Comments on: The aim is joy

By: Joan Richmond

Joan Richmond — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:25:21 +0000

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Gene. The guy I’m arguing with claims that gardens take too much in the way of off-farm resources, and that even tillage causes soil to oxidize and that it would take 10,000 square feet of ground to produce enough mulch for a 1,000 square foot garden.

I tried to explain about composting and cover crops, etc., but he’s hard-headed. I’m working on finding ways to garden that don’t require off-farm inputs or even fuel-powered machines. Next year we’re going to try to put a couple of weaner pigs on half the space and see how they to at tilling it up. I’m using heirloom seeds this year to try to learn to do some seed saving. One thing that puzzles me is how I’d gather enough seed for cover crops from year to year. Maybe red clover would be the most productive way to generate cover crop seed, but I don’t know yet.

Thanks again!

By: Gene Logsdon

Gene Logsdon — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:10:37 +0000

Joan Richmond: I think about this question all the time. In fact it is just about the most intriguing question of all to me. I fantasize about the extremes of small plot production: bees providing all the necessary sweeteners while “robbing” the neighborhood for honey, and pigeons for squab and eggs, getting their food from the neighborhood roundabout too. My answer? IF the person or persons involved were skilled and experienced, I think a quarter to a half acre of rich soil would provide all the food necessary, including even some animal products. I often defer to my son-in-law’s grandparents who were immigrants to Cleveland Ohio from Italy. They had in total only one quarter acre including their house. They shared a barn with other city neighbors where they kept a goat and rabbits and chickens. They raised more than half their vegetables and fruit, their wine from grapes, their meat and milk from the goats, eggs and meat from chickens and rabbits. They did buy feed for the animals occasionally. With another acre they could have raised the feed for the animals easily (along with leftovers from the garden and table scraps). When I was a child, before my parents moved to the farm, they kept a cow in a barn on the edge of town which provided not only milk and cream for us during the Depression, but they actually sold some cream for cash for feed for the cow. My grandmother, after retiring from the farm, had the most amazing garden and fruit trees right in the middle of town, along with about 20 chickens. In those days people accepted chickens in town. They will again. Where there is a will there is a way. I read some statistics recently that pointed out that intensive, raised bed gardening can produce at least ten times as much food as a conventional, commercial farm acre. Orientals are the past masters at intensive gardening. Many Chinese still think that an acre is a rather large farm. Gene Logsdon

By: Joan Richmond

Joan Richmond — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:17:58 +0000

Joy is my aim! However, like you, we manage to feed ourselves, too, to a large extent. I am having a running argument with an acquaintance of mine. He may be right, so I thought I’d ask for your take on it.

What do you think is the minimum amount of space and activities a family would need to make enough food to live on? I don’t mean feast on, but maybe survive on for a few to several months, given our economic climate. Is it even possible for people who have a house in town or in the suburbs? Do you think they’d use up more resources than they’d create?

If you have time to consider this, I’d be very appreciative, but of course, you can just let it go. :)

By: Gene Logsdon

Gene Logsdon — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:07:44 +0000

Polly, since writing “the aim is joy” we have had “progress”. Now I do have to confront one (1) (uno) traffic light on the way to Woody’s. Gene

By: Gene Logsdon

Gene Logsdon — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:00:36 +0000

Shane, wonderful! Yesterday, splitting wood in the woodlot, what should wander by, in broad daylight, totally oblivious of me, but a mink!!! A first for me. Gene

By: Polly

Polly — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:09:59 +0000

Love these posts Gene. I’ve eaten at Woody’s, my parents live in Carey – it’s all familiar. A refreshing read in this year of gloom and doom on the news.

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:02:39 +0000

One of my favourite things about spending so much time outdoors in my gardens is that every year without fail I spot another half dozen or more species of insects (and sometimes other animals) that I have never seen before.

What greater reward can one ask for from the world in return for keeping an open and alert mind?