Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - RE: [Livingontheland] the making of a disaster

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: RE: [Livingontheland] the making of a disaster
  • Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 10:48:23 -0700


I have extensive links and listings for local organic/csa farms on my page at
http://globalcircle.net/localfocus.htm . Not complete of course, I could use
lots of help with that.

The projects you mention are useful but not really my main focus. Actually,
what I mean about consumer demand is something different. Millions of people
here can't afford to live the way they are (not to mention third world
nations and fourth world peoples). I mean millions are overworked and
underpaid and middle class bankruptcies are at an all time high. What they
need and want is lower prices for food, housing, etc. Therefore, when and if
more affordable, sustainable alternatives appear people will start a mass
migration to those alternatives out of sheer desperation. That's what I call
real consumer demand.

One hint of this is California is actually losing population right now. And
where I am near the 4-corners area (safer in the coming collapse), cheap
homesites are selling like mad, but with covenants protecting the natural
ecosystem and barring crowded subdivision. I'm renting a place on 15 acres
for $200 mo. and buying a 17-acre homesite nearby for $230 mo. Not suited to
commercial agriculture but fine for home-scale intensive gardening and herb
marketing, and close enough to town for networking and barter.

You mention the prices of organic or natural food items. Right. Thing is,
that's not the best alternative in our economy, not even close. Those items
mostly come from far away and the transportation cost is not what we'd call
sustainable at all. So the prices have to cover that. Much lower prices can
be found at local farmers markets and CSAs. Even better, the cost of growing
your own is rock bottom. I don't expect everybody to grow all they need, but
tradeoffs with neighbors give more choice and diversity of food. In fact,
this is how most of the country fed itself a few decades back. Compared to
the typical diet today they were far healthier too with less of our
degenerative diseases. They didn't buy breakfast crapola in boxes and toxic
TV dinners. And they also didn't work as hard.

What most people don't know yet is these recent movements are more
economically viable than industrial farming and consumer debt-driven
lifestyles. Small, natural farming operations can't compete in the rigged
game so they move into direct selling, niche markets, and value added
products, bypassing all the corporate middlemen. And they are the only ones
surviving now on the farm scene. Ralph Borsodi figured this out back in the
Depression and wrote books about it. I have links on this in my website also.
People wonder how they'll make a living in these out of the way places, but
they don't realize how much less it takes to live where costs are lower. They
don't realize what they save by being more self reliant instead of paying
somebody to do everything for them and working long hours or two jobs to pay
those people, plumbers, day care, dry cleaning, psychiatrists, caterers, -
the list is endless. They don't figure how much they're losing in interest
payments on mortgages and credit.

I think the most unreported story in sustainability circles today is the
growing movement of local production for local consumption. All these things
I want to hear more about. I am driven to pursue this in my own lifestyle and
on the Internet. Protesting what we don't like gets us nowhere. This is the
most constructive and realistic alternative I've found anywhere. We're all
connected; we're all learning.


paul tradingpost@gilanet.com

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.
--Henry David Thoreau

That is well said, replied Candide, but we must cultivate our garden.
--Voltaire [Francois-Marie Arouet] Candide

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 12/3/2003 at 8:51 AM Michele May wrote:

>"My guess is consumer demand is probably all that's going to decide the
>future of food."
>
>I agree and therefore want to make some efforts here. Does anyone have
>a website with a link list by state of the organic farms in the US?
>Maybe one can be started, featuring the farms and their techniques. I
>wonder if regular searches via Google will then produce more results.
>
>Is there any org promoting Organic farms? IS there any money out there
>to produce information in a variety of forms for kids or even better to
>buy space at the local market. We have a "natural" foods section but it
>is lacking produce. The only organic produce I saw was at health food
>stores or wrapped in plastic and mixed inconspicuously with the other
>produce.
>
>People are so trained to be herded consumers rather than initiating
>options and aggressively searching for alternatives. Not to judge but
>it seems to have become too easy for everyone. The most common drawback
>for families is the pricing of the foods. How to get mainstreamed....
>
>I heard a good story the other day from the center for constitutional
>rights, where the woman speaking said something to the effect of when
>you pick up your next melon and ask your nearest shopper neighbor is it
>ripe, ask her do you know....
>
>I have actually used this technique and have helped guide people to try
>foods they never have. I wonder if we market on the principle of the
>current techniques and do it actively in person, each one of us. Maybe
>we need to reach out inviting people to farm markets or have one at
>several prominent town locations and more often. I find when my
>neighbors know its me, they are very happy and almost invite themselves
>to just be a part of the fun. The awareness and learning comes easily
>from that platform.
>
>I think there is a stigma attached or almost an exclusionary feeling
>some have to overcome in order to break from the "usual and customary."
>I wonder if I can use the holiday parties I have and go to as vehicles
>for information and awareness sharing. I'm thinking of going beyond the
>trying to be chummy t-shirt and a bumper sticker approach, which of
>course I like, but it doesn't grab everyone. I wonder if organic snacks
>can be marketed to quick stop food stops. It might be expensive, but in
>the long view, item marketing by attaching information and website
>addresses to products might gather some interest. I love to read my
>labels!
>
>I'm going to think about all the places I stop and eat and drink from
>time to time, which is getting rare due to their selections. Maybe I
>can muster up some momentum to get these small businesses to offer
>healthy snacks for everyone. I wonder if private school parents and
>college students can make the demand and advance this process. Most
>college kids find themselves routinely getting ill from the "Marri rot"
>food dished out. I wonder!
>
>_______________________________________________
>Livingontheland mailing list
>Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page