A couple entries ago, the question came up, “How and why does someone strive to increase their land holdings and wealth, while at the same time seek the simple, agrarian life?” Holly further elaborates,

I had just read Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, the chapter on simplicity. Don’t know if you have ever read that, or not…but he pretty much presents it as “wrong” for a Christian to garner any wealth. Having given it thought, I don’t agree with him. I think a gluttony of wealth used on selfish pursuits is improper, but I am also well aware that a Christian who has been blessed (and used good stewardship principles) with wealth can do much good. So, that is the background upon which I read your blog entry, and I was just curious as to how this all practically plays out in the real world, not the theoretical world. Plus…most people don’t go agrarian and buy rentals at the same time. You’re a paradox.

I don’t know if I’ll answer this rightly. I think a real agrarian (such as yourself) might be able to answer the question better. It is possible that there are flaws in our thinking, but thinking through these things is part of the process. If you told me last year that we’d be saving for a farm, I’d have probably believed you. What has changed in the course of a year is why we are thinking in that direction. But that is another post.

If you haven’t seen the movie, City Slickers, then I don’t know how else to explain it. When I began my first major gardening project two years ago, I had grand expectations. It was only about 800 square feet, but that’s also the size of our apartment we lived in for six months in California last year. (But we won’t go over that again.) Also, 800 square feet is pretty impressive out here in the suburbs. I checked out every gardening book in the library, digested every article on organic methods, and set out my seed order extra early.

This was before I figured out that I lived in Florida.

Florida gardening is an entirely different section in the library, and the general gardening category is 100% useless to those trying to make anything grow in zone 9. Furthermore, organic methods only work when you’re trying to grow things in organic dirt. We only have sand in Florida. But I was pretty smart about getting my seed order in early.

The plants (which I grew in a makeshift greenhouse) were ready for the ground February 1st. I know pretty much all of you still have snow on the ground at that time, but there’s got to be something positive about living in Florida. After two months, I got a respectable crop of yellow squash and tomatoes, but everything else cost me more in materials than it yielded.

Then we did the thing that we could never undo: We put fresh lawn clipping down on the plants as mulch. No matter how many bales of hay, gallons of weed killer, and rolls of black plastic we put down in the past two years, the weeds are not budging. To feel our pain more acutely, you have to know the hundreds of hours spent preparing this garden: a dump truck load of dirt delivered that took my husband many late nights of shoveling and moving, a top notch irrigation system installed while my husband worked by floodlight, and an aesthetic border of several hundred feet of wood trim.

You know that scene where Billy Crystal is being dragged by a cow and he yells, “I’M ON VACATION!!!!!!”? That’s me, every day. My husband doesn’t even care that much about gardens. He’ll eat Publix produce. But…he loves me and my schemes.

That was kind of a long story to say that we have a lot to learn. Even people who know what they’re doing have a hard time making a living at farming endeavors due to government intrusion and regulations, et al. We don’t have visions of living off the land completely, selling to the community on a large scale. I will be happy when I can grow just enough to feed my own family, with a little extra for neighbors and for any nice contractors who actually show up.

So, why the rentals? Because it’s a Biblical concept to turn five talents into five more talents for the glory of God. I could spend my five talents on depreciating assets or I could invest it to make more disposable income. It is the love of money—not money—that is the root of evil. Additionally, it is good to note that wealth was a means of God’s blessing to many great heros in the Old Testament and is sometimes true today. Children are also a means of His blessing, but that’s a post for another day as well. (I will say that we’re wealthy in that respect.)

In your email, you said that “a gluttony of wealth used on selfish pursuits” is wrong, but I’d like to take it a step further and say that a dime used on selfish pursuits is improper as well. “Whatsoever ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.” It all belongs to Him, not just the increase and not just 10%. It is all entirely His: my money, my children, myself.

Living among the richest nations in the history of the world for all time, I’d be negligent if I didn’t mention that Americans (and Canadians) are materially and richly blessed.

In short, my sympathy for all things agrarian is not a rejection of the modern devices that money affords, but using and investing money wisely is the only practical way a first generation family will ever afford some descent land. For the glory of God and if He wills.