Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[yarrow@sfo.com]

Title: Re: [Livingontheland] Rising Prices Hit Home For Food Stam

At 10:10 PM -0400 5/28/08, Liz wrote:

At 06:51 AM 5/28/2008, you wrote:

I have found that a better diet and more exercise makes me more fit, but increased energy is immediately consumed by opportunities that await.  I, and I expect others as well, simply work to exhaustion each day, no matter what, leaving many desirable things undone.
 

 
Yes, I think this is true of an awful lot of people nowadays. I wonder sometimes whether the collapse of society might not be a huge relief in some ways!

Liz in SW VA

 http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com

>>>

This reminds me of the idea that in some cultures that rely on the land (rather than mall-mart), some researchers have found that people don't work 40-plus hours a week. Rather, they work a reasonable number of hours, and have frequent celebration days. They use their excess for adornment/folk art (rather than passive entertainment such as tv).

This notion of carefree simple lives may be apocryphal (grass is always greener, back in my day, etc.). But IIRC, Helena Norberg-Hodge, in her book Ancient Futures, observed this to be the case in Ladakh, especially before a lot of westerners came and introduced the ideas of poverty and "not enough."

Having read E.F. Schumacher, Thoreau, and the like at an impressionable early age, when I'm paying attention I've now and then made choices based on the question, will it simplify my life? But making these kinds of choices is harder and more complex than simply doing what everyone else does.

Also, I've also heard of research that claims the more choices we have, the harder it is to make a decision. Vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry? Easy. Fifty-two, or 352 flavors? Give up and have a peach instead.

Re food, I think having more reliance on local food may, in the long term, encourage more people to grow their own, and to eat seasonally, both of which are healthier than relying on agbiz.