Some claim that farming is dying way of life. This seems doubtful, unless one narrowly construes farming as a cash-crop business proposition. For 10,000 years, humans 'farmed' without money. The monetization of agriculture was a close precursor of the industrialization of farming. Industrialization has shrunk the farming population to a few percent of the workforce.  Few farm even in the country. Hence, "a dying way of life."

But many rural people garden; many keep animals besides horses; and much self-provisioning continues.  Rural people cut wood, eat venison, and build their own houses.

Gene Logsdon (Contrary Farmer) writes that gardening is the heart of the farm, and I agree.  In our garden, for the past six years, or so, I've raised sugar beets and several varieties of squash to supplement the winter's forage for our cattle. The hay, I have bought, until 2007.  That year, the increasing size of our herd and the drought convinced me to put up hay (see "small hay" in sidebar). This year, the price of diesel at over $4/gallon has confirmed the wisdom of that decision.  I recently (5/15/08) rebuilt the buck rake to a more durable design and will post pictures and instructions shortly.

The dying-way-of life view is visible in the USDA's maps of  the primary economic bases of non-metro counties. The maps that follow show the 1960 baseline (inset) and the decade snapshots for 1990 and 2000.  Note that no county in OH, WV, IN, NY, VA, or PA is "farming dependent." There's still plenty of commercial farming there, and a wild profusion of rural self-provisioning that surely counts as "farming."  Lots of us refer to this corporate depradation as a cultural disaster.

A. Farming dependent counties 1989 and 1960 (inset)

 B.  Farming-dependent counties 2000