Alternative Community Farmer/WPB.FL

Here is a new bail out to save a struggling chicken industry. $40 MILLION  to be spent by the USDA in the times of DEBT DEFAULT  and the downgrading of the economy.LEARN More :

http://business.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979951317

LAKE WORTH:A S.Florida small town is leading the nation on SUSTAINABLE living by embracing CHANGE and BOLD GREEN ideas like :Reverse osmosis (an approved ongoing project to MATERIALIZE in 2012),Organic Vegetable Gardens( Workshop sponsored  by city commision recently/ongoing debate) -Composting Program of recycling kitchen and yard trash into garden compost(Ongoing Program ,started in June 2010 at the LW Public Service Dept.)PLUS a chain of GREEN ENERGY REBATES, example:Rain Barrels ,compost bins,and much more .

Comes the raising of backyard chicken petition and ensuing debate:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/lakeworthchickens

 

Recently , the city commission approved for the fiirst time an ELECTRIC BILL reduction rate:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/lake-worth-approves-lower-electic-but-higher-water-1752324.html

Times are hard for the mostly working class community.The elected officials are reaching out and listening  and acting to elevate the struggles and activate solutions.

So, if people want to grow their own food or raise chicken to survive while facing more unemployment ,budget cuts and more financial hurdles, would that be a problem?

At least residents can turn trash into cash by composting and growing vegetale gardens instead of inefficient lawn grass!

 

Reduction of REGULATIONS and SPENDING BORROWED MONEY VERSUS INCREASE of INNOVATIONS and PRODUCTION of our own food including vegetable gardens and home raised chicken and  eggs might be a SOLUTION to our never ending love affair with CONSUMPTION and SPENDING.

Would the ideas of producing food to create MORE JOBS locally ,be more palatable now ?When we have less cash on hand and more hands to employ and mouths to feed , wouldn't it be a good idea to cut on spending borrowed money and start empowering the community to be self sustainable by producing its own food rather than depending on SOUP KITCHENS and FOOD STAMPS??

You decide!

Have you heard about what is happening in California to a Co-op that sells RAW MILK? Do you have a farm that produces raw milk or are you a consumer of RAW MILK?If the answer is YES, then you MUST read this:

http://blogs.forbes.com/erikkain/2011/08/03/swat-team-raids-raw-milk-farm-rawesome-arrests-owner/

The New York Tinmes today has an article about the same subject ..Kind of shocking to see the stock market sinking in the aftyermath of the debt default debate that opened the eyes on our FOURTEEN TRILLION of DEBT .Now the world and local financial markets are reacting and our dollar and stocks and homes and jobs will witness another double DIP..recession or shall we hope NOT  a DOUBLE DEPRESSION!

Another shocking story from Orange county in California :Police beats a homeless to death !Check this out:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/27/police-beat-homeless-full_n_911419.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44030983

~ What is going on with the world.??!Blame it on the HEAT WAVE of the global warmin!Our heads are becoming super heated and we are beating the life out of the heck of you name it! 

There are so many speculations and tradings going on as people watch TV and read thenews of the Debt Default Conferences Battles .

I have a friend who depends on social security for a living so he is now starting to grow his own food .He never bothered to do so before untill the latest news started to emerge about the Great Default.

I beleive in sustainability as an answer to our many social and ecconomic problems that used to be tackled with either  borrowing ,defaulting and or denying either or both as an issue.

Comfort zone created by the culture of Hi-TECH from TV to Cellular and counting...gadget wise!

Virtual reality and Actual reality is not same.Sanity and Insanity are not the same.Being Crazy is not Normal.So we are running away from our Problems and shooting instead the messenger .Remeber problem shooting?

So why now the Social Security becomes the focal point after so many decades of debt  .Shall we raise the debt ceiling or rather seal and stop the debt?

One dollar printed costs us forty cents as a debt to the Federal Reserve  which is printing the dollar and making 4o cents for every one dollar printed and borrowed by the government? I am not sure how the math goes , are you?

Farmers do not collect social security , do they?So growing their own food is the only security!

Here are some social security  food for thought :

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43912701/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

Now there is a new food pyramid called :myplate.If you did not know about it yet, it is time now to do so.

Here are some appetizers to choose from:

 

http://www.pcrm.org/newsletter/jun11/usda_food_plate.html

 

If it is good for you to eat more fruits and vegetables , then it is good news for produce farms and small farmers.But who is getting the subsidies and support to grow more of the produce?Are they the small organic farmers or the Big Agri business especially those who grow the grain for animals and use GMO seeds?

