tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post6777728228737865699..comments2024-02-10T18:50:01.193+10:00Comments on Gully Grove: The old waysChris http://www.blogger.com/profile/13715819899708384147noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-59905514456622000612015-04-06T08:26:54.635+10:002015-04-06T08:26:54.635+10:00Your grandpa was a very patient man. I like some o...Your grandpa was a very patient man. I like some of the local farmers around here and they are not stupid but they are not willing to think outside the box I guess. I also believe there is alot more pressure involvded to produce in this way than we know. I think there are incentives (subsidies but also private ones) and they are watching organics for its flaws they say but I think that if it were to yeild a million a year they would all jump to it. linda marthahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201901762476827737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-43347533893734623762015-04-05T22:35:18.534+10:002015-04-05T22:35:18.534+10:00I would agree with all that. It was something my g...I would agree with all that. It was something my grandfather often came across. Not that he would try to convert farmers back to his methods, but whenever they'd ask what his secret was, he'd tell them boring stuff they weren't interested in pursuing. <br /><br />They would laugh and think he was holding something 'bigger' back, and prod him in another conversation later. They only wanted to talk in the language they knew, which was conventional farming. They thought he had a secret in conventional farming techniques he wasn't sharing, lol.<br /><br />He was telling them his secret though, they just didn't believe it because it wasn't conventional and it required a different way of thinking about their land. Chris https://www.blogger.com/profile/13715819899708384147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-48576047261178505122015-03-30T08:57:27.236+10:002015-03-30T08:57:27.236+10:00The conventional farmers I know learned to farm in...The conventional farmers I know learned to farm in the old days. They don't recall those times fondly and see today's farming as " progress" . They see organic farming (even the big production farms) as the enemy and view it with mistrust. They are somewhat brainwashed by the industry I would say so you are right about the folklore aspect. <br /><br />It'll only change when the price of a bushel of corn doesn't justify the cost of fuel to run that air conditioned tractor. Last winter it was revealed that the biofuel plants were costing far too much to operate so there is a concern as to what is going to happen next. I stopped following the story but I found it hopeful!linda marthahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201901762476827737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-86793048784593800812015-03-30T08:00:36.467+10:002015-03-30T08:00:36.467+10:00Agreed. :) There is some wilful ignorance on some ...Agreed. :) There is some wilful ignorance on some conventional farmers parts, but I also think it stems from never really seeing how non conventional farming work. Grandpa told them a story, and Dad told them another, but to the grandchildren to the old ways, they treat it like folklore, suggesting its not relevant today.<br /><br />But if they could actually stand in the land Grandpa worked, and step forwards into what their land looks like today, it would be harder to be so wilfully ignorant of the results of their actions. Having air-conditioned tractors, helps to remain ignorant of what they're doing to their own inheritance. Grandpa had natural air conditioning, in nature. <br /><br />Although I have to say, its good you live in a region with strong diversity, so its not ALL conventional farming.Chris https://www.blogger.com/profile/13715819899708384147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-62031256061828397012015-03-29T04:56:34.557+10:002015-03-29T04:56:34.557+10:00I'm not a farmer but surrounded by both organi...I'm not a farmer but surrounded by both organic small family farms ( English and Amish) as well as conventional ones. The conventional farmers around us are not actually growing food but ethanol. It's been more lucrative. We have beef and dairy farms as well. The thing is that the Amish and English organic farms are just as much about production as the conventional ones yet with respect to the environmental issues we all worry about. There's a difference in making a million off of GMO corn and wanting more and making 75,000 off of diversified crops and being content. I was shocked at first that conventional farmers in my acquaintance don't generally eat well. Afraid of vegetables and fruit. Lol. I can't prove that there's a correlation but there really is. Lol. <br />But I think it's a mistake to believe these conventional men and women don't know the old ways. They do. They just see them as wrong. linda marthahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201901762476827737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-6368732317262040342015-03-26T17:16:01.993+10:002015-03-26T17:16:01.993+10:00It's easier when you learn to figure it out on...It's easier when you learn