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Our Journey To Agrarianism: How We Live Our Life IS Our Vote
I wrote this post a year-and-a-half ago. The concept that voting, or making change, happens not in a ballot box but in the life you choose to live feels closer to home than ever. The above video contains snippets of reviews coming in for Surviving Off Off-Grid, a book you’ll want to read if any of this post rings true for you.
Since before we were married the papa and I talked of gardens and country living. He, raised in the city but with fond memories of gardening with his Father and I, a country girl with farming grandparents… we had already been given a dream.
We also had student loans.
So naturally we got married, moved to the city, he got a desk job, and I stayed at home and had babies. That’s just what you do, right? Fast forward to last year and we had paid off $25,000 in student loans in 4.5 years. We were finally debt free.
If I had to pick a turning point, though, I would go back to September of 2006. We had been married just over a year when our oldest son was born. I’ll never forget the moment he was born. I looked at my husband, still shaking from 13 hours of labor and said "You have a son!" with tears rolling down my cheeks.
That moment and these boys changed everything. It was as if God had pierced our hearts and taken off the blindfolds and no matter how hard our flesh fought, we just couldn’t ignore all that was wrong and all that had to change.
Up to that point we talked about how something just didn’t seem right. We lived in this society where…
- We complain of unemployment and yet we grow lawns and not food.
- We claim that politicians are corrupt and yet we continue to spend our money at the corporations that pad their pockets and keep them in power.
- The status quo doesn’t seem right and yet we are told it is the only way to live.
- We often forget that this is a system that continues to send brothers off to war to maintain itself. Brothers who most of the people forget are even there.
- We go through each day as slaves to a system (and to the lies we tell ourselves). Don’t ask. Don’t question. Just consume. It will all be all right.
- We question the surface things while not bothering to look at the real issues.
And suddenly there was this person, completely dependent upon us as parents for guidance. Everything we said he would say. Everything we taught he would do. The way we live our life could either say no to consumerism and debt and industrial foods and political slavery, all of the things that we verbally rail against… or we could be hypocrites.
Self-sufficiency is a popular term, but agrarianism, to us, is more about depending on God for our needs and seeking the spiritual lessons that come from working with our hands and leaving the results up to God.
Agrarianism is about becoming a producer rather than a consumer. It is about not supporting corporations that want nothing more than for you to be in debt, to give up your freedoms, to be dependent on them for your needs rather than God.
After all, how else would they make their money? If millions of people decided that they wanted land instead of houses, gardens instead of lawns, and freedom instead of comfort… the big corporation and the system they support would collapse.
We were disillusioned with industry, politics, media, food systems, and an unsustainable future. We noticed that no matter how many election days we made it to the ballot box and no matter which party was in power that nothing was changing.
What if you could vote every single day for the things you believe in most? What if there was something you could do every day that would support the family unit, encourage production over consumption, nourish us with God-given foods, and give us back our freedoms? What if God put Adam and Eve into the garden for a reason?
What if we could give our sons a shot at something different… something better?
That something is what we call agrarianism. Before our oldest son was even born it was our prayer that we might be able to move off-grid and start a homestead by the time he was five. Lord willing we will be starting this journey before the summer is out and before his fifth birthday in September.
And if you care to join us we will share this journey with you.
Includes:
- 15 chapters chocked full of budget-cutting resources
- 50 pages of simple steps you can take to cut your bill by at least 25% within a month
- What you can do to drop your bill by at least 15% in the next week
- Resources, ideas, tips, hacks, and strategies all in one easy-to-access place and instantly downloadable
40 Responses to Our Journey To Agrarianism: How We Live Our Life IS Our Vote
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Please do share your journey with us. I’d love to hear it as you go along.
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Fabulous post. I don’t have the money to purchase the book right now, but will hopefully be able to do so one of these days. We are trying our best with the help of the Lord to get out of debt. It’s a daily prayer that the Lord will bless us not only with the relief from debt, but also with the ability to spend our money wisely. We have a ways to go, but we’re working at it.
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Will you continue blogging once you move “off the grid”?
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Shannon Reply:
April 15th, 2011 at 7:45 am
Emily – We do have plans to continue as much as we can, Lord willing of course.
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I listened to you when you first started promoting Mr. Bunkers book. I bought the book and it reaffirmed what has been in the back of my mind for most of my life as I have struggled along working so hard to conform to what the rest of the world wants us to believe and how they want us to function. I am tired of it all after “obeying” for 68 years. I am doing my best right now to prepare for an economic collapse and this spring I am really “working” on my husband (who is even older) to find some property in another state closer to our children where we can finish out our lives as a better example to our grandchildren. I was fortunate to be raised on a small farm and was taught a lot of self sufficiency skills. My children know few of those skills and the grandchildren know NONE. Time to change that. I don’t know if I have time left to prepare any of them, but I feel a terrible urgency to run toward that end. I applaud any of you young folks with little children who are showing them a better way. Not a life of more “things”, but a life of skills, abilities, straight thinking, caring for the earth. They will be the survivors who will be here when the rest collapses. God bless them.