Is there an alternative to the new food pyramid or plate/ Check out :

mypowerplate.com

Bon Appetite

 

 

Do not miss this article.It is a must read by all who vote ,eat,produce and   grow  food - especially by small farmers and advocates ..They are being allegedly labelled as speaking of UNTRUTHS when expressing opinions about the Food safety Bill now speculated to go to the floor for voting this week as per NYT article below mentioned..

How about alleged biased reporting against small farmers and advocates ?

Let  the PEOPLE KNOW what is missing and who are to blame and why the bill has been stalling for two years without being passed?Why now suddenly it might be put to a quick vote  , without allowing more debate  about certain  measures ...?Guess who is pushing for the bill pass??The Democrats ? Guess who is pushing to stop it? Republicans? UNBELEIVABLE until you read it with your own eyes.Are you voting this coming November? Any body home small farmers?????It is time to be serious and start taking care of business before late.

Here is an excerpt  ,  blaming  small farmers  advocates among others opposing  the Food Safety bill, from a recent NYT article  on Sunday September 19th,2010.Check the whole article and find out for yourself who to blame :

Qoute:"The blame lies with a tight Senate calendar,a stubborn senator from Oklahomaand ,an unusual coalition of left-and right wing advocates for small farmers who have mounted a surprisingly effective Internet campaign.Their email-messages warned ,among other untruths,that the bill would outlaw organic farming".

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/health/policy/19food.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=food%20safety%bill&st=cse

What do  small farmers have to  say before the bill passes the floor this week in case it was put for vote as speculated ?

 

 

Most of us farmers and gardeners go with the flow as far as what is the status qua of agriculture.Unless we change the way we think by awakening our quest for  sustainability and "fossil fule" free agriculture.

Oil now is contaminating our water resources whether on land or sea.The rush for declaring our food independence from chemically produced produce is now being accelerated by the Gulf Oil Spill.

Hands in the Sands is a new organization that is opposing fossil fuel and ocean oil drilling.They dio not have a web site yet , but they are gathering crowds here at the Florida and beyond beaches .

Here in Florida we do feel the burden of the oil spill not just on our beaches and tourist attractions, but also in our homes and farms as well.

People may have observed that the seafood that they used to buy locally here in the Gulf coast are dwindling especially oysters and shells etc..Food harvested from the ocean is now becoming scarce and pollured by the recent Gulf oil spill.

Farmers and farms are already being downsized and vanishing by the ecconomic crunch not to mention the oil spill which is now obliterating the Tourist industry which is second to farming.

Markets ,malls, beaches  and restaurants are closing .We feal the brunt and the heat of the summer both financially and physically.We need help and we need it soon before the rest of what is still holding on is gone.

We in Florida are surrounded by  the Gulf coast  where the oil spill is busy changing the ocean of water into and ocean of oil and the East coast where it is connected to the west coast by the gulf stream .A new tropical storm now is forming  in the west coast and the Hurricane season has just began.Imagine your life being squeezed by a Hurricane season and an Oil spill that has been active and pouring oil since last April and counting.

This Independence day we need to celebrate in a different way.We need to declare our INDEPENDENCE from oil and fossil fuel agricultural derivatives like chemical fertilizers and pesticides.We need to start growing our own food in our own back yards.We need to stop our cravings for drugs and alchohol and other man made and packaged food laden with chemical additives that were given the right to be there in order to preserve shelf life but shorten our own .

Farmers now are fighting back for their rights to grow seeds of their own choice that are not owned and patented by a few corporations that put a control on farmers making a living.

For the first time in US history farmers are now being heard .Their greivances now are being investigated .Lately the government has started a series of workshops to listen to farmers concerns .

There are significant decline in farmers and farms.There are monopolies by giant Agri corporations.There are patented seeds that are owned by those few corporations..there are more and more constraints on agricultural competition.For all of this , now farmers are uniting for their rights and the government is lending them an ear.More details below on :US Farmers Oppose 'Big Ag'in Anti Trust Hearing."in the down below web link@:

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/US_farmers_oppose_big_ag.php

Have a Happy 4th.

Summer is here.Welcome tourists to the Florida sun and beaches...OOOPS...did we say something politically correct but environmentally speaking incorrect!

Farmers of the sea or fishermen now are crying for help to stop the oil spill from spilling their Florida Lobster harvest season which starts in the summer...Others who make a living from the ocean harvests are as well worried for losing their source of livelihood for the oil spill ..

