History Main / TheSimpleLifeIsSimple

This trope is played straight in some TheCityVsTheCountry plots (where the {{aesop}} is "city life is too complicated, you should get back to nature"), one of the driving forces behind the {{Commune}} movements of the 1960s and 70s[[note]]some of which succeeded and are still around[[/note]], and averted or subverted in others (where the [[AnAesop aesop]] is more like "everyone has his cross to bear").

* Volunteer Marek (a journalist and writer in his civilian life) in ''TheGoodSoldierSvejk'' tells basically the same tale as Mark Twain's one mentioned above, only about a zoological almanac. Which is, as Marek is generally a Hašek's AuthorAvatar, BasedOnATrueStory.

* 16-17th century English Pastoral literature was often like this, most famously the early example of Creator/ChristopherMarlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love", in which the only reference to actual shepherding is that he will "pull" the wool from lambs to make his Love's gown. Apart from that, they're mostly going to sit around admiring the countryside. With silver plates and gold shoe-buckles. Sir Walter Raleigh's AnswerSong "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" is rather scathing about this.

In fact, farming is extremely complicated. A farmer working a diversified farm has to be a highly skilled generalist with specific, situation-relevant knowledge from a dozen different [[IncrediblyLamePun fields]], from botany to meteorology to mechanics to veterinary medicine to chemistry to entomology. What's more, a real mistake (or for that matter a late frost) can spell disaster: a ruined crop can't be fixed, and can't be replaced until the ''next year''. There can be long stretches of leisure time, but this is because you can't speed up either the plants or the animals, or the seasons. (And farmers who can often do odd jobs during those stretches, to eke out the necessary money.) [[Radio/APrairieHomeCompanion Garrison Keillor's]] farmers in Lake Wobegon speak of these things often and give you a much more realistic idea of what it's like.

If a character who has no experience farming takes to running a farm without a noticeable learning curve, that is this trope. (In the case of a "gentleman farmer" or hobby farmer, who's merely farming for fun with little or no economic pressure, the learning curve can be less steep.) If a character with no experience farming has to do some farmwork and does it with no training, no practice, and no trouble, that is also this trope.

It's often played straight in adventure stories where our wandering hero earns his keep at local farms as he passes through. (Does not apply, of course, if said [[FarmBoy hero]] or [[FarmersDaughter heroine]] already knows how, or is a quick study as in ''Film/{{Witness}}''.) This trope is also commonly found in {{Arcadia}}, where farming is idyllic and pleasant as well as simple, and may sometimes show up when a character is [[CallToAgriculture Called To Agriculture.]] [[https://modernfarmer.com/2014/06/stop-romanticizing-farms/ This article illustrates some of the Real Life problems]] with romanticizing farm life and how many farmers are actually devoting at least part of their land to TheThemeParkVersion to attract tourist$.

* This was one of the ways the U.S. government tried to solve the "Indian problem": if them dang lazy Indians were given plots of land and taught to farm and worship Christ, they would be more easily assimilated as "productive" members of Anglo society. Many Native Americans grew their own crops and were fine with Christianity, but the disastrous reservation breakup of 1890 was an attempt to get the roaming, hunter-gatherer Plains nations to do the same. The problem, again, was the land: South Dakota is just not suitable for prosperous farming, but the Indians were blamed and the government cut their rations. Since the American Bison had already been virtually wiped out, you now had thousands of starving Indian people. The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dance 1890 Ghost Dance tragedy]] arose out of this situation.

* Many [[NewAgeRetroHippie Hippies]] turned to this in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-to-the-land_movement back to the land movement]] after initially gathering and organizing in cities. The magazine ''[[http://www.motherearthnews.com Mother Earth News]]'' was founded to provide easy-to-understand but realistic instruction for hippie farmers. (There was also ''[[https://aliciabaylaurel.com/ Living on the Earth]]'' by Alicia Bay Laurel (still in print) and Joan Shortney's ''[[https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Nothing-Joan-shortney/dp/0671800302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513137562&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+live+on+nothing How to Live on Nothing]]''.) Some of these {{Commune}}s still exist today. Presumably some hippies with rural backgrounds knew what they were getting into, although [[http://kk.org/mt-files/writings/why_we_left_the_farm.pdf Stephen Gaskin's Farm had a very rough start]]. One of the harshest critics of communal life, Valerie Solanas in her "SCUM Manifesto", had the utmost contempt for male hippies who longed for The Simple Life and existence at a "mere species level" -- not because ''they'' thought it was that, but because ''she'' did. She regarded farming as a "simple, non-intellectual activity". She didn't have a clue.

