Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["art corbit" <art_c@cox.net>]

Hi Gwen,

There is one thing that will be a big plus in our favor should we actually
have a nation wide disaster. That is the fact that all people, no matter
what race they are or what they believe will know one thing. Most will know
if they don't do something quick and do it right they are all going to
starve. This alone will cause most people to forget a lot of things and come
together in a much more friendly and willing manner. Most of this junk we
argue about now just won't matter any more.

A lot of the things we now fear will no longer matter. If this happens to us
here in the US it will be world wide so you can forget war and start
concentrating on living in peace.

Art in Arkansas


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gwen Giffen" <ggiffen@1st.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 1:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] preparation / was commune way of living


> I read on BBC's website last night that a great draught 70,000 years ago
is
> believed to be what caused the human race to leave Africa and populate the
> earth. I have an article clipped from the Columbus Dispatch about 15 years
> ago that tells of a Tsunami that once flooded all of the area Seattle is
in.
> What Art is talking about has already happened here due to a hurricane in
> New Orleans.
>
> My mother has occaisionally said that it is important to build community
> despite our differences, because it is when community falls apart that
> people go to war over their resources. She says it is important to find
> common ground; to find activities we can do together and relate in a
> positive way over, rather than focusing on our differences. Our local Farm
> Bureau group has members about as opposite in political viewpoints as you
> can get, but we don't fight over it. Some are military families; others
are
> in the local peace group. Some of us like Bush; others of us can't stand
> him. I don't know about you, but I've avoided people I have different
> political views from; and to sit in the same room with them and discuss
> politics and farming is meaningful. To swap antique farm equipment with
them
> is precious. Some probably are collecting homeland security information on
> the others, but they're working together!!! We are able to and do find
> common ground. Forces that cause us to see our differences rather than our
> commonalities are the forces that are the most dangerous of all.
> Suburbanites are just like us. Many of them descended from farming
families,
> and still have an interest in knowing farm skills. It is not necessarily a
> sin to live a modern life. They may look "down the nose" at farmers, but I
> personally have seen several thoroughly enjoy putting up hay when I've
> invited them to help.
>
> What concerns me is that our country is in the process of making
supporting
> ourselves in small communities virtually impossible, if not illegal. It is
> true that most of us can't exist alone. We are a complex society, and have
> become very interdependent. That interdependence has reached a
> corporate/national level, and those who want to make money, or just can't
> see, are in danger of making our ability to feed ourselves in the event of
> disaster impossible. If we can set aside power struggles and greediness,
> that complexity doesn't need to change, especially not in the event of a
> disaster. We can't sell milk to our neighbors. We may not be permitted to
> save our own seed. The government can keep track of how we raise our
animals
> via satellite - even some of our neighbors have access to technology where
> they can watch us via satellite. I had a patient in the hospital tell me
> that he and his friends check out properties on the internet before going
> 4-wheeling on them, for example.
>
> If we don't build a positive community with our neighbors where we are
> interdependent and support each other - if we work hard and keep the
fruits
> of our labor to ourselves, then yes, those who are starving will point
their
> guns and make us hand it over. If we do build community, now, and make it
in
> vogue to grow your own tomatoes, and know our neighbors and work things
out
> with them in whatever way we can, then when disaster hits, we will be
there
> for each other. We also need to keep the country's laws in a place where
it
> isn't illegal to do what is necessary to survive and eat in the event of a
> disaster!
>
> Not long ago, before all this discussion on "commune way of living" began,
I
> posted a link to Raven Rocks in southeastern Ohio. It is an intentional
> community. I know most of the members, but I have never lived there, and
> most likely never will. I like to visit the rock shelters there, however,
> and see the spring wildflowers, and I try to buy my Christmas tree from
them
> every year where they set up at a local farm market. They are a successful
> community, but I don't think they qualify as a "commune." They are very
> involved in the larger community. They use the means to stay off grid in
> their daily lives, and educate others about how to do so. The people in
that
> community have inspired me to try harder. That is the way we should all
be.
>
> Living in this manner might not stop a disaster that happens in the
suburbs
> and the city, but it would go a long way to helping in the event of one,
if
> we in our small rural farming communities stuck together locally, and
> nationally stood up for our ability to produce and profit from it; and
kept
> an open, positive relationship with those who may someday need us.
>
> Gwen
>
>