Friendship, Freedom, and a Little Rebellion in Rural Virginia

From COVID rebellion to lasting friendships, homesteading, and freedom.

By: Jill Glasspool Malone

A few weeks back, Robert and I headed over to The Bill Walton Show studio to record an episode with our good friends, Bill and Sarah Walton.

Now, for those of you who don’t know the backstory, our friendship with the Waltons has an interesting history.

During the authoritarian regime of the Biden presidency, when Americans were told not to gather with friends or family, to reject the unvaccinated, ordered to wear masks in public, required in many workplaces to get jabbed to keep their jobs, when schools were shut down, and everyone instructed to stay six feet apart from one another, some of us simply said, “Hell no!”

Apparently, friendship, dinner parties, and enjoying the company of other human beings had become acts of rebellion. Who knew?

Well, the Waltons, Robert and I, and about five other couples decided we weren’t going to put our lives on hold. We began gathering at one another’s homes for dinners, long walks, farm tours, target practice, and whatever other excuses we could find to get together. About once a month, sometimes every other month, we would organize something.

What started as a small act of defiance became something much more important: a close circle of friends, many of us conservative activists, living in the rural Virginia heartland of Rappahannock and Madison counties.

And we’re still at it. In fact, we’re getting together for dinner again this weekend. Some habits are simply too good to break.

Our little circle includes quite a few people involved in the conservative movement, including Matt and Mercy Schlapp, Dr. Brooke and Ann Miller, Tad and Kelly Coffin, Rep. Bob McEwen and his wife Liz, Tony (RIP) and Alyse Lo Bianco, Rep. Dick Schulze (RIP) and Nancy, and many others whose names you might recognize. There is also a larger circle of friends. Some join us mainly for the larger gatherings, usually because they live farther away.

The core group lives within about half an hour of one another, give or take, depending on which winding country road you’re traveling. Almost all of us live in rural Virginia, many on working farms or tucked away in the woods. We have more livestock, tractors, and muddy boots among us than your average Washington political gathering. We all believe that independence is freedom, small government protects our rights, and we are fierce defenders of the American way.

Tomorrow’s dinner will undoubtedly turn into a strategy session. Where do we, as conservatives- some more fiscally focused and others more religiously motivated- go from here? How do we help our country navigate the dark times ahead? What will the Trump administration do next? Who will emerge as the next presidential contenders, and who actually has a chance of winning the nomination and the presidency?

I’m sure we’ll discuss all of that and considerably more. These dinners have a way of starting with appetizers and ending with an attempt to solve the world’s problems.

But here’s the part that really matters to me.

In all my life, I have never had such a close-knit group of friends. People who genuinely care about Robert and me, who support one another through difficult times, and who share a deep commitment to a set of core principles about how to live. Our little group has now been going strong for five years, and I fully expect these friendships to last a lifetime. Much like the strong marriages represented around our dinner table, these relationships are built on loyalty, trust, and commitment. We aren’t fair-weather friends, and we aren’t in it for the short term. We’re in it for the long haul, together.

These gatherings have become a fixture, and one of the highlights of our social lives. I suspect most of the others feel the same way.

And the foundation of it all is something wonderfully old-fashioned: the dinner party. Sometimes it’s a potluck, sometimes a full sit-down dinner, but always good food, lively conversation, laughter, and friendship. Just people enjoying one another’s company, the way human beings have done for thousands of years.

So, what does all of this have to do with Bill Walton and our new interview?

For those unfamiliar with Bill, he’s had quite a remarkable career. Bill Walton is the former chairman and CEO of a $10 billion NYSE-traded investment company, vice chairman of CPAC, and past president of both the Council for National Policy and the National Symphony Orchestra. He hosts The Bill Walton Show, with more than 290 episodes of long-form conversations exploring money, culture, politics, and power. He also writes The Airless Age. Sarah, his wife, is an exceptional artist and has a storied career of her own.

