... LIKE YOUR ROOT CELLAR! According to what I read, these eggs will be good for 7 months to a year or longer. One of the articles recommended using one egg a month after 5 months to make sure that the eggs have not gone bad. You might run into a bad one, so if you find a bad one then try another. If it is good, then keep them in storage. Use them and begin to replace them at 7 months, marking each carton as you replace it with a new dozen. First in is first out in storage. I think it would be a good practice (and one I will aim at over the next year or so) to keep 10 dozen eggs per family member. This sounds like a good number for storage. You can store less (like we do) if you store powdered eggs or eggs preserved in some other fashion.

Glass Storage Units

Going back to the basics, of courses, means lots of food storage. I just mentioned using pickle jars for storing eggs. We can buy large 1 gallon jars of pickles in glass jars from our local market for less than $7. Believe me, the jars are worth $7 and the pickles are then free, and the children love to snack on them. It would be worth it to me to buy the pickles and feed them to the pigs if the children didn't like them so much. We use the jars for milk processing and for egg storage. Get the glass jars and not the plastic ones.

We also use a lot of 1 gallon wine bottles. We here on the land (virtually all the families I think) like to buy Sangria wine in 1 gallon bottles. You can use this wine for cooking or recipes, but we like to drink it - especially on the Sabbath or when we have guests. Sangria is both tasty, and a cultural thing here in Texas. I keep quite a few bottles in storage, and as we drink them we usually fill them with purified water for storage. All of our water is purified through a Big Berky filter, so it is important that we have a lot stored since it takes awhile for the rainwater from our catchwater to be filtered through the Berky. We have an old chest freezer (unplugged) where Danielle stores our daily use water. Part of her daily work is running rain water through the Berky and storing it in glass bottles in the freezer. I also use these bottles for making wine and other beverages. The fellas sometimes use these bottles of water to haul to the worksite for water throughout the day.

Ok, enough for this day. Love to hear your comments, questions, or corrections.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael

New Sermon Up

11/27/06 - 3rd Day - After Dinner. We have gotten through our cold snap and the temps are now back up to a beautiful and seasonal 60 degrees here at 1pm. We ended up receiving about 2 inches of moisture (mostly rain, but some snow) which was much needed. Today we are somewhat back to normal after Thanksgiving and then our trip to Homestead Heritage followed by the Sabbath and the Lord's Day. Yesterday was quite wet and cold for a good part of the day, so Liviu and I worked in the root cellar. Actually, Liviu worked on the root cellar, and I worked IN the root cellar... on the sermon for last night.

Order, Part 2 in audio is now up and posted. This is really foundational stuff for anyone interested in Christian Agrarianism, so I highly recommend that you listen to or read the whole series in order. Part 1 is HERE. I would also like to hear your comments and discussion on the series, so I will be starting a discussion thread about it on BiblicalAgrarianism.com or you can just post your comments here. David has been working on this blog, helping me to sort out all of the confusion, so now when you type in www.michaelbunker.com you should come directly to this blog (so bookmark it) instead of having to type in "journal.html". For those of you who link here from your blog, you should be able to leave it the same, but it would be better for our stats if you would just change the link to MichaelBunker.com. For those of you who do not link here... I understand completely.

Herrick has his organic Garlic Powder for sale, and there won't be any more for awhile, so go buy it and send me a gift packet for tipping you off. If you think I deserve a really, really, really, good tip - just send me one of these.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Road Trip

11/26/07 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. We had a good community Thanksgiving. Larry drove up from Austin to spend the day with us, then on Friday morning several of us loaded up and drove down to Elm Mott Texas (outside of Waco) to visit Homestead Heritage for their annual Craft and Children's Fair.

(***What follows is a review of our day at Homestead Heritage and is NOT an endorsement of their means, methods, doctrine, society, or community***)

We tried to head out early because we figured it for a 2 1/2 hour drive, and we wanted to be there for the draft horse harnessing at 10 a.m. Well, best intentions aside and things as they are, and after allowing for the slowpokes and last minute this and that from people that plan and execute painfully poorly, we headed out at about 7:30 instead of 7 a.m. The drive took a little longer than we planned as well, and we showed up at the horse harnessing display in time for the "plowing with draft horses" exhibition at about 10:40. It was a very interesting exhibition, and I learned that draft horses is really the way to go for a small homestead. Draft horses do not compact the earth, they eat what you grow, they manure the land, and they are just really, really, cool. We saw a pair of Belgians that were about 6' 5" at the BACK, so I couldn't even see over them. They were very gentle and handled with ease and plowed up the ground like it was nothing. After the draft horses, a few of us went over to the woodworking exhibition and saw the seminar on working with handtools, which was awesome. I think, if the Lord wills, Larry and I will be taking their foundational woodworking course in late January. I'll tell you more about that in the future.

We walked around a bit and we saw the grist mill and we saw many exhibits of homestead and pioneer skills. We saw some girls processing wool all the way from the raw wool to thread and yarn. Then we saw some girls taking the thread and making stuff out of it on a loom. We saw a lady demonstrate cooking on a wood stove, and we saw an exhibit where they make rope. They had folks making everything from guitars (by hand) to pottery to the forging and casting of steel and aluminum tools, utensiles, and other metal parts.

We toured the model homestead where they took three acres and showed you how much you could do on such a small acreage. They had a garden that was (I would guess) about 200 x 80 and it had 42 4x25 small intensively planted (for a fall garden right now) beds. The garden was a "double-dug" garden and it was irrigated by catchwater which was very neatly handled from off of a 40 x 30 barn (more on that later). They had a small animal area, and they had chickens in portable chicken tractors that worked the garden. They had a couple of small pastures for their larger animals, and it was in one of these pastures where they exhibited the trained sheep dogs who worked Boer goats for the audience. They had a greenhouse as well and were growing food in this cold November weather very successfully. The plowing and "green crop" rotation exhibits were in one of the other pastures of this model homestead. Their purpose was to show how you really would only need 3-5 acres to have a really nice and productive homestead.

