More than one way to "go public"

More and more folks seem to think that "public ownership" is the answer to corporate malfeasance. So, instead of bailing out fossil fuel companies, public ownership should be instituted. Rather than permitting private ownership of an emerging COVID-19 vaccine, we should nationalize the vaccine industry in the US. Such thinking, it seems to me, recognizes a multitude of problems we have allowed to develop and emerge in our corporate oligarchy in part by not exercising anti-trust powers with any frequency, by allowing "too big to fail" firms to develop, by putting our democracy up for sale to the  highest  bidders through Citizens United and dark money. But, those promoting public ownership seem either to be duplicitous or ignorant or both. At the moment, we have a government that is behaving as if it is under corporate control and / or that of foreign powers. (In a global economy, are they the same thing?) To cite an old planning dictum: "More of the same never solved a problem." Corporations should not be treated as persons until and unless they face a death penalty for corporate malfeasance.

almost 40% of corn to feed & residual, almost 30% to ethanol

Photo by J. Harrington

So what are we to do? Give up? Definitely not. There are at least two avenues we should be exploring more vigorously. The first is to carefully consider if Elinor Ostrum's principles for governing the commons offer substantial solutions to our current problems and, if so, how they could be instituted quickly and widely and locally

8 Principles for Managing a Commons

1. Define clear group boundaries.

2. Match rules governing use of common goods to local needs and conditions.

3. Ensure that those affected by the rules can participate in modifying the rules.

4. Make sure the rule-making rights of community members are respected by outside authorities.

5. Develop a system, carried out by community members, for monitoring members’ behavior.

6. Use graduated sanctions for rule violators.

7. Provide accessible, low-cost means for dispute resolution.

8. Build responsibility for governing the common resource in nested tiers from the lowest level up to the entire interconnected system.

Second, we should look carefully at how open source systems function and are managed. It's been some years since I first read The Cathedral and the Bazaar. I believe that many of the issues raised therein are pertinent today. The Right to Repair movement continues to increase in relevance. This morning, after looking at some regenerative agriculture web sites, on a whim I searched "open source agriculture." There appear to be very interesting developments in that sector. That's encouraging, about as much as a web site promoting regenerative agriculture based on poultry. To purchase a Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] share of 3 free range chickens, the cost cited is $45. Let's assume each chicken weighs 3 or 4 pounds, that means chicken costs about $4.00 to $5.00 per pound which seems competitive price-wise.

do they sell "field corn" at farmers markets?

Photo by J. Harrington

If we worked really hard, and cooperatively, we might trigger enough of a confluence of the commons principles with regenerative, open source, agroecological etc. farming to make it even less expensive economically and environmentally than continuing our current course of corporate controlled industrial food production, which appears to have passed the point of diminishing returns.

Doors opening, closing on us 

Marge Piercy - 1936-

Maybe there is more of the magical
in the idea of a door than in the door
itself. It’s always a matter of going
through into something else. But 

while some doors lead to cathedrals
arching up overhead like stormy skies
and some to sumptuous auditoriums
and some to caves of nuclear monsters 

most just yield a bathroom or a closet.
Still, the image of a door is liminal,
passing from one place into another
one state to the other, boundaries 

and promises and threats. Inside
to outside, light into dark, dark into
light, cold into warm, known into
strange, safe into terror, wind 

into stillness, silence into noise
or music. We slice our life into
segments by rituals, each a door
to a presumed new phase. We see 

ourselves progressing from room
to room perhaps dragging our toys
along until the last door opens
and we pass at last into was.

