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["Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>]

It was once much easier to eat locally. Most people, even in the 1830's,
relied upon imported items such as salt. But most of the food people have
eaten historically has been local. Now, it is a challenge to eat that way if
you don't produce most of your own food - I've got the dairy covered.
Veggies will be modest this year. No fruit production yet. Meat production
is a way off. So, I'm still eating way more than I would like from purchased
foods. And the adulteration and contamination of foods shipped in from a
wide variety of places makes me want to accelerate the development of the
new homestead! But until it is up and running, I'm stuck, like so many
people, buying more food than I would prefer.

More and more of our farm fields in Illinois are corn and soybeans. Corn and
beans have been the predominant crops throughout my lifetime, but not to the
extent they are now. Some wheat is still grown here. Some alfalfa is still
grown here. There are still orchards. There are still beekeepers. There are
a few wineries. There are dairies and livestock farms. A few farms still
produce maple syrup. A few folks still produce sorghum molasses. And of
course there are small vegetable farms that sell at farmers' markets in the
summertime. BUT, our mainstream agriculture is focused on two feed crops.
And the farms keep getting larger. It would seem that with the
increasing price of fuel (and other inputs obtained from oil - fertilizers,
etc.), the locavore movement will become mainstream of necessity. Economy of
scale can only serve to offset increasing fuel and input costs so far, and
then the cost of the food produced (and shipped) becomes too burdensome for
the consumer. We went through economic upheaval during the 80's, as the farm
economy consolidated. I see rocky times ahead as agriculture once again has
to shift focus.

And, I don't gloat at that - the small towns all around me, indeed the
entire economy will suffer AGAIN as inevitable change occurs. It would seem
that farms will have to produce a greater variety of foods, to meet a
changing demand driven by cost of fuel.

Meanwhile, I simply long to live more as my grandparents lived, on a small,
diversified, somewhat self-sufficient farm. My place will never be a "farm"
and I don't have 8 kids to help with labor! But as close as I can come to
the pleasures of that simple life ... I am working my way toward living that
way. Who knew it would become slightly fashionable? < grin >

Gloria