Retrofitting your lawn or using raised beds for garden space
8% (3 votes)
Applying to plant in a community garden
5% (2 votes)
Becoming a farmer
10% (4 votes)
Buying more food from local sources
15% (6 votes)
Making other changes
23% (9 votes)
I'm making no changes
38% (15 votes)
Total votes: 39
Poll topic submitted by Green Underbelly
I'm thinking of buying more locally. There's a really good organic farm right here in my town, so it makes my life a bit easier. It is more expensive, though, and I understand that not everyone has the advantage of having a farm growing down the street from your house.
George Carlin on Pro-lifers. Hah, I love this.
I'm Libertarian.
I am cutting other things in my life in order to insure that I will have enough money to buy food. I also would not call it a depression in any scene of the word I would call it a recession. If you had a world wide crop shortage then I would worry about food but the last I checked we did not.
"Something given has no value"~Robert Heinlein
"Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is." Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1749
The only change I'm making is eating in my school's cafeteria as much as possible, since I'm paying for that food anyways and limiting what I buy at grocery stores. I was doing that before, but now just to a greater extent.
Also, I'm going to have to agree with tolkian. As long as the media is blowing things out of proportion, let's call everything what it is. And in this case, that's a recession.
Like what you've read? Well, then here's more:
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711
I'd love to be a farmer, since I hate modernity and technology and want to live in an agrarian utopia (you know, Thomas Jefferson's vision of America was exactly that). Sounds weird, I know. Ironically, I can only really do that if I'm successful as a member of our profit oriented modern society, so I can actually afford to do it. It’s a shame… money makes the world go round.
I plan on making no changes. I currently don't have a choice in the food I eat as a college student. My college does however encourage local farming, and some of the produce is from local farms (how they do that in the middle of winter, I'm not sure). The college even made us all read The Omnivore's Dilemma. I'd recommend it. Here’s the pièce de résistance, though: over the summer, the college planted corn on our quad as a (very) local food source for students.
I don't think it's necessary to implement these new food policies now just because there's a recession. If we're serious about doing it, we should be able to make these changes at any time...
I'm making more homemade stuff. And I'm not just talking about things like the "instant dinner" or hamburgers (you know, like the premade patties or whatever) or something like that, but even the bread we use. :)
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge
I don't I or anyone I know would even be aware of a depression if the news people didn't tell us.
Well, I have plans to have a garden this year, but it doesn't have so much to do with the economic state as it does me just wanting to have fresh veggies. I am tending to eat out less, and make more homemade meals, though, merely because it's cheaper.
~C
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I always have a garden, but except for some young fruit trees that I expect more production from, I don't plan to increase from my usual.
I am making it a point to patronize my favorite local restaurants more often. I am eating out no more than usual, but instead of trying so many new places, I am focusing on a few of my favorites. This year has put the survival of 'mom & pop' establishments in jeopardy, so I am trying to support the ones I would be most disappointed to see close
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."
--Andre Gide
I'm buying more in bulk.
I've always shopped quite a bit at CostCo but I notice that I am buying more things that come in large quantities. This causes me some additional effort in cutting and repackaging meat. I used to only bother for the expensive cuts of meat but now I am noticing that most of the price inflation is in the low end stuff like hamburger and chicken so I am buying those in bulk too.
It is more about economy and having a high standard of living then about security. I have a pretty good pantry and if things get so desperate that the 50 lbs of rice I typically have on hand is not enough to see me through then I think it will be time to check out before the Mad Max types rule the world.
I already grow a garden which provides more than I can eat in the summer. I give away a lot of food because I am too lazy to try to freeze, dry or preserve it.
I would like to have my own garden, but as I live on campus that just isn't possible. My dream home is one that is completely self-sufficient with raised garden beds, solar panels, and rainwater/other water collection devices. I don't like the idea of having to rely on the government and others for my basic survival necessities. However, until the day where I can afford all that I guess I will just have to make do.
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"The ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more than the blood of a martyr."
- Lupe Fiasco -
I am definitely considering becoming a farmer - fuck Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. I mean, really - radical life changes during a mini-depression are the only solution.
My plan is to finish this semester, since it's already bought and paid for, and then to drop out as a college junior - mind you, I'll be a junior in my second year of college.
Following my college-dropping, I plan to beg for money on the side of the road as I have not other skills that will allow me to purchase land nor seeds. Of course, depending on the amount of money I am able to scrounge, I may not be able to purchase farm equipment, either. Tractors may prove to be the death of my endeavor.
Following the search for venture funds, I intend to find a small plot of land - 100 square miles or more - that I intend to sow my seed into. This will likely feed me for some time to come. As all farmers know, you've got to do the sowing before the seeds will do the growing.
Beyond that, I don't know much about farming - but how hard can it be? I mean, cavemen figured it out. I've got a whole year of college under my belt - I'll figure something out.
-acertainsaint-
Don't forget to fertilize those seeds with three small fishes. Or at least take a dump on them.
While, yes - shit is a good fertilizer, bullshit is typically considered to be better. Besides, as a chemist, I am more inclined to go with something fun - like NH4NO3.
-acertainsaint-
You are not quite as ignorant of farming as you let on because that is pretty good fertilizer although you might get in trouble with Green Underbelly for being somewhat less that organic.
