"Fossil fuels, for example, were fun while they lasted, but now that they’re mostly depleted, it hardly makes sense for a new civilization to try to duplicate that effort."
That's a fairly ridiculous statement. Once you managed to get feeding people to a reasonable level in one large area, I'd think one of the first things you'd want to do is find a way to tap fossil fuels again for energy.
Regardless of one's predictions about the future, I think every parent should raise their kids knowing how to grow and forage their own food. Not everyone has the opportunity or skill to hunt or fish (if people live in certain areas it's impossible), but any idiot can learn to grow vegetables. All my kids have been lectured, nagged, dragged into digging, weeding, and helping since they were small. The main lesson they have learned is that everything wants to eat or destroy your harvest, and that you have to over plant, guard, and tend carefully. Also that you will end up sacrificing gourmet for hardiness, ability to produce in a short growing season (in our part of the country) pest resistance, and calorie density. They may never need this knowledge, but they know how to plant a potato patch, how to save seed, only to buy non-hybrid seeds and plants, etc.
Not to mention, one has to teach kids (and I have) to cook from scratch, how to eat seasonally, how to stock up and preserve food windfalls.
I lived for years as a kid on a farm relatively near the Amish country and was awestruck by their stewardship of the land, their delicious food, and the work the moms and daughters put into growing and preserving food for the family. When my kids were little they mocked me for my small scale efforts to emulate this, but now they are young adults they understand that that is how their ancestors settled this country and didn't starve. Seeds, starts, as well as stock animals.
Obviously, I'm talking about insurance against future disaster here. While I'm still working, and Iive in a place more hostile to agriculture than some Idaho potato field or California paradise, the cost benefit calculations still lead me to garden primarily as a hobby....
4 comments:
Why would you want to?
You wouldn't want to build it just the same way. Seeds, though: seeds are wise.
"Fossil fuels, for example, were fun while they lasted, but now that they’re mostly depleted, it hardly makes sense for a new civilization to try to duplicate that effort."
That's a fairly ridiculous statement. Once you managed to get feeding people to a reasonable level in one large area, I'd think one of the first things you'd want to do is find a way to tap fossil fuels again for energy.
Regardless of one's predictions about the future, I think every parent should raise their kids knowing how to grow and forage their own food. Not everyone has the opportunity or skill to hunt or fish (if people live in certain areas it's impossible), but any idiot can learn to grow vegetables. All my kids have been lectured, nagged, dragged into digging, weeding, and helping since they were small. The main lesson they have learned is that everything wants to eat or destroy your harvest, and that you have to over plant, guard, and tend carefully. Also that you will end up sacrificing gourmet for hardiness, ability to produce in a short growing season (in our part of the country) pest resistance, and calorie density. They may never need this knowledge, but they know how to plant a potato patch, how to save seed, only to buy non-hybrid seeds and plants, etc.
Not to mention, one has to teach kids (and I have) to cook from scratch, how to eat seasonally, how to stock up and preserve food windfalls.
I lived for years as a kid on a farm relatively near the Amish country and was awestruck by their stewardship of the land, their delicious food, and the work the moms and daughters put into growing and preserving food for the family. When my kids were little they mocked me for my small scale efforts to emulate this, but now they are young adults they understand that that is how their ancestors settled this country and didn't starve. Seeds, starts, as well as stock animals.
Obviously, I'm talking about insurance against future disaster here. While I'm still working, and Iive in a place more hostile to agriculture than some Idaho potato field or California paradise, the cost benefit calculations still lead me to garden primarily as a hobby....
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