The Old German Baptist Brethren: Faith, Farming, and Change in the Virginia Blue Ridge

Epilogue: They Go Quietly

Epilogue: They Go Quietly From the time of their arrival in Franklin County in the mid1700s to today, the German Baptist Brethren have tried to remain a quiet people who avoid self-aggrandizement, never speak out on political issues or engage in lawsuits, always keep to themselves, and accept ridicule and even persecution without protest. While avoiding the world, the Brethren have become most noticed by their work, not what they say. This makes their words about their faith and farming both rare and significant. The Brethren narrative, grouped together in this book with historical research and interviews with their neighbors, provides a glimpse into not only Brethren faith, but also a look at a community of farmers who have deliberately clung to a rural lifestyle of simplicity and earnestness. Because of their world-avoidance, they have remained in farming longer and for reasons more explicit than most communities in the Southeast. Even as they remain apart, many people benefit in tangible and intangible ways from their commitments. One striking benefit is that the German Baptists have helped build and define Franklin County economically, changing positively that part of the world even while shunning other parts of it. Nowhere is this influence stronger than in the dairy industry, which has been the predominant economic force in the county—at least until second home development overtook it. They helped build all this not by lobbying or pulling strings, but by working diligently, cooperating with one another, and persevering even when the politics and economics of U.S. farming have pushed many out of business. Of course, they are not 197 05 thompson 174-204 2/27/06 8:35 AM Page 197 without their critics, but many people outside the faith deeply appreciate their contributions and draw from their example. If their story reaches other communities, the Old German Baptist Brethren could help many discuss the future of agriculture where they live. For example, German Baptists’ emphasis on community membership as an essential part of farming helps us think about the importance of people who nurture farm values and continue to pass down knowledge accumulated over generations. Many have already told us that the alternative to community-based agriculture could become a science experiment gone wrong—and it is too often a polluting industry with little concern for consumers or even its employees. As a strong alternative to this corporate model, the German Baptists’ example teaches that people must be the focus rather than farm techniques or the goods produced . At the same time, German Baptists avoid romantic attachments to land and environmentalism as reasons for what they do. They would 198 Epilogue One of Rob Rutrough’s cows anticipates her afternoon meal and milking. She also knew there was someone different in the milking parlor. Photograph by the author. 05 thompson 174-204 2/27/06 8:35 AM Page 198 never choose to be grouped among the “back-to-the-landers.” Rather, when asked about why they farm, they talk about the occupation as a means to raise their children to be good community members and as a way to live faithfully. Farming as an occupation is a way to remain true to both family and faith, but is not an end in itself. The Brethren usually describe the conflict in modern agriculture as different from a natural approach versus a corporate chemical approach, as proponents of organic farming have done, but rather as a human-scale approach versus one that has discarded the meaning of people. German Baptists espouse community-based agriculture because to them it is a way for people to live rightly. Its opposite is an industrial agriculture that is focused on maximum output and minimal restraints. Perhaps the best way to describe community-based farming is to return to the young family from the Introduction of this book. When the farmer, bankrupt and depressed, left for New York and left behind his family and his work, much more than one farm business was lost. In fact, this farmer’s downfall is part of an entire rural societal fabric that is fraying. Perhaps the young farmer believed he was completely alone and this perhaps more than the loss of a business is the greatest tragedy. Some light appeared in an otherwise bleak situation, however, when the young woman’s family and community in Franklin County arrived to help run his farm. They demonstrated that...