Femivores

I hadn't seen this article concerning so-called "femivores" when it came out in March, but it describes a number of women who have eschewed more traditional careers for raising chickens and other hobby farming. I'll leave actual feminists to explain how it is that this activity "has provided an unexpected out from the feminist predicament" (I do not think earlier generations of women would see it as such, but again, this isn't my bailiwick). As for this sentence: "After all, who is better equipped to weather this economy, the high-earning woman who loses her job or the frugal homemaker who can count her chickens?", let's just say that the answer is not what the author implies it is.

Am I sympathetic to the idea of working the land, of wresting from its embrace my daily sustenance? Of course. I have all kinds of goofy fantasies of a hobby vineyard, goats from which to make cheese, an olive grove, the dry air of a vinous region playing over my then-leathery skin. But it turns out that in a market economy, what actually makes sense is to ply my trade, which God or nature or genetic accident or whatever has given me some small talent, and then hand over my earnings to people whose talent it is to raise goats and age cheeses and make wines for the fruits of their labor. This is the most obvious insight of traditional economics. By choosing appropriate recipients of my money, I can encourage those who do this work properly, with respect for the land and the earth. Perhaps I might still do some of those activities for fun, to connect myself with the land. But all that is nothing more than fun - a choice I make that invariably costs more than an equally good product from a real artisan.