Guess I need to go kiss my cows and horses, not only for their potential
power supply, but also for their poop supply!
Kathryn Kerby, who woke up today looking forward to market
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
In a message dated 5/12/2010 5:17:55 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
wshoemak AT illinois.edu writes:
The
worrisome part of it is that oil is a false economy. Our country and it's
economy (and now the globe's economy) is built on the premise of cheap oil.
It is cheap energy that is not renewable. It is already diminishing as our
global appetite for it is becoming insatiable. So every economic enterprise
that depends on it, including conventional ag, will change. And it won't be
comfortable. When oil prices rise, so do the prices of everything else,
including our food. And no one will like it. But those who can grow food
inexpensively without depending on oil and its products will always have a
market and a loyal following.
Bill William H. Shoemaker Sr.
Research Specialist, Food Crops University of Illinois - Crop
Sciences St Charles Horticulture Research Center 535 Randall Road, St
Charles, IL, 60174 630-584-7254, FAX-584-4610
wshoemak AT illinois.edu
I believe more folks like you will go into
market farming as unemployment rises from our failing economy. My
Texas oil pro pals say things like "declining oil production will end
economic growth". The good news is when the price of oil goes up a
bit, the price of food goes up a lot. Every calorie of factory food
requires maybe ten calories of oil.
www.harpers.org/archive/2004/02/0079915
Most amazing is the oil guys
tone of voice: sincere, distressed. Pushed out of their comfort
zone. Corporate lords called to be prophets, to witness for radical
changes. Weird. For example, Matt Simmons, Houstonian, energy
investor, advisor to President Bush, has retired to focus on being a
Paul Revere. His speeches are published here.
http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/research.aspx?Type=msspeeches For
background, google "peak oil".
The peak oil guys say the price of oil
will go up and up. Raising prices of oil products. Like
chemical fertilizers. Don't some here spend a fortune on
them? Are big conventional farmers in for more trouble while
new little organic market-gardeners manage to show a profit after a few
years? Then thrive.
I'm beginning to feel we can make our
market farm succeed. Has it taken me a year to relax with our
customers enough to listen to them? And to realize that even we can
grow great-tasting food?
Our customers ask "How do I eat that
veggie? What do I DO with chard?" I don't know.
?Barely cooked with butter?
Kathy, maybe you're right, "save the world
one veggie at a time". Save a market leftover from rot by
figuring out how to eat it instead of that candy, teach new eating
to your customers, and reduce our dependence on foreign
oil.
Learning. There's been a ton to learn about organic
gardening. Sometimes I realize that my teachers don't know the
answer to my questions so I have to just experiment. The lead organic
teacher here says to start an organic farm requires an intellectual
teamed up with a grunt. Must organic farms be set up by little
newbies, outsiders, corporate refugees? Maybe I wasn't silly
to take this on?
The solution to big system problems like foreign
oil dependence draining our economy and climate disruption is a paradigm
shift. Changes in values, habits, worldviews, etc. Paradigm
shift means learning lots of new ways. And, without a crisis, would
we do the hard work of learning?
Nan, racing the bacteria to eat
market leftovers in the Oil Capital of the World
At 12:23 AM
5/12/2010, KAKerby AT aol.com wrote: >Bean meaning to tell you, Nan, that I
love your motto at the bottom >of each email. Action really is
the antidote to dispair. We're at >three markets a week now, and
some days I wonder what I was thinking >to sign up for this much
work. But both myself and my booth helper >(aka best friend aka
soul-sister) were corporate refugees not so >long ago, wondering why no
one would hire us and no one saw worth in >our experience and life
knowledge and skillset. Then I said "heck, >if no one will hire
me, I'll go plant a bunch of veggies and sell >'em somewhere and make
money that way!" Well, as we all know it's a >tad more
complicated than that. But there really is something >empowering
about growing something in beds that I built with my own >hands, and
then selling it to a group of folks who value that effort >enough to
pay me more than I'd ever think it was worth. And my >booth
partner recently confided to me that my hiring her to help me >in the
market booth has given her a sense of purpose again, which >she didn't
know she had been missing until she found it again. Now >she's
talking about planting enough next year to set up her own >booth and
having her own name out there on those veggies she knows >she can
grow. Wow, now that's cool. Maybe action is more than the
>antidote to despair. Maybe it's a recipe for how to save the
>world. One veggie at a time. > >Happy dreams, folks,
and happy farming. Whatever you're growing and >wherever you're
selling it, and despite whatever issues we're each >facing (and we all
have at least a few), I'm glad to be amongst >folks out there being
part of the solution, rather than sitting >around whining about the
problem. :) >Kathryn
Kerby >frogchorusfarm.com >Snohomish, WA > >In a
message dated 5/11/2010 10:08:32 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
>NanHildreth AT riseup.net writes: >Action is the antidote to
despair.... >Joan
Baez > >_______________________________________________ >Market-farming
mailing
list >Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming > >Market
Farming List Archives may be found
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Nan
Hildreth NanHildreth AT riseup.net Houston
713-842-6643
"An authentic movement is not a play for power - it is
teaching and learning writ large." "Now the world becomes our
classroom, and the potential to teach and learn is found everywhere.
We need only be in the world as our true selves, with open hearts and
minds."
"the simple choice to live with integrity can have far-reaching
effects."
Palker Palmer in Yes!
Magazine http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=796
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