The Catchwater system or "water catchment system" (which is how the new, fancy, eco-friendly folks say it) was very nice and a good education. The underground water in that area is 1200 feet down, so wells are not really an affordable option. Like I said, they had a 40 x 30 barn with gutters on both sides being funneled into a 10,000 gallon above ground cistern. This cistern flowed about 30 feet downhill to a small underground cistern which had a windmill pumping unit on top of it. The windmill pumped the water uphill about 100 feet to an above ground 1600 gallon cistern which was built on top of a 20 foot tower. The water then was fed by gravity fall to the garden where it now had the pressure to operate the drip system that provided 1" of water per week to each of the 42 beds in the model garden.


I would be very interested in building a catchwater system similar to this one someday, and this seems to me to be the best solution to the water problem for most folks who do not have grid water or electricity.

The Homestead Heritage folks teach a whole bunch of classes on everything from organic gardening and beekeeping, to blacksmithing, timber frame construction, and woodworking. We here at the ranch hope to be partaking of their knowledge and skills as we move forward in our own community. I will update you more about my plans to attend the woodworking class as more information becomes available.

We have had quite a cold spell, but we received over 2 inches of rain this weekend, which was much needed and which was an answer to prayer, and it provided much needed water for our own catchwater system.

Today it is supposed to be warmer (mid 50's), and it is supposed to get warmer this week, which will be nice.

I have to go to work... sermon tonight (DV).

Michael

Thanks?

11/22/07 - 5th Day - After Breakfast. First real cold front of the year blew in yesterday, and we woke up to temps outside near freezing. Liviu and I worked on the root cellar all day yesterday, and around mid-afternoon my father and mother arrived with Danielle and the children from our old house in Smyer. They had a trailer-load of stored food and other supplies brought from the old house and our storage. It was well I had expanded the storage capacity in the root cellar to hold it all. After we unloaded and stored everything, my sister arrived from Houston and we all went to Coleman to eat supper.

Today is the world's Thanksgiving, though it was once one of the MANY days of giving thanks offered by the Puritan and Pilgrim fathers. Days of fasting, sorrow, repentance, and thanksgiving, were common in the colonies - and were offered willingly and according to the due notice of the providence of God. The Puritans were constantly observing the hand of God, and any event or occasion (drought, disaster, rain, plenty, accident, etc.) was seen as the work of God and a message for His people. For these reasons, the elders and governors often called for days of fasting, sorrow, repentance, and thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving we see today, was the remnant of a day to remind people of what was called The First Thanksgiving - not because it was the first in number, but because it was the first celebrated in the New World by that particular people. It was the first of many, sometimes several a month - and some times there would be numerous days of fasting and repentance in only a few months, if it was the opinion of the elders that God's hand was against them. This is what makes the modern "Thanksgiving" really a ludicrous and ridiculous act. The World gives thanks to one another, and to the nameless, faceless, "god" of their age - and that they do ONCE a year at this time, not in remembrance of acts of miraculous providence done during that year, but in order to maintain thankfulness for the endless plodding of time wherein they are allowed to remember tradition (past Thanksgivings) and not even the truth of the purpose and reasons for the First Thanksgiving. Neither are the people encouraged to recognize and observe the providence of God, or to repent and sorrow when He moves against their nation in punishment (as He evidently is doing); nor are they taught to give thanks for His longsuffering and mercy towards them, in that He does not destroy them with the breath from His mouth for their false ways, idolatries, murders, and crimes. Anyway, most of them might even pray today, and will have "god" n their lips if not in their hearts, and they will not see that their days are few and that their destruction is nigh. Anyway, enough of a rant.

I would like to say though, and you ought to mark it down in order to remind me of this prognostication if it turns out that I am wrong - but the next time this "holiday" rolls around, we are very likely to be in a very different state and condition, and if things continue on in the manner in which it appears they are moving, a year from now will find "Amerika" in a far different condition than it is in today.

The true people of God ought to wake up and look around them, and take this time to remember the Providence of God and His living, powerful, and active hand in judgment against the world. It may be that He might hide us from His wrath, protect us from evil, make us invisible to our enemies, and use us for His glory.

We give thanks to Him, through His Son Jesus Christ, and by the power of His Spirit. May the Lord protect us.

Amen,

Michael Bunker

Stuff and Thoughts on Canning

11/20/07 - 3rd Day - After Breakfast. Expecting another hot day today. 84 is predicted, which means closer to 87 or so here. I hope to be working in the root cellar where it will be a nice, cool, 65. We had a sermon last night, so I will try to get that posted sometime today on BA, and I would like to strongly recommend that everyone listen to it - as it has great application for Agrarians or hopeful Agrarians.

We are smoking and canning Turkey today. We found out this jewel of a secret last year. We almost always smoke all of the meat we serve during fellowship meal on the Lord's Day, so last year when we bought our turkeys so cheap, we would smoke one in the smoker every other Lord's Day. Well, we had so many turkeys, that I decided to smoke them, then can the meat. WOW. I would never have thought that canned turkey could taste so good. The canning process brings out the aroma and flavor of the smoking, and it is absolutely delicious. You can make sandwiches from the meat, or you can use it in soup or stew. Anyway, I bought 4 turkeys yesterday at .49 each, and we will be canning 3 of them over the next week. 1 will be our Thanksgiving turkey for our community meal.

