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A review by metta
Water at the Roots: Poems and Insights of a Visionary Farmer by Jennifer Harries, David Kline, Philip Britts
4.0
This book of poetry, essays, and biography offers readers a glance into the short but profound life of English poet, pacifist, farmer, and pastor Philip Britts (1917-1949).
Although not much is known of his early life, I was intrigued by the mention of a motorbike accident that "proved to be a turning point in his life." Since this was not expounded on, I could only infer that perhaps this event, along with the turbulent times of the 1930s, helped propel and strengthen his resolve to be an active seeker and follower of Jesus.
Britts comes across as a quiet, thoughtful man who wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed in, as attested in one memorable anecdote of a day at church, during the time England was preparing for war against Nazi Germany. The minister's sermon "became a call to arms" and he was basically demonizing Germans, calling them monsters. Britts stood up, approached to the minister, and asked "in the slow, deliberate way that farmers have," if he could address the congregation, which the minister agreed to, and Britts said: "Jesus said we should love our enemies."
When I read that, I found myself cheering him on. That had to take some courage!
His deeply felt Christian values eventually take him to joining the Peace Pledge Union, and later, the Bruderhof community, moving with the community to Paraguay during WWII. During these last nine years of his life, while helping to build the Bruderhof settlement and growing his own family, he utilized his background in horticulture to experiment with developing and improving crops that would flourish in Paraguay's climate. In an article he wrote for a farming magazine, he warned, with acute foresight, against the then blossoming post-WWII industrialized agriculture that wreaks havoc on ecosystems with its intensive farming of monoculture crops, depletes soils of nutrients and structure, relies on heavy chemical use, and is inhumane in its treatment of animals and farmworkers:
"…nature will rebel, and bring down the measure of subjection by such hard steps as erosion, sterility, and disease."
Also, in the same essay, Britts explains:
"Man's relationship to the land must be true and just, but this is only possible when his relationship to his fellow man is true and just and organic."
I have highlighted so many lines and passages that it's hard to choose a favorite, but perhaps that's testament to a good, interesting read, and perhaps because I personally found it affirming (especially as someone who cares about the environment and also wonders, if man is, as Britts wrote, "becoming a more noble creature?"). Despite having been written many decades ago, his words feel timely to the things going on in the world today.
It's unfortunate that there is only so much of Britts' work (he died at age 31), but what is left behind makes for a remarkable study.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Plough Publishing for providing the uncorrected download-copy for review (which did not affect my opinion/rating).
Although not much is known of his early life, I was intrigued by the mention of a motorbike accident that "proved to be a turning point in his life." Since this was not expounded on, I could only infer that perhaps this event, along with the turbulent times of the 1930s, helped propel and strengthen his resolve to be an active seeker and follower of Jesus.
"What matter the eyes have seen so much that the soul is color-blind?"
(from his poem "Alone")
Britts comes across as a quiet, thoughtful man who wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed in, as attested in one memorable anecdote of a day at church, during the time England was preparing for war against Nazi Germany. The minister's sermon "became a call to arms" and he was basically demonizing Germans, calling them monsters. Britts stood up, approached to the minister, and asked "in the slow, deliberate way that farmers have," if he could address the congregation, which the minister agreed to, and Britts said: "Jesus said we should love our enemies."
When I read that, I found myself cheering him on. That had to take some courage!
His deeply felt Christian values eventually take him to joining the Peace Pledge Union, and later, the Bruderhof community, moving with the community to Paraguay during WWII. During these last nine years of his life, while helping to build the Bruderhof settlement and growing his own family, he utilized his background in horticulture to experiment with developing and improving crops that would flourish in Paraguay's climate. In an article he wrote for a farming magazine, he warned, with acute foresight, against the then blossoming post-WWII industrialized agriculture that wreaks havoc on ecosystems with its intensive farming of monoculture crops, depletes soils of nutrients and structure, relies on heavy chemical use, and is inhumane in its treatment of animals and farmworkers:
"…nature will rebel, and bring down the measure of subjection by such hard steps as erosion, sterility, and disease."
Also, in the same essay, Britts explains:
"Man's relationship to the land must be true and just, but this is only possible when his relationship to his fellow man is true and just and organic."
I have highlighted so many lines and passages that it's hard to choose a favorite, but perhaps that's testament to a good, interesting read, and perhaps because I personally found it affirming (especially as someone who cares about the environment and also wonders, if man is, as Britts wrote, "becoming a more noble creature?"). Despite having been written many decades ago, his words feel timely to the things going on in the world today.
It's unfortunate that there is only so much of Britts' work (he died at age 31), but what is left behind makes for a remarkable study.
"Above the forest rolls the moon
And banishes the pall of night,
She floods this weary darkened world
With soft and soothing light."
(from his poem, The Healing Moon)
Thank you to Edelweiss and Plough Publishing for providing the uncorrected download-copy for review (which did not affect my opinion/rating).