In my various travels, I have seen a number of small homesteads like that of Virgil’s old farmer, situated on ‘land that no one wanted’ and yet abundantly productive of food, pleasure, and other goods. And especially in my younger days, I was used to hearing farmers of a certain kind say, ‘They may run me out, but they won’t starve me out’ or ‘I may get shot, but I’m not going to starve.’ Even now, if they cared, I think agricultural economists could find small farmers who have prospered, not by ‘getting big,’ but by practicing the ancient rules of thrift and subsistence, by accepting the
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