Magazine article about Isaac B. Rumford, 1897

Joyful is a former settlement and vegetarian colony in Kern County, California.[1][2] It was located 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Bakersfield, at the northern end of Ashe Road near Panama Lane.[1][3]

History

Californian fruit farmer Isaac B. Rumford and his wife Sara converted to a raw food vegetarian diet in 1881.[4] They were Christians and advocated an "Edenic Diet" in which all animal foods were forbidden apart from honey. They held the view that "cooking destroys the vitality of the food, besides being a waste of labor and of time; it makes a slave of the one who cooks and shortens life."[4]

Joyful was founded by Rumford and his wife in early 1884 as a Utopian colony under the auspices of the Association of Brotherly Cooperation.[1][5] Joyful was located on the bank of Panama Slough, wetland adjacent to the Kern River that has been dry since before 1967.[6][3] Joyful was a vegetarian colony in which members followed a way of life influenced by the Biblical Adam and Eve before the Fall.[5] Members would eat a raw vegetarian diet of almonds, fruit juice, grated apples, raisins and a grounded mix of oats and wheat called grainia.[4] They opposed cooking food as it was believed it reduced nutritional value. Rumford and his wife founded the newspaper, Joyful News.[5] The Joyful post office operated from 1883 to 1884, when the colony was abandoned.[1] Although the colony was abandoned by other members, Rumford continued to work as a fruit farmer with his family. In 1902 at age 68, Rumford wrote that his raw vegetarian diet consisted of starch foods such as dry flour with fruits and nuts.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 997. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
  2. ↑ Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael. (2004). Vegetarian America: A History. Praeger. p. 112. ISBN 978-0275975197
  3. 1 2 Bailey, Richard C. (1967). Kern County Place Names. Annual Publications of the Kern County Historical Society and Kern County Museum (No. 29). Introduction by Ralph F. Kreiser (1st ed.). Bakersfield, Calif.: Merchants Printing and Lithographing Co. p. 12. LCCN 74018077. OCLC 158106.
  4. 1 2 3 Hine, Robert V. (1983). California's Utopian Colonies. University of California Press. pp. 140-141. ISBN 978-0520048850
  5. 1 2 3 Lewis, James R. (1998). The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions. Prometheus Books. p. 311. ISBN 1-57392-222-6
  6. ↑ "Museum Alliance Marks Centennial". Bakersfield Californian (June 28, 1969).
  7. ↑ "Starch Food Necessary". The Vegetarian Magazine. 6 (7): 163–164. 1902.

Further reading

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