Most folks know that food comes from farms, but they have no idea of the farmer, his "family" and the dedication and "sweat equity" that produce what line the grocery store's shelves. His gnarled hands, gentle enough to lift a birds nest from its place in a hayfield and never disturb the eggs, are big as hams, thick with the years of labor he has invested in his land. He works uncomplainingly from before first light until long after sunset's colors have faded. He wears the pastel blue of the working man. His legs are bowed from years of carrying the weight of the world on his broad shoulders. He fights with a determination seldom seen by the denizens of city streets, to ever-so-carefully turn and bring into the world a tiny calf. He looks tenderly upon his land as a sweetheart, one that knows his touch better than any other, who knew the touch of his father, and his before him.

His wife is his "right arm." She bears his children, to grow up in his image and work beside him, and in time, to go into the future for him. She has hung countless clotheslines-full of sun-rinsed coveralls, children's tiny garments and bedsheets. At times she has taken a job off the farm, to help when the prices and interest rates have been unkind. She knows the role of weather, and how her man lives by the sky. Steeped in the traditions of their European heritage, she bows beside him in church every Sunday morning, and most Wednesday evenings, seeing in faith what she cannot see in mortality.

The children still know the feel of running barefoot, caring for both the livestock and their pets, a well-earned allowance, and the knowledge that their home is also where their family works.

We have a website: www.propertyrightsresearch.org. Our webmaster, Jim Slaughter, is fifth generation owner of a 404-acre farm in Madison County, Ohio. He has built our website, his first, through his determination to KEEP the family's farm, and he fights this land acquisition attempt with a keyboard. He is proving that the computer is mightier than eminent domain! Jim's mother, Ruth, tells the story of "The Home Farm," from its beginnings in1812, through its days when Charles Phellis Jr. served in the Civil War, came home and lived the life that goes with keeping 200 cattle, 600 sheep, 150 hogs, and many horses, including some fine buggy horses. A trip was made in 1854 to England to purchase shorthorn cattle and long-wool sheep.

Members of the family have been Justices of the Peace and soldiers, county commissioners and pharmacists. Some of the farm's land was purchased for twenty-five cents an acre, but is priceless to them today. The farm's ancestors are buried in two local cemeteries, one within the Study Area for the proposed refuge. Ruth Slaughter, 4th generation farm girl, has no intention of selling this farm to anyone. She and her children intend for it to go on to the 6th and 7th generation, and remain The Home Farm.

Plumwood's "First Family"
A dear friend spoke, his voice choked with emotion. With tears welling up in them, his eyes pleaded with me. He rubbed unconsciously at one with a sixty- seven year old hand, then wiped it on his overalls. "I just want to leave my farm to my children and grandchildren! Money doesn't mean anything to me! Why can't we make them understand?" I had no answers for him, only a hand raised in friendship to gently pat his tired shoulder. This man is John Purdum, husband of Winona for 44 years, father of Mary Ethel, John Earnest, Curtis Allen, and B.J. John was BORN on the farm that he tends, one hundred and thirty-seven acres of unzoned prime farmland in Monroe Township, Madison County, Ohio.

The Purdum family raises Limousin cattle, arguably some of the finest beef to ever grace a dinner plate, able to be cut with a fork, and raised without steroids or hormones. Upon hearing from USFWS officials that a "tractor mechanic can be retrained to be a diesel truck mechanic," John and many other area residents had to take a second look at their livelihoods: were all those generations of farmers facing nothing more than "vocational retooling?" To one whose peace comes from the land, these intentions from the government were "fighting words." No one fro Plumwood, Resaca, or Rosedale had ever imposed such punishment upon strangers, yet here was their own government, insisting upon a change of job AND home, when neither was in need of change!

The Non-Farmers

Though this article is built around the story of an area rich in farming heritage, it would be incomplete without the inclusion of the area's homeowners, those who saved and planned and built their dream homes on small acreages "in the country." These families have given their all to being "good neighbors," and they serve the county well as firefighters, truck drivers and 4-H leaders. They and their children are just as determined to keep their homes and lands safe in private ownership. They are not for sale; neither are their homes. They help us fight to keep our farms, side by side. We are not unlike the Minutemen of old!

The Future?

Distilled in their veins is the blood of their forefathers and the premises upon which this United States of America was founded. This fertile land has cradled their dead, raised their food, provided trees for shelter from the winds of storm and winter, resurrected their ancestors in the eyes of their children and grandchildren. They rightly claim the stewardship that they exercise. No distant government, nipping at their heels, can expect the surrender of all values held dear, without one hell of a fight!