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Finding your foodshed

We're back from a pleasant and sunny but cold drive through west central Wisconsin farm country and lower North Woods. The freezer in our garage now has about 28 or 30 pounds of pork in it. It turns out that the farm where we purchased a "quarter hog" of pasture raised meat is near the northeast corner of the St. Croix Watershed. That's prompted me to think about having the watershed serve as a bioregional basis for explorations of our "foodshed." That immediately gets complicated by the fact that neither of the food coops we belong to are located in the watershed, although the CSA farm from which we've purchased shares this year is.

our local farmers market

Photo by J. Harrington

There are numerous reasons we're working to minimizing our support of the corporate-industrial-agriculture complex. One is to help support those who are working to restore heritage breeds. That broadens the gene pool and breed options available to farmers as they  cope with the  effects of our broken  climate. Another is that we're curious about the taste of non-standard fare. Yet another is that we believe a rural renaissance is more dependent on an increased number of smaller farms rather than larger tractors being operated by robots plowing, planting and harvesting larger and larger fields. Corporate persons have not been noteworthy in minimizing environmental or social harms. Although it currently seems beyond reach, I'd like my children to live on an earth less damaged and more restored than the one I grew up and old in. The more sustainable farming becomes, the more greenhouse gas emissions can be avoided and the more carbon can be sequestered. We really need a carbon neutral economy, including agriculture, by or before 2050.

our Community Supported Agriculture sheds

Photo by J. Harrington

During the past couple of years, I've become more and more curious about the argument between those who suggest that individual actions are unlikely to solve our climate problem, and those who tout individual actions as being essential contributors. We've become accustomed to lots of convenience and low cost in our food supply. That's led to more concentrated animal feeding operations [CAFOs] and overproduction in the dairy and other sectors. We need a better agricultural system from farm to fork it  seems to me. I'm not sure what that looks like so I'm going to look at and try some different approaches and see how much my real world experience is or is not reflected in media coverage as we move ahead. One small example: I've never really cared for sweet potatoes until last night. The Better Half carmelized some chunks and I actually liked them. I wouldn't know that today if I hadn't tried something new. Don't be a Mikey.

The Good Life

By Tracy K. Smith

When some people talk about money

They speak as if it were a mysterious lover

Who went out to buy milk and never

Came back, and it makes me nostalgic

For the years I lived on coffee and bread,

Hungry all the time, walking to work on payday

Like a woman journeying for water

From a village without a well, then living

One or two nights like everyone else

On roast chicken and red wine.

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It's CSA sign-up time

Well, we're at it again. We've signed up for a Spring and an Autumn share in a local Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] farm. I've wasted more time than is reasonable trying to figure out how CSA prices compare to local supermarkets or farmers markets. Such comparisons aren't easily made, although I just found a report that I've not had chance to review yet (Trends in U.S. Local and  Regional Food Systems). It looks promising if slightly dated. Much of the USDA ERS data can be filed under a heading of "ask what time it is and being told how to build a clock." Then again, I was surprised to see how consistent the numbers show that "middle income" American families spend almost half of their food budgets to eat away from home.

our local farmers market

Photo by J. Harrington

We also discovered a couple of additional sources on why folks might want to spend more on local and/or organic foods. One is provided by the Mayo Clinic and the other on WebMD.

our CSA pickup location

Photo by J. Harrington

Our first "Spring Greens" CSA share won't be ready for pick-up until May 1, almost three months from now. We're planning on splitting our share with the Daughter Person and Son-In-Law. One of my complaints about almost every CSA we've tried is that we end up with more than we can reasonably consume and throw out more than makes me comfortable. (According to Project Drawdown, the food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions.)

The Farm

By Joyce Sutphen

My father’s farm is an apple blossomer.

He keeps his hills in dandelion carpet

and weaves a lane of lilacs between the rose

and the jack-in-the-pulpits.

His sleek cows ripple in the pastures.

The dog and purple iris

keep watch at the garden’s end.

His farm is rolling thunder,

a lightning bolt on the horizon.

His crops suck rain from the sky

and swallow the smoldering sun.

His fields are oceans of heat,

where waves of gold

beat the burning shore.

A red fox

pauses under the birch trees,

a shadow is in the river’s bend.

When the hawk circles the land,

my father’s grainfields whirl beneath it.

Owls gather together to sing in his woods,

and the deer run his golden meadow.

My father’s farm is an icicle,

a hillside of white powder.

He parts the snowy sea,

and smooths away the valleys.

He cultivates his rows of starlight

and drags the crescent moon

through dark unfurrowed fields.

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Water is life, food is too, and...