* In Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/TheLastCenturion'', the titular 1st person narrator is a farmer, and goes on a long length about how complex real farming is, especially when done on the production scale necessary to feed the world. His comments on organic farming, and city people who want to "get back to the land", are equally pointed, and none too complementary.

* Subverted in one Creator/PatMcManus story. Stressed and unable to sleep, Pat goes to his doctor who tells him he needs an imaginary farm where he can imagine doing relaxing agricultural work. Pat, who grew up on a farm, instead imagines a farm where he's stuck working round the clock due to DisasterDominoes and becomes even more stressed out and unable to sleep.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2VOb6WUPPE The Desk]]" episode of ''Series/BarneyMiller'' shows an ex-con, Gil Lesco, who had a {{Lobotomy}} and is now functioning at a very basic, almost childlike level. Also in the squadroom is an Amish farmer, Caleb Webber (played by veteran actor Jeff Corey) who's been robbed. Webber talks to Lesco about typical farm work, and ultimately Lesco decides to accompany Webber back to the farm.

In fact, farming is extremely complicated. A farmer working a diversified farm has to be a highly skilled generalist with specific, situation-relevant knowledge from a dozen different [[IncrediblyLamePun fields]], from botany to mechanics to veterinary medicine to chemistry to entomology. What's more, a real mistake (or for that matter a late frost) can spell disaster: a ruined crop can't be fixed, and can't be replaced until the ''next year''. There can be long stretches of leisure time, but this is because you can't speed up either the plants or the animals, or the seasons. (And farmers who can often do odd jobs during those stretches, to eke out the necessary money.) [[Radio/APrairieHomeCompanion Garrison Keillor's]] farmers in Lake Wobegon speak of these things often and give you a much more realistic idea of what it's like.

If a character who has no experience farming takes to running a farm without a noticeable learning curve, that is this trope. (In the case of a "gentleman farmer" or hobby farmer, who's merely farming for fun with no economic pressure, the learning curve can be less steep.) If a character with no experience farming has to do some farmwork and does it with no training, no practice, and no trouble, that is also this trope.

This trope is played straight in some TheCityVsTheCountry plots (where the {{aesop}} is "city life is too complicated, you should get back to nature") and averted or subverted in others (where the [[AnAesop aesop]] is more like "everyone has his cross to bear").

* Farming in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' is much easier than in RealLife - for instance, you can make your crops grow on demand by adding bonemeal. Somewhat {{enforced|Trope}} in this as in other video games, since games are intended to be, what was that word again, ''fun''.

* ''StardewValley'' is built on this. Your protagonist, despite being a former office drone until ennui set in, has no problems handling a hoe, scythe, water can, axe or pickaxe with ease. Crops will grow just fine as soon as the seeds are planted and just needs to be watered daily and have a nearby scarecrow to keep birds away; once fully grown, can be harvested with ease. Farm animals do fine as long as they have a patch of grass or some hay to eat, and only need to be petted once in a while, besides the milking, shearing and collecting eggs stuff. However, it's implied that you have a special connection to nature (which is why the Junimo love you), which could account for your farming knack. In addition, you literally own your land completely with no bills or taxes to pay so you can put all your money towards the next purchase, and you don't even need to eat (although eating restores your health and energy, allowing you to work even more).

* ''VideoGame/FarmingSimulator'' averts this a little. While farming is definitely simpler than in real life as technicalities such as weather, soil composition, humidity, crop varieties and animal health are absent, you do have to use quite a bit of equipment to grow, maintain and harvest the different crops of the game, and feeding your animals requires an entire new set of tools and equipment. For example: to harvest thin-stemmed crops (wheat, canola, barley or soybeans) you must use a harvester with one header, to harvest thick-stemmed crops (sunflower and corn) you need another header, to harvest chaff for cattle fodder you need a special harvester with a suitable header and a tipper because these harvesters don't have built-in storage, to harvest poplar trees you need that same harvester with a different header, to harvest potatoes you first need a top cutter and then a tractor-pulled harvester...

* Subverted in ''GoneWithTheWind'' when Scarlett and her sisters learn just how hard farming really is.

* Many [[NewAgeRetroHippie Hippies]] turned to this in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-to-the-land_movement back to the land movement]] after initially gathering and organizing in cities. The magazine ''[[http://www.motherearthnews.com Mother Earth News]]'' was founded to provide easy-to-understand but realistic instruction for hippie farmers. (There was also ''[[https://aliciabaylaurel.com/ Living on the Earth]]'' by Alicia Bay Laurel (still in print) and Joan Shortney's ''[[https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Nothing-Joan-shortney/dp/0671800302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513137562&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+live+on+nothing How to Live on Nothing]]''.) Some of these {{Commune}}s still exist today. Presumably some hippies with rural backgrounds knew what they were getting into, although [[http://kk.org/mt-files/writings/why_we_left_the_farm.pdf Stephen Gaskin's Farm had a very rough start]]. One of the harshest critics of communal life, Valerie Solanas in her "SCUM Manifesto", had the utmost contempt for those who chose to take up farming, enumerating it among mere "simple, non-intellectual activities" chosen by male hippies who longed for The Simple Life and existence at a "mere species level".

