Want to Get “Back to the Land?” You’re Not Alone
May 26, 2017
Each generation has had one common desire: to live a more honest, ethical life of self-sufficiency and oneness with nature.
Over the past century, generations of young people have turned their backs on city life to embrace small-scale farming and back-to-the-land ideals. The exact circumstances for each generation’s return have varied: the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Vietnam War in the ’60s and ’70s, and, more recently, the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity to industrial agriculture and climate change.
Each generation has had one common desire: to live a more honest, ethical life of self-sufficiency and oneness with nature.
Young farmers today face serious structural obstacles: access to affordable land, a steep (and often self-financed) learning curve, debilitating student loans, and lack of access to health care.
But three back-to-the-land farmers managed to succeed in a fickle vocation that seems to demand equal parts skill, determination, and luck. What choices did they make, and are their experiences instructive for struggling young farmers today?
