"Dedicated to the Preservation of Agrarian Landscapes and Lifeways in the American South"
Agrarian Connections (AC) is a 320 acre farm located in the Piedmont of Georgia dedicated to the preservation of agrarian landscapes and lifeways. Its philosophy is that we learn from the past to guide us in principles of sustainable living for the future. AC was founded by Robert E. Rhoades, farmer and anthropologist, in 1994 as his personal statement on coming "home" to America after more than 3 decades of serving agriculture internationally. Bob sees the farm like a lifetime painting in which he is creating his personal relationship with the Land. Together with his students and local citizens, they are studying the historical ecology of the landscapes by using experimental methods and hands-on learning. A number of projects are up and running and more are planned as people and ideas flourish on the farm. We are only now getting started and we welcome all who have a love of and a dedicated to the saving of our rural life which must continue to be a part of the American Dream.
Direction Map to the Farm (from Athens)
In 1992 one of the largest land developers in North Georgia, Mr. Lamar Nash, has purchased the farm from Mrs. Sanders whose farmer husband had passed away. Mr. Nash intended to develop "Cherokee Estates", a large subdivision which would have held more than 150 homes. By accident, Bob Rhoades stumbled on the property which had a black top road cut through the middle for the development. He was stunned by the beauty of the property and wondered if it cold be purchased before the bulldozers arrived. Still unexplained today, Mr. Nash in the first conversation with Bob Rhoades agreed not only to sell the whole property at a reasonable price but also to finance the loan. Thus, by some miracle, Agrarian Connections was born. Almost immediately it became a working laboratory for Dr. Rhoades and his students as they began the long process of studying the farm's agrarian history. In 1993, the year of Bob Rhoades's purchase, the farm had about 150 acres of woodlands and 150 acres which had been farmed for decades (see history of Agrarian Connections). While cotton was the tradition crop in the 20 th Century, the last crop of significance until the 1970s was soybean. The land was badly eroded and the soils were depleted. The farm also contains 15 acres of federally protected wetlands. One large creek borders the property. On the east, is the famous Grove Creek (historically known as Golden Grove Creek) and to the west of the property is the old Devil 's Pond Road. The farm is inhabited by many kinds of wildlife, including deer, turkey, beaver, fox, wild pig, and many varieties of snakes and lizards, to mention only a few. Its biodiversity is simply staggering. There are few places on God's Earth as beautiful as Agrarian Connections.
An Aerial View of the Farm (source: USGS 1999)
In addition to serving as Bob Rhoades's farm home, there are several projects which have been seeded over the years. These all have their own lives and we hope that many more such projects find their roots on Agrarian Connections.
After Bob Rhoades bought Agrarian Connections he had no money to build or purchase a house. He therefore decided to build a log cabin. After checking into log cabin "kits" he decided that they did not fit with his vision of pioneer life or its blending with the landscape. The kits were expensive and anemic. One day while reading the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he read that someone was selling an 1825 log cabin. Over the phone he bought it. This started a love affair with the American log cabin and ultimately spawned the Georgia Log Cabin Project. Realizing that we were losing our log cabin history and the log cabin themselves, Bob started seeking log cabin, studying them, and trying to convince people to save them. Those cabin destined to be destroyed, he tried to get donated or purchase and move to Agrarian Connections. He moved the 1825 cabin to the farm and made it his home. Over the years, 7 log building have been reconstructed on the farm and more and coming. Students and local citizens participate in helping him save cabins by find and restoring them to their original state. A PBS documentary on this topic is being planned for research in the spring (2005). Bill Evelyn of the University of Georgia Public Relations Office is writing, producing, and directing the film. .. Read more
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After working internationally with the International Potato Center and the International Rice Institute, Bob Rhoades and his wife--Virginia Nazarea--looked around their new home in the American South and realized that it too had valuable landraces of local crops, vegetables, trees, and flowers that needed preserving. With a grant from the USDA, the started the Southern Seed Legacy which not only collects the plants and preserves them but also the family stories which have been handed down. The seed collection contains over 400 named seeds which are distributed to interested gardeners. Every year we have a "grow-out" of the seeds. In addition to southern seeds, we have also started a project with the United States Plant Genetic Resources System to collect and foster the use of Vietnamese seeds brought by immigrants and refugees. Also, the first CSA (community support agriculture) in the Athens, Georgia area was organized on the farm in 1995-96 by three of Bob Rhoades students (Virgil Huston, Mark Daily, and Eleanor Tison). Please consult our special Southern Seed Legacy website for more information.