There are multitudes of local birds descending on the sunflower seeds and suet. After spending several hours on the tractor, using a back blade because the brand new Husqvarna snow blower cable refroze overnight after the local hardware guys thought they'd fixed it, I'm highly empathetic to the birds need for calories to stay warm and alive.

how can a person this size survive five years or so?

Photo by J. Harrington

Think about the size of the spark of life in each of those tiny, feathered bodies, as they try to maintain some warmth in negative wind chills. Have you read the section in the December chapter of A Sand County Almanac about chickadee 65290? It appears s/he survived five Winters near the Leopold shack in Wisconsin. I'm not sure how that translates into human years, or even if it does. I do find it astounding that the spark could have been kept burning for that long.

one of our local producers sells through a local food co-op

Photo by J. Harrington

In a few minutes I'm headed off to a meeting of local folks who are focused on building a food system that can help neighboring farmers and respond to climate change. In preparation, I recently read the Land Stewardship Project's Long Range Plan: 2019-2024. I'm hoping there will be some cross-fertilization instead of everyone inventing their own version of a wheel.

when local fruits aren't in season, they come from far away or we do without

Photo by J. Harrington

Back from the meeting. I learned that the Better Half and I already support about 80% of the local producers who were there. It's good to see growing recognition of the role played in local economies by farmers and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and food co-ops. It would be better if there were more dot connecting going on. Food waste and large CSA shares and more consistent quality from suppliers are unexplored themes. Industrial foods are consistently mediocre and rarely beneficial to the environment. Where are there more stories of local farmers who don't pollute the waters on or under their farms and do provide quality vegetables and meats and, in season, fruits? All the pieces tie together whether we recognize the linkages or not. Food. Water. Shelter. Companionship. Humans and more than human animals, all have these needs. But you knew that, right?

The Farmer

By W.D. Ehrhart

Each day I go into the fields to see what is growing

and what remains to be done.

It is always the same thing: nothing

is growing, everything needs to be done.

Plow, harrow, disc, water, pray

till my bones ache and hands rub

blood-raw with honest labor—

all that grows is the slow

intransigent intensity of need.

I have sown my seed on soil

guaranteed by poverty to fail.

But I don’t complain—except

to passersby who ask me why

I work such barren earth.

They would not understand me

if I stooped to lift a rock

and hold it like a child, or laughed,

or told them it is their poverty

I labor to relieve. For them,

I complain. A farmer of dreams

knows how to pretend. A farmer of dreams

knows what it means to be patient.

Each day I go into the fields.

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Food for thought

Not too many months ago, we finished reading Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma." (Here's a Teacher's Guide.) It's probably time to reread it and see how his analysis compares to that recently published report getting lots of attention these days: Commission Food in The Anthropocene:
the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets From Sustainable Food Systems (Summary Report). Having already read the former, but only about the latter, we're inclined to go with the Food Rules summary Pollan's crafted subsequent to Omnivore and In Defense of Food:

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” 

At the moment, this household maintains membership in two food coops, one for him, one for her. The household member who spent years working in economic development has become a strong advocate for coops. The household also has account at a credit union instead of a bank. We're undoubtedly in favor of and support most, and possibly all, that's espoused in the Lancet Commission report. We've noticed, however, that several Community Supported Agriculture farms we've participated in have problems packaging vegetables in quantities that supply a household of two. The means either we don't participate, we waste vegetables, or we have to find others with whom to share our share.

CSA Pick Up at a local food co-op

Photo by J. Harrington

From what we've observed here in Minnesota, lots of folks don't like to be told what to do, even if its for their own good or the good of their family. (Notice how many vehicles exceed the speed limit or are being driven by "distracted" drivers on their cell phones.) Too many farmers, in our opinion, contribute too much nitrogen and sediment to their downstream neighbors, is another kind of issue. Pollan covers this kind of reaction fairly nicely with his three rules.

1. Eat food. Hard to argue with, but he means real food not the kind that's manufactured.


2. Not too much. Portion sizes have been a source of contention since we were kids in our family of origin. Too many of  us are undernourished while too many others are overweight. Who's holding a gun to your head to force you to eat everything on your plate?


