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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] "No One With Land Should Be Without A Job"
  • Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:21:03 -0700


"No One With Land Should Be Without A Job"
by Gene Logsdon
Published Oct 15 2009 by OrganicToBe.org, Archived Oct 15 2009
http://organictobe.org/index.php/2009/10/14/no-one-with-land-should-be-without-a-job/

The sentence nearly leaped off the page and knocked me down: “No one with
land should be without a job.” Jennifer McMullen, writing in Farming magazine
in the current Fall, 2009 issue (“Good Food Depends On Local Roots”) was
quoting Jessica Barkheimer, who, like Jennifer, is deeply involved in
developing farmer’s markets in Ohio. I was at the time wrestling with a
closely related concept but had not thought to put it in those words. I might
have said it a bit differently— “no one with land is without a job” but the
meaning would be the same. If you have some land, even an acre, you have the
means for making at least part of your income and in the process gain a more
secure life. Surely that is what it means to “have a job.” Our society hasn’t
endorsed that notion yet, but I think that we are evolving toward that kind
of economy.

We are only beginning to recognize how many income possibilities that a
little piece of land can provide. We know about market gardening but most of
us do not yet appreciate its reach. It’s not just sweet corn and tomatoes.
It’s about all the fruits and vegetables on earth. Tasted any pancakes made
with cattail pollen lately? Neither have I but it is treasured in some
gourmet circles, I understand.

Market gardening goes beyond the plants themselves. A whole new world of
marketing can open up from inspired ways to package the products. At a market
in Bellefontaine, Ohio, a couple of weeks ago, shelled lima beans were going
fast at five bucks for a half pint!

There are far more products you can grow than just fruit and vegetables. Meat
is beginning to show up at farmers’ markets, as well as dairy products and
grains. Flowers, fresh and dried, too. Uncommon seeds are a possibility,
especially of heirloom varieties or uncommon wildflowers and trees. Medicinal
herbs. Mushrooms. Nuts. Baked goods. Plants for holiday decorations. We are
all familiar with the success of pumpkins, but have you ever seen corn husks
that in the autumn develop streaks of red and green and purple in them,
fashioned into wreathes and bouquets? Magnificent. If you get into cattail
pollen pancakes, you can use the dried cattail leaves to weave handsome,
durable baskets. There’s a market for uncommon native tree species coveted by
people who want to use only native plants in their ornamental landscapes.
Local nurseries sometimes sell wahoo trees with their bright reddish pink
berries. This small tree grows wild all over the eastern U.S.

Forest products are not just the purview of the commercial timber industry.
Some small woodlot owners saw out blanks and boards from logs not profitable
for the larger timber market. They sell the wood to woodworkers or turn it
into products they sell themselves. Have you ever seen a bowl fashioned from
a blank of boxelder which has the highly-desirable reddish grain in the
heartwood? Awesome. Some farmers make good sideline money selling cedar,
black locust, and other long-lasting woods for fence posts. There’s always a
market for firewood and as energy prices soar, its value will continue to
increase.

Think also of insect and animal products that the small acreage homeowner
might explore for sideline cash. Think out of the box. Earthworms. Honey
bees. Pigeons for squab. Aquaculture products in ponds or backyard tanks.

In more traditional livestock ventures, the Nigerian Dwarf goat is being
touted as the best dairy animal for small acreages. (There’s an article on
these goats in the same issue of Farming as the article cited above.) A
mother Nigerian weighs only about 50 lbs. but can supply enough milk for a
family at least part of the year. The cream, like that of cows, makes great
ice cream. Ice cream always sells.

I could go on for pages, but you get the picture. We all accept the fact that
most of us must invest in a car to keep our jobs. I think the day will come
when most of us will also invest in a few acres of land to keep our jobs.
~

Gene and Carol Logsdon have a small-scale experimental farm in Wyandot
County, Ohio.

Gene is author of The Mother of All Arts: Agrarianism and the Creative
Impulse (Culture of the Land), The Last of the Husbandmen: A Novel of Farming
Life, and just released: Small-Scale Grain Raising, Second Edition: An
Organic Guide to Growing, Processing, and Using Nutritious Whole Grains, for
Home Gardeners and Local Farmers.





  • [Livingontheland] "No One With Land Should Be Without A Job", Tradingpost, 11/13/2009

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