Principle 4

A New Agrarian believes in the worth of old-fashioned virtues, but also believes that one doesn't have to be a prude about them.

There was a great deal of value in earlier systems of virtues. Industry, meaning the willingness and desire to work hard, is useful if one intends to get bread from the soil. Frugality means not a Scrooge-like forbearance of any petty luxury but a willingness at least to count to ten before embracing new extravagance and, I think, a refusal on principle to dispose lightly of creation. (For that reason, I cling to the traditional view of good Pennsylvania Dutch farmwives that bad cooking is a sin.) Temperance, in its original sense, means not to swear off liquor but simply to embrace moderation as a guide in all things, to put good sense ahead of momentary indulgence—to temper one's desires, not to deny them entirely. All three are sensible guides for life in any time or place, not least so in a rural setting.
One does not, however, have to be a prude. There is far too much good in creation not to enjoy it, and far too much misery not to embrace the good while we have it. Every rural culture needs its festivals, its carnivals, its ferías, its periods of reckless abandon that revive and restore. And however much we may enjoy our work (or wish to), the struggles and irritations of daily life need food, beer and wine, music and dancing, and sex to make them bearable. Food and sex are good things; never let anyone tell you otherwise. It is only when they are removed from all social and cultural context, allowed to roam free as ends in themselves — think fast food or prostitution — that they risk becoming evils.
All things in moderation, says the New Agrarian—even excess.

>> 5. informal social and economic organization