Alternative Community Farmer/WPB.FL

Have classes and shovel.Will travel! If you love to GROW  a PRODUCTIVE   garden or want to LEARN how to start one , let us talk?
 
When I started my Organic Gardening classes at community gardens I did not expect that one day a College will host my classes.It happened last month on October 15,2011.Out of seven community gardens I cofounded or contributed in bringing into life one is still breathing.The rest ? RIP..I will explain to you why in a future news letter!
To prove to you that Education  and Urban Farming  go hand on hand to uplift our MINDF/SOUL with AWARENESS   as well as to bring back  Organic SOIL into our HANDS/BODY  :I attach a document .The PBSC  evaluation of my class by the students who attended the Palm Beach State College -Green Expo  ,it  speaks for itself ,like they say :Numbers do not lie!!Check this attachment :
 
Evaluation Form Green Expo Presentations Tony Dagher LW (2).docx (application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document) 46.00K
Attach a file
 
So what?

Education is of the essence. To tranform awareness into consciousness , it takes time and work..This will happen when we bring back the FARMING SPIRIT  INTO OUR HOMES and start  PRODUCING OUR OWN FOOD .JUST LIKE  WE USED TO DO BACK... IN HISTORY.Money does not grow on TREES.Neither TREES can grow from money.Trees and Veggies grow in gardens and farms.They need compost and ,earth,water and sun..in addition to our green thumbs and dirt covered hands .
 
Shall we say farming has become history ?Back in history ,we imported slaves  from Africa to our plantations..Now at PRESENT we allowed migrant farmers to do the same SWEAT SHOP job .While we enjoyed the luxury of air conditioned rooms they dug the dirt and sweat the sweat so that we will be able to eat tomatoes ripened with growth hormones like  ETHYLENE!!Wonder why tomatoes LOOK like tomatoes but don't taste like them?
 
In the age of INFORMATION and computers our hands and fingers are now touching screens and IT gadgets ,but not soil.The EARTH used to grow our food .Now Factory Farms and Labs are doing it.Tablets of vitamins and "food" energy capsules.Wonder why we are being transformed into machines ?
 
Back to the garden will be the NEXT BACK to school call!
 
Urban farmers will be the next job creation .Farmers will be graduating from schools ,and urban farms will take over the Factory Farms.If you want to be free and your own, grow your own...!The inside of you is as precious as the outside or shall you spend money on signiture clothes and homes and things ,while your body /mind  is fed junk !!!You decide!Your inside is as precious ...
 
 

Evaluation Form Green Expo Presentations Tony Dagher LW (2).docx
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The future is set on Legal Immigrants Farmers to replace the Illegal Migrant Farmers.There is an EXODUS of illegal migrant farmers here in the US back home.

The immigration laws set by the STAES like Arizona,Alabama,California,Georgia etc..are encouraging immigrant farmers to migrate back home .Who will be the hands to replace those farmers is the question yet to be answered?

Here is a report by the NYT that sheds a light on the alternatives:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/us/refugees-in-united-states-take-up-farming.html?_r=1&ref=localfood

The case is not just so easy to tackle.Controversy is always the answer.Many alternatives chief among those in the short run will focus on Legal Immigrants and Refugees  skilled farming hands and education .

In the long term, focus should be on EDUCATING our young generation to take Farming Jobs SERIOUSLY!

The future is set on Legal Immigrants Farmers to replace the Illegal Migrant Farmers.There is an EXODUS of illegal migrant farmers here in the US , goung back back home to Mexico and central and south America.

The immigration laws set by the STAES like Arizona,Alabama,California,Georgia etc..are encouraging immigrant farmers to migrate back home .Who will be the hands to replace those farmers is the question yet to be answered?

Here is a report by the NYT that sheds a light on the alternatives:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/us/refugees-in-united-states-take-up-farming.html?_r=1&ref=localfood

The case is not just so easy to tackle.Controversy is always the answer.Many alternatives chief among those in the short run will focus on Legal Immigrants and Refugees  skilled farming hands and education .

In the long term, focus should be on EDUCATING our young generation to take Farming Jobs SERIOUSLY!

As we hear a lot of TALK on CREATING JOBS , we barley mention anything about incentives,stimulus,fringe benefits that are essentially needed to be allocated to Farmin Jobs to attract more Americans to fill in the THE BLANK!!!

Farmers are the ones who work hard to farm the land and GROW  the  food that GOES on the table.

Common sense says that farmers should reap the benefits of their toil and make money growing crops . right?

