There are
two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm.
One is
the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the
grocery, and the other that heat comes
from the furnace.
To avoid the first danger, one should plant a garden, preferably where
there is no grocer to confuse the issue. To avoid the second, he should lay a
split of good oak on the andirons, preferably where there is no furnace, and
let it warm his shins while a February blizzard tosses the trees outside.
If one has cut, split, hauled,
and piled his own good oak, and let his mind work the while, he will remember
much about where the heat comes from, and with a wealth of detail denied to
those who spend the weekend in town astride a radiator.
From The Good Oak
A Sand
County Almanac,
