Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Terry Wereb <frosted-acres@sbcglobal.net>]

Shoot, A co-op also makes it possible for those that
grow good food, to get the same type of food
(philosphy) that tahey cannot produce themselves. Isnt
trading say, a few eggs for a cobbler a barter type
co-op?  If I slaughter a nice lamb, and divvy it up--
say among several people-- and get for what I
deliver-- 10 bales of high quality hay from one
person, 50 pounds of potatoes from another, a dozen
jars of preserved fruit from a third-- etc--(equal
value is not not taxed)--- then I get what I cannot
produce myself, and my neighbor gets what he cannot
produce.
  The Arboretum here has a sugarbush, and every year,
one Amish family ( 16 children!!!)tap the trees, cooks
down the sap, bottles the syrup, even makes candy--
The arboretum provides the bottles and jugs,
transports the family, and even has a lean-to shed on
the Sugarhouse for the draft horses to stay in.I do
not know if the family recieves cash, but I do know
they get to  take home a certain amount of the bottled
syrup for sale at their own place.   Now the Arboretum
may be a "big business" of sorts, but the local Amish
community benefits just as much as the Arboretum does.
Without the arrangement, chances are that  Levi's
community would not have the amount of syrup to sell
that it does- and the "English" people who know how to
do the large scale production  won't do it for the
arboretum-- they have their own sites to  handle.
 Local production and distribution has more than one
way it can happen.  Neighbor to neighbor, one local
culture to another--

I do believe someone stated here in order to best
promote local food, one has to get used to the idea of
only eating  fresh foods when they are in season-
something that will be hard to explain to the person
who really believes that he or she is getting "fresh"
Washington State apples at their grocery store in May.
They have no idea that the roadside stand offering
fresh "Vine Ripened Peaches" in June is really taking
them for a ride.


--- Pat Meadows <pat@meadows.pair.com> wrote:

> On Sat, 13 May 2006 14:11:26 -0600, you wrote:
> 
> >
> >
> >Right. His co-op is a better distribution solution.
> What we're working on here is a better production
> solution, and my belief is humus-rich soil is the
> key to making growing worthwhile and profitable. I
> rely on many sources for this solution. 
>