tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post2741555327874088733..comments2023-10-17T04:51:08.765-10:00Comments on KauaiEclectic: Musings: Be It, Live ItJoan Conrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00172330100788007499noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-13445774817641035162014-04-29T09:01:06.312-10:002014-04-29T09:01:06.312-10:00RE: the Above Comment
Sorry I meant: It’s so hard...RE: the Above Comment<br /><br />Sorry I meant: It’s so hard to maintain an enterprise when it’s fueled solely by lofty egalitarian goals.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-40789977172442625562014-04-28T22:32:21.433-10:002014-04-28T22:32:21.433-10:00Let me know April 28, 2014 at 1:09 PM when you see...Let me know April 28, 2014 at 1:09 PM when you see those walls coming because all I can see are great distances open to possibilities. But I hate to observe that the concept community farms is not new. People did such things ever since it became vogue in the 60s and it was all love, peace and joy until fewer and fewer people began showing up to do the work. It’s so hard to maintain an enterprise when it’s not fueled solely by lofty egalitarian goals. Sadly, human nature always seems to lose interest in those lofty goals and community efforts fade away. That’s why we have government. It takes money from us and pays to have these things done for us so we can be busy doing the things that directly and materially reward us like developing commercial farms to feed us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-6003689758328385972014-04-28T21:00:50.097-10:002014-04-28T21:00:50.097-10:00I am not intending to suggest there is a one-size-...I am not intending to suggest there is a one-size-fits-all answer, but to show that we have choices in how we respond to situations. We need many different approaches, including cheap, long-term leases for beginning farmers who have some promise of succeeding. <br /><br />My example of clearing a loi was based on the Hui Kalo model, where many people working together can quickly pull a loi into shape so a farmer or two can manage it from there. <br /><br />No, I don't think the Malama Kauai projects did very well, but that doesn't mean any related concept should be rejected. You just need people who know what they're doing in the leadership roles. Backyard gardens could help lessen our dependence on imported food. In generations past, Kauai folks did produce much of what they ate, in part by working together in ways we do not see now. <br /><br />As for practicality, I'd suggest "being the change." That will shift your own life, which is the only one you have any semblance of control over. Joan Conrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00172330100788007499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-19590158146507462732014-04-28T20:32:28.679-10:002014-04-28T20:32:28.679-10:00Aloha Joan,
I began reading in hopes that you mig...Aloha Joan,<br /><br />I began reading in hopes that you might shed some light on practical individual or collective steps that could be taken get willing farmers on the land. You offered up this;<br /><br />"Under a practical solution, folks mobilize for work days to clear, open and plant loi. People get exercise, learn useful skills, gain an understanding of land, water and culture, meet neighbors, build community and feel a sense of pride every time they look at that loi, or harvest from it. Money is invested in buying tractors, fixing water systems, securing leases. Healthy, indigenous food is produced."<br /><br />I think organizing a neighborhood rally to clear and open land (public land, private land, the front yard of a bank owned vacant house????) is rather romantic and nice sounding, but not very practical. Are you suggesting forming neighborhood farming coops, where everyone chips in for farming infrastructure (drip tape, irrigation, spades, shovels, o'os, chainsaws for clearing, tractors for opening)? The cooperative or commune idea is just to radical for most, the environment is not ripe for it, and people are generally cantakerous. <br /><br />As a previous poster stated, this does sound like Malama Kauai's projects, the community garden/food forest projects, and the farmer start-up programs where the farmer would be paired with some wealthy landowner upon completion of the course. Worthy endeavors indeed, but did it work? Did it add to food independence? Will community neighborhood garden rallies lessen our dependence on imported foods? <br /><br />Will shifting our paradigms and 'being the change' accomplish our goals? I believe it will, but it may take decades, or it may never happen on a collective level in the way that some want it. Your local taro farmer friend seems to be operating from a sensible paradigm, but it's been nine years since he's found a space to farm. I've been searching for nearly six years for a place to farm. I don't have much time for neighborhood garden rallies because I'm busy making money to cover the costs; rent, utilities, even food. I would like nothing more than to find a long-term land lease, or purchase at an affordable price, but those options have not been made available. <br /><br />I was hoping to glean 'practical' resolutions to these very challening issues, but found none that were very convincing. Maybe the two are incompactible, paradise and agriculture. The land becomes to valuable for growing anything but resorts, roads, and parking lots. Troynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-88425238561057306112014-04-28T19:43:01.461-10:002014-04-28T19:43:01.461-10:00Islandwide,
