Back From the Land

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast

Episode 15

Back From the Land

Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcasts. This is your host Patrick and this is Episode #15 titled Back From the Land. 

I guess a more appropriate title would be Back from the Land: Why the Back TO the Land Movement Failed and What Are the Important Lessons Learned. 

I want to start this episode by sharing with you a story about a 12 year old boy named Sam who grew tired of living in a small apartment with his family and was also tired of the hustle and bustle of New York City. Sam ran away from home to go live on his great grandfather’s property in the Catskill mountains.  He was simply seeking some independence. His adventures were truly a dramatic representation of man versus nature. He had to learn how to survive. He had to learn how to live off the land. 

This was in the 1950’s. And this was not a true story. This comes from a fiction book called My Side of the Mountain, written by Jean George in 1959. This book was truly one of my childhood favorites. 

Now I want to share with you another story. This one is true. The well known story about Chris McCandless. This young man hiked into the Alaskan wilderness in 1992 and attempted to live off the land. He lasted about 16 weeks. This very real story is a dramatic representation of the desire to get away from civilization and live on your own. Although this story has a tragic end, it also represents a part of us that simply will not be put to rest. 

But, let’s examine another very real situation. The so called Back to the Land Movement in the 1960’s and 70’s. Okay, I just said Back TO the Land. But the title of this episode is Back FROM the Land. Ah, yes, a little contradiction there. But, bear with me for a moment. 

Now, the so called back to the land movement was an enormous social movement in the 1960’s and 70’s that was based on the ideal of a self sufficient life close to nature. There were many reasons why people chose to do this.  Many found the American value system to be repulsive. Many people were disgusted and loathed the rat race, the crowds, consumerism, all the advertising bent on getting people to buy things they did not need, the destruction of the land and environment, and living under what they considered to be a corrupt establishment. 

And furthermore, these ideas were reinforced by a long-standing American tradition that associates virtue with moderation, self-denial, hard work, and simple living. Consequently, many people associated self sufficient living with the romantic notion of the pioneers. 

I find it interesting that while this social movement was in full swing, I was very young and spending a lot of time on the farm. So in many ways, while there was a great movement to go back to the land I in fact never left the land. But more on that later. 

As a culture, we seem to go in circles, similar to circling the airport. Because the idea of getting back to the basics is truly nothing new. And the people that embraced this huge back to the land movement in the 60s and 70s didn’t invent that idea either. 

However, you have to consider what was going on during that period of history in the US. It was the Vietnam Era and a time of tremendous political tension. There was widespread social upheaval.  There were numerous protests and anti-government demonstrations. It was also a time of rampant consumerism. For many, the idea of homesteading was a spiritual idea. Furthermore, many were propped up by easily available resources such as Mother Earth News and Whole Earth Catalogue. Their aspirations further fueled by Scott and Helen Nearing’s book titled Living the Good Life. 

It was a time when the back-to-the-landers voluntarily limited themselves while American culture put no limits on consumerism. Many of these people chose to be at the mercy of nature, and use environmentally friendly forms of energy. In many ways, they were trading an easy convenient lifestyle for simplicity because that is what fit their moral values. In the end, they achieved some level of self sufficiency and more personal freedom. Additionally, they satisfied that urge to run off and reinvent themselves in the wilderness. 

But in order to do this, they had to make some important choices and learn some new skills. For example, how to build a home, how to power that home, how to grow their own food, and let’s not forget the financial factor of how to make a living while abandoning the ideal of consumerism. 

Although such thoughts of getting back to the basics is nothing new, there is no doubt that during that period of time, when as many as one million Americans abandoned their lives for something more simple, that was one of the greatest social movements in American history. 

But, in the end, why did so many of these people fail? In the end, there was an enormous and less popularized Back From the Land Movement. Many of these people ended up back in society so to speak, back at their former jobs or something similar, and even back to the university education that many of them abandoned.   But what the heck happened?  

Okay, so here is my opinion. 

First of all for many of them the realities of homesteading eventually crumbled their idealism. Many began to realize that not everything could be created on the homestead and at least to some degree they had to rely on the outside world. And those that were great at creating things on the homestead, they could not create enough products and services to make themselves financially sustainable. 

People also realized that in a rural environment, in order to make things financially affordable they had to take low paying jobs that were perhaps physically demanding. But by working outside the homestead, they lost the time that was needed to make improvements, plant a garden, and engage in other activities that were required to be self sufficient. It became a struggle between time and money. 

Consequently, many of the back-to-the-landers returned to their former jobs and careers after realizing the consequences of making such a move with little or no planning and even fewer skills. 

Now, all of that being said, here we are many years later circling the airport again. The pendulum of popular culture swings back and forth. This is why I place so little value on public opinion. 

Because after the back TO the land movement, there was the much less popularized back FROM the land movement.

Following that there was at least in the United States a period of rapid economic growth, continued growth of consumerism, a lot of which was technologically oriented. At this point the so called back-to-the land movement seemed like a laughable relic from an era of foolish, naive, mostly white middle class, well educated young people. 

