Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[paul@oneseedling.com]

Yes, I am aware of all of that. My PhD is in Sustainable Agriculture and I am 
a certified teacher of Permaculture. The problem is still money, not 
technique. Land is still $5-10,000 an acre. 
One can make $40,000 + an acre selling vegetables, more than that and you 
have to jump into selling to chain grocery stores like HEB which puts you 
into the commercial market with minimum quotas etc. 
Want to live on the land and raise a family. Oops, back in the old debt game. 
My point is that although it can be done there are probably less than 5000 
families in the US doing it. Maybe that many more that are capable of it. 
Farmers markets, while a great outlet for the small gardner account for less 
than 1% of the market and mostly a yuppie outdoor shopping mart.  
Now having said all that we will be growing vegetables in a 32x100 greenhouse 
using aquaponics and expect to clear $80,000 the first year selling to 2 
farmers markets. The difference is I am 63 years old, land is paid for and I 
traded for the greenhouse. I drilled my own wells, built my own water pumping 
windmills, wind generators etc.  So no expenses. 
The point of all of this is to make systems like this work all over the 
country the old supply system has to change, be torn down, destroyed. To do 
that will bring the system down. It's one thing to have lofty ideas of 
simplification, but a whole other thing to implement it. 
Like Pogo said. " I have seen the enemy and he is us"
Paul the Skeptici

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 13, 2011, at 2:22 PM, "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:

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