The Cunning Farmer

Hello friends! It has been too long since I have published an essay or an astrological forecast and by way of explanation, I wanted to take a moment to explain to you what has been happening in my life.

Well, first, as many of you are already aware, my book, The Cunning Farmer: Agrarian Magical Practices, Mythology and Folklore, has been published, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I have been humbled and honored by the love and kindness I have been shown by both readers, podcast hosts and reviewers who have read and enjoyed my book. I am so grateful that my work has resonated with so many of you. My subscriber count has been growing since I have had so much publicity and now I am approaching 2500 here on Substack, which is huge for me because just a year ago the number stood at 900. Now, many of these folks don’t read the blog when I do publish, the number of readers of my last essay was about 1500, which is great, as far as I am concerned, and again, I am grateful to everyone who has taken the time to read my work among all of the myriads of content available.

As many of you are aware I am a farmer by profession and I raise vegetables and other crops for a modest sized CSA (which stands for Community Supported Agriculture) program, serving about 60 families. Farming has been my career for 30 years, and I have been involved with the running of CSA programs for 25 of them. In this time I have had the honor and pleasure of growing vegetables for many excellent people and have worked with a number of aspiring farmer apprentices. It has been truly a labor of love and during most of this time myself and my wife have made a fairly decent career in a profession in which many struggle to make a profit. When I say decent, you must understand that our expectations are fairly low. We get by on a fraction of the household income of most of our patrons, we run the farm on a shoestring budget and have no retirement savings or any savings at all, and luckily because of our low income our family qualifies for Medicaid (for now) or we would be without health insurance. But we pay our bills, we drive old cars and old tractors, somehow manage to pay our mortgage (thank gods) and have plenty to eat, so in these difficult times we are grateful for what we have.

However, things began to get more complicated in 2024 when I started to have persistent pain, numbness and tingling in my left arm. I ignored it for a while, but eventually the pain became more intense and thinking I had damaged my shoulder, I went to see my doctor, who suspected problems with my spine and ordered an MRI, which showed spinal stenosis in several of my cervical vertebrae. Physical therapy was prescribed and I duly complied and began a daily exercise regime. The pain eased somewhat and eventually faded. For this and other personal reasons, the next season, in 2025, we opted out of the farmer’s market where we had been members and vendors for 18 seasons and decided to try to just get by by serving our CSA.

In 2025 we grew for 70 families and were fairly successful in our new venture as purely CSA growers. And the pace of life was a bit better, though for some reason we couldn’t find any apprentices to help us out, a problem we don’t usually have. So last year, 2025, our family, myself, Esmee, and 14 year old Miller did most of the sometimes arduous work of planting, tending crops, weeding, harvesting and delivering, ourselves. It was a bit much for us, to be honest.

Then last September, during that grueling season, I started having severe lower back pain and numbness and pain yet again, but this time in my left hip and leg. I already knew what it was. Spinal stenosis. This time in my lumbar spine. Throughout my farming career back pain has often been part of my journey, but this was different and it didn’t get better. And still hasn’t. A second MRI of my lumbar spine done over the winter confirmed extensive degenerative disk disease and stenosis in a number of vertebrae. It seems like the damage to my spine caused by years of manual farm work is so extensive that I am really not a great candidate for surgery due to the fact that there are too many places that would need to be repaired. So, after having had some success with physical therapy, I have expanded my own practice by doing yoga, stretching, the five Tibetan rites, chiropractic treatments, and strength training. I spend about an hour each day working out and it really seems to help, but I don’t have the ability to lift and bend at work like I used to and long periods of standing can be quite painful. Luckily the pain comes and goes and is not constant, but it is my understanding that the condition may worsen over time, so major lifestyle changes are needed.

This year, 2026, we have struggled to find subscribers for our CSA. We are down to 60 families which represents a significant loss of income for our household. Coupled with the rising cost of the food we don’t raise on the farm, other groceries, gasoline, farm supplies, and other costs such as insurance, as well as the costs of raising two growing boys, we are really feeling the pinch. Luckily, we have two hard working young interns who are helping make the work a bit easier this year and weird weather notwithstanding, the crops look amazing, so agriculturally, things are looking pretty good. But finances are tighter than ever.