In other words, Bill has spent a good deal of his life navigating the worlds of finance, politics, and culture. And despite all that, he’s still perfectly happy to sit around a dinner table with a bunch of Virginia country folks and argue about the future of America.

Which brings me back to our visit to his studio.

Robert and I sat down with Bill and Sarah for a wide-ranging, surprisingly personal conversation about our book, Homesteading for Health: One Farm Family’s Guide to Food, Land, and Self-Sufficiency.

And when I say personal, I mean personal.

We talked about how Robert and I have been together since we were teenagers, how we worked our way through school, built equity through six different farms, lost nearly everything during the Great Recession, and eventually started over on raw land in rural Virginia.

We’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. Some expensive ones. But we’ve also learned a great deal about land, food, finances, health, and what it really means to be independent.

What began as a practical effort to build a working farm eventually became something much larger: a philosophy of freedom, self-reliance, and taking responsibility for our own lives.

One of the most interesting parts of the conversation centered on debt and how financial dependence can influence the decisions people make, including whether they feel free to speak their minds.

As Robert put it:

“Debt is a form of indentured servitude.”

— Dr. Robert Malone, discussing why financially indebted professionals often remained silent.

We also explored modern agriculture, the food supply, raw milk, the economics of small farms, and why we abandoned vegetarianism after thirty years.

But perhaps the most important theme running through the conversation was the relationship between independence and community.

Because here’s something I’ve come to appreciate over the years: Self-sufficiency doesn’t mean doing everything alone.

It means having the skills, resources, knowledge, and relationships that allow you to make your own choices. And sometimes, the most valuable resource of all is a trusted circle of friends who will be there when you need them, as well as the local community that supports you.

That’s something our little group in rural Virginia understands very well.

And it is also, in many ways, what Homesteading for Health is really about.

So, I encourage you all to watch the episode - The conversation ranges from the great unlearning of American agriculture and what the USDA’s own nutrient data reveals, to the labeling loophole that keeps sugar off infant-formula labels, the economics that let a small family farm pay its own way, the raw-milk question, the three-word prescription that ended the Malones’ thirty years as vegetarians, and the policy that emptied rural America: “get big or get out.” But underneath it all, as Robert says, it is our love story.

And for those of you who haven’t bought our book yet, all I can say is what are you waiting for?

---

Homesteading for Health: One Farm Family’s Guide to Food, Land, and Self-Sufficiency is more than a how-to book. It is four decades of our experiences, mistakes, successes, and hard-earned lessons about building a more independent, healthier life.

You don’t need forty acres, a barn full of animals, or even a tractor to benefit from it. Although I must admit, tractors are awfully handy!

Where to buy the book

The hardcover is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Books-A-Million, Walmart, independent bookstores, and Skyhorse Publishing.

Prefer an ebook? Digital editions are available through Kindle, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble Nook, Google Play Books, and Kobo.

Prefer to listen? The unabridged audiobook is available through Audible and Amazon, personally narrated by Robert himself. Perfect for long drives, gardening, or working around the farm.

And with the holidays approaching, consider buying an extra copy for someone you love. It’s a gift of practical knowledge that won’t end up collecting dust in a closet. At least, that’s our hope!

Thank you for supporting our work, and happy homesteading - where ever you are!

---

A Special Request to Our Free Subscribers

If you’ve enjoyed this story about friendship, independence, and building a life on your own terms, I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber to Malone News.

Robert and I put an enormous amount of time, research, and effort into this publication.

We don’t have corporate sponsors telling us what to write or which subjects to avoid. Our independence depends on readers like you.

If you’ve been reading for free and finding value in our work, perhaps it’s time to help support it. A paid subscription keeps our research, reporting, commentary, and occasional irreverent humor coming.

And you’ll gain access to our subscriber-only articles along the way.

So, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription today. Help us keep Malone News independent, outspoken, and going strong for years to come.

Thank you for being part of our community!