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Shannon Reply:
April 15th, 2011 at 7:45 am
Faith – Thanks so much for your thoughts, experience, and encouragement!
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Excellent post! I’ve never seen the word “Agrarianism” in my life before this post, but this is what I’ve been searching for… Each one of us has been conditioned since childhood to be consumers… with the advertisements that are shoved down our throats every day, on television, billboards, newspapers, etc…
Become a producer rather than a consumer. You hit the nail on the head!
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Shannon Reply:
April 15th, 2011 at 7:44 am
Naomi – “Conditioned” is a great word choice here. Thank you.
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Interesting post. My husband and I aways wanted to live in the country (me off-grid, him not so much), but God put us in a city and we’ve brought as much of the country here with us as we could. We garden and buy the things we can’t grow/make from Amish farmers who don’t live too far away.
I just received this in my email today and really think you and your readers would like this link. It is about agrarian living years back and I wanted to share it with you as I think it will inspire you and be of help to you.
http://agrariannation.blogspot.com/2011/03/blnk-3.html
The man is a Christian who has this blog. Hope I’m not out of line with giving you this, but I had just read your post and then came across this other one not 10 minutes later and thought I’d pass it on for you to check out.
Many blessings~
Lori
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Shannon Reply:
April 15th, 2011 at 10:48 am
Lori – Thanks so much for your comment and blog suggestion. I just found that blog a while back through Mr. Bunker and will be reading it from her on out. I will be sharing that link in a future resources post, Lord willing. Thanks again!
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Therese – Artistta,
Please email me at editor (at) lazarusunbound (dot) com with your mailing address. I would like to send you a copy of the book.
Michael Bunker
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I was having a “why am I doing this” day, and your post was just what I needed to hear. I don’t live my life for me, but for God and for my children. Thanks for the encouragement.
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This is exactly what my DH and i have been praying about since we were married, now more than ever!!! we have been married for 10 yrs this october, and we have 3 children under 5 (home birthed, cloth diapered, nourishingly fed, and soon to “officially” be home schooled
we do sooo much to try to stay off grid, from the suburbs 
we know what God has for us as far as home, land etc… we are just waiting for him to direct the path and move our feet! i have not heard of this book b/f but when my hubby gets home from work today, we will more than likely be buying it and reading it to each other until it is done!!! sounds like it is OUR KIND OF BOOK! 
i am wondering if it is discussed in the book, just HOW to START the journey. Our goal is to be, well, everything that is on your “goal list” (it is ridiculous how much you and i have in common!) i would love details on the steps you have taken up to this point. I am faithfully “homesteading” from the non-homestead that we have now, by changing my attitude, actions etc… and just knowing that the Lord knows the desires of our hearts and that we want, so much so, to live a life that gives Him glory and honor, as it sounds you do as well 
thanks for the blessing of this blog, SIS, glad to know there is a fellow traveler like myself on this road! Ill be praying for your family
i would LOVE to hear more about
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Shannon — Beautiful post! I look forward to reading your reflections on your agrarian journey, and I’m excited because we will be on a similar journey — Lord willing, soon!
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Oh I can’t wait!
We are on a similar journey. Three years ago, we left metro Houston and bought our own plot of land. We are debt free and building the future for our children. We planted 30+ fruit trees last year, grow our own veggies and have free range chickens. We turned to consuming natural and raw God given foods and we are currently taking baby steps to become more and more dependent on our talents and blessings.
Loving this post….while watering fruit trees with my baby (5 yrs) last week, my hubs told him “well, we do our part to take care of what we have been given and let God do the rest”. Our plums and peaches are showing signs of the fruits of our labor. So exciting and such a GREAT lesson for our children.
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The more that I see and hear on the news, the more time I spend in town at my “job,” the more I want to stay at home and go back to my roots. I was raised on a homestead in the foothills of the Kentucky Appalachians. I honestly believe more every day that our society is in sharp decline and a return to agrarianism is necessary for our survival.
I’m looking forward to reading about your journey and hoping we can set out on our own some time soon. I’d love to read Mr. Bunker’s book – hopefully the local library has a copy. If not, I’ll scrounge up the change somewhere!
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I’m so glad your journey is beginning – what an exciting time! I look forward to hearing more about it.
I am consistently amazed at the number of people I meet who are striving for something “more”… We know we’re missing something!
