First Farmers
Published in Solstice
I’ve been fascinated with the idea that our ancestors may have been healthier and happier as hunter gatherers than as farmers. In Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens, he makes a good argument for this.
FIRST FARMERS
and everything / Was toil, relentless toil, urged on by need.
—Virgil
It took centuries to domesticate the wild
goat, grow almonds and olives from seed,
harvest barley with stone sickles.