Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Pumpkin Lady <pumpkin@xanadoo.com>]

TradingPostPaul wrote:
> Last I heard the GMO companies hadn't bothered with vegetable crops. The
> big money is in huge field crops, grains, soy, corn, cotton, and so forth.

And the problem is, there isn't any way to know because labeling isn't 
required.  So while I know there was a big stink that farmers wouldn't 
grow GM wheat a few years back, I know GM wheat was made, and it could 
be grown by SOME farmers or reshipped in from China. Rice also has GM 
seeds out there. Some rapeseed (canola) is GM, I don't know how much.

Have you looked at all the oils in the stores? There is no sunflower oil 
any more(at least around here). It's all canola, cottonseed, soybean, 
corn. Olive is just about the only one out there that's non GMO and 
readily available. And that means when you eat out, everything you eat 
out has been fried in or made with GMO oil.

As for veggies, while the GMO tomatoes went over like rotting fish(I saw 
a lead balloon fly last night ;-) ), beets are being modified, as are 
carrots. Now, while I >might< be ok  with just modifying so that stuff 
contains extra nutrients, they don't specify. Potatoes are being GM 
modified to be more resistant, but I don't know how that is being done, 
either. If you modify them so you can drench them in fungicides, that's 
a Bad Idea to me.

For awhile there cotton seed meal was pulled from the organic 
fertilizers department because it was all made from GMO seed, but I see 
it is back out there now...and allowed on certified organic farms. This 
concerns me.

> However ... we can't be completely sure we're not getting any GMOs when we
> eat anything with high fructose corn extract or certain grains or corn.
> Most soy is GMO or contaminated with GMO. 

I know. Kioman claims to have a certified organic soy sauce, but I've 
yet to see it locally. I gave up soda except when I can find the Dr 
Pepper that is still made with only cane sugar(rare). I ask specifically 
whether tea is brewed or made from a mix when I dine out and drink water 
when it's not brewed. We eat out a lot less all around, which I suppose 
is good.

> As far as growing ALL your own food -- realistically, 

Nope, but you have to have people to network with, and I am having 
trouble finding them. I live in the country now, but of the houses I can 
see out here NONE have even a small garden plot. This does not bode well 
 as far as I'm concerned. People up the way about 2 miles have a garden 
plot (or what I assume is a garden plot) that they plowed twice this 
past year, but I have never seen it planted. However, I've lived here 
less than a year.

I will try the local farmer's market, but many of the people that sell 
"home made goods" like syrup, actually really sell repackaged garbage 
that contains corn syrup. They sit there like they made it themselves, 
but the ingredients list says otherwise. Most of the markets appear to 
be run by a local conglomerate who import fake "country goods" to sell 
like you'd see in the fancy tourist trap stores.

I talked with one of the local wind/solar/graywater places (we've got 
two, but it has now been 3 calls and 5 weeks and I haven't heard back 
from the first one) and they confirm that the local power people are 
real anti solar/wind on a personal level. But that's why they have the 
fancy engineers and lawyers to deal with the paperwork hoops.

One of the local tv stations was pushing their website as a connection 
place for people in the community with like interests to hook up. Maybe 
I can find something there. It's on my list of things to look into.

It all comes down no networking, and you have to find people to network 
with. I have issues with the Health Food store people because they all 
seem to be clueless chain workers or really angry radicals. You never 
get anything solid out of the clueless. Sometimes you get reasonable 
conversation and good info out of the radicals...but just as often they 
bite your head off for no apparent reason. Make conversing with them 
something I'd rather now do when I feel bad, which I often do.

I am going to look into networking, but I really do feel like a lone 
crazy person in the desert.

I have the feeling that if we buy the wind turbine we are thinking about 
that we are going to be the first people in the area to have one. My 
impression is the company I am talking so carries all the eco-friendly 
stuff, but mostly sells the geo-exchange units.  They expect the market 
to expand as power prices rise, but HVAC is their bread and butter right 
now.

Oh well, I've rambled on enough,
Morgan