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  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] was music, now farming, agricultural, other misc.
  • Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:45:37 -0700 (PDT)

I believe everything you wrote.. But, it makes no sense. I am willing to pay
good money for fresh produce and better meats. I think most people are. Why
is farming not profitable?

About the seeds; Gurneys charges from 2.50 to 5.00 per liitle packet for
regular vegetable seeds (a few grams). I was just curious of a person could
buy a few lbs of each and then store them. From what you are saying it
wouldn't work , even if you could find them at a better price, now. Thank's
for the update on that. I don't know a good place to buy seeds anyway. If
you google vegetable seeds, you get millions of pages.

I'm sure your kids will do great. I wish I could be as confident of my
nephews ....bobford


--- On Sat, 10/25/08, Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] was music, now farming, agricultural, other misc.
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Saturday, October 25, 2008, 1:29 PM
> My kids have spent most of their lives watching me try to
> make a living
> from the farm. They see the hard work, they know that we
> have no money.
> I don't think it's unreasonable that they'd
> want a profession that would
> bring a livable wage. Kids here don't aspire to be
> lawyers; they mostly
> graduate high school (or not) and get whatever job comes
> along. Many
> come from farms, but farming isn't even an option for
> them. Farmers
> can't afford to pay much for help (in PA, farmers can
> and do pay below
> minimum wage for help), and no one right out of school
> could afford
> their own farm. I don't know a single farmer that
> doesn't have off-farm
> income.
>
> Very few people are in a position to buy tons of grain and
> store it. If
> next year brings a good crop, your corn is worth less than
> you paid for
> it. And you can't hold it forever. I think that in cold
> storage, very
> dry corn can be held for several years. In normal storage,
> it's a year
> or less. That's why food isn't treated like a
> normal commodity. It's
> perishable. It makes so much more sense to go with the
> cycle of food; a
> food is only valuable until next year's crop comes in.
> You store what
> you can use or sell until next year. You make a little this
> year, lose a
> little next year. That's why it's never a 'get
> rich quick' scheme.
>
> I have a friend who had a business buying (garden) seed in
> bulk and
> repackaging it. It was a lot of work, and it's not like
> you can put seed
> in a closet until it's worth more. Most seed is only
> good (for practical
> sales purposes) for one year. Most people won't buy
> seed that's more
> than a year old, even though most will germinate.
>
> Lynn Wigglesworth
>
> bob ford wrote:
> > Well every young person has to follow their own star,
> but I believe the days of a ,even, advanced degrees
> necessarily providing above-average security are dwindling.
> Somebody's kids are going to have to be farmers. We
> don't all have to hire a lawyer (yet). We do all have
> to eat.
> >
> > I don't know the gender or age of your children
> (and it isn't my business), but teenagers can be too
> easily influenced by media, and media distorts realty and
> even flat-out lies (As you well know).
> >
> > My brother's kids don't listen to anything I
> tell them (over the phone). They simply follow the path
> that their friends follow, that the media has encouraged.
> >
> > Our young people now are all so terribly conformist in
> their pretentions of non-conformity. Maybe that is the way
> it always was, and I was too busy doing my own thing to get
> earrings or spiked hair or tattoes (not that there is
> anything wrong with that, you probably have eighteen of
> each; now that I've made that comment).
> >
> > I remember when my two baby brothers got tattoes of
> their girlfriends names. My daddy almost exploded, and, of
> course, neither of them even lives in the same state with
> the girls, today.
> >
> > I can't do like James and buy tons of grain, now,
> with a strong dollar and weak commodity prices. 'would
> cost too much to store and eventually transport. What I
> have considered , though, other than trying to trade a
> little in commodity etfs; is buying quantities of good
> quality seed, while prices are low, and the dollar is
> strong. Is that possible? Will seed keep well? Where
> would you buy the best quality seed, that are not in the
> little "gurney" packages?
> >
> > Maybe I'm being ridiculous ......bobford
> >
> >
> > --- On Sat, 10/25/08, Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:
> >
> >>> And, for people who have children about to
> take out
> >> huge student loan debt to attend college to learn
> about
> >> 'business' or 'law', there are
> alternatives.. This country, and the world needs young,
> smart farmers. ...bobf
> >
> >> Haha. I keep telling my kids that, but they want
> to be able
> >> to earn a
> >> living.
> >>
> >> Lynn Wigglesworth
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> >
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