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It Takes a Community to Sustain A Small Farm by Steph Larsen, Grist
The Farming Continuum by Walter Haugen, Local Harvest
A Year of Voluntary Simplicity by Chris Wolf, Transition Whatcom
Harvesting Tranquility by Gene Logsdon
We Are All Connected - YouTube Video by Bellingham's John Boswell, Symphony of Science channel
Permaculture and Time with Geoff Lawton by Permascience channel on YouTube
It Takes a Community to Sustain A Small Farm by Steph Larsen, Grist
...But as anyone who has ever raised grain or livestock can tell you, the farmer is not the only person in the chain of players from her farm to your fork. In addition to producers, your food chain includes processors, distributors or transporters, and retailers. In other words, to have a truly local food system, we also need local butchers, bakers and millers, local truck drivers, local grocers, and a community that supports them in all their efforts. In the world of farm and food policy, we’ve paid a lot of attention to production end of the food system. It’s an obvious place to start. We have programs within the Farm Bill to develop new or “beginning” farmers, help them secure loans and down payments, and transition to organic agriculture. But most products aren’t made to eat directly out of the field. Even salad greens or apples, things we typically eat raw and straight from the field, must be washed and sorted before your local farmer will sell them... The Farming Continuum by Walter Haugen, Local Harvest
Our farm is in a rural farming county in NW Washington, but a lot of the farmland near us has been taken up McMansions. There are a few beef south of us and a seed potato producer half a mile away. He uses the usual huge tractors, herbicides and chemical fertilizers, as well as irrigation. This farmer is trying to do the best he can, but he is locked into a mechanical/chemical paradigm. He rotates his crops, alternating potatoes with either corn or wheat. Nevertheless he is paving the soil and you can see much more standing water in his fields than mine over the course of a wet winter. He is renting, so perhaps he doesn't care. This is far different from my attempts to build up my soil and increase fertility, biomass, and microbial action. By increasing the organic matter in the soil, I can lock up more soil moisture and I am hoping to irrigate less this year, especially since I am widening the distance between my rows - going from a 30" center to 36". This will also allow me to use my BCS 26" wide tiller to cultivate between rows, rather than the one-speed slow tiller I have been using.
Two different styles of farming - one chemical, the other organic. Yet we are both on the same continuum. We are both producing food, whether it is seed potatoes and forage, or produce to sell directly to the customer. We are both creating new wealth from the soil and we both can be measured through a simple calculation of inputs and outputs. Yet there is a big difference in outlook... A Year of Voluntary Simplicity by Chris Wolf, Transition Whatcom
My new year's resolution for 2010 is that I am going to practice Voluntary Simplicity, vowing to make little enough money that I don't have to pay taxes toward war (so about $9,350 for the year), and so that every lifestyle choice I make is carefully thought out and in line with my values. I have started this blog to record experiences I have, share tips that I stumble upon, and learn from your tips as well.
I had an interesting experience a few days ago. I decided to take a walk and explore the bit of forest behind Lakeway Fred Meyer's, where I have heard there is a homeless encampment. I walked on a well-worn human trail through a young little forest, mixed evergreen and deciduous trees, with a creek running through it, and listened to the birds and the squirrels going about their business. There were several makeshift human shelters in there, made from tarps and other bits of "one man's trash, another man's treasure." There was also garbage strewn throughout the woods--food cans, clothing, plastic bags, kids' toys, and some rather large piles of bags of garbage (like, a heap 10 feet in diameter)... Harvesting Tranquility by Gene Logsdon
When visitors ask what our main crop is on our little farm, they look a bit startled when I reply “wood.” They look even more startled when I say the reason wood is important to us is that it brings tranquility to our lives. In winter when an old man’s fancy turns to thoughts of staying warm, I am just about as happy to have a garage full of stove wood as to have a storeroom full of food. I could not afford to keep the house toasty warm with “bought” fuel. If the electricity conks out in a January blizzard, as it seems to do more often now than in years past, we can ride the storm out fairly well. Not only will we stay warm, but we can cook our food and warm our water. The mere thought of this kind of security relieves stress and brings tranquility— the Federal Reserve can take away the interest on our life’s savings, but I don’t think even that bunch of buzzards can take away the warmth from our wood. Tranquility is the most precious possession of life, possibly more conducive to good health than proper food, exercise or medication. Add to that the tranquility that can be achieved in the work of cutting and splitting wood in the sanctuary of the trees. I often think of one of my heroes, Scott Nearing, who kept cutting wood until he was 100 years old. He stopped then, figuring he had enough ahead to last the rest of his life... We Are All Connected - YouTube Video by Bellingham's John Boswell, Symphony of Science channel
"John Boswell has created some remarkable videos celebrating the inspiring depth and vastness of the evolutionary perspective. His first attempt was so successful on YouTube that he did three more 4-minute videos. What makes his four creations so unique is that he uses existing film clips to make luminaries like Carl Sagan somehow SING the words they SPOKE years ago. Interspersed with absolutely gorgeous videos of flowing space and nature, galaxies and people, cells and atoms, and accompanied by compelling music, they become multimedia poems or songs, unlike anything else I've seen before. They need to be seen to be believed." - Tom Atlee, Co-Intelligence Institute Permaculture and Time with Geoff Lawton by Permascience channel on YouTube
Permaculture and Time with Geoff Lawton. In this Machinima animated short film, meet the virtual Geoff Lawton as he takes us on a visual journey from discovering a meaningful activity to an expanded perception of time.
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