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Jerry,

Thanks for your wonderful encouragement! I hope you will 
allow me to share your comments with our Heathly Harvest 
group.

I do think this could be implemented anywhere, even in the 
suburbs on a vacant lot. Maybe someday when all cars are 
electric and there is less pollution we'll be farming the 
roadsides instead of mowing and spraying them.

Although my husband is orginally from Wisconsin, he more 
recently lived in Chicago for five years and has been a 
long-time a supporter of Growing Power. His greatest dream 
is to farm when he retires from teaching. He is still 
learning about growing things here where the growing 
season lasts about 235 days.

This thing sort of evolved...both of us share a passion 
for community building and food issues. First we looked 
into taking over our friends' CSA on a certified organic 
farm (now defunct, they could not make a profit after 10 
years) about 40 miles from us but it didn't feel right. 
Their customers were mostly in San Antonio and I could see 
a lot of their loss was from gasoline. We wanted to feed 
our own community.

Our friend Gerry, an organic grass fed longhorn beef 
rancher, decided a year ago to work with his local ISD to 
get fresh vegetable snacks to the school kids twice a day. 
Our CSA friends donated their commercial refridgerators to 
the cause when they folded. Although the veggies come from 
a Texas grocery chain sponsor, I think the school's Ag 
department is trying to grow some of it. Gerry is working 
on our school district to adopt a similar program. We 
began to notice how all the elderly people around us 
didn't eat any greens.

Last year we joined TOFGA (Texas Organic Farmers and 
Gardeners Association) and Rick (my husband) became our 
county's TOFGA community organizer. He wanted to start a 
farmers market, but I reminded him it would take more than 
one farmer to make a market, as we don't have a big enough 
place to support the entire community (50 in our town, 300 
in the one just north of us). People already come to our 
house to buy eggs, so I wasn't keen on picking vegetables 
before I knew there was a buyer or spending my Saturdays 
sitting by the side of the road. Having worked for a 
public botanical garden and taught people about plants, I 
knew I'd rather teach people how to grow (and cook) their 
own food than to grow it for them. So we really wanted to 
approach the same problem different ways.

We decided to first read everything we could get our hands 
on regarding food issues: Plenty, 100 Mile Diet, 
Omnivore's Dilema, Eating: A Manifesto, Animal Vegetable 
Miracle, Slow Food Nation, Fast Food Nation, One Straw 
Revolution, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War 
Stories from the Local Food Front, etc...and then started 
talking about these ideas with absolutely everyone we came 
in contact with. Pretty soon we discovered there was local 
interest in food issues and diverse talents among 
community members, so my husband took the initiative to 
get Healthy Harvest started. We purposely picked a name 
that did not say organic or local--even though that is our 
focus--but used words that would resonate with descendents 
of self sufficient pioneers. As you know Texas is big on 
high school sports and competition. To tap into that 
spirit, I'd like for people to want to say "we're the town 
that feeds itself".

We attended the Renewable Energy Roundup in 
Fredericksburg, TX this weekend 
http://theroundup.org/index.php and heard lots of 
inspiring speakers, particularly Brad Stufflebeam from 
HomeSweetFarm who worked for a non-profit teaching 3rd 
world people to farm organically but ended up in Texas 
local food movement by starting a successful CSA serving 
100 families with 22 acres. You may have seen him featured 
in Hobby Farms Magazine, May/June 2008 
www.homesweetfarm.com He had a lot to say about developing 
partnerships in community.

Also of note, we met the publisher of Edible Austin 
magazine, which has other magazines across the country, 
devoted to the local food movement in central Texas 
www.edibleaustin.com/content/index.php and she was very 
excited to hear about Healthy Harvest and wants to keep up 
with our progress. Of course, it's too new and early to 
know what will develop, but I think you are right, this is 
going to be the new economic order soon. I'll keep you 
posted.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas



On Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:07:32 -0400
 Jerry B <liberty AT kaballero.com> wrote:

> I can't let this post pass by without comment.  To 
> emphasize how great I 
> think is the venture you and your neighbors are 
> undertaking, I must say 
> I think it is representative of the next step, even the 
> new economic 
> order of tomorrow!  That's all.  :-)
>
> Totally free and voluntary association for the joint 
> production, 
> distribution, and consumption of goods not only "cuts 
> across party 
> lines", but lines of culture, education, financial 
> status ... in short 
> all human differences. The focus on food,  in this case, 
> works as well 
> for any type of economic activity ... building, selling 
> and buying 
> houses, raising chickens, or even manufacturing 
> automobiles. (Note: If 
> such things are done by and for oneself and/or one's 
> family  then this 
> limited definition of 'economic' as a *social* activity, 
> does not apply. 
> However, it is rare that even such private activity does 
> not include 
> some element produced, distributed and consumed by 
> others, known or 
> unknown. And yes, James, 'do-it-yourself' has social 
> implications as well.)
>
> Though it is the product that is the goal, a very 
> important 'by-product' 
> of these endeavors is the meeting and rubbing-shoulders 
> with very 
> different persons, learning to cooperate in a neighborly 
> manner. The 
> common need and desire for the product provides 
> motivation, but the 
> process can lead to, what to call it? ... brotherhood? 
> fraternity? (sure 
> need more genderless terms) friendship? camaraderie? 
> communion?  Or the 
> opposite if not done aright in freedom.  It turns out 
> that in striving 
> to fill our human needs, opportunity is given to mix 
> with a wide variety 
> of  persons, not just those who think like we do, look 
> or act like we do 
> ...our very lives depending on it.
>
> This type of free and voluntary association is a far cry 
> from either 
> Capitalism or Socialism.  It transcends both, in 
> synthesis, hence the 
> next step. Each individual remains his or her own boss 
> ... freely 
> choosing who they wish to work with, choosing what they 
> want to do, and 
> determining how much time and labor they choose to apply 
> to it. One's 
> 'time' and 'labor' are no longer made into commodities. 
> There is no 
> 'servitude'  in the negative sense involved, or making a 
> few rich from 
> my time and labors ...  each working for fulfillment of 
> their own needs, 
> self-determined, yet in company.  As the 'company' 
> succeeds so do the 
> individuals and their dependents. 
>
> Any one that wants to, and can, provide any or all of 
> their own needs is 
> left totally free to do so.  No one is  telling them 
> they must associate 
> with others,  how or where.  In such joint ventures, 
> leaders arise quite 
> naturally and spontaneously, in fact changing often or 
> having several at 
> the same time as different aspects of the project arise. 
> No vote need be 
> taken.  The degree of expertise in the particular 
> economic activity soon 
> becomes obvious to all. The 'authority' of skill and 
> knowledge, not 
> social position or financial position, is the 
> determinative factor. As 
> this increases, so does compensation for the quality and 
> quantity of the 
> product produced   No dole, nor hand outs. No salary 
> based on time (who 
> can put a value on how much one hour, one week, or one 
> month of my time 
> is worth?).  The product, in this economic order of 
> social life, is the 
> thing. No product, no pay. More product, better quality, 
> more pay. This 
> is quantifiable, understood by all participants.
>
> Profit becomes a just means of measurement of demand and 
> value. 
> Voluntary contracts are made between persons and between 
> other 
> associations, even contracts across borders and nations. 
> It  works on 
> any scale.  I don't know if your dreams for Healthy 
> Harvest include 
> these types of exchanges and outreach but I would think 
> it well might. I 
> am interested in continuing to hear more about what you 
> all are learning 
> from this adventure.  I want to keep up to date with 
> developments.  If I 
> were a neighbor, I would be right there in middle of it. 
> I'm thinking 
> already how such a group can be initiated in our own 
> neighborhood.
>
> Was it you that began this activity? Are there other 
> projects that serve 
> as a model?  btw, I recently saw a piece done on TV 
> about 'Growing 
> Power'.  http://growingpower.org/Index.htm.  The TV 
> article was 
> specifically about the city food center in Chicago and 
> it's remarkable 
> founder, Will Allen 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/01genius.html?ref=style 
> but 
> the home page reveals its broader scope including 
> farming communities as 
> well. I am much impressed. 
>
> The underlying promise, to me, of all this, is that 
> there are indeed new 
> things that can be and are being, done, independently 
> and along-side the 
> old. This allows for simple free choice by anyone as to 
> which is the 
> better way. As the 'old' ways fail, no longer 
> encompassing present 
> circumstances, vital alternatives can grow and thrive on 
> new ground. I 
> think it is mainly through such joint ventures that some 
> can survive 
> what is quickly coming down upon us as a result of our 
> past choices. So 
> as you notice, I think what you all are doing is most 
> important, and 
> exciting.     Jerry
>
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