Ok, so as you can imagine, I have been thinking quite a bit about canning since we have been canning meat for the last month. We are canning about 2/3 of a 500 lb. hog, and quite a bit of a yearling steer that we had butchered for Ranchfest. Danielle had been canning hamburger meat last week, and she also made quite a bit of taco meat and canned that. Then she canned 20 lbs. of bacon. Yesterday, Tracy canned pork roast, some more hamburger, and sausage patties. Canning meat is a brilliant homestead agrarian move. So far, since we butchered Luella the sow, we have already gone back down to 1 freezer, and prior to buying the 4 large turkeys yesterday, we were down to about 1/2 in our big freezer. Last night, since Danielle and two of the girls were out of town, Tracy (after working all day canning) made venison stew from our last can of canned venison from last winter. I can tell you it was very, very good. I was telling the group last night that I get an enormous amount of joy and satisfaction in eating a meal made completely or primarily out of our stored food. Well, double that satisfaction when the meal is made by your 14 year old daughter!

Anyway, the thoughts... we are basically going through this Agrarian, Homesteading process just like the original homesteaders. I moved out to this land and lived in a tent and then an old camper before we got the first basic structure of the cabin built. Our first "construction" on the land was my garden. Shortly after the basic cabin went up, the pig pen went in, then the corral for cattle. Next we hand dug a root cellar using old school methods. Only when the root cellar was finished were we able to start canning everything. This summer we put up quite a bit of vegetables, and we focused on green beans - successfully canning a whole years supply. So, we are now in our first full fall and winter with the root cellar, and we are full speed canning as much meat as we can produce. We will continue canning meat until we can start canning veggies again, maybe if I get a greenhouse built, but if not it will be spring when we can start canning from the garden again (all of this, of course, is if the Lord wills). So, my point is that you should buy the largest canner you can afford. In fact, that was what we did, and what I mean is that you should buy a LARGER canner than you can afford. It does not cost the same amount to run two canner loads as opposed to one large canner load. It is more than twice as expensive to can two loads instead of one bigger load, and since we are currently canning with propane, that adds up quickly. A larger canner with twice the capacity would more than pay itself off in just one season, I reckon.

Yesterday I sat down and figured that it would take 1200 canning jars (mixed quarts and pints) for my family of 6 to have more than enough food for 1 year. This is a very conservative estimate, since much of the year we ought to be eating from the garden and from freshly butchered animals and critters. That is 100 dozen jars total. I currently own 28 dozen jars, and, buying 2 dozen jars a week, it will take 36 more weeks for me to have the requisite number of jars. Also remember that you will need thousands of replacement lids and some large amount of replacement bands. Replacement lids and bands are fairly inexpensive and can be stored cheaply and easily.

)))))...pause while I go put two turkeys in the smoker...(((((

Ok, so here is my method of canning hamburger and turkey. The hamburger is browned thoroughly in a pan. Some people pour off the fat, and some keep it and pour it into the jars with the meat. Longhorn beef has very, very little fat (and is lower in bad cholesterol than white meat) so we don't really have to concern ourselves with the fat. 1 lb. of hamburger meat fits nicely into clean and boiled pint jars. Affix lids and tightly screw on the bands. Can (at our altitude, which is 1850 ft.) for 90 minutes at 11 lbs. of pressure. At sea level or thereabouts you can use 10 lbs. of pressure. This is basically the process for any meat - always pressure can for 90 mins.

Canning Smoked Turkey - I use a 50 gallon drum to smoke meat. There are cuts made in the bottom 2 inches of the barrel for air to circulate. I put rocks down in the bottom of the barrel, then build a top-down fire out of mesquite wood. When the fire is burned down to just some red coals and not much heat (and no fire), I usually throw a small piece of mesquite on the coal bed (which will smoke like crazy) and then hang the meat over the coals, replacing the lid. I smoke briskets and roasts for 6 hours and turkeys for 4-6 hours. For immediate eating, the meat is then put in the oven at a very low temp (like 225) for overnight (8-10 hours). If you are canning the meat, it doesn't need the added cooking time in the oven, because it will be cooked by the pressure canning temps. With turkey I then shred and cut the meat off of the bone. You can do it however you like - some people make cubes of meat, I just kind of shred it off and can it in chunks. Fill the sterile, heated jar with the luscious smoked meat and tamp it down with a clean plastic or wooden spoon so you can get as much meat in the jar as possible. Fill it up to within 1/2 inch of the top. You need not add water or liquid. If you want, you can add soup stock, broth, or gravy - but I don't add anything. Can at 90 mins. at 11 lbs. of pressure. This same process works great with smoked chicken. You can process chickens or turkeys on the same day you butcher, and this way you would never need refrigeration or the freezer, and you would have the most delicious smoked meat available whenever you like. I could smoke probably 12 chickens in a day, so you can consider what it would take to smoke and can your chicken for a year. Not much.

The point is that we want to get to where we do not need or use the freezer except on rare occasions. The freezer is the primary cause of our need for the generator, which is the primary cause for our need of fuel. If the Lord wills, we will butcher 2 pigs in December and I hope to only need the freezer for less than 2 days. If we can cold smoke and salt cure some of the bacon and hams, then we ought not need the freezer much at all. Here in Central Texas butchering is more difficult since it is warm most of the year. We may need the freezer to quickly cool a carcass and to store it while we can and process the meat. At some point, with some success, you could plan your butchering based on your root cellar available space - selling and bartering most of the meat if you don't need it in your root cellar. That is a serious goal for me.

This post has gotten too long. What do y'all think?

