Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Well, skeptic, you've hit on the matter that happens to be my pet speciality. 
We know from official statistics that small farmers who do buy the machinery 
and land etc. can hardly make ends meet, so the typical family farmer today 
(what's left of them) has an outside job just to pay bills and keep the farm. 
I've seen a figure of a couple million just to get started in farming. And 
the big corporate farms get subsidies, price supports, and crop insurance to 
sell to the middlemen who set the prices.

And the question is where does that leave us. It helps to clearly see that 
box we have to think outside of, and fortunately you do. So don't grow wheat 
to harvest by hand; don't compete with big agribusiness on their cheap, 
poisoned, subsidized commodities; it's a rigged game and the house always 
wins.

Grow intensive on small areas at low cost and bypass the middleman by selling 
retail at full price. I do this, no tiller, no help, upscale markets for 
retail prices. You probably can't make a high income this way without being 
in a great year-round climate with lots of upscale customers close by and 
plenty of free family labor. But it is a way millions can supplement their 
income by just growing on the property they already have or by working with 
those nearby who do have room to grow.

Intensive isn't original with me, nor other growing methods. The key to it is 
permanent beds and aisles in a limited space. Beds not compacted by feet or 
machines don't need tilling, and don't need to be raised or framed if 
conditions are right. And organic amendments, irrigation, weeding, and 
mulching is cut in half at least - literally - compared to inefficient 
tractor rows. And it's called intensive because you can get a lot more 
production in a given garden area, with equidistant planting (instead of 4" 
between seeds and 18" between rows - makes no sense at all). Like at least 
2-300 carrots in one 3'x8' bed without crowding. Do the math. You also focus 
on space-saving high value varieties intead of space hogs like pumpkins or 
grains. You use season extension techniques like homemade tunnels, 
greenhouses, cold frames, or row covers. You adapt to your climate and beat 
others to market with early protected starts from seed to transplant. I have 
no experience with brambles or orchards or value added products, so I'm not 
sure how that works in this context. There's much more information out there 
from many sources.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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On 1/13/2011 at 12:40 PM paul@oneseedling.com wrote: