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  1. TopTop #1
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    Master Gardener's Soliloquy on Life, Gardening, and Economic Collapse

    i thought this was interesting. Scott McGuire is a farmer in Ashland, Oregon, and he wrote a brief and maybe timely epistle on spring, gardening, with a few references to the contracting economy etc.

    he even touches on the subject of compost !


    "I have to put in my two cents here about the soil building idea and also tweak a few priorities.

    For those seriously interested in energy addiction recovery, the garden gate into the plant kingdom beckons wide. And as we remember and re-learn what-all it takes to feed ourselves, we'll find soil building is only one part of the picture. Yet having ground to grow on, any kind of ground, is the third most important thing. Even crappy soil can be improved if you have the second most important thing, water. Carving up lawns is a great idea; strips of sod can be stacked back-to-back to make a superior compost called turf-loam. However, so many lawns are nothing but sponges saturated with herbicides and other toxic residues. The ground underneath must then be loosened, aerated and re-mineralized to grow anything decent out of it.

    The first most important thing, the thing you need to have if soil and water are going to be of any use to you at all, is seeds. I must disagree with all the rapture around gold. Right now we need to be investing in seed supplies. We must OWN the seeds if we ever expect to be able to grow the plants. I don't care if you don't yet know your ass from an asparagus; BUY the seeds right NOW for the plants you're going to want to eat.

    Also, now is the time to purchase quality hand tools (the best ones are imported, American brands suck). A fork and spade, flat metal rake, hoes and scythes can all be rescued for a few hundred bucks. But if you don't have seeds in your pocket, you won't get very far in feeding anyone when you have to. If the S is really so close to HTF, then to hell with gold, you guys, buy greenhouses, windmills, bicycles, carts, tools, hoses, threshers, winnowers and PVC pipe! While gold may remain the standard between investors, seeds will become the currency between eaters. Invest in the Plant Stock Exchange!

    The thread about manure is not just talking shit. It highlights my favorite on the Top 10 List of Peak Everything, Peak Nitrogen. Ultimately, the only sources of plant-usable nitrogen that don't come from natural gas, come from the Legume Family (elitist Soil Bankers) and the asses of animals. All of the manures have their virtues, however take caution with horse these days because of nasty heartworm medications passing right through. Not everyone will be able to have animals, but everybody can possess seeds of legumes to grow the fertility- building plants for the compost.

    The transitional ecosystems of our very near future must first take root in our hearts and minds before they will ever be able to express out of our hands and muscles. We will be able to grow whatever we need, but first we have to get tighter with the plants. For instance, forget about all the fuss around the cannabis flowers, we need to be growing the stalk for the fiber and the seeds for the oils. Any true patriots out there have seeds to the Jeffersonian strain? There are riches lying in the roadside ditches of the Midwest.

    Highly recommended: Anything by John Jeavons' Biointensive growing methods. Comprehensive and concentrated knowledge, skills and wisdom. And a great seed catalog. Permaculture is a wonderful context for ultimate solutions, but we'll all need some more grounded horticultural skills to get there.

    This year I'm organizing a CSA around my 2/3's acre rented backyard.
    (Check out PeakMoment TV's tour of my place:
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOaPFt_ajvU#GU5U2spHI_4 )

    I will grow vegetables, flowers and herbs for 10 families, and they'll pay the rent. We'll also be giving away gardens to single moms and old ladies the way Dan Barker did for over a decade in Portland (over 1400 gardens for FREE). Home Gardening Project:
    https://www.jeffnet.org/~hgpf/

    If the game is really going to become about feeding ourselves, then the Mayans are right, it really is the end of time as we know it. The collapse will either happen within days, weeks, months or years, but they're all just some dead Emperor's slave- boxes. The recovery will happen during a growing season. Is it THIS one? If you think so, then get growing.

    Any post-petroleum life is going to be all about getting back on plant time. THIS growing season is our moment of now. The window of opportunity to harvest true wealth opens wide every spring. Peace is growing. Growing as much square footage as you can turn over within walking distance of where you live. No matter how small doesn't matter at all. At this point all we can do is plant seeds anyway. And all the ideas for a better sustainable life are seeds right now. It's up to us to sow them well and soon."

    from
    Act 2: From the Wilderness' Peak Oil Blog

    i don't have a specific link for the post from Scott the farmer so it will probably change in 2 or 3 days.
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  2. TopTop #2
    Photoguy
    Guest

    Re: Master Gardener's Soliloquy on Life, Gardening, and Economic Collapse

    Investing in seeds, gardening tools, rain collection systems and solar systems -in that order- is the best money you could spend right now.
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