I was hoping (and still am) that writing, doing astrology readings, and crafting materia magica would be a major part of my next career, but the farming I am still doing has made me struggle to find the time to do any of those things. So here I am, dear reader, trying to change direction, having to do so, but still so busy that I can’t find the time to make the necessary changes. Farming still pays the bills more than writing so when time is limited I have to choose farming. And do I love farming. Driving tractors, working with plants and soil, being outside, raising food and medicine, it’s who I am and what I do. And there is a balance to be had. All these things are really good for one’s health (well maybe not driving tractors, but it is surprisingly satisfying, like a poor man’s motorcycle) until taken too far, as I have been doing. Retirement isn’t an option, but I definitely need to slow down a bit.

My point in telling you all of this, my friends, is to inform you that I am changing direction with my life, this blog, and my writing in general. I feel like since my book has been published I have been given a unique opportunity that I don’t want to waste: having a voice and a platform.

My book was released at the beginning of the growing season, just when much of my time had to be taken up by farm work and I have not had the time to promote my work like I would like to do , or even sit down at the keyboard to do a bit of writing. My essays have fallen to fewer than one a month, I have not published an astrological forecast or done a reading for months. People have been waiting for me to make hazel rune divination sets for months. Some of you have been patiently waiting your turn for a reading for almost a year, you’ve probably given up on me. And, while free memberships are growing, paid subscribers are quitting, the current count stands at 36. I don’t blame folks for leaving. I just haven’t been writing enough.

So, my solution to this problem is to make more of a commitment to the writing of this blog, to produce more essays and more astrological forecasts, at least one essay and one New Moon forecast per month. All without the use of AI. At all. Ever. Not even for illustrations. Readers can expect essay topics on things like folk magic, occult history and philosophy, astrology, nature spirituality and agrarian paganism, folklore, mythology, and all of the other things I think are cool and like to research.

Furthermore, I would like to get down to business on the writing of my next book and the making of rune sets, wands, astrological talismans, and herbal products to be sold through our upcoming website.

Because so many people have asked me about courses or workshops, in the next few weeks I am also going to be announcing a 20 lesson live Zoom course based on The Cunning Farmer that will be designed to help readers put the ideas in the book into practice on your land and in your lives.

In addition, because of the decline in farming income, and in my ability to do so much farm work, I will have to do more paid only content. I have resisted this for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which is that I just don’t appreciate reading an essay and running into a paywall after a page or so, and I’m sure you don’t either. Times are hard for everyone. But, writers need to get paid for their time and research, or they can’t afford to write and I am no exception. I hope that some of you will join me as new paid subscribers, and if you can’t afford to join the paid membership and still want to read the blog, I will absolutely give you a free membership, all you need to do is ask. I totally understand what it is like to have a strict budget. I would also be happy to exchange or give paid memberships to other writers. Some of you have been amazing supporters and have become friends and I know y’all are on a tight budget as well. I will not have you locked out of reading my work by a paywall. You know who you are ;)

The cost of a paid subscription is modest and will stay the same as it has always been, $6 monthly, and paid subscribers will get full access to new articles as well as to the archive, a 10% discount on courses, readings and purchases at our upcoming online store on thecunningfarmer.com as soon as we get it and running.

So, in closing, I am so grateful to my readers for their support and encouragement and I hope that you will understand the factors involved in this difficult decision and continue to read and support The Cunning Farmer. And stay tuned for an announcement about the TCF course as well as the next essay in the series I’m writing about folk paganism in the early Middle Ages. Research on the topic has been ongoing even if time to write has been limited. I’m also working on a mundane astrology forecast for the August 12th solar eclipse.

Thank you friends. I couldn’t do this without your support.

Love,

Todd Elliott

PS. Signed copies of The Cunning Farmer: Agrarian Magical Practices, Mythology and Folklore are still available. DM me for details.

Unsigned copies are available directly from the publisher, at a discount and with free shipping from the publisher, Inner Traditions International (link) or anywhere else you buy books. Preferably your local independent bookstore.