Sunday, February 21, 2010

Just a few quick notes.

Still not to much to write about here. We are still tightly in the grip of old man winter. It can sometimes be frustrating watching others around the net talk of planting and first crops while I am trying not to think about the fact that I need to go shovel the walk again. Still the sun comes up a little earlier each day and sets a little latter each afternoon and fells quite strong while it is shinning down. Someday we too will have spring.
We went to the Annual Sustainable Farming Conference at St. Olaf College in Northfield yesterday. It was not as good as I had hoped. There was just not enough practical know how sharing going on. Too many people seemed focused on the negative and not enough focused on what we collectively can do about it. I heard a good deal of frustration, fear and uncertainty in the people in the audience and I totaly understand that. Many of the people allied there had been concerned about issues like Peak Oil, Global Climate change, environmental issues and social justice for a long time and have lost some of their positive outlook and zeal. One common thread was that we all need to find ways to bring more people into the effort. We need to find ways to communicate both the importance of these issues but also the opportunity for society they could represent. So I encourage all of you to keep sharing what you learn with others who may be open to hearing you.

Frustrated Farmer Rick

4 comments:

Jessica said...

Yes, I was hoping for more about what we could do to get more people involved and help things to progress. It would have been nice to see minority farmers there as well as urban farmers.

ellisgrove said...

Planting a garden in my small urban yard every year gets converts. Kids walk by and WOW over a vine of snake gourds. Neighbors to the south are impressed with snap peas on our mutual fence. Where Food Comes From is the message, and a little garden is the messenger.

Diane said...

Just discovered your site by hitting "next blog" from Homegrown Evolution. They finally made that feature relevant. We garden, bake, preserve and brew (when my husband forgets how much he hates washing bottles) so I'll be bookmarking your blog and reading old posts.

Frustrated Farmer Rick said...

Jessica- Thanks Honey. Maybe next year eh?

Ellis- we are more of an ex-urb here but I do agree that we are seeing more every day.

Diane-Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can find something that you find useful or entertaining here.