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Kate,
if you will send me your address as well, I will send you a copy.
editor (at) lazarusunbound (dot) com
Thank you!
Michael Bunker
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I have been inspired reading your blog for awhile now. You are the one who got me more interested in growing vegetables and herbs. We always tried to grow tomatoes and peppers and a few herbs, but that was it. Now I want to do more so I can buy less at the grocery store.
I feel a lot like Faith in that our society is certainly heading in the wrong direction. I won the Surviving Off-Off Grid book and have finished it. That book has given me a sense of urgency to figure out how do more for myself, save energy. save money. Our bills just keep getting higher and higher and we don’t have any debt! My husband is reading the book now and I am curious to see what he thinks about it.
I have felt throughout my life that I was born in the wrong time. I never wanted a career. I did want to be an artist but that never happened. It only occurred to me recently that I have what I really wanted. I just wanted to be a wife and mother. I grew up watching those tv shows like leave it to beaver where it was normal for the mom to be home. My mother didn’t work until we were grown, because she just wanted to. She didn’t have to. Those shows and my mom influenced me.
Now since I found Sally Fallon and all you real food bloggers I am doing so much more to provide my family with healthy nourishing food. Oops, sorry this is getting too long. I just want to finish by saying that I hope My husband and I can eventually get out of this hoa neighborhood to a small house with enough space to grow enough fruit and veg, and even some chickens for eggs. I would love to stop being dependent on gas too!
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What a wonderful post! So much similarities to our family’s beliefs. We took the “plunge” in 2005 and moved our, then five children to northern Vermont because we felt that God was leading us to move to a place we could afford to work with our hands and to be producers and not part of the consumer society, as well as find a supportive community. I have blogged about our family’s journey. We now have 6 children with #7 on the way and support ourselves on our small homestead and on about $22,000/year by making rustic decor and natural toys and making and growing as much as we can ourselves.
We still have so much to learn and implement though.
It sounds as if you are getting an earlier start than we did and that is wonderful! We also listen to God’s leadings and believe that living this lifestyle makes us rely more on God and less on what the world has to offer.
I look forward to reading about your family’s journey.
Warm wishes,
Tonya
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I’m so excited for you to be so close to realizing your dream of living off-grid! And especially at a young age! We have a few more years till dh’s military retirement and hope to do the same after that. We also hope to raise our children knowing a better way to live. I plan to buy this book before long.
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This is an excellent post and the timing for us is great. We’ve been working on our property about 5 hours from where we are now for over a year now. For the time being, it will be a place to escape the very large city where we now live. It is most definitely the place where we hope and plan to someday live. We’re doing it in bits and pieces, as we are able, but moving towards a simpler life is the constant goal. We’re gardening here in the city for the first time this year and it thrills my heart to see the green sprouts and dream of the possibilites!
I’m headed to my library site now to see if they have the book!
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What an incredibly powerful post. You are so right on! I love how you transformed your life, and found your true path. Hopefully we will all have the strength to be so courageous!
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Awesome post!
You really laid out the issues well. The heart of the issue, for me, is: becoming independent from The System that wishes to make us dependent. As dependents, we are sooo easily manipulated and controlled, so that we become continuous slaves to “the system”.
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Thanks for your thoughts!
It does not seem to amaze me–or God, for that matter–what direction our society is going in. I wish people would attempt to look at things from God’s perspective. I mean… He is the One who brought our society into existance. Three words come to mind… Read the Bible.
It is true where you state how “We question the surface things while not bothering to look at the real issues.” It does not make sense to me that, for most people, real issues are not at the top of the laundry list of priorities
We need to learn that if we want “real food and sustainability,” then we need to start producing the products on our own, and eliminating the middle-men. I mean… That is how the world began. However, people do not think of the blessings they get from their harvest, because of our fast-paced society. It is so rewarding and empowering to know that we have the tools at our own discretion, yet too many people do not want to get down and dirty.
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
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I do so look forward in watching your journey as the Lord leads you. I don’t know much about agrarianism, but look forward in learning more from you.
Have a wonderful day
Blessings
Renata:)
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Really great post about life choices and the importance of what we teach our children through those choices. Thanks so much.
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Shannon,
I have to tell you that I read your post here well over a week ago and something that you said just keeps popping into my head throughout the day…
“…we grow lawns and not food.” I don’t know why that has impacted me so much but it just REALLY has me thinking. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here and may God bless your agrarian journey!
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I am facinated by your journey and look forward to hearing more. My husband and I are also trying to finish paing off debt! It has been my desire to look into this lifestyle for a long time. We are taking baby steps, but would love to do more. I will check into this book when the budget allows. Excited for you and you family!
