I just needed a 3” nut and bolt and a few small screw-eyes for an old barn-frame loom I’m setting up to weave linen cloth as it once did, over 100 yrs ago. You can still see the fine grooves the line flax made in the back beam.
I bet I’d have found exactly what I needed in Henry Schermerhorn’s tin cans. If I lived closer, I’d save them from the dumpster! But thank you for honoring Henry and the generation of farmers now past who knew how to make things, fix things, maintain things, and save what could be repurposed or re-used. As you are doing, with the tarp rescue. Another gratitude-provoking post!
We saved Henry's entire hardware collection! We had to clear out another building to receive it, to be sorted though at a future date. I look forward to your linen cloth. Thank you, Adam
So this is how the dairy farm stores the corn silage for the cows to eat later? Before plastic, isn’t this what those tall metal containers, silos, were for?
Soooo much plastic, so many tires. It looks like acres of the stuff, hideous with the waste of space and use of petroleum and yet also striking with its depiction of rows of rhythmic round black circles over the white.
The juxtaposition of the carting away of consequences as opposed to the plastic buried n the field….you write at one point that earlier generations wrestled with their own moral dilemmas about where to put stuff (I think), but when I think of *some* farmers I’ve known, there would have been no moral dilemma. Only the thought that an outhouse is way better than pooping somewhere you might step in later.
Very enjoyable essay and a reminder to continue my efforts at cleaning up the mess I’ve made in the woods next to my house.
Silage-making has been around for a long time, even before wooden silos. Anyone farming today is up to their elbows in moral dilemma, even the small-scale and organic ones. The pressure to produce food at a price people are willing to pay precludes most archaic practices. See this newsletter for a bit more on this: https://peasantryschool.substack.com/p/metabolizing-the-caloric-accounting
Hi Adam, thank you. Yes I have farmer friends, absolutely there are many moral dilemmas they face. My comment referred to the plastic buried in the field, so sad to me but *not surprising*, given the convenience of it.
My statement was poorly thought out — apologies for any offense given.
I’m curious about the silage-making so I will read up on that! Thank you for the hard work and lovely writing.
"It takes a remarkable amount of courage to show up at an event in full awareness that you will be an outsider there." Yes and yes. May we learn from such teachers, especially in a time when so many of us have become more of an outsider than we might like to imagine. Giving thanks for you and your words this morning, Adam.
When recent immigrants allow me to befriend them (trust me) I feel like I'm getting a little window into the life experience of my people when they came over some generations ago. Many of us could be described as slightly-less-recent-immigrants. Best to you, Adam
I just needed a 3” nut and bolt and a few small screw-eyes for an old barn-frame loom I’m setting up to weave linen cloth as it once did, over 100 yrs ago. You can still see the fine grooves the line flax made in the back beam.
I bet I’d have found exactly what I needed in Henry Schermerhorn’s tin cans. If I lived closer, I’d save them from the dumpster! But thank you for honoring Henry and the generation of farmers now past who knew how to make things, fix things, maintain things, and save what could be repurposed or re-used. As you are doing, with the tarp rescue. Another gratitude-provoking post!
Hi Sally,
We saved Henry's entire hardware collection! We had to clear out another building to receive it, to be sorted though at a future date. I look forward to your linen cloth. Thank you, Adam
So many questions, and thoughts.
In no particular order….
So this is how the dairy farm stores the corn silage for the cows to eat later? Before plastic, isn’t this what those tall metal containers, silos, were for?
Soooo much plastic, so many tires. It looks like acres of the stuff, hideous with the waste of space and use of petroleum and yet also striking with its depiction of rows of rhythmic round black circles over the white.
The juxtaposition of the carting away of consequences as opposed to the plastic buried n the field….you write at one point that earlier generations wrestled with their own moral dilemmas about where to put stuff (I think), but when I think of *some* farmers I’ve known, there would have been no moral dilemma. Only the thought that an outhouse is way better than pooping somewhere you might step in later.
Very enjoyable essay and a reminder to continue my efforts at cleaning up the mess I’ve made in the woods next to my house.
All the best,
Laurie G
Connecticut.
Hi Laurie,
Silage-making has been around for a long time, even before wooden silos. Anyone farming today is up to their elbows in moral dilemma, even the small-scale and organic ones. The pressure to produce food at a price people are willing to pay precludes most archaic practices. See this newsletter for a bit more on this: https://peasantryschool.substack.com/p/metabolizing-the-caloric-accounting
Best, Adam
Hi Adam, thank you. Yes I have farmer friends, absolutely there are many moral dilemmas they face. My comment referred to the plastic buried in the field, so sad to me but *not surprising*, given the convenience of it.
My statement was poorly thought out — apologies for any offense given.
I’m curious about the silage-making so I will read up on that! Thank you for the hard work and lovely writing.
Best,
Laurie
Thank you, Laurie.
"It takes a remarkable amount of courage to show up at an event in full awareness that you will be an outsider there." Yes and yes. May we learn from such teachers, especially in a time when so many of us have become more of an outsider than we might like to imagine. Giving thanks for you and your words this morning, Adam.
Hi Jan,
When recent immigrants allow me to befriend them (trust me) I feel like I'm getting a little window into the life experience of my people when they came over some generations ago. Many of us could be described as slightly-less-recent-immigrants. Best to you, Adam