Food Growing Coop
From:
Dennis Knicely
Date:
Mar 30 01:50 UTC
Short link
I guess the consensus here is a number of us have similar ideas and ideals,
growing produce to share/sell both locally and regionally, as well as for our
individual families.
To make this work, we have to make it the fun, enjoyable, and right thing to
do. Yet we live within a society that have for decades relied on migrant
workers and others, that no longer exist, to do the dirty work. Why is this?
The only excuse I come up with is we [as a society] have gotten lazy [or busy
doing other things], thinking someone else can do it... but what is the
reality? We need help. There are a few of us that realize how important
growing our own "clean" food is. Yet too many have relied on colleges and
universities for jobs / education that have [mostly] taught us we are too good
for this kind of work, and we need better paying jobs so someone else can do
it.
....And what do most educational facilities teach, until recently? That
factory farming, utilizing chemicals, poisons, genetic modification, etc. is
the key. To go into the gory details of what this does to our minds, bodies,
nature, and the surroundings is pointless right now, since most of us already
know what this has done to the environment, yet how do we change it around,
before it is completely too late?
It would be good to organize a meeting, and see how we can change things.
Others know the community better than I, so someone has to step forward to
arrange the meeting place and time.
We can look at this as an excuse to get together, have potlucks, make a party
out of it, help each other, and get the crops in. I say this is important, as
for too long we have relied on imported foods, that are getting more expensive
every day because of fuel costs. It is not necessary if we have adequate
freezers / root cellars for storage, and take some advice from what our
ancestors did for survival.
Personally, I come from a lineage of farmers that taught the earliest European
migrants how to survive in America. I can both teach and learn, as everyone I
meet give me clues and ideas how to do things better. This is how we can
achieve our goals, and really reach out to "all our relatives", making ours an
"all inclusive" society, and not just the "I, me, mine" stuff that seems to
permeate things at times.
That means I have lots to share, yet hold great value in what has been given to
me as care taker.
We really need to get on this, as planting/prep time is now, and the season
will not wait on complacent ways. Can someone else help arrange a proper way
to proceed? ...looking for answers myself.
Dennis Knicely
.