Gues what is the real deal and f who reaps the profits ? Specultaors and wall street mogols.

Speculators control the price of rice,wheat,corn and so on of the farmers crops..

Are we wittnessing a wave of American Spring following the so called Arab Spring?

Most people do not know that behind all those so called "springs" ,and  the real causes for the uprisings .Guess what?Skyrocketing food prices manipulated by  speculations of commodities by Wall Street money Mogels!

Some one might "spring" out and silence a free speach right of an informed farmer who knows that he is losing money while the speculators of his farm commodities are stacking profits on his farm "products".But not in FREE America.May be in Syria or any other totalitarian stae!

What makes America GREAT is the freedoms that are granted by the constitution to the constituants.Free Farmers know how to think and speak out like most of the FREE citizens of this GREAT country America.So are we wittnessing this FALL the fall of Wall Street ?

The mechanism of making some profit by those who farm the land, especially small family farmers,must be brought back to those who TOIL the land not those who SPOIL the land!The founding fathers like Jefferson and Washington were farmers.Lest not we forget that Freedom makes America strong and for now the weakest link is the one that defines how strong we are.Take out profits from farmers and give them to speculators and you will see more swelling of the sea of  Main Street demonstrators who are taking on  Wall Street.The bottom line whether it is an American Spring or Fall is always :The prices of commodities especially those that are produced by farmers.

http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-wall-street-u-version-arab-spring-091800745.html

Instead of killing time by just talking and printing junk thoughts or words , let us for a moment consider being truthful to ourhearts,souls and thoughts by just telling them the way we think them.I am not talking Frueian,Goethe otr Aristotle.I just want to think loud and admire social justice leaders like Ghandi for examplewhose birthday falls next month October.

Social justice in the farm and you remember the slaves in the plantations of America during the slavery ERA.Social justice in todays farm and you tell the tales of the sufferings of the migrant farmers .Social justice is not just a DREAM of Martin Luther King Jr or any human being who has been treated  for less than a human being..Why we gardeners and farmers always feel more than any other being on earth thevalue of social justice?Simply because we are the meek who shall inherit the EARTH!

Jesus Christ parables used the mustard seed and the fig tree metaphors to teach us about how much power we have if and only if WE BELEIVED and had FAITH.THOUGHTS are also subject to the NATURAL LAWS .Just like Gravity governing the laws of quantum physics or simply the earth matter, spiritual gravity governs our metaphysical realm of our SOUL.We farmers and gardeners are the ones entrusted with "earthkeeping" and tending the soil with our hands and hearts..

From Emerson to Ghandi to Jefferson and Washington ..and many more who chose to immerse their thoughts into the depth of the soil reaching out to the hidden truths of our human existance.Buddha left the palce to live under the tree.How many of us are aware of the life force surrounding us and manifested in plants and animals .

The native Americans lived in nature,with nature and nature was part of their spirituality if not the one that inspired their medicine men to be their spiritual leaders.

Native American Medicine men are simply known as the INTERPRETERS .Theyu communicated with animals and plants and therefore they were able to heal just like Jesus did.He lived in the garden and was taken for crucifiction from the garden.Social justice seeds are loooking for home.May be it is your farm or your garden?

The media is buzzing with news about JOB CREATION.The president hires a General Electric ex - CEO to run the JOB CREATION campaign .

 In a GLOBALLY oriented ecconomy, business as usual does not look at nationality but rather at PROFITABILTY.It does not matter for MULTINATIONAL BIG BUSINESS where the dollar is coming from ,as  long  as it keeps on coming .What about Creating jobs locally , not just in Manufacturing, but also in AGRICULTURE!????

On the LOCAL level our GNP is growing with less than 2%.In Arizona UNEMPLOYMENT is near to the 1929 DEPRESSION unemployment level of 23%.INacting laws to punish illegal migrant farmers  ,for example, is now  backfiring !Look at  what has  happened in GEORGIA?

Wonder why crops are rotting in the fields and produce prices skyrocketting? Wonder no more:

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/georgias-new-immigration-law-leading-to-crops-rotting-in-farmers-fields/:

We can creat jobs by starting to transform our inefficient "LAWN "grass/ water consuming backyards, into PRODUCTIVE VEGETABLE GARDENS.The price of LOCALLY GROWN ORGANIC VEGETABLES is so lucrative to  start  growing PRODUCE locally !!The MEXICAN government is encouraging AGRICULTURAL OUTSOURCING and the movement of US Farm Business into MEXICo.Their Agticultural ecconomy is booming selling produce to US and EUROPE , while our ecconomy is in JEOPARDY and a big mess!Farm workers wages and land are DIRT cheap in Mexico, so why not??

