Sometimes good ideas or arguments are not enough for success. Winning majorities requires support, compromises and a strategic approach. So, dear JM and dear Dave, please, please don' t lose courage and optimism. We need you more then ever. Please, please carry on and please stay optimistic.❤
Great deep discussion. I try to get my homestead going working in Germany besides working full time. It is a slow process but society and gov is not ready to make it as a full time farmer here. Hopefully i will be able soon to take JMs Masterclass
i don't consider the broad fork "tilling" if used appropriately
2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1
It seems that instead of farmers spending time in meetings, that they be to pay professional lawyers and lobyists to do this job, real professional who know how the system works and make it work to the small farmer´s davantage. I certainly would pay into something lie that!
If that worked, it would be working already. The experts are the farmers, the people on the ground with real world experience. Lawyers and lobbyists might sound nice, but they are already out there doing their thing.... and working for the groups with the deepest pockets. That's not the small guys, so it makes sense that the concerns of small farmers and local food networks aren't getting the consideration they deserve.
The human body requires nutrient dense food, not empty calories or chemically laden vegetables. Sure McDonald's and Walmart food is cheaper but what's the real cost if when you eat that type of low quality food you feel worse and then you're hungry again shortly after as you never got the nutrients your body was looking for in the first place?
@@JeffVarcoe true yes, but the family having hard time paying bills, rent, mortgage with rampant inflation, will buy cheap, highly processed food at walmart.
@@danphillips4590 I agree that times are tough financially. Education and advertising push us to those fast, feel good foods. I truly believe that's our barrier to organic farming. EDUCATION on the health benefits and methods to prepare REAL FOOD. Buying a whole chicken will give you a solid family meal and bones left over to make a wholesome soup. Next point, finding the TIME to eat healthy. As a society, we have work to do.
That's true to a point, but I'd point out that the reason why local small businesses can't operate at a price point like Walmart does is because the small businesses are absolutely buried in red tape, regulations, taxes, laws, and policies. Regulatory Compliance costs are a very serious part of any small business, and not many people ever think about it. When you say, "...cannot afford...", the first follow-up question should be, "What goes into the costs of goods and services being offered?" As soon as you ask answering that question, you see just how much junk we've put on small businesses in the West. It's an ugly thing, too, when you realize that these are things we thought would be good, or where necessary, but it worked exactly the opposite.
I would point out that this isn't just a problem for the farming community. As a small business myself, I've found that most people simply do not think about the 2nd Order and 3rd Order Effects of the things they support. Everyone talks about the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, but they never think about the million straws that came before it, and how those straws prevented the camel from being healthy and productive. This ignorance leads people to make very bad decisions in what they support because they vote for things that make them feel good about themselves rather than what will be good for generations down the road. Just the other day, for example, I thought I might forge myself a new hoe to help in the yard. I've been blacksmithing for years and know my way around the shop, so how hard could it be? Well, I went to the hardware store only a few miles away to look at the hoes they had in stock and kind of get an idea what I'd like to do. As I perused their collection, I was deeply saddened by what I saw. The hoes were all in very good condition and made well, but they were also a fraction of the cost it would take me to forge something similar. We have made it so very hostile to small businesses in the West that it's now impossible for us to produce things as simple as a garden hoe. My smithy is just a few miles away from that hardware store, and I should be able to make all their gardening implements for the local farmers. But, somehow, I can't even buy the materials for the price that the store can sell a finished piece. It's become more economical to have them made on the other side of the world, shipped thousands and thousands of miles, to end up on a store shelf near me, than it is for me to make the very same thing just five minutes up the road. Think about that for a minute. While people like to say that blacksmithing is antiquated and such, the truth is that the products are still being made, just not here. That garden hoe I bought at the local hardware store was one piece of solid forged steel on a hardwood handle. Nothing about it is antiquated or whatever. It's something I could very easily have made here in my smithy.... except that the rules and regulations make it impossible for me to compete. And when you start digging into that issue, you see that it's been one straw after another piled on the camel's back. Everything that was once made in the Western Nations is still being made, just not here. Why? Regulations, Laws, Taxes, and Policies. They add up. Any small business has to deal with local, state, and federal agencies. You have to hire a lawyer and an accountant to make sure you're "In Compliance". People never think about the 2nd Order Effects, but those straws pile on the camel all the same. And until we get that through our thick skulls and start acting right, I'm afraid that things are only going to get worse.
Sometimes good ideas or arguments are not enough for success. Winning majorities requires support, compromises and a strategic approach.
So, dear JM and dear Dave,
please, please don' t lose courage and optimism.
We need you more then ever. Please, please carry on and please stay optimistic.❤
I totally understand the idea of re reading books and learning something new every time and understanding more every time.