Michael

Quick One

11/19/07 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. Well, we had a great weekend again. The weather has been nice, but a bit hot, and it has been, very, very dry. It was 82 yesterday and the prognosticators are calling for 84 today and 83 tomorrow. Colder weather is supposed to be on the way though, with our first sub-freezing night predicted for the night going into the Preparation of the Sabbath. This morning Tracy made us fried farm fresh eggs (over medium) with our own farm fresh sausage and toast with butter. Yummm. We will be busy doing some more canning this week. We still have some more pork, beef, and other stuff to can. Danielle, Sarah, and Jennifer have gone with my mother to Smyer to help load up some of our stuff from the old house, and they should (Lord Willing) be home on Wednesday, which means that Tracy and Robert will be taking care of domestic duties around here. We had a good Lord's Day fellowship yesterday, then last night we got together and I read a chapter of Holy War by John Bunyan. After the book reading we watched Red Dawn together (Wolverines!!!).

Today we will be working some on the first root cellar and we have to go to Santa Anna for a bit as well. I will also be working on a sermon for tonight if the Lord wills it.

Peace,

Michael

Keepin' On

11/16/07 - 6th Day - After Breakfast. Preparation of the Sabbath. Things here at the ranch are going well. Yesterday I did some work straightening up and re-organizing in the root cellar. We have about another load of lard to can and then we will have pretty well canned 1/2 of the pig we got back from the butcher last month. I don't think I mentioned it, but Luella (the sow we took to the butcher) weighed in at around 500 lbs. and David's sow was over 600! So, Danielle and Tracy started in canning hamburger from the steer we had butchered for Ranchfest. Hopefully by Monday or so we will be able to go back down to 1 freezer and we won't have much in that one.

On the 4th day Liviu and I went into Brownwood and we found a place that sells bulk Kerosene and we were able to refill one of my 30 gallon barrels. I will probably, if the Lord wills, try to fill one or two more in the next couple of weeks. A week ago we were able to refill our empty propane tanks. It was good to have since last night was supposed to be the coldest night yet. It didn't work out that way, as it only got down to 43 degrees or so - but at least we were prepared. I pray that the Lord let's us have the provision to purchase a woodburner pretty soon, because the way fuel prices are going - I can imagine that the purchase of fuel for anything might soon be a thing of the past. Oil hit $94 a barrel yesterday, and the prognosticators are calling for a .20-.30 increase in fuel prices in the next couple of weeks here in Texas. We still haven't had any really cold days or nights. Most of the days have been in the 70's and 80's and I believe they are calling for 72 again today.

Things are going well here in the community, and we hope to have the Ante's back from Iowa in the next couple of weeks. Last Lord's Day we smoked some racks of ribs from the butchered sow for fellowship meal, and I can tell you they were delicious. Usually, around this time of year the store's start putting turkeys on sale for really cheap. Last year we bought a bunch of them for .19 a lb. I know that these are corporate raised industrial turkeys full of junk - but until we start our turkey production (hopefully this coming year) we will stock up on cheap turkey. We smoke the turkeys and can the meat and it tastes delicious. Poultry production is high on my list for the next 6 months since we now have our pork and beef production up and running at full speed. I am hoping to get 300 chickens (or so) and 30-40 turkeys sometime before spring - if the Lord wills.

I posted a three sermon series on BiblicalAgrarianism.com the other day, and I sent out a Q&A Fridays as well. Today, I posted a review of the TV series Jericho.

Hope all is well with you all,

Michael Bunker

Canning and Stuff

11/13/07 - 3rd Day - After Breakfast. Make sure you don't miss reading episode 4 of the Off-Grid Living for Agrarians series. You can find the links to the first three parts at the beginning of part 4.

We're still milking Holga and we are getting plenty of milk for the family, and some to give away and/or feed to the pigs. Danielle has been really busy rendering and canning lard, and canning bacon. I would have never thought that you could can bacon, store it in your root cellar and not have to keep tons of it frozen in the freezer. But you can! A neighbor has told us that we can come and pick up all the pecans we want out of his pasture, so I will likely be taking the children over there today (or very soon, if the Lord wills). Apparently people can pecans too...

Canning Pecans

Heat pecans in oven at 300 to 325°F until they feel hot, not so much as they lose any oil. Put in hot, dry, sterile jars. Seal and process.
--Water Bath Method:--
Place in 2 inches of boiling water and process for 30 minutes.
--Pressure cooker method:--
Place in 2 inches of water, leave weight off as steam escapes for 7 to 10 minutes. Put on weight at 5 pound and process for 3 minutes. Let pressure drop normally and remove jars.

So, we may be canning pecans as well... sounds pretty easy, and pecans are a great source of protein and good fat. I plan on planting several pecan trees this spring if the Lord wills it.

I really love the idea of preserving food, and it is gratifying to see things as they might have been in a homestead 100 years ago. We are currently canning mostly meat and protein, and I figure that that is the way it will usually go... canning vegetables and fruit in the summer and canning meat in the fall and winter. If the Lord wills, we will be planting a bunch of nut trees, and I have hope that our fruit trees will begin bearing next year, if not the next. I am very pleased at the percentage of our diet that comes from food we have produced here on the land, and I give thanks to God for all He has done for us.

David and I spread more gravel yesterday after we had two more truckloads delivered. We were able to spread all but about half a truckload, which we hope to finish this morning. I also plan on working on fixing up the pig pens this morning since Liviu will be working with me. I think with the four truckloads we will have about 100 yards of the front road graveled, which is pretty nice, since I think we covered most of the really bad spots. Anyway, we'll find out how much it helps, Lord willing, when the rains come.

Herrick Kimball has posted some thoughts on Christian Agrarianism.

Chad Degenhart has Agrarian Angst.

