Over the last week I have seen blog posts on the various blogs that I read about a new short movie out called the "Story of Stuff". Tim over at Nature's Harmony Farm blogged about just the other day and I finally had a chance to watch it yesterday. I'm not going to comment on the first ten minutes of the movie. It deals with production, pollution, the theory of why we have disposable stuff, and all those kinds of things. That isn't a battle that I want to fight, or something I want to promote on this blog which is about beginning farming ... but, at the 10 minute and 12 second mark I think it gets pretty interesting. In fact I believe it speaks to the core of what makes a small-scale farm work ... and work full-time.So, if you want you can watch the entire thing ... or you can download by clicking on THIS LINK and find the download button (then start watching at the 10:12 mark ... or you can go straight to the "Story of Stuff" website and wait for the movie to load at the top of the page, then click the chapter marker for "consumption". The "consumption section lasts for about five minutes, but I won't stop you from watching the rest...
Okay, that is how you get to the movie ... now, what does it have to do with farming? I believe one of the biggest road blocks to becoming a full-time small-scale farmer is consumerism. And, that one of the things that will make beginning small-scale farmers succeed is for people to jump off the consumerism bandwagon and slow their lives down.
Consumerism is the exact opposite of living the small farm life. Small-scale family farming is not about having the biggest green or red tractor, the largest truck, the whitest fences, the biggest house, the most involved in extra-curricular activities kids, or about keeping up with the Jones'. Small-scale family farming is about interacting with your family, with your livestock, with your crops, with your consumers/customers, and with your family some more. One image I loved from the movie was their illustration of the consumerism circle ... we watch TV find that we need more stuff to fit in, so we go to the store and buy more stuff to fit in, but since we bought more stuff we need more money ... after spending the money we need more so we go to work, get tired from working so much, come home and turn on the TV ... and then the cycle repeats! If I am going to live out my faith, spend time with my family, and become a small-scale full-time farmer I'm going to have to opt out of this broken consumerism cycle. It is dangerous, it is painful, it is un-Biblical, and it is just plan wrong! Yep, consumerism is the opposite of the small farm life ... small farmers need to produce things that last (I understand that food goes away, but quality sustainable food does have lasting benefits), they need to produce stuff that is quality, and they need to produce stuff that contributes to their surrounding community.
Also, as I mentioned, I think as people jump off this consumerism bandwagon they will be seeking out these small-scale family farms to purchase their food from. And I see people jumping off the consumerism bandwagon left and right. Not just back to the land hippies (no offense if that describes you) or environmental wackos (again, no offense intended), but also conservative Bible believing suburban people who work as teachers, lawyers, church employees, business people, and so much more. There is a counter-culture out there when it comes to consumerism ... and it is growing. As a small-scale beginning farmer I think it is important to catch these people as they try to opt-out of the cultural norm and connect them to their food and the countryside that surrounds them. In fact I would say that this short section of the "Story of Stuff" movie really energized me in our journey towards farming.
Like I said, watch the whole thing if you would like and take anything away from it that you want. Agree with it, disagree with it, yell at it! I don't really care, but I was most interested in the section on consumerism ... or maybe we should call it greed (which is another word that doesn't fit with small-scale family farming).
**The website doesn't appear to be working this morning ... I'll put up the links that I can and you can just check back throughout the day. Sorry about that, but I do hope you check it out.**