Thank you for this info!
Great deep discussion. I try to get my homestead going working in Germany besides working full time. It is a slow process but society and gov is not ready to make it as a full time farmer here. Hopefully i will be able soon to take JMs Masterclass
Its not free JM. All those services paid thru heavy taxation.
i don't consider the broad fork "tilling" if used appropriately
It seems that instead of farmers spending time in meetings, that they be to pay professional lawyers and lobyists to do this job, real professional who know how the system works and make it work to the small farmer´s davantage. I certainly would pay into something lie that!
If that worked, it would be working already. The experts are the farmers, the people on the ground with real world experience. Lawyers and lobbyists might sound nice, but they are already out there doing their thing.... and working for the groups with the deepest pockets. That's not the small guys, so it makes sense that the concerns of small farmers and local food networks aren't getting the consideration they deserve.
To feed the masses, ur prices need to compete with walmart. Many cannot afford local, organic.
The human body requires nutrient dense food, not empty calories or chemically laden vegetables. Sure McDonald's and Walmart food is cheaper but what's the real cost if when you eat that type of low quality food you feel worse and then you're hungry again shortly after as you never got the nutrients your body was looking for in the first place?
@@JeffVarcoe true yes, but the family having hard time paying bills, rent, mortgage with rampant inflation, will buy cheap, highly processed food at walmart.
@@danphillips4590 I agree that times are tough financially. Education and advertising push us to those fast, feel good foods. I truly believe that's our barrier to organic farming. EDUCATION on the health benefits and methods to prepare REAL FOOD.
Buying a whole chicken will give you a solid family meal and bones left over to make a wholesome soup.
Next point, finding the TIME to eat healthy. As a society, we have work to do.
And then they will pay the consequences. Poor people have never gotten the good food unless they grow it and raise it themselves.
That's true to a point, but I'd point out that the reason why local small businesses can't operate at a price point like Walmart does is because the small businesses are absolutely buried in red tape, regulations, taxes, laws, and policies. Regulatory Compliance costs are a very serious part of any small business, and not many people ever think about it. When you say, "...cannot afford...", the first follow-up question should be, "What goes into the costs of goods and services being offered?"
As soon as you ask answering that question, you see just how much junk we've put on small businesses in the West. It's an ugly thing, too, when you realize that these are things we thought would be good, or where necessary, but it worked exactly the opposite.
I would point out that this isn't just a problem for the farming community. As a small business myself, I've found that most people simply do not think about the 2nd Order and 3rd Order Effects of the things they support. Everyone talks about the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, but they never think about the million straws that came before it, and how those straws prevented the camel from being healthy and productive.
This ignorance leads people to make very bad decisions in what they support because they vote for things that make them feel good about themselves rather than what will be good for generations down the road.
Just the other day, for example, I thought I might forge myself a new hoe to help in the yard. I've been blacksmithing for years and know my way around the shop, so how hard could it be? Well, I went to the hardware store only a few miles away to look at the hoes they had in stock and kind of get an idea what I'd like to do.
As I perused their collection, I was deeply saddened by what I saw. The hoes were all in very good condition and made well, but they were also a fraction of the cost it would take me to forge something similar.
We have made it so very hostile to small businesses in the West that it's now impossible for us to produce things as simple as a garden hoe. My smithy is just a few miles away from that hardware store, and I should be able to make all their gardening implements for the local farmers. But, somehow, I can't even buy the materials for the price that the store can sell a finished piece. It's become more economical to have them made on the other side of the world, shipped thousands and thousands of miles, to end up on a store shelf near me, than it is for me to make the very same thing just five minutes up the road.
Think about that for a minute.
While people like to say that blacksmithing is antiquated and such, the truth is that the products are still being made, just not here. That garden hoe I bought at the local hardware store was one piece of solid forged steel on a hardwood handle. Nothing about it is antiquated or whatever. It's something I could very easily have made here in my smithy.... except that the rules and regulations make it impossible for me to compete.
And when you start digging into that issue, you see that it's been one straw after another piled on the camel's back. Everything that was once made in the Western Nations is still being made, just not here. Why? Regulations, Laws, Taxes, and Policies. They add up. Any small business has to deal with local, state, and federal agencies. You have to hire a lawyer and an accountant to make sure you're "In Compliance".
People never think about the 2nd Order Effects, but those straws pile on the camel all the same. And until we get that through our thick skulls and start acting right, I'm afraid that things are only going to get worse.
💚
First.
@jm fortier No rusty buckets for sure. Not Regenerative!
#asiflifeonearthmatters
You may be too young to know what a big event it was to get farmers to switch to no-till and additional step towards organic.
Could you share more?
@Ragnar0721 For centuries we use plow. Imagine trying to get them to stop.