The Liturgy of the Land - by Jason M Craig & Thomas D Van Horn (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Many people today desire a simple life that is closely connected to land, whether it be gardening, farming, or ranching. There is a spiritual draw to a non-consumeristic lifestyle that places God, the family, and the home at the center of all activity. This "agrarian conversion" has led many families to seek out rural communities and leave behind the suburban life.

Over ten years ago two Catholic friends, Jason M. Craig and Thomas D Van Horn, experienced a similar agrarian conversion inspired by past Catholic land-movements and a growing desire to work with their wives and children, going deeper than just "supporting" them financially. Both began a journey, perhaps with a tad too much romanticism, toward land-based life on farms. All these years later, the two have been tempered by the unyielding realities of land and limitations, and have gained significant insights into the reasons, challenges, and possibilities of homesteading and farming.

In The Liturgy of the Land: Cultivating a Catholic Homestead, Craig and Van Horn present the practicalities and theological aspects behind the desire for a productive, holy home. Our current culture understands economy in efficient consumeristic terms, but our Catholic Faith tells us different. The productive homestead is the center of economic life and the family is at the center of the homestead. This book aims at bringing the stories from their experience into a presentation and proposal of homesteading as a way of life, considering the principles (why?) and the practicalities (how?).

About the Author

"Jason M. Craig writes from a small dairy farm in Western NC. He is the co-founder of Fraternus, founding editor of Sword & Spade magazine, and author of Leaving Boyhood Behind and The Traditional Virtues According to St. Thomas Aquinas: A Study for Men. He holds a master's degree from the Augustine Institute and is known to claim his family invented bourbon.

Thomas Van Horn and his family have "lived off-the-land" in NW Florida over the past ten years by homesteading, keeping 400-600 bee colonies and selling honey and beeswax candles."