Re: 100 Pounds of Food/Year From a 12 Square Foot Plot?

In article <fv70rt0sv9@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 "J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> FarmI wrote:
> > "Rick" <no@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> >> On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:31:48 +1000, "FarmI" <ask@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 be given>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> <Charlie> wrote in message
> >>>> Sorry, I was also reading this article and became cornfused about
> >>>> what I was reading and where I was reading it!  Not an uncommon
> >>>> occurrence.
> >>>>
> >>>>
http://hartlandag.blogspot.com/2007/09/new-study-industrial-agriculture-c
> >>>> rops.html
> >>>
> >>> Interesting, but not surprising.  I am trying to remember how some
> >>> of the measurements for organic vs inorganic food is done.   I 
> >>> seem
> >>> to remember brix and baume but that is all that comes to mind.
> >>>
> >>> And one has to wonder why kids these day seem to have so many
> >>> diseases that
> >>> were rare when I was a child.  People of my age were relatively
> >>> lucky because we were raised in an era when the production of food
> >>> was organic, or
> >>> only beginning on the inorganic track.  Kids when I was young were
> >>> considered to be rather defective if they had things like Asthma,
> >>> psoriasis,
> >>> allergies etc, because they were incredibly rare.  Now they seem 
> >>> to
> >>> be almost the norm rather than the exception.  Something has sure
> >>> changed since
> >>> I was a kid.
> >>>
> >>
> >> As the referenced articles point out, this is a labor intensive way
> >> of producing food.
> >
> > But that depends on whether one is talking about home gardening or
> > commercial production.
> >
> > I garden organically and it is the only way that will improve my 
> > very
> > poor
> > soils, as I add bulk manure and leaf litter etc.  If I gardened
> > inorganically, I'd still have soil that looked like that which I
> > started
> > with - calf scour yellow, no humus and appalling texture.
> 
> Home gardening is fine if you have the time and space for it.  Most 
> people don't.  And the "organic" stuff that I see at the supermarket 
> looks pretty pathetic.
> 
> --

You need to find Community Sup****ted Agriculture (CSA) in your area. 
Organic is insufficient, if it isn't local (100 miles: definition 
varies). Throwing a load of organic produce in the back of a truck to 
get contaminated by the previous load, and let it bounce for two days 
while getting to market, isn't going to improve it. The problem isn't 
just industrial food production but also industrial food distribution. 
This is where places like "Whole Foods" break down. They ****p from 
central warehouses, which means that they have to buy in huge lots, 
which gives them economy of scale, and also guarantees that the produce
will be the same from store to store. None of the above guarantees 
freshness. Fresh food is more nutritious and it tastes better. This is 
the basis for "locavores" (people who eat locally grown food). At a CSA, 
the food will be fresh and you can look the grower in the eye and ask 
how it was grown. Not only does the food taste better but you are 
sup****ting a source of better food for the whole community. 

A distribution system to get fresh organic to you may take a while to 
develop. In the mean time, try out the CSAs. If you like what you taste, 
most CSAs have a subscription program whereby you can sign-up for a box 
of veggies per week at a set price.

We had some fresh leeks last week (from a CSA) that reminded us why we 
like leeks. To the light green onion flavor was added a light anise 
flavor, which I have never tasted from store bought, only at a couple of 
restaurants in France. Parsnips, fresh, will blow your socks off too.
Food in the supermarkets have been developed for shelf life, not flavor.
-- 

Billy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTfcAyYGg&ref=patrick.net
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7WBB0svwMdY&feature=related