Do we include SEA FOOD in the FOOD SAFETY BILL?If not , this is the right time to rush for adding it to the bill that is now pending at the Senate floor.may be some of us have forgotten already about it...So here is a refresher...Check out this web link:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_key=26714

 

 "THREE WEALTHY ATLANTA SUBURBAN COUNTIES HAVE DOUBLED THEIR USE of FOOD STAMPS..." reported the New York Times in its FRONT PAGE REPORT ON FOOD STAMPS..MORE DETAILS AT THE BELOW LINK:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/us/29foodstamps.html

The news that do not find its way to us like the story of a man who worked for eight years at a company that closed down manufacturing andf moved overseas under the NAFTA regulations.

This man is a real true story.Call him the DENIED STAMPS man for a nick name.He is not yet on the news but soon a lot of people like him will blow the whistle.

His last job was back in 2001.He lived with friends.He worked the land to grow his food.He depleted his 401 K and pension and when he applied for food stamps, he was BLUNTLY DENIED.IT happened recently !How many people are denied for reasons of red tape or no reasons at all?We need someone to investigate all the DENIED CASES..There are people who have applied and they are eligible but were denied.Just like those African American  voters who were wrongly stripped of their voting rights back in the 2001 elections and now they were reinstalled back into the system.There are corrupted officials- fixtures that are manipulating the system who need to lose their jobs so that the eligible can get food stamps.Fla. Governer has called for investigations of  corrupted officials lately.

In case we do not want to go that way.

Let us create another way to help those who can help themselves and grow their own food.

My idea is this:

Create FREE COMMUNITY PLOTS VOUCHERS for those who are able to work and PRODUCE their own FOOD .Let those plots be part of the IDLE LANDS to be transformed into COMMUNITY GARDENS.We created a garden in the White House .Therefore we can create similar gardens for those who have lost their homes in foreclosures or for those who have the ability to PRODUCE their own food .

This idea has worked in the past during EARLIER DEPRESSIONS and we call it : THE VICTORY GARDENS.History is repeating itself .So, let it be a full repetition for those who HAVE and those WHO HAVE NOT!

You save tax payers money.You stimulate local economy.Your reduce unemployment.You SAVE LIVES and MONEY!

In the TIMES OF:NO MONEY,NO JOB, NO HOME,NO FOOD- HARVEST THE  WILD EDIBLES .IT IS for FREE plus :GMO,PESTICIDE AND CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS FREE!Hold on: You forgot one thing,which one is edible and which one  is  poisonous?Aha..you need to be aware and do your homework depending where do you live! In case you are in Florida here arte some incredible edibles from what is leftover from the wilderness.

What is for dinner?

Fetch in the wild for the famous pursalane greens or pig weed, it makes a great  raw salad with wild florida cherry tomato . Or cook it  sauted with wild  onion and garlic  ,add the infamous rounded up dandelion greens weed and the boiled sliced dandelion root .Chop in prickly pear spikless cactus...add sea salt and extra virgin olive oil..mix and serve. YUMMY! Cost:FREE!

 

The Ubiquious Dandelion (Taraxacum officnale) :Which translates into "official remedy for illness".The seeds travel like parachute and spread all over .It is very rich in minerals and vitamins especiallyA , C and the B chain..It is bitter though especially when eaten raw..to take away the bitterness ,steam it.You risk the loss of the rich minerals and enzymes for the sake of taste!

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia spp.):The pear shaped cactus is a favorite dish when cooked or eaten as a salad among the indigenous peoples of the Caribean, Florida peninsula and the South and Central America .In mexicao it is used along with Aloe vera to treat certain cancers.It is also available in the form of dietery food supplemnts.

During the summer we have a plenty of edible fruit to harvest in the wild like:

Elderberry,coconut,dates,sawpalmetto,grapes.apples,papaya,avocado.

Coconut : Is a good source of vitamins and trace minerals. The natives here used its juice water to combat kidney and liver ailments besides to relinquish thirst.The oil extracted from the coconut is used for cooking and salads besides as an ointmment for the skin and a hair conditioner and fortifier.

Saw palmetto berries:Those fruits from the pigmy palms are a good food for those who have prostate problems .

Elderberry: The flowers and fruits were considered a great source for combating colds and flu.Also the berries were cooked into jelly ,juice,jam and preserve.

There are more and more to explore of the incredible wild edibles..Stay tuned