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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Livingontheland Digest, Vol 268, Issue 7

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Livingontheland Digest, Vol 268, Issue 7
  • Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:26:40 -0600


Just a note - I'm not against any CSAs that can succeed in the right
places.Even our own marketing must be to the upscale clientele because it's
the only way we can take in enough to keep growing and selling. So no one
model of retailing seems to fit everywhere. Those who can't afford CSAs or
market prices can sometimes grow their own or work with someone else who can.
Many cannot for obvious reasons. It seems some operations could use regular
help from the homeless or destitute in return for shares of the production.
Food security for the low/no income groups definitely concerns me. I don't
see any future for uncompensated volunteers in this economy. Still looking
for answers to this.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


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

On 10/17/2010 at 2:03 PM dan conine wrote:

>Paul said:
>> Some of his writing is a valuable springboard for discussion. Yet no one
>among us can get everything right. It's too complicated.To me it seems
>those nine steps are a very tall order for most people. Other than the
>sheer amount of work and organization called for, some of it requires more
>money than most of us can spare. We're in hard times already.
>>
>> I'm skeptical about most people being able to "have a strong local
>community with deep connections". There is no hope for this in the
>suburbs. Personally I wouldn't want much connections to those I've seen in
>my sparsely settled area.
>LOL, oh yeah, that's my area, too. ;-(
>
>> And IMHO a CSA is a poor model for local food security since most people
>can't or won't pay for a season's produce in advance.
>Agreed on that point, but the possibilities are there for more barter
>with the CSA (labor, repairs, etc) which are somewhere between a
>monetary economy and individual self-reliance. I accept your feelings
>about CSAs for the most part: in the current model, they are a luxury
>for people who are accustomed to luxury of travel and exotics for the
>most part. (But then, I consider lettuce an exotic food....it's what
>'food' eats.)
>A CSA which has been paid up for the year, though, may have a better
>chance of gathering people to it and weathering the next winter/spring
>cycle than a market farm which needs a secure town center area to sell
>produce and to (hopefully) gather a crowd. In a sense, the CSA is a sort
>of town already, with communication lines and friendships and
>interdependencies established (a good one, that is).
>
>> He's right, gardening is a steep learning curve. But I can't agree
>your local garden store is a good source of information. Bad idea. Worse,
>getting seeds for a complete vegetable garden is dumb when you're starting
>out.
>Starting out is a dumb idea when you're starting out....;-)
>
>Dan C.
>Belgium, WI
>





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