Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["E. E. Mitchamore Jr" <emitch@att.net>]

Good points, all.  After spending a good bit of time trying to clarify my own position on national and global issues, it's time to get a bit more personal about food-raising.  Reading and discussing with others can only take you so far.  Jeavon's work isn't much help if your family won't eat the stuff that he's found to be most effective.  Ultimately, each of us has to do the hard work of deciding what we can, and will, do.  So far my own gardening efforts have been very successful, but I haven't yet figured where to go from here.  I'm thinking a new bed or two each year should be manageable.  What to plant?  Or are chickens a better choice?

 

Interesting point about feeding 20 - 30 people.  I don't believe I've ever seen a serious discussion of farming to feed a small group.  Seems like some specialization and barter would be in order.  Do the farmers at markets buy from, and sell to, or barter with, each other?  Or are they all focused on cash income?

 

E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
www.hillcountrynatives.biz

----- Original Message -----

From: TradingPostPaul

To: emitch@att.net ; livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 6:21 PM

Subject: Re: [Livingontheland]New Farmers

Trying to keep this brief, personally I wouldn't buy a new truck under any
circumstances. I don't buy anything new if I can avoid it. I hope your
health allows you to stay with us as long as we're around. You've got a
point about health insurance with a small business, but the millions who
don't have it anyway, or millions more with paper thin coverage won't have
good health insurance no matter what they do. As you pointed out it would
help for someone in the family to have good insurance. I'd also argue that
there are millions of people out there who don't have or can't get "secure"
jobs or anything like it, and many have small acreage and could learn the
business of growing and retailing food crops. Let's look at that need for
about a million small farmers age 25 - 30 to make a real future. Actually
they don't need to feed 200+ people. Most of those 200+ need to be growing
their own to some extent. One grower feeding 20 or 30 others might make a
very good living - using intelligent, sustainable growing techniques. So
that's my take on this. This is a highly relevant exchange, even critical
to our future. Thanks for the exchange.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net