October 16, 2000
September 8, 2000 Darby Update

On behalf of Stewards of the Darby, the Paragon Foundation, and all Patriotic Americans everywhere, I would like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU for making our Darby Farmland Rally a place where history was made, a place to stand together in the presence of friends and "Network America!" This Ohio event was the third step in the natural progression back to our great Nation's Sovereignty that begun with the 4th of July Jarbidge Shovel Brigade's South Canyon Road Re-Opening in Nevada; and the Shovels of Solidarity for Stewards of the Darby (S.O.S. For S.O.D.) cross-country transporting of the Famed Jarbidge Shovels coupled with a small caravan of die-hard Patriots, joining other caravans in the culmination at the farm of Dale, Linda and Brian Rapp, on the banks of the Little Darby in Central Ohio on Labor Day weekend, 2000.

If you attended, you were part of from 1,500 - 1,750 patriots who made history once again in this historic farm field steeped in history. You felt the blood, sweat and tears that made this place an intricate part of America. You felt tears sting your eyes and sweat run down your back, while you heard Tom Farrenkopf of Victor, Montana, do a Jarbidge Encore of the Pledge of Allegiance. You heard J.B. Stone's voice tremble and crack with emotion as he asked you to pray for his beloved West, for rain or snow to put out the fires. You ate the best steakburgers in the world while downing bottle after bottle of ice-cold water. You read the names of all the lumber mills in Montana that had gone out of business because of Federal regulations, the same ones that are burning down our West. You walked slowly past the symbols of our country's labors, the mute soldier-shovels, lined up along the stage, while you heard our country's patriots speak to the crowd.

You listened as America's war veterans reaffirmed their oath to defend their country and ours. You perhaps bought a shovel, signed by another patriot in another state, who recognized and responded to the call of freedom. Maybe you brought a shovel of your own, to contribute to an unparalleled cause, the continued freedom of our country. You met members of your country's family, who will remain your friends forever. If you'd had ANY doubts, you learned on September 2nd that PRAYER WORKS!

If you didn't or couldn't make it, don't despair! We hold firm in our stance of regaining our country's sovereignty, and our private property rights, as spelled out in the Bill of Rights and our Constitution. Please check our website at www.proertyrightsresearch.org and visit often! Read the truth that is there, and register your thoughts.

In the words of U.S. Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth-Hage: Never, NEVER, N-E-V-E-R give up!
Read J.B. Stone's Rally article on Sierra Times

Darby Farmland Rally Announcement
Shovels of Solidarity for Stewards of the Darby - S.O.S. for S.O.D.
London, Ohio  September 2nd 2000
August 4, 2000 Darby Update
The Darby Farmland Rally effort is gathering strength at a pace we never dreamed of. It is going to be huge and our property rights message will reach 10's of millions of Americans. I just got a firm commitment from William LaJeunesse of FOX News to cover both the Convoy and the Rally! I also spoke Nereej Khumlani of Sixty Minutes, and he displayed serious interest. John Peterson is getting the info out on the G. Gordon Liddy Show, and scores of radio stations are calling requesting speakers on their talk shows.

The press release is going out nationwide, to hundreds of papers! 'Not sure how many will run them, but we should achieve good market saturation! How 'bout you, neighbor? Why don't you grab a shovel and head for the Darby?
'See you there!

July  2000 Darby Update
Darby FARMLAND Rally on Saturday, September 2nd, 2000, at Jan-Dal Farms, 3815 Lafayette -- Plain City Road, five miles north of London, Ohio. Come see 8,000 shovels delivered by the Jarbidge Shovel Brigade from Personal Invitation to attend the first of its kind Darby FARMLAND Rally on the banks of the Springfork/Little Darby Creeks in the middle of a beautiful, historic 500 acre WORKING FARM in Monroe Township, Madison County, OHIO that perfectly illustrates PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE We will have several local and nationally-known speakers who have a vested stake in keeping their lands and homes and agriculturist careers free from the goal of US Fish & Wildlife "Service" of taking from 21,000 - 223,692 acres out of production agriculture & putting   in a tallgrass prairie & wetland "Federal wildlife refuge," thereby "protecting us" from "urban sprawl." The Darby FARMLAND Rally is co-sponsored by the Paragon Foundation of New Mexico and the Property Rights Owners Foundation of America of New York, who are sharing the costs of promoting this history-making event of NATIONAL interest!

This is not a voting issue.

Some of these glorious farms have been owned by the SAME FAMILIES for almost 200 YEARS! We maintain that we DO NOT NEED NOR WANT something that caring farmers ALREADY protects:  wildlife, both endangered and safe species of plants & animals, AS WELL AS PEOPLE AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISE, as well as the ability to continue producing FOOD & other industry products made with corn & soybeans. Our farms are NOT FOR SALE, to either developers OR USFWS.

Come learn about resource providers! No alcohol, no drugs, no attitudes. This is a FAMILY EVENT, and a peaceful one.

PLEASE!  Let us know how many of you are going to attend, and how many wish to participate in our cross-country shovel delivery caravan!  We need to know how many folks will be here, so we can have food for all, and little things like enough portapotties!!!!!!!!!!

God bless you, and keep you safe and free in this great land of ours!