The Southern Living Magazine's coverage on the Southern Seed Legacy Project..
The staff and volunteers of Agrarian Connections are in the process of creating a "trail of time" which stretches along Grove Creek and westward along the property boundary to Devil 's Pond Road. Through archeological study, we know that at least 3 major farming cultures occupied this stretch of land: the Native Americas (2700-1800BP); Early Pioneers (1793-1820); Yeoman Farmers (1875-1960), leading up to the present time. Our idea is to build along a path passable only on foot or horse a mile long trail of time. We have identified archeologically each of the sites and are in the process of re-creating their histories. The Native American site is just above Grove Creek and will be decided to maize-corn-bean agriculture while the pioneer site cabin is constructed about a quarter mile away. The Yeoman farm site has been identified and building has been donated although we have not yet moved it to the location. At the entrance to Agrarian Connections sits the Crawford House which was a beautiful Victorian House that sat on North Avenue in Athens, Georgia, until Bob Rhoades moved it to the farm. The house also was destined to be bulldozed down to make way for an auto parts outlet and a fast food place. The Crawford House (which belonged to descendants of W.H. Crawford of Crawford, Ga. and former Vice President of the US) will serve as the headquarters of Agrarian Connections when it is completed in the next 3 years. Gradually we are working on the Trail of Time and ultimately we hope to have each place along this wonderful history in operation. Our objective is to demonstrate orally and visually how farming has impacted the lives and land of the Georgia Piedmont. We will build the houses and barn, plant the crops, experiment with alternatives, and learn from the past for the future.
A number of the University of Georgia classes have been held at the farm, including:
- Historical Ecology which is taught each fall.
- In the future, we hope to organize short courses on everything from sustainable agriculture to log cabin building. Mr. Scott Jones, among the best primitive technologists in the US, works closely with Bob Rhoades and the staff of Agrarian Connections.
Robert E. Rhoades, Founder and Executive Director of Agrarian Connections. Rhoades was born on a farm in Oklahoma in the 1940s and never quite got the red dirt out from under his fingernails. After a long career in international agriculture, he returned to the US as Professor of Anthropology and Head of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Georgia. Weekend drives in the Georgia countryside led him to Agrarian Connections and the birth of this idea.
Virginia Nazarea, Co-Director of Southern Seed Legacy, Officer on AC Board, and wife of Bob Rhoades, is from the Philippines. She has an international reputation in plant genetic resources and is the author of 4 acclaimed books on the topic.
Danila Nunez, Farm Coordinator (summer, 2004), is an environmental studies and English major at University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington. She too grew up on a farm and caught the bug long ago. She has two really good friends: Heidi the "goofy" dog and Jack, "the Mustang" who made it all the way down to Georgia and seems to like it.
Danila and Jack the "Mustang"
Shiloh Moates, Seed Legacy Coordinator (summer, 2004), also comes from a farm up in Virginia. He is a PhD student in anthropology and is skilled in carpentry, masonry, and gardening, along other things.
Charley Rush and Drey Mathis. These are local workers on the farm who bring their own special skills. Charley is a master mechanic and farm boy from way back and is one those vanishing breeds who knows just about everything there is to know about running a Georgia farm. Drey works regulary as a lift operator at a local cement factory but works at the farm on weekends in just about every little task there is.
Drey, Danila, and Charley
Bob Rhoades's students----This would be a long list and when this website is developed in the future, we will bring you more about them.
Milan Shrestha provides technical support, mainly web design and mapping of the farm.
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