Recently people have been sending me articles about "Food Forests", "Agroecology", "Permaculture" etc., all worthy pursuits, and great science behind them - as well as a little common sense.
I believe, however, that these are things that fall into the "in a perfect world" category. During my years maintaining people's gardens, teaching gardening classes, and setting up school gardens, I have learned, not the limitations of Mother Nature, but rather the limitations of humanity, and how they think of food and the food providers.
Raising and harvesting food is hard work - take a look at the field workers bent over strawberry or squash plants, for hours in the sun. Imagine if we paid them what their labor was truly worth. It is even more difficult - and expensive to grow food if you are doing it organically. Yet we hesitate to spend our money on humanely raised animals, organic or fair trade food items.
One of the big issues with our food, is that we have become accustomed to low prices, as well as any food item being available at any time of the year. Not strawberry season in California? It is, somewhere in the world, and it can be shipped here quickly. If we are truly attempting to be in touch with nature, we wouldn't ship (all that fuel, so unsustainable), but rather eat whatever is in season, and locally grown. That means strawberries in April/May, apples in fall, melons in the summer. Lettuce and other things can be grown year round hydroponically - but is that truly "nature"?
What about composting and fertilizer? Everyone wants to compost, or have a green waste program. How far away shall we ship our green waste? Are you willing to have a compost/green waste facility around the block from your home? Would you want a dairy farm with cattle roaming in a large space near you? How far away, and what kind of place are they actually living in?
I hope that these idealistic approaches to feeding our nation and the world become more of a reality in our daily lives. I want to believe that people will take for granted that paying $15 a pound for a humanely, organically raised chicken is rational. I hope we can adjust to the fact that we can eat kale year round, but peaches will only be available in summer.
And as for that Food Forest, who will water, prune, and harvest from these fruit trees? People ask me for a tree that doesn't have leaf litter, big roots, drop flowers. They invariably want low to no maintenance. A fruit tree is light years away from these requirements!
Perhaps the generation coming up, living with the new emphasis on healthy food, and organic growing, will have a different, more wholistic view about farming, food and nature. I hope so.
I believe, however, that these are things that fall into the "in a perfect world" category. During my years maintaining people's gardens, teaching gardening classes, and setting up school gardens, I have learned, not the limitations of Mother Nature, but rather the limitations of humanity, and how they think of food and the food providers.
Raising and harvesting food is hard work - take a look at the field workers bent over strawberry or squash plants, for hours in the sun. Imagine if we paid them what their labor was truly worth. It is even more difficult - and expensive to grow food if you are doing it organically. Yet we hesitate to spend our money on humanely raised animals, organic or fair trade food items.
One of the big issues with our food, is that we have become accustomed to low prices, as well as any food item being available at any time of the year. Not strawberry season in California? It is, somewhere in the world, and it can be shipped here quickly. If we are truly attempting to be in touch with nature, we wouldn't ship (all that fuel, so unsustainable), but rather eat whatever is in season, and locally grown. That means strawberries in April/May, apples in fall, melons in the summer. Lettuce and other things can be grown year round hydroponically - but is that truly "nature"?
What about composting and fertilizer? Everyone wants to compost, or have a green waste program. How far away shall we ship our green waste? Are you willing to have a compost/green waste facility around the block from your home? Would you want a dairy farm with cattle roaming in a large space near you? How far away, and what kind of place are they actually living in?
I hope that these idealistic approaches to feeding our nation and the world become more of a reality in our daily lives. I want to believe that people will take for granted that paying $15 a pound for a humanely, organically raised chicken is rational. I hope we can adjust to the fact that we can eat kale year round, but peaches will only be available in summer.
And as for that Food Forest, who will water, prune, and harvest from these fruit trees? People ask me for a tree that doesn't have leaf litter, big roots, drop flowers. They invariably want low to no maintenance. A fruit tree is light years away from these requirements!
Perhaps the generation coming up, living with the new emphasis on healthy food, and organic growing, will have a different, more wholistic view about farming, food and nature. I hope so.