North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["L. Watson" <soldago@nc.rr.com>]

I'm a new member of NAFEX who learned about it from an enthusiastic 
member at a native-plants conference last summer. I joined because I 
wanted to learn from those who knew what the best cultivars and 
techniques were so I could make the best use of my limited land to 
create an edible forest garden and deal with our ongoing drought.

I'd love to see NAFEX accept with enthusiasm Robert Mullins' very 
generous offer to put Pomona in PDF form and rework the website. I'm in 
marketing and website design too and know that a good designer makes the 
content and medium work for the audience, not against it. Professional 
presentation will make it easier to find and understand what you are 
looking for and will attract new members.

On the other hand, if Pomona becomes reprints of selected emails posted 
on this list, then it becomes worthless to me. Even now, it is much less 
valuable to me than this list and the prospect of going to a conference 
or on tours. Different members join for different reasons.

It's distressing to see people who love plants *and* technology scorned. 
I'd also hope for a more welcoming term for new members who want to 
learn from the core members than "parasites." I hope in a few years to 
have enough experience to add to the discussion.

... Linda

Douglas Woodard wrote:
> Amen, brother.
>
> I think we have to remember that the people who provide the core value 
> of NAFEX are the people who have some land (in many cases in the 
> boondocks where it is cheap), actually do stuff with plants and spend 
> their spare time doing *that* kind of thing, have collections of 
> uncommon cultivars, have been around for a long time, have learned a lot 
> of stuff but probably have not invested a lot of effort in information 
> technology. [...]
>
> People like me who are not in this "core-value" group are kibitzers, 
> parasites. users of the value created by the core-value people. [...]
> Doug Woodard
> St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
>
>
>