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    Ravenous: Back to basics

    With these new pressures, what are you (and your community) learning about food production in your locale?

    Started by: futuryst Raves:4

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    The fragility of a hyper-complex food system -- where much of what we eat comes from far away and we know very little about it -- is driving many people to pay attention for the first time to what they can produce for themselves, or source close to where they live. So, how close to self-sufficient are you? Whether you're nearest to a struggling urban veggie patch, a community garden, or an enormous farm, what are you learning about your local food situation? Have there been any surprises in this process? Where or to whom do you go for that kind of adaptive knowledge?

    Barter and personal sharing of crops and information has become more important than ever; the time spent canning fruits and vegetables with my great-grandfather now comes in handy as we bottle and preserve items from our farm to trade with others. We do sell our products worldwide through the open web markets but find that our best customers are the people who visit our organic farm and spend time on the land with us. Appreciating food often comes when we are most directly touching it at the source while still living on the land and soaking up life. I enjoy cooking more now than ever before because there is the challenge of preparing this extraordinary being that we helped create here in our community. It is extraordinarily challenging to manage an organic farm and we are helping the seed market negotiate good prices for seeds with others like us who have kept untreated seeds and soil. Thankfully we invested many years in grey water systems and on-site water purification!

    We have begun observing and listening to the survivors who have surrounded us ever since ever - the animals, critters, fishes and others who have deep pools of knowledge built into their behaviors, reactions, societies and coping skills.

    So far it\\\'s been relative easy coordinating a barter system and local food market to sell. I have observed that fear is what has drove most of us onto this situation. The grocery store is still open and their is food on the shelves, not much in the way of imports. People are too afraid to trust the food companies. On TV most of the ads are food companies trying to regain consumers trust in their products. I know people who buy most of their food from the store and they have no worries about contamination or the future of the food supply. I feel much better that I have a garden, can and am part of the community farm. 10 years ago we installed a corn stove, which we have converted and can now burn wood also. We live in town and city ordinances don\\\'t allow farm animals, but I would love to have a couple of chickens. I trade with someone at work for eggs. I work at the library and any books that mention canning, farming, using rainwater are a huge hit. I\\\'ve seen many more books published on these topics within the last few years. Our county extension education classes are full, which never happened in the past. Their courses cover topics relating to gardening, canning, identifying edible plant, making honey, rainwater gardens. This has been a great resource for my generation, gen X. I never cared or thought I would need to know these things. I don\\\'t buy milk at the store, but through our community farm I\\\'m able to buy milk. I have to pasteurize it myself, which is just more time I don\\\'t have. I found a company that I trust that sells herbs and vitamins. I guess the toughest part about becoming self sufficient is the time it takes to plan and prepare. I think I\\\'ve finally got that mastered.

    We already knew, we just expanded it. We always knew we had a micro-climate between the Pacific Ccean and Hwy 1; the fog creates really specific conditions (coastal fog) in which certain veggies (like brussel sprouts!) grow really well. Now of course, since Hwy 1 fell into the ocean, THAT is not the boundary but still, it is a narrow band between water and mountains. But besides that, we are so glad we had already taken on board about gofers; you have to make a deal with them; not think you can eradicate them, we co-exist with them, and it is true; they really don;t wipe out our crops, just nibble the edges as we agreed.

    I grow peppers but need tips on how much to water them




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