http://agrari.us Aspiring to the Agrarian Life Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:45:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Well...perhaps not start, after all I didn't breed ducks to lay the eggs which were hatched to get these ducklings, but you get the drift. On the morning of a mad September day I hatched out a scheme to raise a flock of ducks with the express purpose of getting ... http://agrari.us/2010/01/07/duck-from-start-to-finish/ Whew! I'm finally feeling like I have a little chance to breath. Last week I slaughtered our annual pig and this weekend I butchered and processed it. Right now I am in a tiny window of rest before the remaining 7 pigs I have been raising are slaughtered here on ... http://agrari.us/2009/11/02/of-pigs-ducks-far-off-things/ I'm not quite sure how this happened. I seem to get myself stuck in the middle of things quite often. Perhaps I am too good natured. Perhaps I am too game for fun & a lark. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. All I know is I find myself raising ducklings this ... http://agrari.us/2009/09/23/duckfest-2010-name-that-duckling/ As a small-scale, artisanal pork producer I work hard to raise a quality product for my customers. From start to finish it takes almost a year for me to raise pork to the quality I like to offer. This often means coaxing piglets through February frosts, seeing to their comfort ... http://agrari.us/2009/08/19/a-meaty-problem/ Perhaps I live in a bubble. Perhaps I have just been incredibly lucky in many ways. Farmers Markets have, in one way or another, been a part of my life. And no, before you go thinking that I was some sort of market stall brat at the hems of ... http://agrari.us/2009/04/28/to-market-to-market-to-see-a-fat-prig/ Imagine if shoe manufacturers only made their styles in a few sizes. You might have difficulty finding a pair which fit your feet at different stages of your life. The one-size-fits-all approach would certainly be cost effective for the shoe industry, and because every one needs footwear, the customer ... http://agrari.us/2009/04/13/tough-shoes-to-fill/ In an excellent article on the New World Order Capitalist Powergrab, the point is made that the ensuing class struggle may well lead to a sort of neo-Feudalism. There will be the Haves in their gated communities and Have Nots, or Serfs, outside, poor, exploited, and powerless. A glance ... http://agrari.us/2009/04/09/the-new-order-serfdom/ In a discussion that erupted on Twitter today, I think I may have come across as some sort of neolithic agrarian rube. It is certainly hard to maintain clarity or explain rationales in 140 characters or less. While I do tend towards being a Luddite, I am actually in favor ... http://agrari.us/2009/03/30/what-is-agriculture-without-technology/ When the Industrial Revolution began to take hold, countless country bumpkins flocked to the cities, lured by the promise of money, a better life, some sort of future out of the dung heap. What they found was enslavement, death, disease, and crippling poverty at the hands of often cruel ... http://agrari.us/2009/03/19/the-backyard-revolution/ Most people think of the rooster as the harbinger of dawn. Chanticleer, perched on top of the barn greeting the sunrise with lusty crowing. Those of us who raise chickens know it is far less  poetic. Roosters will crow all day and all night. In fact, the more roosters ... http://agrari.us/2009/03/09/the-anti-agrarian-timeshift/