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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Distributism: One Man's Experience Going Back to the Land

I'm interested in distributism, the way of life recommended by G.K. Chesterton and his associates. The philosophy of distributism is based on spreading the means of production as widely as possible among the populace. It follows Catholic social teaching as promulgated by Pope Leo XIII. When you consider the inhumane conditions in the workplace sparked by the Industrial Revolution, you can see the sense of distributism which keeps fathers at home working with their children. It was the way most people lived up until the 19th century. In many ways it was a much more humane way of living based on cooperation and simplicity rather than accumulation and greed.

I found this article by a teacher who went back to the land to become an organic farmer very interesting. It makes me want to learn more about distributism. From a practical point of view I'm beginning small with my little strawberry patch.

From Teacher to Farmer

2 comments:

  1. I read the article, which was very interesting. I, too, am trying to do my small part by shopping at farmer's markets and buying local food and produce, etc.

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  2. I try to buy from the local farmers here in California, too, as imported products have put a lot of farmer out of business. China is even selling garlic to us, and it is terrible and gets moldy fast. Some countries are even putting fish parts in grapes they are shipping to us out of season as grapes will not freeze for shipping unless they have the fish DNA in them. Yuck! I won't eat them.

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