Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>]

Dear Livingonthelanders,

 

Paul Bell had a wonderful statement in the last mail. 

 

For the paths in a permanent bed garden, I use tree chips, free and delivered, from power line trimmers; pecan shells, free; saw chips from wood factory.  When it rains that water is availble for plants growing in the beds by their long roots.

 

I am very thrilled the way farming is going.  I believe that in a few years there will very little agribusiness.  The government farmer welfare will end.  Yesterday I received mail about Wal-Mart switching from importing to buying locally.  It is not their "heart" that changed; the price of fuel.

 

Hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants are getting into family farming.  Not just the Mexicans but from all over the world as most come from the farm in their homeland.  It occured to me that there might be another factor involed in the Latin illigals going into farming.  One is they are knowledgeable. Two, if they are working in a packing plant, it is raided and they get hauled back to Mexico.  When they are out in the rural areas, farming, who will come and haul them out?  Nobody.  Besides, the cotton farmers are not about to any farming that is so much hard work.  They want to be on the $100,000 air-con. tractor or in their pickup.

 

Here is my latest brainstorm.  Maybe it is worth what it cost you; nothing!

 

Farm Village

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

 

A large tract of farm land would be acquired near a city or between two nearby cities and on or very near a major highway.  Each farm is owned and operated by a family.  The business buildings are owned by the Village.  The businesses are privately owned.  The Village is a cooperative?  Corporation?  I do not know.

 

Off the highway would be a large parking lot.  At the back of the parking lot would be:  restaurant[s], bakery, farmer’s market, craft store, coffee/sandwich shop, etc.  These would be the market for production from the farms.  The rear of these would open to a large plaza. 

 

On one side of the plaza would be:  bank, barber shop, beauty salon, grocery store,

On one side would be:  public or private school or homeschoolers facilities, church building, library,

On one side would be:  village offices, Education Center,

 

Recreational:  horse back riding, farm tours, hay rides, swimming lake, farm petting zoo, RV Park, etc.  

 

Educational Center would offer workshops in organic garden and farming as practiced in the Farm Village as well as its related businesses.  I believe that people would come from all over the world. 

 

Divide the land up into farms/ranches:  dairy, goat dairy, vegetables, nuts, grapes, fruits, horses, pigs, sheep, meat goats, beef, turkeys, ducks, chickens, hens, orchards, colored cotton, hemp fiber, gourds and other farm craft plants, flowers, fish ponds and anything else that there is a market for and can be grown. 

 

Value-added plants:  raw cheese making, raw milk bottling, jelly making, freezing, canning, meat plant and other value-added processing to sell in the stores and serve in the restaurant.  Who knows what else?

 

Farmers would probably live on their farms.  There should have homes, apartments, etc for people working in the Village. 

 

Bicycling would be encouraged.  Vehicles are restricted to the parking lot and farm roads.  Processing plants would be along the highway to keep traffic out of The Village.

 

The grassroots movement in this country to "buy local, buy fresh, buy organic" would support this and I think we would see many of these built across the country.  

 

Since my main interest is organic farming, I will only mention:  solar electricity, wind power, solar heating, solar water heating, soil-cement bricks.  Someone else can direct these.

 

Ken Hargesheimer

minifarms@gmail.com

Lubbock TX 79408-191

 

Feel free to email ideas.  I will compile them into one document.

 

Go to: http://bibledvd.googlepages.com/home and www.nabuur.com

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