Peace Brethren,

Michael Bunker

Off-Grid Living for Agrarians, Part 4

To Read Part 1, CIick Here

To Read Part 2, Click Here

To Read Part 3, Click Here

Land. Like Mark Twain said, buy it because they aren't making any more of it. Wars are fought over it. Land is power - always has been. There are as many philosophies about land as there are philosophies, and the problem with philosophies is that they often get codified into law without any reason behind them, and as such they become unreasonable maxims. Unreasonable maxims become walls in our thinking, guiding us to conclusions that may be just as unreasonable as the philosophy that brought us there. This is why we say that the mind of modern man is "colonized", which means he has accepted things as truths that are not truths at all, but are just learned behaviors - patterns and trails of thinking that have become ruts out of which we cannot free ourselves. Most people believe certain things merely because their whole lives everyone around them has believed those things. People accept things "the way they are" mainly because they have never experienced any other way. Unhappily, when I speak to people about land it is difficult to get them to think clearly on the subject, because their thinking is based on a lifetime of accepting as truth what was once just a philosophy or idea pushed by an eager zealot. The modern industrialized mind cannot even begin to consider that, for literally thousands of years, the idea of being caged into a poorly built crackerbox house on a 1/4 acre lot would have been laughable as a workable land philosophy. Most "amerikans" don't know of any other way of living, and even those who might have a bit more land are flummoxed when they learn that, only 150 years ago, owning outright "forty acres and a mule" was considered a bare step above poverty. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave 160 acres of land to each person or family, provided they stayed and worked the land for at least five years. Today, television commercials show gleaming and smiling couples, hugging one another in joyful bliss, ecstatic because they have entered into a mortgage contract to purchase a shoddily built but gilded and trimmed crackerbox on 1/4 acre of land. The voice over says, "You always dreamed of owning your own home...".

In order to properly think about land in our Agrarian journey to an off-grid life, we have to be willing to consider things we have never before considered. Land has to be central to our thinking and our philosophy, but land cannot become an idol, or we will surely fail in our Agrarian pursuit. Here are some things about which you should think:

1. Not every person in an Agrarian society will be a landowner and farmer. Although it is a high ideal, it is impossible and has never been a workable solution - in all of history - for every man to own and farm land. Even in the most successful eras of Agrarian bliss, there have been landed folk and unlanded folk. There will always be employers and the employed. Even in the Bible the shepherds were shepherds, meaning that they tended the sheep of others. In an Agrarian village in Europe 200 years ago, the average farm would have employed dozens and dozens of workers - shepherds, swineherds, thatchers, millers, coopers, smithies, brewers, etc. How do you think most people came upon their last names? Now, in many cases, these workers worked on the main farm, but also had a small spread for themselves and their family which they worked on the side to provide more for themselves and their loved ones. Others started up their trade in small villages, working for themselves and helping the Agrarian society by working in a specific area that is needed by the society. But there will always be those who acquire and hold more land than others, and who are willing to employ others. The farmer back then, was a wealthy man, held in high esteem by the society and by other men. Some, due to certain situations, circumstances, etc. who will have to work for others. There is no scandal or anything ignoble in working for another man in a healthy and proper pursuit.

2. Land should never be an idol, but is a means through which we can obey God, provide for our own, evangelize our families (first, and then others), obey the commandments of God, and glorify Him in the work He has given us to do. Land, like any other means, needs to be put in its proper place in our thinking. We cannot take it with us, and it would be a pitiable thing to gain the world and lose your soul. Too many people contact me and tell me of their Agrarian dream to buy them a plot of land in the boondocks and start farming, etc. I will ask them about fellowship and service and brethren and doctrine and these important things, and it turns out they have no plans to have any of those things. Or worse, they will plan on finding some local "bible believing" church to go to... which means that they will sell out doctrine and true Christianity for a proxy "church" filled with industrialized and anesthetized minds. It is just as dangerous to disobey God and stay in the city of destruction in order to maintain fellowship with family and worldlings as it is to flee the city of destruction with no intention of living in some type of communion and fellowship with God's elect children.

3. Land is highly valued by Christian and Secularist alike, and will be tough to acquire in quantities enough to serve us as homesteads. If it were not tough, it would not be valued highly enough by us. Acquiring land, if that is your goal, will take some creative thinking - unless you are just rich enough to plunk down a sizable wad of cash on the perfect homestead.

4. "The perfect homestead". Too often we idealize the Agrarian life until it becomes a wall we cannot scale or a picture postcard we will never realize. I have heard people wistfully describing the land they are looking for with dreamy eyes cast back into their empty heads. After their breathless description of rural bliss, I will say, "I have seen just the land you are describing... it is in a picture hanging on the wall in a restaurant in town". Life is not a picture. If you are expecting to find the perfect little homestead with a year-round brook flowing through it and a pond with geese and a perfectly green pasture with the perfect red barn... etc.... etc... then you will inevitably fail, because the homestead you look for will either a) cost you a million bucks, or b) never live up to the dream you have concocted in your mind. You will most likely start with empty or overgrown land and you will most likely have to build your utopia there. Agrarianism is coming to love the land God gives us, and to till it and work it according to our needs and the directions given by God. We build homesteads, we cannot afford to buy them.

5. Last point before I move on, and it will be the jumping off point for our discussion today. In order to procure land in the world today, we must be willing to pray hard, work hard, and think hard. If the solution is just "plunk down the money and buy the land", you may never have money enough to pull the trigger. You need to be creative, and to think in ways you are not accustomed to thinking. There was a reason that millions of men and women became indentured servants only a few short centuries ago. They were willing to work as near slaves for 5-10 years in order to become landholders someday, if the Lord did will it. Today, few people are even willing to consider such a thing, and so they stay slaves to a debilitating commercialized system, having their souls sucked out at work each day, just because they cannot think outside of what they already know.