Then of course in the early 2000s there was a lot of fears around food safety and climate change. Then the economic recession where millions of people lost investments, life savings, retirement funds, etc. This caused a complete reevaluation of the American Dream. Now here we are circling the airport again and we are back to an increase interest in sustainability, renewable energy, buying local, etc. Now perhaps, something larger will finally take hold. 

It is kind of odd but I think that I can empathize with a lot of the folks that were caught up in the back to the land movement. 

First of all I moved off the grid on my property in 1996 with little forethought or planning. I had at least spent most of my life being active in the outdoors. I even had survival training, construction experience, knew all about gardening and was somewhat of an accomplished hunter but could not brag about my fishing skills.  Even though I felt as if I knew what I was doing, I was not the least bit prepared to live completely off the grid. 

I quickly became familiar with the time versus money dilemma. I was constantly commuting and away from home for several days at a time. I lived completely without electricity for at least 10 years. But, I was completely committed to my goal to make an off grid, sustainable lifestyle. But I also had to be a part of the system so to speak. I had to work and make money and spend time off the homestead. And here I am 24 years later still at it. 

If you listened to my podcast episode titled Self Sufficiency is Impossible and Essential you now know that in the past self sufficiency was a matter of providing for much of your own basic needs and much of that could be produced, grown, manufactured at home.   However, we live in a much different world now and what we need to survive we can no longer make or provide for ourselves. For example, light bulbs, computers, cell phone, automobiles, gasoline. Consequently, we face much different challenges. 

But what are the lessons learned here? What are the realization from this experience. 

I think the first lesson is self reliance. People were sort of disgusted with the “system” so they decided to test the boundaries of operating outside the system by gardening, building their own homes, raising their own animals for food, home schooling children and experimenting with plant based nutrition and medicine.  

Secondly, the realization that true self sufficiency is difficult if not impossible. This was the subject of a previous podcast episode. Even with such strong and ardent idealism, it is difficult to be completely off the grid and outside the  capitalistic system. Like it or not, you have to depend on society so to speak in order to acquire some basic tools, equipment, and services needed to be a homesteader. 

Thirdly, I think perhaps people also realized that if back-to-the-land was the new American future, with the resulting abandonment of capitalism, what would be the result of the complete collapse of that system and what would actually replace that system. 

That is a fantastic question. But we must consider what Mahatma Gandhi warned us about. And his warning was we must be careful not to replace one tyrant with another. 

And another lessoned learned is that of imbalance. I would contend that the life of the pioneers was as imbalanced as our present complete dependence on a complicated infrastructure that we can not understand much less control.

The last lesson perhaps is that we must take baby steps in order to build a peaceful sustainable future. I would never expect anyone to jump into an off grid lifestyle as I did. I will be the first to admit there was some significant hardship involved. At times I would even leave my property for months in order to make as much money as possible then return to the homestead to make as many improvements as possible. 

Yet there is another important take away from the back to the land movement. It is simply that many people were acting on a very characteristic American assumption. Our culture has historically assumed that if things get too bad all we have to do is design a new adventure, maybe even create a new community, move to a new piece of land, and start over. The only problem is that now there are no more new frontiers. We have no other place to go. We can no longer act on the assumption that we are entitled to have the world as we want it. 

Additionally, we have to stop treating the Earth as a Mother. This is because mothers give us all that they have. They freely give us all of their resources and are often taken for granted. What we need to do is treat the Earth as a child. Something that should be nurtured, protected, and cared for. You know the old saying that it takes a village to raise a child. So too it will take all of us to protect our home and see it thrive and grow once again. 

If we all focus on and learn the skills to develop a sustainable future, then we also learn the needed skills and instill the attitude necessary to cope with our ever changing world. 

If we wait for the government, nothing will ever happen. If we act as individuals, it may be too little too late. If we act as a community, we stand a chance of making substantial and sustainable changes. Then and only then are we a shining example in the community of nations that we all need to work together in order to build a better future. 

So in summary, the lessons learned in the Back From the Land Movement is this: 

-The first lesson is self reliance and the fact that it is possible to work outside the system and provide for a lot of your basic needs. 

-Secondly, the realization that true self sufficiency is difficult if not impossible.

-Thirdly, while we may seek more personal freedom and independence from the system, we have to be careful not to replace one tyrant with another 

-Fourth, we always need to keep things in balance

-The fifth lesson, we need to take baby steps in order to build a peaceful sustainable future. 

-And the last lesson, is that we have to take care of what we have here and now. We can no longer move on to something else because there are no new frontiers, there is no new place to go any longer. 

And remember, we must act as a community if we stand a chance of making any lasting, substantial, sustainable changes. 

Okay folks, that is all for this week. I hope you have enjoyed this episode. If so, then please subscribe to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast, as well as Off Grid Living News.  

Have a fantastic week. And remember, always live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.