Amen to Local purchasing and gardening.
Farmers when dealing with big corporations don't make much money. I once witnessed a protest of farm produce prices. The farmers hosted a fantastic breakfast of Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, cereals, fruits. The whole nine yards. How much a farmer makes off a meal that could easily sell for $5-$12? -43 cents- Cutting out the middlemen besides the basic environmental benefits of shipping may also save you a little money and get a farmer a little more money than he would normally make.
Home gardening is a down to earth disipline, and I would much rather spend a few hours a week providing for myself rather than working for the money under some douchebag supervisor that gets the big money for working me like a dog. Also the best home gardeners COMPOST. I began composting my organic waste in the winter of last year after some internet browsing and reading a few books from the local library. I can proudly say I have prevented atleast 5 bags of garbage from bloating the landfill and made a healthy soil for my garden.
Some information I would like to share from my recent investigations into organic gardening...
CSAs
Community supported agriculture is a trend I've just become aware of. Farming is hard and sometimes sporadic work. Farmers are banding together to build more community awareness of their business and offer labor exchange programs. A farm not far from where I live is organic and sells shares. Each share gets a certain percentage of crop yield. They also offer reduced share prices to people who contribute a certain amount of labor in running the farm. They also offer the option of working for a day and at the end of the day having a pick of the harvested vegetables.
**Note** Not all CSAs are organic operations.
WWOOF
World Wide Organic Opportunities Foundation is a loosely organized network. It offers internship at organic operations. You get hands on training and room and board in exchange for working on the farm. Some people use this as a means of travelling crossed country, and as it is a international movement you could even find an internship in the caribean or england, or italy, all over the world. I am hoping to experiment with some local WWOOF operations next year before eventually going abroad.
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