Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>]

I have lived here for nigh 25 years Paul and I have reached other 
conclusions. One of the things that have baffled me for a long time is the 
near universal hatred of urban Irish people for anything to do with farming, 
farmers or the land. And believe me I don't use the word hatred lightly.
Another thing is that I have never seen people generally be farther removed 
from anything natural. If you see trees standing (apart from Sitka spruce 
state forestry) it is because the owner is too poor or too lazy to go to the 
trouble of having them cut down (it is a matter of status to get the biggest 
possible machine in to uproot trees) or because the owner is a (ff'ing) 
foreigner.
Public transportation is wide spread in Dublin and there are bus lines 
between major cities. For us in the country there is no public transport 
whatsoever. Cars are thus major status symbols even if the driving of most 
rural dwellers is far below par. Only a very small minority is able to 
reverse more than a few feet and that is with the door open and leaning 
outside to see.
When my children were younger they walked to school two and a half miles 
away. I was demonized for letting them walk. During those walks they would 
pick lovely wild blackberries beside the deserted road in summer. They were 
told by several people that this was gross because blackberries had worms in 
them.
I could go on for a full lenght book but it is really too sad.

And by the way, O'Sterity is not an Irish name but an Irification of 
"austerity". I can only wonder what the author had been smoking.
I do wish with all my heart that there was any truth in what he/she writes 
though.
john

I came across this fromJul 29 2010:
O'Sterity: old virtues in the new Ireland
http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2010-11-05/osterity-old-virtues-new-ireland
an excerpt:

"Living on an island makes Ireland more vulnerable to a depression, fuel 
shortage, or food crisis, and yet the Irish seem more prepared to endure it. 
Agrarian self-sufficiency ran too deep, too recently to be fully abandoned. 
Many people here grow gardens, and until recently it was common for schools 
and hospitals to have a garden outside to feed the students and patients. 
Cities and towns are compact to the point of claustrophobia, so arable land 
is never far away. Public transportation is widespread and carries no stigma 
of poverty. Perhaps most importantly, everyone seems willing to help even 
distant relatives - and if they live on the island, they are never far 
away."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

paul tradingpost@lobo.net



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