NOW WITH THE CRACK DOWN ON ILLEGAL MIGRANT FARMERS, the exodus of American GROWERS is as rapid as well.MEXICO offers a farm worker cost of 10$ per DAY  versus the 10 $ per hour pau in USA!

When Money talks  , everybody listens.So, hello, anybody home?

The news of the growers  exodus are buried so far, not as much as for the migrant farmers news anyway!! 

Will we be  tasting our own medicine soon as price of produce keep on rising?.Blame it on climate change,flooding or whatever you like .The facts and numbers speak for themselves.We are losing the PRODUCE BATTLE to MEXICO .

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1459040

The SOLUTION?????

Activate Operation "Backyard Farming".That will definitely help to create more jobs in the US that produce" PRODUCE"!May be we can compete with Mexico by selling more Organic produce to Europe or keep our dollars at home  buying our own locally grown crops!!Foreigners are taking our jobs , yes?? . Start growing and   picking onions and tomato .Farming is a JOB that we need to bring back home !

It is GOOD TO KNOW and be AWARE!

There are so many books and web sites out there to teach you how to start an Organic Productive Garden.ALSO: A new wave of self proclaimed GREEN BUCK THUMBS/"FARMERS" , are out there vying for your buck!

Here are some suggestions to help you sifting the real from the fake "Farmers/ Organic Gardeners/Teachers":

1-BEWARE :There are claims that they have experience and education BLABLA.Ask for proof like a Master Gardener ID for example!

2-BEWARE:There are  salesmen who try to sell you their products like soil,organic fertilizers etc.Simply ask for their price lists and compare with garden outlets/local farmers .The "Fake" Farmers/Salesmen prices are usually way HIGH!

3-BE AWARE:Starting a vegetable garden in your backyard does not need a MEGA BUDGET .You need to start small and in containers to learn the process without breaking your back or bank!Be patient and be prepared!

4-BE AWARE:Ask questions and try to take as many Organic Gardening Classes that are compatable with your HARDINESS ZONE .Example: If you live in a TROPICAL ZONE, try to engage the learning process at a local garden hwere you may check out what grows best and what not  in that particular location.

5-BEWARE:Computer / ELECTRONIC /Distance classes are not a match for a HANDS ON LEARNING! 

6-BE AWARE:There are Urban Farmers who like to share their knowledge for FREE.Check out for FREE classes that are offered by independent local  farmers .

7-BE AWARE:Gardening is a PROCESS! Take your time to learn and implement what you have learned.Nothing grows overnight at the garden!

Check out my FREE Composting class this coming October 8th 2011.For more info, please visit:

localharvest.org/farms/M20618

Next week there will be new rules to define the status of the Migrant Farmers .Capitol hill legislatures will pass a NEW LAW earmarked as  an "E-VERIFY  Immigration  LAW"to determine and define the status of the MIGRANT FARMERS in US.

Here in Florida where the state is second to California in Agriculture is embracing for a massive exodus of migrant farmers once their status become challenged by the E-VERIFY .Big Agri-Business is sounding the ALARM as per an article today by the local PBPOST:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/e-verify-anxiety-local-growers-fear-u-s-1869630.html?showComments=true

The USA today had another article ,yesterday ,on Urban Farming or CITY FARMING in Chicago and other states.There is now a sudden AWAKENING for growing your own food .I have been crying in the wilderness for the last TWENTY years here about GROWING YOUR OWN and I contributed in establishing SWEVEN community gardens and FASILITATED HUNDREDS of Organic Gardening CLasses not to mention the help I provided to hundreds of home owners to start their own BACKYARD VEGETABLE GARDENS. Guess what? Now the wave is being stolen buy the PROFIT OR THE NON PROFIT  OPPORTUNISTS who $uddenly woke up to the DREAM of "GROWING YOUR OWN"..

Remember the pioneers who started the Organic Gardening and the Nutritional Supplement wave of the seventies and eighties, or the so called "HIPPIES"??? Where are they now? THeir companies and ideas were taken over by the GIANT COMPANIES!(Shall we say pharmaceutical or nuetracitical??)

The same people who wrote the books on CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS AGRICULTURE a re now writing the books and rules of the Organic Urban Farming! It is business as usual..unless you step in and hold on to your little gfamily farms or lands that you have converted into Urban Farms ..right next to the city sky scrapers:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/09/chicago-urban-farming-cit_n_956032.html

We nee3d to send messages to the younger generation through ORGANIC GARDENING classes at schools and churches and community gardens.There is a lack of AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION in the US as this kind of work is looked down at as MENIAL and PHYSICALLY HARD!