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So glad I found you through Renee@Fimby! My husband and I are Christians, libertarians, and we’re newly off-grid! We’re so happy, despite difficult circumstances you can read about on our blog, to be giving our kids the opportunity to learn how to be independent of the system, right from the start of their young lives. What a gift!
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Hello,
I enjoy reading your website but am wondering why would you wash clothes by hand? God gave man a creative brain, and using something to make your time more effective for God’s glory is not a bad thing. The time you spend washing clothes by hand could be used to serve others. Do you see every human invention that takes technology as evil? Why don’t you like electricity? I love being able to plug a cd player in to help me worship the Lord in songs, I love watching a movie cuddling with my husband, and so many other good things can be done with electricity. So I’m wondering how you came to the conclusion you shouldn’t use electricity at all.
Thanks for reading my questions!
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Congrats on actively moving toward your dream. My husband has dreamed this for decades but lacks the courage to actually move . . . but we are gardening (even built a green house) in all the space we have on our land. . . so i guess we’re making some progress???
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not sure how i missed this in april but thank you for your links, because i found it! this is inspiring to say the least and i agree with you wholeheartedly. my husband and i are following a similar path yet we’re several (hundred) steps behind. we too want to place our vote and we’ll slowly get there.
i know we’re on the right track because it feels good!!
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Over the past year, the Lord has been tugging at my heart about this very subject matter. I never knew there was a name for it, and quite honestly, I thought I was the only one insane enough to follow after it. This post is very encouraging to me and helps reveal more of where the Lord is leading me.
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Thank you for this information and opening my eyes a bit more. Ever since I was a little kid my dream was to live in the country and grow and make everything. (I even drew a picture of it) Life happened and we fell into debt (like everyone out there) I hate it. I hate all the buying (I went to the mall the other day and just felt like crying) I long to live in the country, to grow my own food, raise my own livestock, do all things natural.. but I really would love some mentors. I love reading books for information, but I need a mentor to put things into practice.
That books sound great and I have posted it on my FB page for my friends to read. I have to wait to get because Hubby lost his job. (just another reason I want to go Off Grid)
Please pray for us. Hopefully someday.
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Great post.
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I DO wholeheartedly believe in all that you are doing,,,BUT, if we are not very careful about who we vote into office, this country will no longer exist in a manner that would allow all of us to live as we wish. We do need to be defended against those who would like to come destroy us. We also need to make choices that will keep someone from becoming a dictator and turn this into a place you wouldn’t recognize. I wish we all could live as you are living and raising your beautiful children, but that isn’t practical for the millions of people living in this country. How we vote is critical and, believe me, I, along with millions of others, have been praying every day that God will intervene and save this country from those who would like to destroy it from the inside out. I think of you so often and hope your trials will be easy ones and that you will be successful with all your many efforts.
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Shannon Reply:
November 16th, 2012 at 10:38 am
Faith – I appreciate your stopping by and commenting. Reading through your comment I realize that we differ on a few foundational things. First of all I believe that a government reflects its people. We are given a wicked government when we are a wicked people. Secondly, I don’t vote for a lot of reasons and one of them is because the system for electing officials is ungodly, the people running are ungodly, and any platform I have ever seen anyone run on is not one that I could never support. I do not see a republican or a democrat being less evil than the other. They both stand for evil.
Finally, I disagree with the statement “but that isn’t practical for the millions of people living in this country.” Most people for the majority of history have lived the way we live or with less comfort than we have. Most of the people who lived in this country at its founding lived an agrarian way of life. The only people who ever lived as richly as most Americans do today were the very wealthy, most of whom were also wicked. Furthermore, the only reason that we are able to live an industrialized, comfort-filled life is because we have become an imperialistic nation that has been going to war for most of our history, literally and figuratively, to obtain resources that do not belong to us. And frankly, I can’t in good conscience be a part of that.
My point in this post is that voting in a ballot box means nothing. I believe that we are commanded to live simply, to work with our hands, and to live in obedience to His command that His people be separate from the world. I believe all of that adds up to a life in which we throw off the things of this world and provide our family’s basic needs by the work of our hands. And in this everyday living that we do out of a love and obedience to Him we are trying to do what is required of us… and voting in the world system is not one of those things. In reality, submitting to Christ as KING has nothing to do with voting, but it has everything to do with obedience. If you want to vote, that’s your choice and your system. I want my “vote” to be my life. And abstaining from evil (or the lesser of two evils) is a legitimate form of “voting”.
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Thank you once again for sharing your journey, it is ever confirming that we are doing the right thing. You have inspired me in what it truly means to live life the way that God has instructed us to live;
I am eternally grateful.
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Sometimes I feel like my family and I are the only ones that feel this way! It’s nice to see so many other like-minded people.
I hoped to find the book at the local library but no such luck. I’ll head over to Amazon.
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