Soil of Local Culture

What makes local culture, anyway? In “The Work of Local Culture,” Wendell Berry tells the story of an old bucket hanging on a fencepost near his farm. Leaves fall into the bucket. Mice and squirrels come and go and drop acorns into it. Bird droppings and feathers find their way into the bucket. Insects root through the bucket and perhaps even die in it. Rain and snow collect and help rot the…