contents

Introduction: The Civet’s Tale 1

Part I: A Small Farm Future?

1. Ten Crises 13
Crisis #1: Population 14
Crisis #2: Climate 21
Crisis #3: Energy 28
Crisis #4: Soil 36
Crisis #5: Stuff 39
Crisis #6: Water 41
Crisis #7: Land 43
Crisis #8: Health and Nutrition 51
Crisis #9: Political Economy 53
Crisis #10: Culture 73
2. Wicked Problems:
Of Progress and Other Utopias 81
3. The Return of the Peasant 89

Part II: Small Farm Ecology

4. The Farm as Ecosystem 99
5. The Arable Corner 107
6. A Note on Alternative Agriculture 115
7. The Apothecary’s Garden 130
8. Beasts of the Field (and Garden):
Beyond Shopping Aisle Ethics 133
9. The Fruited Thorn: Agroforestry 142
10. Dearth 146
11. Can Alternative Agriculture Feed Us? 150
 Part III: Small Farm Society
12. Households, Families and Beyond 165
13. Complicating the Commons:
Holding and Sharing the Land 173
14. Going to Market 190
15. The Country and the City 205
16. From Religion to Science (and Back) 215

Part IV:
Towards a Small Farm Future
17. The Supersedure State 231
18. From Nations to Republics 246
19. Reconstituted Peasantries 255
20. Dispossessions 262

Epilogue: Does Goldman Sachs Care

If You Raise Chickens? 268

Acknowledgements 271
Notes 273
Bibliography 285
Index 297