A farm can mean many different things to different people. Some might think first of a garden or a field of corn, others might think of a milk cow or a herd of sheep. Still others might think of an old barn or farm house, but whatever it happens to be, the images that come first to peoples mind usually are of an idealic, simple or nostalgic life set in a beautiful rural country-side. What most people fail to realize is that a farm is a lot of hard work. Many people desire the life of a farm because they feel it would be the freest, most rewarding and even the best life God has provided for man … and it is. But the reason this is true goes much, much deeper than the surface aesthetics that first awake the spirit of romance in the heart of the aspiring agrarian. Don’t get me wrong, I am a strong believer in the importance of romance in the life of every farmer. I believe that for us to truly be good farmers we must be enamored with the land, work and animals God has given us to steward. I can say this with greater conviction and surety because I have been intimately involved in small-scale, intensive, diversified agriculture for many years. However, in spite of, or maybe because of all that, the real blessings of the agrarian life come not because of some magic setting or picturesque surrounding, but because it is a life of toil, adversity, beauty, balance, work, birth, and yes, even death. It is a life that teaches that a man’s relationship to the land reflects his relationship to God. It is a life that, as Michael Bunker says, is “process not purpose driven,” a life that focuses on obedience, not rewards.

As much as I enjoy growing plants, caring for animals, tending the soil and raising our own food, nothing drives these truths home with greater clarity than when I have to deal with the stark reality of death. Whether I face that death as I kill a meat goat with my hand on its head, or like tonight have to dispose of a young Boer goat that was born still and lifeless before it had a chance to take its first breath, the finality and struggle is just as real. And for me this experience is even more powerful and emotional because I see in the eyes that look at me, (whom they have learned to trust), with a quickly fading light, or in the feeble struggling of one of tonight’s kids who tries to fight for life while on the brink of death, my own pain, fear and struggle when the Lord brought me to that same point just a few years ago. I find it impossible not to sympathize with their plight. However, as difficult as these times can be, it is through experiences like this that Christ teaches us the deepest and most profound lessons of life; lessons that would never have been learned but by a rare few within the confines of urbanism.

On the diversified small farm, children grow up realizing that death is as much a part of life as is birth. We come to understand the reality of God’s curse on creation as we are forced to deal with disease, sickness and death on a very personal level. Or as we learn to accept that when we steward the creation through the taking of dominion, animals must still be sacrificed, (slaughtered), to provide for the sustenance of ourselves and our families. For those just coming out of a sheltered urban lifestyle this can often be difficult to accept, especially as they learn the importance of personally taking responsibility for the oversight and stewardship of that life and death cycle themselves, rather than avoiding the issue by delegating it to someone else. This whole theme of learning to take personal responsibility for the sustenance and care of our own family and our own land is central to the Christian agrarian vision. It is vital that we reclaim our place as stewards of God’s land through tilling the soil and caring for our flocks and herds. As part of this journey, we will be faced with the cold realities of death, but we will also receive the blessings of the full and abundant life God intended for His children, the blessings of agrarianism. And it is worth every minute, for it is a life I would not trade for all the world.

By the way, as I post this this evening we are experiencing one of those very blessings, as it appears that the young goat kid that was born too weak to nurse will actually live. Diana had her first kid about 10:00 last night with two more coming in the next hour and a half. The second one, as I said, was born too weak to stand or even nurse and only half the size of his healthy sibling. The third was born dead. We spent the better part of last night trying to get the weak kid to start eating, which was a very delicate chore since our stomach tube had been ruined from the year before and our new one had not yet arrived, (it came in the mail this morning!). However, Dad persisted with great diligence and his efforts appear to have paid off. It did make for a very long night as none of us got to bed until around 2:00, (which is when I wrote the above post), and Dad didn’t go to bed at all. Nevertheless, it will all be worth it if the Lord continues to bless us with this kid’s recovery. Indeed, regardless of the outcome, we shall praise the Lord with thanksgiving for His marvelous Providence in bringing us to a life of such reward and abundance!

Tyler