Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Sure. Let's look into the externalized costs of farm and garden machinery.
What is the true cost of our produce if we use a tiller and commercial
fertilizers, and sell to middlemen who transport it 1400 miles on average?
Don't forget the cost of health consequences, and oil wars and VA care that
follows. I assume we're only considering dollar costs and not human costs. 

I grow without machinery and retail locally to test the financial viability
of it in person. There is a gas cost to and from market but we use a
recycled '87 van and get 30 mpg. The greenhouse may be Canadian lumber,
with 6ml UV plastic from oil, but expected to last several years and
produces enormous amounts of naturally grown tomatoes and garden
transplants nine months of the year with little added heat and no cooling.
Plus my electric stapler, drill, and saw were all made in China. Not ideal
but if there are more energy efficient ways I'd like to find them. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 12/24/2007 at 9:43 AM Phil Bunch wrote:

>IMHO this is one heck of a good topic. Perhaps we could explore it a bit.
>BTW I'm all for looking at externalized costs.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
>[mailto:livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Ryan
>Albinger
>Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 7:34 AM
>To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing
>Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Ethanol from Coffee
>
>A quick look at fuel effcientcy here:
>
>30 miles at 15 miles per gallon hauling 1500 pounds of manure = 2.66
>gallons of fuel per ton of mannure
>
>30 miles at 6 miles per gallon hauling 25 ton of manure = 0.2 gallons of
>fuel per ton of manure
>
>The large confinement operation can haul organic material at 10x
effcientcy
>or another way said, can grow 10 times the crop from the manure for the
>same input in fuel hauling.  OR even if the large confinement grows
>food/feed at 1/2 the effciencty of the smaller grower, the confinement guy
>is still producing crop at 5 times the fuel effcientcy of the smaller
>farmer.
>
>Just because there is less gallons used, in general, doesn't mean it is
>effecient.  We need to be cognizant of the means to the end result in this
>energy budget.
>
>On a another note, how many chickens are needed to supply yearly nutrient
>needs on 1000 square feet of garden space?
>
>Ryan
>