Re: SB: Re: SB and a Better Mouse Trap

[Katey <newtribe@directvinternet.com>]

Strawbees,
I must respectfully disagree with Bill on this (perhaps for the first time since
joining this list).  Owning a tractor does not an easy farming practice make.  Ask
any commercial farmer - he/she still wakes at the crack of dawn and works until
sunset, often traveling long distances from their home to plow large acres of land
in monoculture crops.  (Then goes home to fret all evening as to where the tractor
payments are going to come from.)

The permaculture methods that are regaining popularity that encourage no till, no
pesticide/herbicide techniques can be quite liberating for the "farmer".  And these
types of growing strategies are increasing in number and viability.

For me the question of agriculture is much the same as we apply to the natural
building movement - to use local "materials" as much as possible - companion
planting, beneficial insects, native plantings, etc.  I can't remember the source
but have read that organically grown, small scale plots create a greater
yield/acre.  We need to stop trying to feed the world with huge destructive
monocultures that use large amounts of fossil fuels, destroy diversity, require
extensive irrigation and deplete top soil.

I recently returned from Scotland and England where mile after mile i saw homes in
close proximity to each other but everyone had their own garden plot.  We must learn
to feed ourselves, as well as house ourselves, efficiently and healthily.  A good
day's work is a comforting thing, helps us sleep better and builds our immune
systems.  So quit your job and get to work.

green dreams,
katey

Athena and Bill Steen wrote:

> So I think that is enough philosophy for the moment, but I will let John G
> know that Fukuoka worked his butt off compared to tractor driven methods and
> that in the end, his farm stands abandoned and no one that I know of really
> was able to emulate his methods successfully.
>
> B...
>
> > "My way was opposite.  I was aiming at a pleasant, natural
> > way of farming {Building} which results in making the work
> > easier instead of harder."  'How about not doing this?  How
> > about not doing that?- that was my way of thinking.  I
> > ultimately reached the conclusion that there was no need to
> > plow, no need to apply fertilizer, no need to make compost,
> > no need to use insecticide.  When you get right down to it,
> > there are few agricultural practices that are really
> > necessary."
> >
> > Masanobu Fukuoka - The One-Straw Revolution - Rodal Press.

--
Katey Culver
Green Party of Tennessee
newtribe@directvinternet.com
www.greentn.org
www.ecoarchitech.net



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