Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

I agree we're not headed for imminent doom, but for millions of people here
in the U.S., doom is a reality right now. They're hidden. Millions of
working poor who can't make ends meet, no health care, no transportation,
disabled or chronically ill. Time was when millions worked on the land and
had some kind of life and dignity. Doctors made house calls. 

Internet can help, yes. But the conventional farming approach has to go.
Intelligent growing and direct marketing won't free every family from
having an outside job, but as it is today almost every farm family has an
outside breadwinner and the farming is a joke financially. 

More on  this when I finish some honey-dos... 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 10/12/2007 at 1:47 PM Dieter Brand wrote:

>I don't really believe that we are headed for imminent doom.
>  But I think there are a few factors which make the back-to-
>  the-land thing a little more feasible today:
>   
>  - In the day and age of the Internet and global communications
>  more people are in a position to earn decent money while working
>  from home. Juggling between a money earning job and work on
>  the farm thus becomes a lot easier. Outdoor work is a welcome
>  change after hours at the computer.
>  - Increasing doubt in the ability of the food industry to provide
>  healthy products will increase opportunities for small and local
>  organic producers.
>  - Models of small-scale production, like the intensive market 
>  gardening promoted by this group, can assist in setting up 
>  new farms.
>  - The Internet provides a marketing platform for even the
>  smallest of specialty producer.
>  - Help for solving practical problems on the farm can be obtained
>  quickly and easily from the global village via the Internet.
>  - People moving back now are more experienced and have made
>  a carrier in something else, like the banker buying a vineyard
>  or the sales executive buying a cattle farm.
>   
>  There could be any number of disagreements with the article, but I 
>  don't know which ones you mean.  Sorry, never was any good at 
>  quizzes.
>   
>  Dieter Brand
>  Portugal
>  
>TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net> wrote:
>  
>Came across this and had some disagreements with it. There'll be a quiz
...
>;-)
>
>paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>------------------------------------------
>
>The Back to the Land Movement:
>Why it Failed and Why we Need to Try Again Anyway
>By Alice Friedemann
>Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:29 pm ((PDT))
snip