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 From
a distance, the 6.5-acre ridge top field—now called the Garden of Seven Gates--
looks like just another West Virginia pasture. But, there’s an interesting
story behind it. In the 200 years since the first white settlers cleared
its virgin timber and sank an ox pulled plow into the black earth,
things—more specifically, the soil--.have literally gone down hill. Gone is
the topsoil. Gone is the biotic life of the field…..and not surprisingly,
gone is the culture of family farming.
The descendents of those early farmers have mostly migrated away in
search of jobs. If they stayed put, they labor in coalmines or travel a
hundred miles per day to toil in chemical plants strewn out along the
nearby Ohio River. Ironically, the very industries that put money in their
pockets, also put poison chemicals in their air and water. Air quality in
the Ohio Valley ranks in the top 10% of America’s worst.
 Gone
also are the skills known to their grandparents: how to grow food and
prepare it; how to produce cloth; how to produce a simple shelter and care
for it; how to join together with others, including animals, to lighten the
burden of the struggle for survival.
Why is this happening? Have people everywhere consciously decided to
dismantle their small farms and local businesses, hand over control of
their local economies to distant corporations and anonymous bureaucrats,
and abandon their cultural identities in favor of a global McDonalds’
culture?
It is worth noting here that this phenomenon is not peculiar to rural
West Virginia, nor is it the work of ignorant people. Rather it is largely
the results of work by people with B.A’s, MBA’s and PhD’s. When the field
now called the Garden Of Seven Gates was being over-plowed, chemically
saturated, over-grazed, eroded and finally abandoned, where were the
agricultural experts? In the wake of the loss of local knowledge, the
knowledge from which farming tradition is handed down, where were the
universities? Where were the county extension agents and the USDA?
The modern university does not consider “local science” or location
specific knowledge worth saving,
except to record it as an “oddity” under folk culture. Instead it conceives
of its mission as adding to the fund of agrarian knowledge through
research. Unfortunately, the vast majority of so-called agricultural
research turned out in the modern university is essentially worthless. Why?
Because it does not result in greater health or happiness amongst the
general populace of either urban or rural peoples.
Small farm projects like the Garden of Seven Gates are where
agricultural advances are nurtured because they hinge on transforming
modern food production from chemical warfare against the land to a force
for rebuilding rural communities. They evolve out of a basic need to know
our food and to have some sense of control over its safety and its security.
Moreover, the restoration of that old pasture will succeed because it
enshrines the golden rule of economics: what you take must be returned and
whatever you return shall come back to you.
Visitors to the Garden of Seven Gates are welcomed throughout the year.
Yes, there are actually seven gated entrances! We envision a future where
people will dwell on the field’s perimeter and require easy access to their
crops. You’ll also notice a sturdy 8’high deer fence encircling the entire
area, thanks to an $8,000 donation from one of our many donors.
 Now
that the fence has solved the deer problem (Marshall Co., West Virginia
averages 100 deer per square mile), the next great challenge is restoring
fertility. Five successive years of heavily applied cow manure and locally
salvaged biomass, such as forest leaves and tree bark, have yielded
promising results. Three enriched growing zones now provide fresh organic
produce to local families, church run congregate meal sites and the Greater
Wheeling Soup Kitchen.
Future plans call for a ¾ acre orchard, perennial crops of blueberries,
asparagus and grapes and a section of the field dedicated to energy
farming—that is, growing a sugar or high starch crop (like sugar beets or
potatoes) that will be transformed into alcohol for internal combustion
engines.
If you’re looking for an opportunity to right a wrong, make an
investment in a project that reclaims a little piece of the world in the
name of our children and grandchildren.
Picture Legend:
1). First picture....." Late summer production of Swiss chard and
okra"
2). Second picture... "The Garden of Seven Gates shot from the barn
roof"
3). Third picture...."This is what used to happen to our unprotected
crops"
4). Forth picture......"Thanks to our donors an 8' deer fence goes
up"
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