Ok, so, like I said, that is the jumping off point for our discussion on land. We have to be willing to try new things, and to think extraordinary thoughts. Our ticket to land ownership may be out there right now - we just haven't thought of it yet. My father bought some land in the mountains of New Mexico. Next to his land was a small, empty parcel that no one ever worked or built upon. He asked around, did some research, and found out that the adjacent land was owned by a huge world "church" (I will not mention which Antichrist it was) who didn't even know that they owned the land. Someone likely had died and "donated" the land in order to get to heaven. The local diocese didn't even know they owned the land. Dad made a ridiculously small offer (probably 1/5 of what the land was worth) and the cash whores sold it gladly and immediately. In a like (but opposite) scenario, when I lived in West Texas, some of our friends had their eyes on a parcel of land near ours. They did the research and found out who owned it. It too was owned by a religious cult who did not know that they owned it. This cult, however, was unwilling to sell the land at any price. You just never know. I have heard more stories than you can imagine, but the stories have convinced me that there are thousands of acres of land out there that can be bought for a reasonable price, where the current land owner is willing to work with a buyer to make a good and doable deal. I know that this next story is about a worldling in a city, but the story still has a good principle. An old friend and business partner of mine bought a house in a rundown part of town by merely knocking on doors until he found out who owned an old (but well built) house that was soon to be nothing but a crack house. He found the owner, made an offer to buy the house with monthly payments (but with no interest!) and said he would keep the riff-raff out of the area and keep the owner out of court. He made up a contract where he would own the house outright in about 5 years. He then spent a couple of thousand fixing up the house, brought in 5 individual college students as renters, and paid the house off in a year or so. In just a few years he owned almost all the houses on the block, and several others in the area. I have seen this same principle work in rural land deals, but it takes work. We have been shocked to find how willing most of the rural folks are to work with us on any number of projects and plans that we have. We are getting things offered to us for free almost every week by people who know who we are and what we are doing. This goes to the next principle... work hard and talk to people who might be able to help you.

It will be impossible for me to set up a hypothetical for every possible scenario, but I'll throw up a hypothetical that fits the situations I hear about the most often. Ok, so here is a scenario I receive in email questions all the time...

"Michael, I am single and unattached. I want to live the Agrarian life, but I have no money to speak of, some debt, and very few skills."

Here is what I would do. I would sell virtually everything I own (except a working vehicle) and try to scrounge up some cash. Even a thousand dollars would be a good start. Next comes the homework. I would identify where I want to live. This part applies to everyone. Write down everything that is important to you, and important in a living location, and start to prioritize your thinking. Here is my list:

a.) I want to live near like-minded brethren, in Christian community with those who understand these philosophies and who are seeking obedience to God every day.

b.) I want to live as freely as possible, with as little government restriction of my rights as possible. I want to be able to own guns, defend myself, hunt, fish, drive, travel, build, farm, etc. with as few governmental restrictions as possible.

c.) I will need a land that is farmable, with enough annual rainfall to be caught and stored, or enough readily available water to work a farm.

d.) I want a climate that is good for farming as many months out of a year as possible.

You may want to add more things, all the way up to Z if necessary. These first 4 were critical in my thinking, and I prioritized them in a way that I believe put first things first.

Next you need to consider how many acres you will need, and how much is a reasonable price per acre. Now, most people do not need near as much land as they think. With some of the advances in intensive and "square foot" farming, a very small homestead can produce more food, if worked properly, than a good sized family can eat. I have no doubt that a 4-5 acre homestead is sufficient for most people. Some will want more, some might even be able to do with less. I know of people farming 2 acres in a way that is very, very successful. Next you have to start pinpointing an area where all of your priorities overlap. Is there a place near true Christian brethren (and I mean like-minded brethren with good doctrine) where the other priorities are all met and land is fairly affordable per acre? Put a pin mark in the map. That is what I did. Next, in this scenario, I would travel to that area and start nosing about. Seek out the small towns, far from the big cities and go into the diners and cafes and have coffee. Talk to people. Once I have found the area where I want to live, if I must and I have no other options (such as to work for these Christian brethren and live on their land while I make the money to buy my own land) I would rent the cheapest room available in the smallest town nearby. Then I would talk to EVERYONE I could talk to. I would start in the cafes and diners and talk to everyone, letting them know that I am willing to work day-labor for cash. You would be shocked at how fast folks in this area were willing to put us to work. There are always farmers and ranchers who are looking for day workers, or ranch hands. Price your labor fairly, taking into account that you no longer live in a big city with big city needs and expenses. Work hard, and continue to let others know you are willing to work. Take the jobs that pay good, and work hard at them, treating your employer as the Bible commands us to treat masters. Put away money. In your off-time, begin to search for land. You will not generally find cheap and affordable land in the real estate papers, though it is not impossible that you might. You might see a few real estate agents and tell them exactly what you are looking for. They might not be able to help you, but then again - they might. Don't get forced into a real estate buying pattern. Be willing to make outlandish offers, but not insulting ones. Talk to land owners and tell them what you are trying to do. You might be pleasantly surprised and find a good deal where an owner is willing to work with you on purchasing the land. Much of the land today is owned by absentee land owners, who lease the land for cattle, or hold on to it for tax reasons. You never know when one of these folks might be willing to part with 5 acres if you are willing to watch their land for them, or do some fence work, etc. Try anything.

Work hard, and be willing to take work that will teach you skills you will need to know to work the land. We here in our community are learning new things every day about building and construction by working for others when the need arises. This way you get paid twice... in cash, and in skills. By the way, this is also a valuable thought when it comes to learning things you may need to know. Do you want to learn construction, welding, farm techniques, etc.? Why not find someone who does those thing and offer to help them for a modest wage? If they cannot afford you, it may be worth your time to work with them for awhile for free if you must - because the skills may be very valuable someday.

