Thinking more about our role as Christian farmers & looking around the net, we came across Joel Salatin who describes himself as a “Christian-conservative-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic-farmer.” Well, he pretty much had us there, so we wanted to find out more.
What we found is this article from The Red Carpet.
His words say a lot & much of it profound. (Are we the only ones who think farmers are all philosophers? Maybe it’s all that time alone in nature.)
For instance:
“Christ as Creator established numerous principles for how this grand scheme would work. He established herbivores, for example, as pruners to make sure biomass did not go into senescence, but rather stay fresh and growthy, aggressively metabolizing solar energy into decomposable plant material that breathes in carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen. The whole earth’s ecosystem runs on sunbeams converted to tangible biomass through the magnificent process of photosynthesis. As a farmer, I have the distinct privilege of participating in this grand scheme, and as a human, I can either humbly encourage it or arrogantly fight against it.”
And on how Christians can help lead the change to healthy & sustainable agriculture:
1. Realize that eating is a moral act. It makes a statement. Does God care if pigs express their pigness? Is life actually biological or just mechanical? Does where your food comes from honor the Biblical belief system you espouse? Would Jesus be happy with a Monsanto mindset? Here is an outfit that patents and owns life forms of its own creation that God’s Genesis patterns of sexual plumbing prohibit from occurring. Releasing these promiscuous beings into the environment creates egregious trespass violations on my farm. Not only does Monsanto refuse liability, but it actually has enough clout in our culture to get the courts to rule that I, as the violated party, the rape victim, must pay Monsanto for the privilege of being raped. Does that sound like thinking that would honor God?
2. Lead by example. Turn church lawns into edible landscapes and gardens for parishioners to participate in food production. Use church kitchens every day of the week to launch local food into commerce. Use the power of congregating to form alliances with local farmers for food pickups and distribution. Quit using styrofoam at potlucks and quit assuming that if someone dares to pose these ideas they’re a Democrat pagan Gaia worshipping Commie pinko liberal.
3. Make food as important a ministry point as happy marriages, Bible study, financial counseling, and filling the missionary barrel. The Bible is full of food and feasts. It starts in a garden and ends in a New Jerusalem sporting a fruit tree that that’s always full and bears different fruit. Do you really think we’ll have high fructose corn syrup and monosodium glutamate at the marriage feast of the Lamb? Really? I bet it’ll be raw milk, homemade sweet pickles, grass-fed beef and compost-grown veggies. Enjoy!
If you are intrigued & would like to read more, the entire article is here for you to enjoy.
