Re: What's up with people?

Posted by John_PA on August 04, 2012 at 23:46:48 from (72.95.158.197):

In Reply to: What's up with people? posted by greg1959 on August 01, 2012 at 12:25:31:

Watch GAC this coming september. There is a new show coming out called, "Farm Kings."

There is a huge huge demand for farm fresh produce... but not out here in the sticks. (I say the sticks, but I am a 25 minute drive from downtown Pittsburgh, PA. Believe it or not, it is extremely rural here... for now...) If I drive to southern Butler County, PA in the area of Wexford, Cranberry, Valencia, you become a mighty sorcerer who can magically conjure up vegetables from the dirt. Cranberry, PA and Wexford, PA used to be a cow pasture with a few houses and barns scattered around. Then, they built a 4 lane(now 6 lane) highway straight from downtown Pittsburgh to that area in the mid 1970's. The next thing you know, you can't find a single cow or farmer or farm in the whole area. The entire thing is houses filled with uppity yuppies and urban anti-wunderlusters who decided that escaping Allegheny County taxes was more important than remaining in their natural habitat. small annecdote... I had to explain to a grown woman what mud was when I was in my early teens. She didn't understand the concept of mud caking to shoes.

Regardless, there is a new trend in the next generation of greenies and tree huggers. It's called "hipster." That's not to be confused with "hippie." No, my rural friends, these "hipsters" are taking over society with their non-mainstream tastes and attitudes. They yearn to have a purpose in life, and since their lives are, in fact, meaningless and dull, have therefore assigned anything not popular, or beyond pop-culture to be in vogue trendiness. This new breed is being fed by media which insists that companies like mo*nsanto are poisoning us all. After all, the mainstream embraces companies like mon8santo. Most people who own a yard have purchased roundup to kill weeds. It's mainstream, yet somehow taboo.

One of the newest trends to come with these wandering souls is the embracement of certified naturally grown and organic produce. Now with the who 99% movement and occupy wallstreet, those trendy hipsters have even invented their own words for the dictionary. One of which is "localvore." An obvious uptake on the terms carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore; these localvores insist only on buying local produce as long as it is provided to them in a timely fashion and in a non-pop cuture way. Such was the famous wrapping of fish and chips into uncirculated newspapers, these hipsters embrace farmers markets where once dead terms like peck, pint, and bushel still exsist. pop-culture wants us to believe that only white chicken eggs are good pure clean chickens eggs. These hipsters laugh in teh face of that wisdom adn say, "bring me your spotted, your tan, your dark brown eggs. For I am a hipster, and I clash with pop-culture's insistance on the white egg."

A quick side bar on an obviously extraneous tangent:

The first time I saw one of the new E class Mercedes cars was not in the streets of Fox Chapel, or Upper St. Clair or any of the other old money communities around Pittsburgh. In fact, it was on a hog and chicken farm in the middle of nowhere off the highway... purchasing those sacred brown eggs... (I personally have nothing against brown eggs, but, being 1 of 4 children growing up in a farm family that barely made enough to pay teh telephone bill and electric, I ate only brown eggs my entire life. The moment I knew our family was finally doing ok, was when dear old mom butchered the remaining chickens and store bought the white eggs. to me it was a symbol of just being like everyone else. no offense to any brown egg lovers. I don't care if they are trendy, to me, they are poor people eggs.)



and back to my original point-

A new show about a local Butler County, PA farm will be airing on GAC this fall. They are truely an amazing family, and they deserve all the credit in the world. What their show will do is to spotlight the local farmers markets, especially here in western PA. By doing such, the show will make the farmers market a part of our new pop-culture. I think the hipsters' heads might explode if that happens, but, it will do wonders for some who want to have a whack at farming. The problem for me? There will be lots of people who decide to start "homesteading" and try to buy up all the available farm acreage, as it will be the new trend. They will try to farm with no skills... My cash cropping days might bite the dust as I can't compete in cash rents with those who pay $7 for a cup of cafe double latte espressamochachino al dente or whatever the he11 these people are paying $7 a cup for... They are young, they have money, and they are going to wreck things for me as I don't really care to ride the bandwagon of folks competing in truck farming. My version of a red neck is the truck farmer bent over all day picking things getting a bad sunburn on his neck. I'm not a red neck like that. I'm a college educated, farm raised cash cropper who uses modern technology and air conditioned cabs and machinery. I'm not going to hand weed my spinach greens or swiss chard. I don't even know what arugula is, let alone grow it.

The point is, this is what we are heading for, in suburban and urban sprawling cities it is becoming extremely trendy. So, if you have produce and you want to make (for actual example) $9 per Lb on your spinach, become a trendy CSA farmer near a densely populated city in teh near future. That's where this is going.

...and also, watch the show, it will be good.





http://triblive.com/home/1683749-74/farmers-farm-farming-experience-farms-schlass-living-agriculture-county-deemer

I did not write that article, I am not 100% in agreeance with what the author wrote. I personally know Schlass. My opinions are formed from knowing her and trying to guide her for a brief period of time when she first started her farm.

How what all I just typed relates to the original author of this post: If you plan on overplanting any crops, consider starting a CSA, and overplant everything. nothign has to be 100% weed free, or chemical free. I know for a fact some fo the "nutrients" considered "certified naturally grown" are things I wouldn't be spraying directly onto flowering foiliage. But, how it works is that you advertise for a CSA membership. You charge $600 for a year membership. You give a discount for anyone who signs up for a CSA workshare, where they go out and weed your garden. Then, once a week, you pick everything in the garden, divide it up equally into boxes numberign teh share holders, and hand them each a box from your front porch when they come to pick it up. So, they pay you, they do work, they come pick it up, and you never have left overs.

at $600 per membership, get 10 members, take the $6000 and hire your kids to work in the garden, or hire the neighbors' kid. Then, you have a nice garden, no work, a fair share of the produce, and some extra money in your pocket. It's becoming trendy, jump on the bandwagon now, unless of course, you live out in the sticks... In that case, can you pick me some zuchini? I didn't get around to planting any this year and I am craving it.

Thanks for reading.

John

This post was edited by John_PA at 23:55:06 08/04/12.

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