In fact, farming is extremely complicated. A farmer working a diversified farm has to be a highly skilled generalist with specific, situation-relevant knowledge from a dozen different [[IncrediblyLamePun fields]], from botany to mechanics to veterinary medicine to chemistry to entomology. What's more, a real mistake (or for that matter a late frost) can spell disaster: a ruined crop can't be fixed, and can't be replaced until the ''next year''. There can be long stretches of leisure time, but this is because you can't speed up either the plants or the animals, or the seasons. (And farmers who can often do odd jobs during those stretches, to eke out the necessary money.) Creator/GarrisonKeillor's farmers in Lake Wobegon speak of these things often and give you a much more realistic idea of what it's like.

* ''WorldOfWarcraft: Mists of Pandaria'' has the farming community of Tillers, where the player can have their own farm. It's based on simple minigame, with farming of course being much easier than in RealLife. Given a HandWave by the powerfully rich soil (enhanced by the water from the Vale of Eternal Blossoms) of the zone, and on that plot of land in particular.

* This is what the Meyerists of upstate New York are doing in ''Series/ThePath''. The community was originally founder Stephen Meyer's family farm which the founding members expanded on and built a series of communal homes. Early episodes have the Armstrong family speculating that the heavenly Garden of Meyer's ultimate vision will arise from this place, and prospective leader Eddie Lane has a vision confirming that.

* The Extended Homestead Act of 1909. Its intent was to facilitate the development of the Great Plains by providing land grants to would-be farmers. Unfortunately, this backfired spectacularly: The land was not conducive to traditional agricultural development, and the homesteaders themselves didn't understand local ecology well enough to cultivate the land properly. Mismanagement of the land led to large-scale erosion and loss of topsoil, and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

In fact, farming is extremely complicated. A farmer working a diversified farm has to be a highly skilled generalist with specific, situation-relevant knowledge from a dozen different [[IncrediblyLamePun fields]], from botany to mechanics to veterinary medicine to chemistry to entomology. What's more, a real mistake (or for that matter a late frost) can spell disaster: a ruined crop can't be fixed, and can't be replaced until the ''next year''. There can be long stretches of leisure time, but this is because you can't speed up either the plants or the animals, or the seasons. (And farmers who can often do odd jobs during those stretches, to eke out the necessary money.)

It's often played straight in adventure stories where our wandering hero earns his keep at local farms as he passes through. (Does not apply, of course, if said [[FarmBoy hero]] or [[FarmersDaughter heroine]] already knows how.) This trope is also commonly found in {{Arcadia}}, where farming is idyllic and pleasant as well as simple, and may sometimes show up when a character is [[CallToAgriculture Called To Agriculture.]]

* Many [[NewAgeRetroHippie Hippies]] turned to this in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-to-the-land_movement back to the land movement]] after initially gathering and organizing in cities. The magazine ''[[http://www.motherearthnews.com Mother Earth News]]'' was founded to provide easy-to-understand but realistic instruction for hippie farmers. Some of these {{Commune}}s still exist today. Presumably some hippies with rural backgrounds knew what they were getting into. One of the harshest critics of communal life, Valerie Solanas in her "SCUM Manifesto", had the utmost contempt for those who chose to take up farming, enumerating it among mere "simple, non-intellectual activities" chosen by male hippies who longed for The Simple Life and existence at a "mere species level".

* Hugely subverted in the late SovietUnion. When the Soviet authorities started to allot the general city population small plots of land for hobby farming (and small means '''''small''''' -- they were usually 600 square meters, or about 0.15 acre), the city population, armed by the hundreds of tomes on modern agriculture, a desire to escape the dreary boredom and horrible quality of official produce and general interest, took to the farming with such gusto that within a decade the (unofficial) output of these plots begun to outstrip the output of the official, state-managed agriculture in some areas, especially vegetable production, despite most of these people having a day job and tending their suburban plots only on weekends. It spells volumes on the inefficiency of the official Soviet agriculture, but also about the intensity with which these {{City Mouse}}s cultivated their land.

* After WorldWarOne the Australian government gave land grants to veterans so as to settle sparsely populated areas of the country. Many failed miserably due to a lack of support infrastructure, capital, and the general inexperience of the mostly city-raised soldiers. The project was restarted after the Second World War, this time with greater support for the farmers.