Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Wayne" <wa2yne@gmail.com>]

I had the advantage of growing up watching my mother can stuff, make soups 
and bake pies and even bread.
Though my dad told me she couldn't cook when they were married.
But she did learn.
I learned too, some by watching, some by trying things.
Although I didn't grow up with chickens in the city, I knew a tiny bit 
about them.
 Also got to watch some bits of old type farming in the 40's when we spent 
our summers in a rented camp on a farm of sorts.
Given a bit of time, and decent water, I can grow reasonable produce. Still 
learning about some types of veggies though. I plan a decent garden using 
organic methods, not using chemical fertilizers.
Also a few chickens for eggs, and dinner once in a while.

More people could learn how, if they'd take a bit of time.
But most people now would rather take the modern easy way, and buy 
everything prepared.
Heck, most of them have no idea that cackleberries come out of the same 
orifice as chicken manure...
And many have no idea where milk comes from either...
YMMV

Wayne WA2YNE
www.desert-rat.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Laurie Ann Powell" <laurie@powellclan.com>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 10:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] The Small Scale Integrated Farmstead


> Quote: One truck hauling a thousand dozen eggs is less of a problem than
> 500 cars driving out to get 2 dozen eggs apiece.
>
> I'd like to mention that part of the shift a person has to do when s/he
> learns to cook "slow food" and live without super-markets is more
> long-term planning.  Suburban housewives will have to fill their
> freezers and add pantries and larders back in to their home-keeping
> concepts.  Presumably, suburban housewives will do what rural housewives
> already do: grow some  themselves, plan ahead, combine trips and
> cooperate with one another.
>
> To use eggs as the example, no one should have to drive a long way to
> obtain something that can be produced in an 5x10 strip of land virtually
> free.   Changing people's perceptions of animals is necessary so that
> chickens, pigs or goats are making the most of the space and producing
> food within walking distance. Then, distance shopping can be much more
> occasional. 500 cars making a 45 minute trip to the farm once or twice a
> month for real food in bulk  may balance out with however many trucks
> pour daily into the freeways to drive 10 hours to deliver Egg Beaters
> and Twinkies.
>
> I'm no statistician, but I think my logic is right: everything will have
> to change, not just one element of the picture. And it is changing: as
> Carrie reported, we are having a constant influx of people who are ready
> to live well, be well and reconnect with the land.
>
> Let's get busy inviting people into this life, and giving the benefit of
> the doubt that change is possible.  If this "born in Boston" girl can
> butcher her own chickens and stand in manure in an Oklahoma thunderstorm
> wiping scour-y goat bottoms, I think just about anybody can!
>
>
> Laurie Ann