Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Carrie Shepard <carrieshepard@yahoo.com>]

I'm chiming in late on this thread, but am Laurie Ann's friend and we've both spent  20 years studying and teaching, and working with youth in the homeschooling and church communities.   What we know is that people who've been taught via whole language methods are NOT able to learn from what they read the way the majority of those over the age 35 who were most likely taught phonics are.  Both of us have counseled and sought counsel with these women and fathers for long enough to know that there's a big learning gap that's getting bigger in this non-reading group.

 

Being able to read and then follow directions is another totally different skill, and then learning the raw materials involved is still another skill level.   This is why hands-on apprenticeship is really important.   Even amongst my reading friends the ability to follow a pattern and convert that into 3-D is a very difficult step to master for those who aren't engineerig minded.   I teach drop spindling, and knitting regularly and have taught quilting and sewing to people and so I see this there all the time.

 

Take for example the simple directions to 'plant on 6" centers'.     Even with a photo  direction I've found myself forgetting to concentrate and reverting back to row thinking.  The image imprinted on my mind of my grandmother's and then my mother's skinny rows is a very difficult thing to overcome, it's been programmed as my default setting.   I have wide beds that are permanent, but I still catch myself planting in rows in them.

 

As women without  farming budgets, we've managed to feed large families plus others, get into dairy goats,  start raising chickens for meat and eggs, build hoophouses, and get gardens going.    We've pitched in together to make these things happen.  We DO read and see the benefits from staying away from all chemical inputs, but most of those around us that are older who we may seek counsel from give us pharmco advice.

 

It's a tough road to ho when the older crowd is all still into germ theory and doing things the 'progressive' chemicalized way and the younger set isn't reading to learn and has to be lead mini-step by mini-step because they have so few hands-on skills or no work ethic whatsoever.   There was a recent article on news with views about people getting what  they've asked for, and america is getting what they've asked for in health crisis from their desire for cheap fast food.

 

We've been tossing around the need for someone local to grow some alternative grains and how to get a direct market setup for those growers and another man who has done just that in another state advised me to get someone from the city who wants out and doesnt' already have all the bad established commercial conventional habits to fight.  This man basically told me it's the can't teach old dogs new tricks problem.

 

Blessings,

Carrie

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