So, my cousin and his lovely wife have taken to farming, and I have taken to visiting them. I suddenly feel so much closer to the whole “buy local” movement.
It’s an astoundingly beautiful place out in the Louisiana countryside, where the plentiful rains replenish the ground regularly, and our temperate (hah!) climate nurtures wondrous growth. I hear Californians are moving here too, escaping the ongoing drought out West.
I can’t help but love any colors which look somewhat like fall colors.
They raise chickens, lambs, goats, and grow hydroponic lettuce and herbs. The eggs are delicious. The lettuce is wonderful. The herbs are beautiful and filled with flavor. I’ll admit I’m biased, but why shouldn’t I be? They have excellent product.
All in all, it’s made me want to start a farm in the backyard here at the Rectory. Or at least a garden.
The beginnings of Catholic Social teaching, starting with Rerum Novarum of course, taught that every family should have the space for a garden. I think that teaching’s coming full circle. A “back to the land” movement started about a century ago, following publication of Rerum Novarum, and Fr. Vincent McNabb, in England, started a movement for people to move out of the large, industrialized cities, back to the countryside. As the “back to the land” movement spread to literature, Margaret Mitchell, a devout Catholic (well, somewhat… she actually left the Church in later life and became Episcopalian.,) who grew up visiting with the local nuns, and hearing their stories of the Civil War, wrote her Pulitzer Prize winning, and epic novel Gone with the Wind, in which the heroine is constantly renewed by her return to the land; Tara, the plantation, from terra for earth.
I don’t think we can be raising sheep here, in downtown Abita. These ewes are eyeing me up here; great expectations. I’m sure they would not appreciate their photos on my little weblog here. But, that’s life when you’re a sheep.
The goats, aside from being very inquisitive, are also very friendly. And cute as could be. I mean, look at those mugs! There name are Eustes and Leroy.
God bless the farm, and the farmers. Without farms, where would we be? Be sure to check out Our Family Farm, and their partners over at Sacred Roots.