Comments belloinsella has made

  • Peak Oil

    Mad Mac,

    I agree that we will not become more of an agrarian society without global economic collapse. But we are heading in that direction mainly with the realities that the US has hit peak oil. We're beginning to realize that we have to grow food on a smaller scale and closer to our homes due to the rise in transportation, input, and processing costs. This all stems from our society being built around oil, which was incredibly cheap when we "industrialized".

    Manual labor is backbreaking, but it may be more economically feasible than running machinery as oil becomes more expensive.On To create a truly sustainable food system, we'll have to confront the farm-labor crisis posted 1 year, 5 months ago 14 Responses

  • Weed Control

    Hello wiscidea,

    I'm no expert on the subject of weed control or organic farming/gardening. However, I'm currently working on an organic farm that grows strawberry's "commercially" in a small market garden. They're grown on top of grass, but they have a system set up which is based on a no-dig garden bed theory. Essentially they use tall dried grass or straw as mulch and to build a garden bed about 10-12 inches in height. They make a hole in the straw then fill it with compost and plant the seedlings straight in. The mulch suppresses all weeds and competing grass. They have very few, if any, weeds and no grass problem. This is only one method and takes more planning, but seems to be working very well.On To create a truly sustainable food system, we'll have to confront the farm-labor crisis posted 1 year, 5 months ago 14 Responses

  • Apprenticeships

    Thanks for the article Tom and the commentary from everyone else.

    I think it's extremely necessary for those people who want to get into farming to have access to training. Farming cannot just be taught in the classroom setting, but accompanied with hands-on experience. Often this type of training is hard to come by and often unpaid. But, like so many other trades, apprenticeships or internships are the only method to gain the knowledge. It's rather unfortunate though because food production is so important.

    One resource to find apprenticeships into sustainable farming is the directory from ATTRA. You can find it HERE. I'm looking at trying to do an apprenticeship soon, but I'm finding that working on organic farms a great resource for education. Although, like said in a previous post, it's difficult to make a decent wage doing this.

    Will part-time farm workers need to supplement their work with an "off-farm" income like so many full-time farmers do? On To create a truly sustainable food system, we'll have to confront the farm-labor crisis posted 1 year, 6 months ago 14 Responses