I certainly do not have all the answers in procuring land, but I have learned enough to know that almost nobody can afford land the old-fashioned way. Going off-grid in our Agrarian pursuit is a joy, but it is also a challenge. It is necessary that we learn to think in new and creative ways. I have found that if I keep first things first (my duty to God and His commandments), that ways seem to be opened to me to do those things I need to do. Too many people are satisfied with disobedience and with worldliness, while they convince themselves that their circumstances bar them from doing what they know in their conscience they should do. Too many people, like Henry in Henry and the Great Society, promise themselves that they will do the right thing someday. Of course they never do, and they increasingly refuse to condemn themselves as their conscience once did - as they are hardened against the need to obey at all. And they will convince themselves that they are alright, and that obedience is really just in the heart anyway. Ever heard that before? I have. Hundreds of times, and, as an excuse, it transfers from obedience to God's commandments and ordinances, to any other obedience required of us.

When we preached separatism, which the Bible preaches from cover to cover, some folks told us "We merely need to be separate in the heart", as if the heart can separate from what it loves. If you love the world, you will not separate from it; you will make excuses for it, and for your marriage to it. Separatism is a fundamental principle of Christian Agrarianism. Obedience is a fundamental principle of Christianity. Neither is taught or required today, which is a shame. Christian Agrarianism is not a garden in the heart, nor is it growing wheat in an suburban backyard (though it could start with those things). Christian Agrarianism is principally the obedient movement of God's children out of the City of Destruction, and out of the maw of the beast on consuming them. The command of Christ to flee the earthly city when we see it encompassed with enemies, is no less vital today than it was 2000 years ago. It is ever the wilderness where God hath prepared a place for His true Church (Rev. 12:6, 12:14-17).

That's all for this rant... more next time... if the Lord wills it.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Go to Part 5

Gravel and other grave topics

11/12/07 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. The beautiful, albeit dry, weather continues here in Central Texas. 72 this morning and deep blue skies. We had 2 dump truck loads of road gravel delivered on the Preparation of the Sabbath, and we are expecting two more loads this morning. It is hard work spreading gravel by hand, but it is a beautiful day and we'll do it joyfully. I have some pictures of the road project and of us digging in Elder David's root cellar and I will try to upload them soon.

A conversation on the Economic Collapse and Stalin's famine program in the Soviet Union...

My prayer for rain...

I haven't sent out many emails in a long time, so if you are on my private email list, do not assume I have booted you off of it. I have 3 or 4 sermons to post, and a lot of other work to do, and email has been way back on my list of priorities. I will try to get caught up some this week. I also have received enough questions for a few Q&A Friday editions, so I will try to work on that this week too. Stay tuned for that. I am also working on part 4 of my Off-Grid Agrarianism series...

I gotta run, the gravel truck is here.

Michael

Country Folks Can Survive

11/09/07 - 6th Day - After Breakfast. Preparation of the Sabbath. I cannot believe how fast this week went. I guess I can, but still. After working off the property last week, it was good to have a week here at home. On Monday I worked on a sermon all day, and that night we had a sermon and fellowship. On Tuesday we worked on the pigpen and on the piglets, and I spent some time catching up on e-mail, etc. Wednesday was our first monthly community work day (called First Wednesday) which was an awesome experience. Everyone gathered together in the morning and we divided into two teams to work on some needed areas of the land. One of the projects was to fix a bunch of holes and ruts in the main community road coming on the property. David got his tractor fired up and disked up the worst part of the road (the mud corner), and after a days work the road looked pretty good. Today, Lord willing, we will be having 24 yards of road gravel dropped on the worst spots, which will really help when the rains come (Lord let them come). Yesterday Liviu and I had to go to Brownwood to pick up needed supplies. Did I ever tell you I hate going to the city? Anyway, I was able to find a beautiful stainless steel milking pail at Tractor Supply for about $15, and we got a new lead for Pita and I picked up some homesteading magazines. Liviu got some fencing for his future plans with chickens and goats, and he bought a book on raising dairy goats. Oh, and yesterday I made the first payment on a milking Holstein we are buying. She is about a year old, and we will be breeding her a.s.a.p. so we can hope to be milking her this time next year. Mainly the Holstein milk will go for fattening pigs, and for butter/cream/cheese for us. We have a Longhorn bull (Qitachon) on the land right now, so we will attempt to get the Holstein bred sometime in the next 3 months.

Oh, and I should mention that I have heard the news that the economy is crashing, the dollar has collapsed, gold is soaring, gas is skyrocketing, and dogs and cats are living together. I might have more to say on that later, but...

A country boy can survive...

Today Liviu and I are going to help elder David dig his root cellar. The weather is perfect. It's been hard to suffer through 70's and 80's in November, and 50's overnight, but we are willing to put up with it ;)

God Bless you all,

Michael

Cedar Fever and Flying Pigs

11/06/07 - 3rd Day - After Breakfast. I might have mentioned it last year, but I didn't find out until after we picked Central Texas for our perpetual home that I suffer from Cedar allergies. And not just any Cedar allergies, but the dreaded Texas Cedar Fever. The first year (fall/winter 2005) was miserable. Last year, which was the end of a long drought, was great and I suffered very, very little. This year, following one of the wettest years on record, is starting out to be a bugger. Didn't sleep much at all last night, and with 30 mph winds today it isn't going to be much better.

We tried to catch one of the female piglets this morning because we are going to swap one of our females for one of David's males (since he only had three males and no females). Well, it didn't go very well. This wasn't any Battle of Butcher Holler, but it wasn't fun either. We trapped the dirty half-dozen oinkers in the pig pen and I grabbed the right female and we lifted her into the back of the pickup truck. I was assured in books and TV shows, etc., that pigs do not jump. They don't like to step down either, I was told. Well, she flew right over the side of the pickup truck bed and headed out. David assured us that a bunch of nerds must have just gotten dates, because he had just seen a pig fly. We trapped them all in the pigpen again, and we had everyone at their post, and I drove them by Liviu who promptly grabbed the wrong pig (a male). No problem, because they are all still in the pen, right? Wrong. Jennifer freaked out when the pigs came rushing at the gate and they just pushed it open on her with no problem. She was sitting there with a look of shock on her face, and all 6 were gone. Well, we'll try again later. Maybe tomorrow.

