Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Lori <bakequery@aol.com>]

We stopped using the CSA because of the cost. It is a wonderful way to invest in your local farmer and share the burden of bad crops but as you said, it is expensive. The worst is when you inevitably get a bumper crop of something the week you are least prepared to deal with it. For me the answer is to go to the farmers' market once a week or my local health foods store or Whole Foods. We buy mostly organic, staying away from the dirty fruits and veggies and all GMO's. We eat eggs from our own chickens or from a local farmer we know personally. We eat pastured beef, pigs raised outside in the woods, and free range organic chickens. It's expensive but we feel that we will either pay now in high prices or pay later in illness.

 

You remind me of the S. Korean exchange student we had living with us.  I asked for a studen that knew how to cook so that I could learn about her culture as she was learning about mine.  I got a girl who knew how to rehyrate ramen noodles and make a sandwich.  I ended up teaching HER how to cook Korean food by buying cookbooks, going on the internet,etc.  I thought her how to wash her clothes, too.  The most important thing I taught her, though, was how to think.  In S. Korea you memorize facts and are not taught to think about things. You spew information.

 

I was astounded when Ji Yoon told me that when a girl is going to get married in S. Korea she goes to school to learn how to be a wife. There she learns how to cook, clean, launder her clothes, etc. 

 

Growing up the Korean grandmother does all the work while the mother and father work seven days a week, 12+ hours a day.  The older kids go to school from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm.  They eat lunch and dinner at school.  At 6 pm they go to 'academy' which is 4 more hours of school.  Then they usually board a bus and go to ANOTHER academy from 11 pm until midnight.  They also go to school on Satruday mornings from 8 am to noon.  Koreans are very competitive but sadly, if you earn an A you may not get it as only so many A's and B's are handed out. 

 

After academ;y the kids go home, do whatever homework is left, and then go to bed around 1:30 am.  They get up at 6:30 am and start the day all over again.  Our kids may not have THIS much pressure but we many are run to dance class, football, soccer, blah, blah.  There's no sitting around the family dinner table.  There's plenty of sitting alone in one's room texting or emailing.  The kids of today don't face to face with each other.  Boys play video games where they don't even have to talk to or look at one another.  No one even talks on the phone, they text.  Grandmother is in a nursing home or living by herself somewhere.  The kids are left alone for hours.  How can they learn ANYTHING?  Looking back I am so glad we made the choice for me to stay home and homeschool our two children.  When I was little we lived in a house with our grandparents.  Our parents were separated.  Our mother worked one full time job and at least one other part time job, sometimes more.

 

The work is getting more and more insane.  Head for the hills!

Lori

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net>
To: livingontheland <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Fri, Nov 9, 2012 12:19 pm
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] cultivating young farmers

I'm not against those who want to take part in CSAs and can afford it. But 
here's the dilemma as I see it. 

Most people living paycheck to paycheck - millions - can't afford the 
pay-up-front "mystery box" CSA model, yet most growers can't make enough money 
selling direct to those people. Millions of  people have to make weekly or daily 
trips to the store to get only what they need right then, and need to pay for it 
when they get it. But small, local growers like us selling direct - farmers 
markets, farm stands etc - are up against Big Ag holding costs down by exploited 
labor and all kinds of hidden taxpayer subsidies. I know who my competition is - 
for tomatoes it's the inhuman labor in Florida & California. It's a system 
cutting corners, holding their prices down by poisoning the land, waterways, and 
people. 

While we're doing much better than most market growers around, it's still not a 
profitable enough model to draw a million more young people to become growers. 
And we're pushing the envelope in best varieties, methods and marketing. Most 
people just have to learn to grow their own somehow, and BTW learn to cook. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 11/8/2012 at 9:30 AM Lori wrote:

>What we see here are CSA's.  The landowner sells shares to his farm.  He
>either gets paid via predated checks for each month, or up front.  With
>that money he buys his seed, hires a farm manager and interns, and gets
>whatever else he needs.  The farm manager gets a salary and housing.  The
>interns get housing, a stipend, and, in one case, are allowed to sell
>extra produce at a local farmers' market to supplement their income.  What
>they are trying to do is apprentice in order to learn how to be a farm
>manager, which they are in effect paying for with their labor to do.  Some
>people intern just because they feel like it, with no future farming
>aspirations in sight.  My cousin's niece did that.  
>
>The shareholders get a weekly equal portion of the harvest, which they
>pick up once a week, choosing between one of two pick up days.  We see
>farm shares sell anywhere from $700 to $850 for organic produce. 
>Conventional produce sells for much less.  I think I've seen them for $400
>a share.  A ten acre farm can furnish about 200 shareholders with produce
>spanning from spring to fall.  One farm share we had loaded us up with
>root vegetables in November.  Two farms had an area of produce where we
>were allowed to take as much as we wanted of things.  Two farms had u-pick
>strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.  Most farms have chickens for
>manure plus they sell shares to the eggs in addition to the farm share. 
>One farmer raises turkeys to sell at Thanksgiving to shareholders. 
>Another had blueberries and strawberries and offered pig shares.  If one
>farm grows an item particularly well they may trade produce with another
>farm.  For instance corn for potatoes.  There are more than 5 CSA's within
>a 5 mile radius of our house.  
>
>You can probably google for some of these farms and get an idea of what
>I'm talking about.  It seems to be working really well here.  One of the
>orchards, Northstar, allows shareholders to pick up their shares at the
>local farmers' market.  
>
>Milky Way Farm, Chester Springs, PA
>Kimberton CSA, Phoenixville, PA
>Maysies Farm, Glenmoore, PA 
>Jack's Farm, Pottstown, PA
>Charlestown Farm, Phoenixville, PA
>Sankanac CSA, Phoenixville, PA
>Thornbury Farm, West Chester, PA
>
>Orchards are also selling shares:
>Vollmecke Orchards Coatesville, PA
>
>Northstar Orchard Cochranville, PA 19330
>
>
>Lori
>

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