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Who we are. I am a local pastor and garden enthusiast whose hobby is writing about farming and gardening. I write under the pen name Peter Tumbledown to avoid embarrassing friends and neighbors with my odd opinions. The P. Tumbledown character whose name I have assumed originated (so far as I can determine) as a "straw man" on the pages of The Farm Journal more than a century ago. Peter Tumbledown was the epitome of a bad farmer. He was a lazy good-for-nothing over against whom it was easy to point out the virtues, character, good sense and good practices of good farmers. I am Peter Tumbledown and will make no pretense of being an expert farmer or gardener. I like to think that my collecting and studying of century-old farming manuals and handbooks will eventually improve my rather inconsequential agricultural and horticultural skills--and I like to share what I learn with others on the pages of this web site. I do that in part by re-publishing in electronic format old farming handbooks that have entered the public domain. I also experiment with the techniques I see described in the old farming manuals and share the results of that experimentation on the "how to" section of the antique farming and organic gardening resources page.
The website name is derived from the “Foreword” to the book How to Do Things (a compendium of advice from The Farm Journal), which states that “[n]o one can read ‘The Farm Journal’ and be a Peter Tumbledown too. Many have tried, but they have to give up one or the other.” I think we have we have given up reading the likes of the old “Farm Journal” to our detriment.
Of course, there isn’t any longer a Farm
Journal of the sort that was published from March 1877 to
1919 (the copyright date for the compendium of “new and
practical farm and household devices, helps, hints, recipes, formulas
and useful information”) by the Wilmer Atkinson Company of And so, we have inherited a Tumbledown Farm. Drop us a line and let us know what you think of the site: E-mail Tumbledown Farm. Sincerely, Peter
Tumbledown Click on the page scan for a larger file. Copyright © 2006-2008 by Tumbledown Farm. 50% of Tumbledown Farm profits support micro-lending at Kiva.org.
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