3 ms·

Green and Pleasant Land: Four New Books About Farming

38 points by Vigier 8y ago

teddyh 8y ago
FYI: The title is a reference to “And did those feet in ancient time”, a 1808 poem by William Blake, later set to music by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916, and that version is commonly known as “Jerusalem”. The last lines of the poem (and hymn) reads: I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In Englands green & pleasant Land.
- Lio 8y ago
  Also might be interesting to point out that the “feet” referred to in the titile and opening line are those of a young Jesus. A medieval story claimed he visited England and connected him with the mythical Kimg Arthur. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_did_those_feet_in_ancient_time https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_did_those_feet_in_ancien...
  - NeedMoreTea 8y ago
    if you visit that page, don't go believing Wikipedia's first interpretation of "dark satanic mills". It is certainly the second - that the dark satanic mills were the churches. Blake was an extreme non-conformist who was against pretty much all organised religion of the time. Interesting that Blake's page on Wikipedia properly points this out, but the poem's page goes heavily into the conformist interpretation of the poem that would have Blake spinning in his grave, then rather downplays the other.
CalRobert 8y ago
If you find these interesting, you might also like this - http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/ http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/ - I was surprised that I could find a book on profitable small farming (1.5 acres, 60k+ year net) so hard to put down. It also avoids fluff and woo and is very practically focused.
codeulike 8y ago
Farming is the hacking of ecosystems, when you think about it. Looking for exploits and so on.
singularity2001 8y ago
What happened to the famous TED talk by Allan Savory about holistic pasture management? YouTube seems to be very positive about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZfaMEsTMcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZfaMEsTMcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4b8SFSIGK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4b8SFSIGK0 however most papers seem very negative about the results: https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/rangelands/article/view/11560/10833 https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/rangelands/artic...

38 points by Vigier 8y ago

FYI: The title is a reference to “And did those feet in ancient time”, a 1808 poem by William Blake, later set to music by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916, and that version is commonly known as “Jerusalem”. The last lines of the poem (and hymn) reads: I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Lio 8y ago
Also might be interesting to point out that the “feet” referred to in the titile and opening line are those of a young Jesus. A medieval story claimed he visited England and connected him with the mythical Kimg Arthur. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_did_those_feet_in_ancient_time https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_did_those_feet_in_ancien...
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  if you visit that page, don't go believing Wikipedia's first interpretation of "dark satanic mills". It is certainly the second - that the dark satanic mills were the churches. Blake was an extreme non-conformist who was against pretty much all organised religion of the time. Interesting that Blake's page on Wikipedia properly points this out, but the poem's page goes heavily into the conformist interpretation of the poem that would have Blake spinning in his grave, then rather downplays the other.

CalRobert 8y ago

If you find these interesting, you might also like this - http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/ http://www.themarketgardener.com/book/ - I was surprised that I could find a book on profitable small farming (1.5 acres, 60k+ year net) so hard to put down. It also avoids fluff and woo and is very practically focused.

codeulike 8y ago

Farming is the hacking of ecosystems, when you think about it. Looking for exploits and so on.

singularity2001 8y ago

What happened to the famous TED talk by Allan Savory about holistic pasture management? YouTube seems to be very positive about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZfaMEsTMcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZfaMEsTMcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4b8SFSIGK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4b8SFSIGK0 however most papers seem very negative about the results: https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/rangelands/article/view/11560/10833 https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/rangelands/artic...