Good thing that you can't afford a tractor because if you were to happen to accidently slop some diesel fuel from your tractor on your NH4NO3 you might end up with ANFO which might result in you blowing your entire farm to kingdom come.
I'm actually not quite certain just where in the hell "kingdom come" is geographically located but I expect that "a certain saint" could probably elighten me as to its precise location. I doubt you want your farm to end up being blown there.
I don't know about Kingdom Come, but I'm pretty sure Hell is located North of Mexico, South of Interstate 8, East of Highway 95 and West of civilization.
Tuscon is a close second.
Hell might tie for 3rd with Phoenix.
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I never claimed to be ignorant of farming. I know quite a lot - seeds go in the ground, water goes on the ground, plants come out of the ground, I take food off the plants, I eat.
Duh.
I also know that NH4NO3 is an ionic compound that ionizes and helps plants grow. But, more importantly, it blows up. It makes bombs. I like boom! Boom!
-acertainsaint-
Lol yeah that doesn't sound too biodynamic to me--more like a short term solution to soil fertility...
my documentary...
"some folks say that a hippie won't steal,
but I caught three in my corn field"
--John Hartford
Ammonium Nitrate is actually quite good for the soil - it adds a ton of nitrogen that can actually be used by the plants - as opposed to N2 which comprises 75% of the atmosphere and is next to useless for anything but making stuff cold. Also, if you're slightly less than strict in your definition of "illegal," phosphates are good for the plants. Urea - the major nitrogen compound in urine - is also great for plant growth. You'll find that it will kill spots of your grass if it's too concentrated (for example, dog urine spots in your lawn), but if you spread it over a larger area in a lesser concentration - it'll bring back grass on steroids. AND! Urea is completely natural. You produce a good amount every day.
-acertainsaint-
Moral of the story... water down your urine and go spread it on your grass.
~C
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Organic Miracle-Gro!
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge
Oh well said. I guess I was referring to human-made nitrogen for soils that makes up more than half of the nitrogen that is produced these days and, in the grand scheme of things, props up an unsustainable global population.
Ammonium nitrate is swell for the plants, certainly. Not so great as it's washed downstream and out into an oceanic ecology that's dependent on dissolved oxygen. But what else is new?
my documentary...
"some folks say that a hippie won't steal,
but I caught three in my corn field"
--John Hartford
Make no mistake - I agree that our population is unsustainable. We might be "propped" up, but stop and think about the hundreds of thousands that go hungry every day because they lack food - mostly because the food is in the wrong places.
I would argue that the simplest method of populational thinning would be to make abortion completely legal, utilize the death penalty for all crimes involving the removal of life - unwillingly - from another, to make certain kinds of murder leagal and acceptable (like, if I wanted to kill someone who's political ideology differed from mine, that'd be fine. If I wanted to kill someone who was another color from me, that'd be not fine), and perhaps even encourage a type of gladatorial combat (with people being devoured by lions in the end).
Just sayin'. We could also begin to eat Irish Babies.
-acertainsaint-
Spoken very Swift-ly.
Can't we just shift towards many agrarian societies that feed their own local populations?
my documentary...
"some folks say that a hippie won't steal,
but I caught three in my corn field"
--John Hartford
Unfortunately, no. The world food crisis is largely due to political problems (be it dictators that decide not to distribute food, etc.) and thus cannot simply be fixed by forming agrarian societies. It is the nature of man to be self-serving and self-interested...if it works for me now, what motive do I have to change?
-acertainsaint-
My small town does a really good job of re-cycling leaves, grass clippings, brush, tree branches etc at our landfill. They compost it with some sludge from the sewage treatment plant into beautiful soil and twice per year they make it available for sale to the local people. It is a huge row about 100 yards long, 30 feet tall and 40 feet wide (just guesses). I've been known to make several trips in my V8 gasoline powered pickup and to haul as much as 3 tons in the Fall. It lasts about two weeks before it is all hauled away and then there is no more for another 6 months. And there really are not that many people who grow gardens. If the whole town was trying to grow organic gardens there certainly would not be anywhere close to enough.
The moral of my story is that organic gardening is only feasible on a very small scale because there is not that much organic material available for renewing the soil. Even in places that seem prolific like rainforests, native agriculture relied on slash and burn because the soil will not stand up to more than a few years of farming.
You seem to be OK with allowing the unsustainable world population die off and so am I. Just so you understand that mass starvation would be the outcome of your idealogical approach to feeding the world that is OK with me. I have made my position on that subject very clear.
A lot of (misguided) people are going to insist on trying to feed all the world's people and if that is the goal then the only practical solution is to continue as we are with modern agriculture. Modern agriculture is fundamentally the process of transforming petro-chemicals into food.
I'm rather with you on the "let em die" approach.
-acertainsaint-
My husband and i have started cutting back. The military takes 250.00 out of all his paychecks for food cost on the ship, so he eats there when he is at work which helps with breakfast and lunch. When we go grocery shoppong we take a list and anything that has coupons and we go online to the brand of whatever we need and clip off coupons from there. We have stopped eating out and compare nutrician labels and buy store brand things...also it helps if you check the dollar store before you go to the bigger stores.
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