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GOODBYE UNCLE SAM, HELLO KING JESUS { 12 images } Created 15 Feb 2018

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  • Rachel Howerters,11, leads a cow to the family's multi-use pond outside their rural Canton, Ill. home. The Howerters are a self-sufficient family of six who have cut themselves off from the government and commercial systems, for their own political and religious reasons. Wendy and Tim Howerter have surrendered both their Illinois driver's licenses and Social Security numbers along with their children’s. The family also grows all their own food while producing their own electricity. A 1998 dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency over waste-management violations on their property led to the couple's views of the government and left the direction of the family's life in the hands of their God. Religion plays a vital role in the lives of the Howerters, who are members of an Oregon-based network of congregations and ministers called His Holy Church.
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  • Wendy peels onions that were harvested from their garden as her son Matthew, 2, plays with this tractor. Wendy and her daughter Rachel wear traditional dresses and head coverings while they work around the farm, something Wendy calls a personal conviction. Most of the family's clothing comes from donations that Wendy sews together by hand and much of the boys' clothes are handed down to one another.
    Howerters-howerter01.jpg
  • Caleb Howerter, 9, works ahead pulling weeds and loosening dirt as the rest of the family harvest one of three types of potatoes they grow and store for winter. The four children have an equal share in day-to-day operations of the farm including cleaning stalls, feeding the various animals, watering plants, scrapping metal, retrieving drinking water, doing laundry, cleaning dishes and entertaining one another. "I think they know they have a big role in this family. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the kids really complain, 'I have to do all this work.' They seem to know that they're different," Wendy said. "Whether standing in a hot garden or cleaning a stall until spotless, they need to see you’re capable of doing the same thing, otherwise they're a slave and not part of the family," Tim adds.
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  • Wendy is joined by Matthew during her morning routine of milking one of the three cows to get the day's supply of milk, which is drink and the excess turn in the cheese and yogurt. Both Tim and Wendy hope the children will continue their self-sufficient way of life and pass it along to their children. Neither would be surprised if any of the children wanted to explore the world they often only read about. "I would strongly encourage the kids to settle close, we will be building a nation, only in this case it will be a nation of the Church. I would strongly hope they wouldn’t go out and try to prove their birth to the Beast (government) to procure benefits," Tim said.
    Howerters-howerter23.jpg
  • After a long afternoon of scrapping metal from the camper with his brother and father in the barn, Same collapses on discarded foam insulation to rest. Scrapping metal is one of the few sources of income the family has to support themselves.
    Howerters-howerter35.jpg
  • Tim Howerter uses a rope to start a gas engine that produces all the family's electricity. The engine is connected to an alternator that was salvaged from an ambulance and is used to charge several car battery kept nearby. Since removing themselves from the power grid, the family has cut their power consumption my 90 percent. They run the engine twice a week for two hours so they can power their wringer-washer to do their laundry. The departure from the power grid didn’t happen overnight, but when it came time to cut the power the Howerters were ready. Tim wasn’t happy with a few men being in charge of all electricity and slowly started moving his family away from being dependent on others for electricity. The Howerters' home his lip by lanterns and candles which Tim said, "is not too far from flipping a switch.”
    Howerters-howerter12.jpg
  • Matthew gets a little more than he bargained as Sam,7, joins and him on a donate playground toy next to their home. The children are home-schooled by Wendy with the goal that the children will be able to think and learn for themselves when they are done. The children have little to no contact with other kids their age, except when visiting extended family once a year. The boys often spend the day swimming or riding their favorite yellow wagon down the surrounding hills. Always with the eldest boy Caleb steering, as the other boys hang on. Rachel spends most of her days with her mother or caring for her horse, if she’s not riding it around the property.
    Howerters-howerter34.jpg
  • Sam can barely contain his excitement over the size of a watermelon the family is planning to cut up as Tim and Rachel relax on the family porch following a long day of harvesting potatoes, while family friend and fellow His Holy Church member "Doc" join them. Many people stop by the farm to trade goods, drop off scrap metal for them to sell or learn farming secrets. The Howerters do not sell any of their excess crops since there is no market that justifies the work they put into it. Plus it's difficult to get it to market with limited transportation.
    Howerters-howerter44.jpg
  • Matthew runs out of one of the two underground cellars on the property, one for fruit and the other for roots. The cellars were originally shelters Tim built in preparation for the Y2K scare and to protect his family from the end of the world which he said was clearly stated in the Bible. Since then the family has began to produce far more vegetables than they can consume in a year due to increase soil productivity. They found the shelters the perfect place to start storing food for the winter months.
    Howerters-howerter37.jpg
  • The Howerters join hands as they pray before eating a meal produce entirely on their 15.5-acre farm. His Holy Church requires a vow of poverty, therefore the Howerter's property couldn’t be in their name and is now considered to be a retreat for the Church. The Church also acts as a network for those at various stages of coming out of the worldly system, though not everyone shares the Howerter’s way of life. Tim says His Holy Church isn’t trying to “undo the world.” It is not militant or a survivalist group trying to overthrow the government. “I don’t even own camouflage,” Tim says with a smile. Though it hasn’t always been easy on the family, Wendy says it has been all worth it living in a way that makes them feel they are doing the right thing. “There are no vacations, no fancy trucks, no air-conditioning, no comforts and it has put a distance between my sisters and I and some family, but there are plenty of people who treat us normally and love us.”
    Howerters-howerter32.jpg
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