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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] How to Grow All Your Food on a Tenth of, an Acre
  • Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:04:01 -0700


Best line in a nutshell: "None of us are an island of 1/10 of an acre."

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 11/17/2012 at 11:26 AM Dan Conine wrote:

>I agree, Paul. Not nearly enough talk about the community aspect and the
>commons getting involved (either in some economic exchange format
>(capitalism) or communally). These types of articles, whether
>intentionally or not, play on the 'individual' meme of self-sufficiency
>which sells magazines, rototillers and guns.
>
>I fall for it all the time because I'm a misanthrope in general, even as
>I logically see the need for communal cooperation.
>You can't grow all of your own food as an individual. You gotta sleep
>sometime and that's when the critters come out (two-, four- and
>multi-legged kinds, as well as 'zombies').
>
>Any food source should be seen as a security issue (a target) as much as
>a resource, and people need to 'get over themselves' quickly. We have to
>stop putting humans up on a pedestal vs. the other animals, not because
>of any particular moral 'rights', but because of our natural
>co-dependencies and future needs that depend on cooperation with nature
>and each other, rather than conquering the environment which feeds us.
>
>Whether market gardening or living on our own food, there is a minimum
>amount of social and environmental stability that we have taken for
>granted. When anything disrupts the status quo, then those things that
>are dependent on stability such as property rights, public and personal
>safety, energy sources, and even what can be considered conveniences
>become critical to survival. We elect governments to keep things settled
>and moving smoothly, but when things are moving smoothly, we take for
>granted that the basics will remain (law enforcement, transportation,
>etc) and 'civilized' people end up forgetting how and why they invented
>civilization in the first place.
>
>None of us are an island of 1/10 of an acre.
>
>Borders are only defined as long as we have a system to define them, and
>defining them requires cooperation, even if it is to defend a larger
>border.
>
>In short (I know: too late ;-), "growing all your food on 1/10 of an
>acre" is a nice utopian hobby in perfect weather, but nobody's going to
>LIVE there.
>
>Dan C.
>Belgium, WI
>On 11/17/2012 11:00 AM, livingontheland-request@lists.ibiblio.org wrote:
>> essage: 3
>> Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:05:14 -0700
>> From: "Tradingpost"<tradingpost@lobo.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] How to Grow All Your Food on a Tenth of
>> an Acre
>> To:livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>> Message-ID:<201211161005140418.476FB801@mail.lobo.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>
>>
>> Just to be sure I
>checkedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Alto,_California#Climate & Palo
>Alto has a Mediterranean Climate. Well, we could all grow more with mild
>outdoor temperatures all year, couldn't we. That isn't brought out in the
>article.
>>
>> As for wheat I'm not big on grains. With other calorie foods like
>potatoes & beans etc. I don't see grains as absolutely necessary. Cover
>crops are useful but I'd favor buckwheat there. As for green manure crops,
>there's plenty of organic waste out there, leaves, grass, large animal
>manure & so on, usually free for the taking. I see nothing unsustainable
>about recycling it, importing that waste to the garden from nearby. Myself
>I don't have room to grow my own grasses for composting, & lots of people
>are in the same situation.
>>
>> Somehow being practical in the big picture doesn't get pumped up in
>these articles.
>>
>> paultradingpost@lobo.net
>
>
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