Poisoning the land may be a bit of an...Islandwide,<br /><br />Poisoning the land may be a bit of an emotional overstatement, but I can help clarify what the previous poster meant. <br /><br />Contemporary industrial agriculture, albeit gmo or not, is solely dependent on cheap and abundant fossilu fuel. Oil from the ground is used to manufacture everything from synthetic fertilizers, to herbicides and pesticides. The yields that these companies boast are made possible only by cheap energy. Simply, there is not much, if any, native fertility in the west side's gmo seed plots. If I walk out to my backyard, prep a bed and broadcast a diversity of seeds, I will have food in a couple of weeks. If I walk out to a GMO seed plot, throw some seeds on bare soil, I would be unlikely to get much food. Reason being, those fields have been stripped of the minerals and elements necessary to healthy plant growth due to excessive monocropping of sugar cane and later GMO corn. The corn looks green and healthy only because of the absurd amount of chemical inputs that are needed to sustain such growth. The kicker is, there's only so much cheap and abundant fossil fuel energy.Troynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-13097906249164636512014-04-28T16:21:53.095-10:002014-04-28T16:21:53.095-10:00Show evidences that Seed Companies are poisoning t...Show evidences that Seed Companies are poisoning the land. If the land is poisoned, why are they still growing things on it? If countries have banned GMO's why are they importing millions of $$ in food and farm feed from the USA? We are the only country that is capable to feed more people in the world more than any other country, That's a fact!<br />Why is that?islandwidenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-64933295919268586782014-04-28T16:10:00.842-10:002014-04-28T16:10:00.842-10:00Thank you for reminding us we always have a choice...Thank you for reminding us we always have a choice.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-48929462714836136522014-04-28T16:03:30.329-10:002014-04-28T16:03:30.329-10:00"Haole" economic system?
There is plen..."Haole" economic system? <br /><br />There is plenty of nontoxic land and healthy people to grow food. Are you waiting for economic collapse to get started? Quit blaming the chem companies!<br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-79215331614865581582014-04-28T13:09:56.349-10:002014-04-28T13:09:56.349-10:00Our haole economic system is about to hit the wall...Our haole economic system is about to hit the wall. When that happens we will turn to the people who should have been our teachers all along. They are living a sustainable life style. They know how to grow healthy food, fish, hunt and barter and they do it with aloha. When this happens, i hope that there will be some land left on these islands that isn't too toxic to farm, and some people who are not too sick to farm them. You are trying to play nice with dealers in death who don't care about you or me or indigenous people, or sustainability. Unlike other nations, ours does not protect us, so we must protect ourselves. <br />Ka'imi is my good friend too, and needs support. We need to embrace and support him and others like him. To do so is to support ourselves; the very best part of ourselves. I understand what you're saying, and believe we are doing the best we can to address all of the issues you mentioned. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-2183532827337207162014-04-28T11:54:16.209-10:002014-04-28T11:54:16.209-10:00good stuff Joan..
family members quiety scold me f...good stuff Joan..<br />family members quiety scold me for my heartfelt active involvement within the community i was born and raised in. Letters and council testimony cause riffs with "why do you care?" hmmmm…Some i've head butted could care less about open dialogue for depolarizing the plight, another rich ex boss would say "keep your enemies closer" as if there was a sinister way to better his position by knowing the other side up close. Utopia won't condense from the very well intentioned few . I will continue to read yours and others opinions to further my heart in how to better this lush isle community. Life keeps life-ing…Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-19407663807413492582014-04-28T11:46:47.822-10:002014-04-28T11:46:47.822-10:00Outstanding points, Joan.
The reality is that the...Outstanding points, Joan.<br /><br />The reality is that the "sustainability" movement should be called "I got mine, raise the drawbridge" or "not in my backyard".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-68361897394773887272014-04-28T10:54:32.641-10:002014-04-28T10:54:32.641-10:00You the best for the silent majority! Please keep...You the best for the silent majority! Please keep your blogs coming!islandwidenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7875069982976812251.post-22781834245101036252014-04-28T10:54:24.131-10:002014-04-28T10:54:24.131-10:00That plan sounds a lot like Malama Kauai's com...That plan sounds a lot like Malama Kauai's community garden and food forest projects, which I agree, were worthy endeavors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com