The climate changes are drawing new borders for the future farm:CIties and Suburbs!Rural America has failed continuasouly sine the secon WWW because the land was taken away from the Family Farmer and instead the BIG AGRI FERTILIZER BUSINESS took over.Now it is time to REVERSE na d GO BACK to BASICS!

I am sending the VIRTUAL WORD  out to the ACTUAL WORLD  : I have an ORGANIC  Dream .

I am looking for fertile land   to  sow my seeds on and may be more...

A rustic old fashioned barn and a  house with much repair work, or a small agricultural land with a  log cabin - secluded in a natural wooded area with fertile soil, fresh spring water and electricity available.

A relatively small sustainable farm , run down and cheap.Preferably to partner with and share my experience of teaching and practicing Organic Gardening!

 If A child bearing  healthy female,divorced ,widowed,with or without children is looking for an active older vegeterian partner/  helper !Then we need to talk!

The promised farming  land could  be in the first stages of development with building a locally conscious sustainable community in mind.   – This land may be shared with someone with a similar DREAM who dares to think diversity and practice sustainability.

The weather should be  moderate – to tropical but not ARCTIC.

Where the sun shines most of the time,the rain  bountiful and the land fertile and beautiful!

Thinking rural :California,Georgia,Tennesee,Oregon,Washington,North Carolina !

 If you are looking for a helper, a farmer partner ,an organic  gardening teacher,a dreamer,a vegeterian caterer and or a market go getter -who is ethical non-smoker/no-drugs or drinker ,people and plant friendly , then  we need to CONNECT! 

Organically speaking , in order to learn HOW to grow your own food NATURALLY, you must first shift your mind ,body and spirit into the ORGANIC gear mode!

Nature grows fruits and vegetables in a PROCESS.So , you need to slow down and be patient while working with  the elements and tackling the garden challenges.

Next step is to hook up to a local organic gardening network ,community garden,local urban farmer  to learn from their experience.

Taking a series of Organic Gardening Classes from certified and experienced HORTICULTURIST is  HIGHLY recommended!

From my experience teaching Organic Gardening classes ,here in the TROPICS, I found out that people have a WISHFUL THINKING  DESIRE to grow their own food and $ave, but they take their time and procrastinate before DOING IT!

The prices of organic produce have been sky rocketing lately due to inclement weather ,like flooding,draught etc..

Remember that spending big money on expensive classes that teach you THEORIES and overwhelm you with BLA BLA BLA ,is not enough.

Hands on and practicing what you learn in class is of the ESSENCE, especially  on one on one!

Small group classes give you an opportunity to interact and ask questions in addition to practicng  what you learn right in the GARDEN!

Planning ahead of time for a garden budget,classes,garden work schedule and a small area to start with your experimentation , is of extreme importance.

Practice makes perfect as they say.This is your chance to apply what you have learned.I prefer that you hire a gardening coach to walk you through the gardening process.Learning garden ergonimcs helps you keep your back on track and..your farm firm body out of harm way!

Start small with baby steps .Rekindle  your  zest by reconnecting with MOTHER EARTH!Go grow a productive  garden!Go GREEN and SAVE on GREEN BUCKS before too late.Produce prices are set to SOAR as per study:

http://www.produceretailer.com/produce-retailer-research/organics_set_to_soar_123000273.html

 Stay tuned and learn MORE @:

localharvest.org/farms/M20618!

Why the compost machine is so much in demand in S.Florida.??It takes minimum efforts to operate.Just make sure that you know how to mow your garden trash and grind your  kitchen scraps before you add into the Compost Machine.

Operating a compost BIN is not so complicated , the secret is HOW TO COMPOST the RIGHT WAY?Learning from Certified and Experienced Horticulturists helps a lot!Ask my students and read their reviews at my below web!

 I am fascilitating a FREE COMPOSTING Class for my regular GARDENING students .Why not join us, if you live in S.Florida?The growing season is imminent!

I beleive in giving back to the community, so I give away my experience,knowledge and time to teach garden enthusiasts to transform trash into cash or in other words :Garbage into Garden!

Learning from books and false prophets who clain to be EXOERTS in gardening just because they read so many garden books is not enough!

Got to learn the HANDS ON way...

Join my classes every month for FREE.This is my way of saying THANK YOU .Sharing my organic KBOW HOW in times of LESS MONEY , and LESS JOBS , LESS  LOCALLY GROWN ORGANIC AFFORDABLE FOOD is the answer to our need for a BOUNTIFUL ARICULTURAL society of LESSER INDUSTRIAL GREED !

More info about my classes at:

localharvest.org/farms/M20618

Here in south Florida , the climate of excessive heat/humidity and precepitation acts as a catalyst for growing spices and heat loving herbs.

Since ancient times , man and women used herbs  for their effective properties in culinary and medicinal recipies.

Herbs are potent and contain mega doses of vitamins and minerals when compared with vegetables.So when in use :Do not overdose and abuse.Small quantity is enough .

Heat loving herbs like basil,rosemary,sage have spiritiual meaning besides their culinary and medicinal values.Lovers love BASIL.Spirituals revere SAGE.Rose mary serves as an exceptional ANTI-OXIDANT and is good as REJEUVINATOR for  body mind and spirit .

There are CHALLENGES in growing herbs in south Florida.Mainly the soil is acidic and deficient in minerals.Therefore , before you think of growing herbs, think twice about your best soil to use.I grow and make my own herbs and soil!You can do it as well.

To learn more come to my classes every Saturday and Sunday ...Sign up for the HERBSlass this COMING SATURDAY at:

localharvest.org/farms/M20618

Bring/tell a friend!

I am so happy to read today in the NYT that finally someone cared about telling the tale of damages to farms and small farmers in the aftermath of TROIPICAL STORM IRENE.Check this out and my earlier blog article on the same subject .

I had the first response in reporting that farmers were hit the most especially in the New WEngland /Vermont?NY/Connecticut...Check this out  :

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/nyregion/after-irene-upstate-new-york-farmers-suffer-in-flood-plain.html?ref=nyregion

I am reporting this right now from FLORIDA , the home state of REAL HURRICANES and daily TROPICAL storms.Irene was just another normal tropical storm as we felt it here.No flooding or major "city flattening ".There were no "CATASTROPHIC"structural damages , not even tree debris or fallen  branches.Just someone drowned because he was surfing when MEAN IRENE was" flattening the EAST COAST "as the main stream media propaganda, especialy TV stations were reporting LIVE .

They were  keeping us in a PAINFUL PANICK non-stop coverage 24/7!I remembered the gulf war andf Iraq war coverage...they were hammering us about news of weapons of mass destruction while in reality it was news of MASS DECEPTION!

Here is another living example of UNBALANCED MEDIA coverage of the MEAN IRENE.There were so many scare coverage "HYPE" concentrating about losses to property/structures(Business/homes/infrastructure).And if they were documenting news for INSURANCE and EMERGENCY fund$ spending.Here is something no one wanted you to know:Hurricane IRENE was actually a tropical storm to reach NY as just a normal DEPRESSION, contrary to what the media and experts were telling us.

If you need a proof:Read the news of the AFTERMATH of IRENE.SERIOUS FLOODING and FERTILE soil desdtruction Damage is happening  far away from the EAST coast .There are so many farms and small farmers stretched in the NEW ENGLAND zone where Vermont,Massachusets and New Hampshire triangle of small family farmers are steretched and now affected with soil erosion due to flooding !Hello mainscream media.Anyone home?

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=51935&src=nhrss

Compare MEAN IRENE COVERAGE and RESPONSE   with the COVERAGE of "CARELESS"  LESS KATERINA COVERAGE/compensation$  .The latter costs were in the aprox 54 billions so far and counting .The former damages for all SIX STATES directly hit by IRENE costs are much  more less than those inflicted by only one(Louisiana)!but more media  fuss! Is it (reporting)for just monetary purposes like reaping more Insurance premium surcharge and emergency fund compensations etc?So far it is early to say but not late to speculate!

Family farms and small farmers are the next thing you will know who suffered most from the flooding as more crops and fertile soil get eroded and gone with the FLOODING.Watch this live i on you tube:

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/interactive/article/20110829/NEWS07/110829010/YouTube-Flooding-downtown-Brattleboro

There is one thiing  missing in the coverage by the main scream media:Damages and losses to farms and small farmers specifically!

Talking about fair reporting and balanced journalism in the media , why farmers are alweays left behind?Floods and storms do destroy crops as well as flatten cities like the missing pictures portrayed of the aftermath of IRENE.Where are the photos of the damages to the recepients of emergency funds that were prematurely declared to the benefiary states even before IRENE hit their grounds?Was LOISIANA state given same attention before by media etc?