Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Bobby G <bobbyg53211@yahoo.com>]

...well, the reason i value this list so much and i
keep the digests in a resource folder is because i
think this list is about "real" farming.

here in our location, just setting out to get a small
parcel of land (15 to 25 acres perhaps), without a
chunk of land being passed down through generations,
there is no other alternative for us but the very
small-scale "mini farm" or "micro-eco-farm" whatever
you want to call it. so for me, this list is about how
to get the most out of a tiny patch. not a real farm
at all, i suppose.

the normal Joe in this country cannot possibly set out
to go into large-scale farming (even on 160 acres,
which is now considered tiny). there is no entry-level
into "real farming" any longer--except as an
8-hour-a-day worker punching a clock on a big dairy
farm factory in this area.

here's a capsule story that illustrates this.  just 6
miles out of the small city we live in, is a 160-acre
dairy now being sold by an elderly lady who wants to
go live in town in assisted living.  she wants over
$400,000 -- almost half a million -- for the 160,
which nobody has been willing to put up.  so, she's
decided to sell it in 4 x 40s each over $100K.  

now that $100K is a bit too much even for the most
avid yuppie trophy-home building couple; most of the
potential buyers have been asking to get paired up
with smaller buyers, perhaps splitting into 8 x 20s
for cheaper prices. not to farm on, just to live with
a really, really, really big lawn.

just shows to go ya, how hard it is to get into "real
farming." and the younger people want a trophy home
and a job in town, not a farm.

bobby g


 
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