You must be mad to want to be a farmer.
— my dad
In the 1930s, John Steinbeck wrote about the unfurling of a machine man, with his machine agriculture. Nearly 100 years later, the machine’s grip is almost total. Agribusiness and “the food industry” dominate, and a century of their expert advice has killed our soils, terraformed our landscapes, and changed the climate — to name but a few. In a sense my dad is right.
But, for the same reasons, it’s one of the most interesting times to be farming. There is a growing recognition that the dominant food system is no longer fit for purpose. The nascent world of alternative agriculture, of real farming, is buzzing with new ideas and old seeds. Farmers, bakers, academics, millers, seed-savers alike.
I’m fortunate enough to count myself amongst this movement. I’m a third generation arable farmer based in Kent, England. As I write, I’m in my first season of organic farming at home. My writing centres on this work.
What can I expect?
Expect to see essays on the big and the small: updates from the farm, reflections on the industrial machine, and a few things in the middle. I endeavour to write something of substance once a month. Below is a sample of my writing over the last year of which I’m most content:
— short: Sometimes Nature Sucks
— medium: Planting Trees Without a Pension
— long: A Dissident’s Guide to Agricultural Economics
Who are your influences?
Wendell Berry, Paul Kingsnorth, Gary Snyder, Simone Weil, James Rebanks, Mary Harrington, Henry David Thoreau, my parents, the big oak tree in the field outside my house. In short: those of a place, those who belong some-where, rather than where-ever.
Why subscribe?
Subscribe to support a young farmer and writer, as I try to build something of a place, something with beauty and ecological sanity, something against the uprooting and rootless machine. All subscribers, free and paid, are much valued. Paid subscribers make this work viable, and I am sincerely grateful to those who have pledged such support. After harvest, my plan is to reward paid subscribers with flour and grain — watch this space.
Thank you for reading.
Yours in real bread,
Leon
