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History of Organic Farming in America
By Anneliese Abbott
Organic History
Blog


Are Christianity and Environmentalism Incompatible? Refuting Lynn White, Jr.
I am a Bible-believing creationist Christian. I am also an environmentalist and an organic farmer. I see no conflict between the two. But...

Anneliese Abbott
Aug 29, 20242 min read
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Fighting Racism with Love: Koinonia Farm in the 1950s
“On Monday night, July 26, Koinonia Farm’s roadside market was dynamited. About 10:15 p.m. a car evidently came into the driveway, tossed...

Anneliese Abbott
Aug 22, 20243 min read
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Women and the Land: Organic Gardening at Grailville in the 1940s
Along with the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and Catholic Worker, there was a third organization involved in the Catholic...

Anneliese Abbott
Aug 15, 20243 min read
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Activist Homesteaders: Catholic Worker Communes in the 1930s
An urban organization of activists devoted to social justice and racial equity decided to form a commune and go back to the land. This...

Anneliese Abbott
Aug 8, 20243 min read
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Back to the Land and Back to Christ: Catholic Homesteading in the 1930s
Homesteading was huge in the 1930s. With a shortage of jobs in urban areas and a lack of market for large-scale farmers, many New Deal...

Anneliese Abbott
Aug 1, 20243 min read
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Organic Society: Catholic Agrarianism and Biodynamics in the 1930s
Progressivism had failed in the 1930s. Despite technological innovations, all of the social problems of humanity were just as bad as they...

Anneliese Abbott
Jul 25, 20243 min read
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Spiritual Narratives: Pope Pius XI's Catholic Critique of Materialism
All of the historical narratives that I’ve discussed so far have one thing in common—they are secular. They focus almost exclusively on...

Anneliese Abbott
Jul 18, 20243 min read
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When Facts Don't Fit: Limitations of Critical Race Theory
I was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2020 to 2022—during some of the most tumultuous years politically in...

Anneliese Abbott
Jul 11, 20243 min read
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The Newest Narrative: Critical Race Theory and Agricultural History
There’s one more major narrative about agricultural history that I haven’t mentioned yet—not because it isn’t important, but because it’s...

Anneliese Abbott
Jul 4, 20243 min read
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Sir Albert Howard's Version of Agricultural History
Organic farming has always questioned the progressive narrative of history. It has to. After all, if the progressive narrative is true,...

Anneliese Abbott
Jun 27, 20243 min read
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Why the Anti-Organic Historical Narrative Is Progressive
History is storytelling, and there are different types of narratives that can be used to frame a historical event. Last week, I...

Anneliese Abbott
Jun 20, 20242 min read
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Storytelling and History: Why Narratives Matter
One of the most important things I learned in graduate school was that history is storytelling—and that there are different ways to tell...

Anneliese Abbott
Jun 13, 20243 min read
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What Really Happened? How the Pandemic Changed My View of History
When I first started writing about the past, I had lofty ideals. My goal was simple—to find the truth and tell it. I often wished that it...

Anneliese Abbott
Jun 6, 20243 min read
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Perils of Fame: How Grape Nuts Turned Euell Gibbons into a Joke
Do a Google search for Euell Gibbons today, and you’re not likely to turn up much about his environmental activism or connection to...

Anneliese Abbott
May 30, 20243 min read
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Long Hair, Love, and Organic Farming: Euell Gibbons and the Counterculture
One stereotype of the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s was that young people didn’t listen to—or trust—anyone over thirty. That may...

Anneliese Abbott
May 23, 20243 min read
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Jefferson's Dream: New Book About Homesteading History
An agrarian society, where most people live on the land and grow their own food. An emphasis on urban farming, composting, and...

Anneliese Abbott
May 16, 20242 min read
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On a Maine island: Euell Gibbons's Solo Wilderness Adventure
The southeast coast of Maine is dotted with hundreds of islands. Some are large, covered with vacation homes, and visited regularly by...

Anneliese Abbott
May 9, 20243 min read
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The Organic Nature Lover: Euell Gibbons and Organic Gardening
In June 1966, editor Bob Rodale announced a new series of article in Organic Gardening and Farming magazine. Titled “The Organic Nature...

Anneliese Abbott
May 3, 20242 min read
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Foraging and Farming: Are They Mutually Exclusive?
As I write this, the wild pin cherry trees are just finishing blooming, white petals drifting down to the ground in a fragrant snow. The...

Anneliese Abbott
Apr 25, 20243 min read
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Toxic Labs: Why I Don't Have a Graduate Degree in Plant Science
Note: Everything in this post is true, but I have omitted the name of the professor and the research institution to protect everyone...

Anneliese Abbott
Apr 18, 20243 min read
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