Danielle has been busy rendering lard from the fat of the pig we butchered, and we still have maybe another 60 lbs. of meat to can. We will be canning the lard we get as well. I've been picking up more canning jars every time we go to town.

I'll try to work at posting some sermons today. Check on BiblicalAgrarianism.com later to see if I get it done.

Peace,

Michael

Still in the Process

11/05/07 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. Good Morning. A bright and shiny day here in Central Texas. We had a great Sabbath and Lord's Day, and we really appreciated all of the fellowship here in the community. As most of you know, David and I took our sows to the butcher in November and we picked up the meat a week or so ago. For the Lord's Day fellowship, David grilled some 1 inch thick pork chops and a bunch of jalapeño cheese sausage from his butchered sow. It was great. We were all reminded of God's providence in providing sustenance for His children. Which reminds me of the breakfasts I have had lately. Let me lay it out for you...

Farm fresh eggs from our own chickens.
Farm fresh bacon from our home-raised organic pig.
Farm fresh milk from Holga the Longhorn cow.
Whole wheat biscuits made from wheat ground by hand and purchased from a co-op.

Yummm... and I cannot express to you the satisfaction of having a good portion of all your meals come from your own farm and from the work of your own hands. God is good.

We are also busy helping some young folks here on the land get started in the Agrarian life. Today, Liviu and I are working on bolstering and strengthening one of our pig pens. Our six piglets have released themselves from captivity and, though they do stick around and go back to their pen at night, they spend the day on the land free-ranging, eating acorns, rooting, and basically otherwise living like free pigs. In a few days, the pens ought to be done and then the pigs will only free range when we let them out. It is good to remind them that I am in charge. It was funny, the other day they came walking up our drive 6 abreast like a street gang. I said, "look honey, here come the Outsiders", or maybe it was the "dirty half-dozen". David said it would have been funny to tape it and play it in slow motion with that music from The Right Stuff. This morning they were in the corral while we were milking, making a nuisance of themselves trying to get into Holga's grain bucket. They obviously have not yet learned what a Longhorn can do with a horn.

Today we will be going to Santa Anna to get some hay for Holga, and to pick up some other supplies.

We got together in the group the other day and decided that we are going to have a community work day on the first Wednesday of each month. Everyone was enthusiastic about it and we will use that day to work on the community roads and entrance ways, working on the area where one day (Lord Willing) the community center and library will be, etc.

I am also going to be phasing out some of my former dress as I personally move towards the Biblical concept of modesty and of right acting and demeanor. Many of you know I gave up "shorts" over a year ago. I am also going to be phasing out T-shirts as well. I don't have the money to go and just buy a new wardrobe, but I won't be replacing T-shirts except as undershirts. My goal is to go to long-sleeve collared shirts, even in summer. I have read enough and studied enough to see that it is actually cooler to remain covered in the summer. I know that I really have not missed wearing shorts, and on those occasions when I have worn them just in the house I have an increased feeling of immodesty and impropriety. So I will be buying some long-sleeved collared white shirts here pretty soon.

By the way, I will be putting together a sermon on Modesty - probably today if the Lord wills. I also will be preparing the last three sermons for posting which I have not yet posted. Those were from the series on The Mark of God and they were entitled "Work of Faith", "Labour of Love" and "Patience of Hope" - all taken from 1st Thessalonians the 1st Chapter, Verse 3.

The months are flying by and we are intending to butcher two of the piglets at somewhere around 100 lbs. I am suspecting that that will be sometime in the last half of December, which will be perfect timing. Our freezer is still full, though Danielle and Tracy have been busy canning pork all through last week. So far they have canned 60 lbs. of meat, which is awesome to have in our root cellar. We probably have another 60 lbs. of meat to can - some of it pork and pork sausage, and some of it beef hamburger. I figure that we ought to eventually shoot towards having somewhere near 1000 lbs. of meat in some type of storage - canned, dried, smoked, salted, larded, frozen, etc. Then, if the Lord wills, we will begin to diversify more, adding and replacing with turkey, chicken, and fish. We have a bit of turkey and chicken canned, but not much. We usually catch enough fish in the spring to can some, but this year we had some fish frys and ate all the fish.

It is all about the process. We are learning and growing every day. We are still relatively new at this, and we are learning as we grow. Hope you are too.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Drive-by Posting and some Bull

11/01/07 - 5th Day - After Supper. We had a great Sabbath and Lord's Day, and I have been working off the property with Kelly and Liviu this whole week. The temps have been up near 80 during the day, and right around 40 or so at night - which is nice. We have been working at siding the cabin for a vacation rancher up north of Lake Brownwood. We finished the siding yesterday and today we began working inside the cabin. We quit work at about 12:30 today and after that Danielle and our wives came out to help us clean up before the owner comes home this evening.

In the community we are still reading John Bunyan's book Holy War - we should be on Chapter 3 tonight. Once again, I highly recommend it.

Today Elder David went and picked up Qitachon, the bull we are going to be using this year. I have 4 cows and heifers to be "serviced" - Bonita and Lucia my full-blooded Longhorns, and Maria and Pita my mixed Longhorn/Watusi cattle. Next year I should have those four (DV) to breed and Cholula and Mariana as well. This will be our last year using Quitachon. He is a good bull, and he has given us some great calves from last year. I think the one we are supposed to get for next fall is named Pilancio, and we got to take a look at him and he is a really great looking bull.

I have to run, reading is coming up quick.

May the Lord bless you all,

Michael