to figure it out on a different equation, isn't it? It's easier because you're not having to manage more than what you need to. My grandfather was a very unique person for me to know, because he was so content just to be outdoors with the cows. No-one could pay him to do anything else - not even himself! ;)Chris https://www.blogger.com/profile/13715819899708384147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-287817142669302702015-03-26T10:16:15.587+10:002015-03-26T10:16:15.587+10:00When money is the only good, the only goal, that&#...When money is the only good, the only goal, that's what happens. It took me awhile to figure out with my goats that maximizing their "genetic potential" wasn't in their best interests, nor mine. I would rather adjust our diet than try to force them into a particular yield. The same is true with our chickens, and our garden too. Learning how to be content is not an easy thing, but satisfaction with one's life has been lost in the push to get ahead. Ahead of what, I don't know! Sounds like your grandfather was a content man. Leighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02435811789823712254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-52626370602607886122015-03-25T19:20:07.729+10:002015-03-25T19:20:07.729+10:00I don't blame farmers for wanting to make a pr...I don't blame farmers for wanting to make a profitable gain, or for taking science seriously in achieving that end. But its become tunnel vision now, where they wouldn't know what to do with their land if they weren't poisoning it in some fashion.<br /><br />They've lost that knowledge only traditional farmers could possess, and exchanged it for what only adds up on paper. At some point, farming will have to return to the natural equilibrium set by nature, and those who go voluntarily will be ahead of the game, come crunch time.Chris https://www.blogger.com/profile/13715819899708384147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-25858158899338978462015-03-25T17:26:49.081+10:002015-03-25T17:26:49.081+10:00I always think about the potato farmer Michael Pol...I always think about the potato farmer Michael Pollan interviewed in one of his books. The farmer grew GM potatoes, but confessed to Pollan that he wouldn't eat them himself. He grew his own potatoes organically in his house garden.<br /><br />It seems like modern farmers have lost the plot regarding care of the land and producing healthy food. I don't know what's caused this turnaround. Chasing after the holy grail of huge profits?<br /><br />I think it will change back as oil begins to become seriously scarce. There won't be the fancy hybrid seeds or GM crops or chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Farmers will have to go back to square one and work with nature and the soil as they used to do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-57718807287755024632015-03-25T14:19:33.518+10:002015-03-25T14:19:33.518+10:00That's the trade off, isn't it? We lose mu...That's the trade off, isn't it? We lose much more in the long run, by taking the fast road to production. Many of the elders remember what it was like to have "living" things all around them. While they were probably always short of a bob to buy stuff with, they rarely got sick because all the food they were eating was fruit of the earth, and sweat from their brow. <br /><br />We do have to sacrifice something, and for our grandparents, it was sacrificing having lots of things. Our generation has all the things, and sacrificed our time with living elements to fully appreciate (and invest in) them. I'm glad you shared your grandmother's story, it was lovely to read about more salt of the earth people. <br /><br />If you feel so inspired, perhaps you could do a regular feature on your blog, sharing about the elders you came in contact with. I hope to pluck memories from my own grey matter in much the same way. :)Chris https://www.blogger.com/profile/13715819899708384147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8284944855633609232.post-91014167212464263472015-03-25T11:47:26.706+10:002015-03-25T11:47:26.706+10:00I feel much the same about my grandmother. Nanna d...I feel much the same about my grandmother. Nanna died just over 12 months ago and I commemorated the day by bottling tomatoes. She was a wonderful homemaker in that she grew and bottled fruit and tomatoes, knitted, sewed and cooked up a storm. In fact the eulogies given at her funeral waxed lyrical about her cooking and baking. I wish I had been into bottling when she was. So very much I could have learned but sadly, I was not interested when she was still able to share the knowledge and when I began bottling was when the dementia started to grip her much harder.<br />I wonder if that will be the greatest folly of all in modern times. That we have failed to respect that our elders have done it for much longer than any scientist and that in many cases they actually know a better way. Sure, there is sacrifice but there is a sacrifice however you do it. Lower yields for a wholesome means of production or lose skills, lose viability of species, lose fertility of soil and the power to empower and enrich onesselfAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com