3. Mostly plants. Even those of us who are "meat and potatoes" eaters can do better.

One of our favorite restaurants serves a delicious hamburger (with tomatoes and lettuce and onions as veggies). We got tired of eating that each and every time and finally tried their grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with sautéed vegetables. All of a sudden, we had a meatless Friday. Weeks later we got curious about the wild rice burger that had been listed on the menu since we started eating there. It's pretty good, especially if the kitchen is asked to hold the mayo. Another meatless Friday on the calendar. No one told us we had to. We were simply offered an interesting alternative to our standard fare.

local farmers market in Spring

Photo by J. Harrington

Despite living in an area with an abundance of CSAs, food coops and farmers markets, it's improbable we'll ever consider going meatless, or even limiting meat to once a month. By the same token, we can eat lots less meat and be happy and, probably, healthier while reducing our carbon footprint. But that latter should, we think, be a consequence of our diet, not a driver. Unfortunately, much of the media coverage we've see so far is all about "we have to eat less meat." That's not really what it's all about. Furthermore, we haven't even begun to look at the implications Sean Sherman's The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen and similar approaches to feeding both our faces and our souls.

Mr. D Shops At Fausto’s Food Palace

By Candace Black

For years he lived close enough to smell 

chicken and bananas rotting 

in the trash bins, to surprise a cashier on break 

smoking something suspicious when he walked

out the back gate. Did they have an account? 

He can’t remember. Probably so, for all the milk 

a large family went through, the last-minute 

ingredients delivered by a smirking bag boy.

He liked to go himself, the parking lot’s 

radiant heat erased once he got past the sweating 

glass door, to troll the icy aisles in his slippers. 

This was before high-end labels took over

shelf space, before baloney changed 

its name to mortadella, before water 

came in flavors, before fish 

got flown in from somewhere else.

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Easing into a new year

This morning's sun rise was spectacular. Did you see it? On the other hand, the Christmas tree is starting to look a little shopworn. Petals and leaves are dropping from the poinsettias. Today we deleted the Christmas playlist from our phone until next November. For reasons that will probably never be clear, both dogs have been shedding pounds and pounds of hair, during December and January? We're getting lots of practice with our new vacuum. At least the mid-Winter blahs have been tempered by the beginning of what looks to be a real January thaw, combined with sunshine! And, have you noticed that the days are getting longer? Later this month, on the twentieth, we have a super moon total lunar eclipse of what the Ojibwe call the Great Spirits moon (gichi-manidoo-giizis). By then we'll be up to about 9 hrs 20 min of daylight.

a spectacular sunrise

Photo by J. Harrington

The bread we baked yesterday did turn out to taste as good as it looked, maybe a little better. Next time we'll use just a little less of the organic flour we bought at River Market on the advice of the potter and fellow bread baker Guillermo Cuellar. We still haven't managed to create a crumb as open (full of holes) as we'd like, but we seem to be making progress in that direction. We're even starting to believe the old saying that "happiness is found along the way and not at the end of the road."

learning to create an open crumb

Photo by J. Harrington

The stock market is way down again today. Much of the decline is attributed to Apple computer's reduced projection of revenue for this year, especially in the market in China. We've been a user of Apple products for quite a few years now and we find ourselves wondering if the devoted fans are starting to get tired of planned obsolescence. We know we are and are starting to consider alternatives to enforced upgrades. The messages we keep getting on our iMac and MacBook Pro, informing us that our current productivity applications won't work the next time Apple updates their operating system, are pushing us away from Apple to ...? Having moved to OS X after depending on Windows for a number of years, we're wondering if it's time to consider Linux. Or, maybe it is time to reconsider becoming a twenty-first century Luddite, or, perhaps, just a lot more like Wendell Berry.

2008, XII

Wendell Berry, 1934

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
Hosea 4:6

We forget the land we stand on
and live from. We set ourselves
free in an economy founded
on nothing, on greed verified
by fantasy, on which we entirely
depend.  We depend on fire
that consumes the world without
lighting it.  To this dark blaze
driving the inert metal
of our most high desire
we offer our land as fuel,
thus offering ourselves at last
to be burned. This is our riddle
to which the answer is a life
that none of us has lived.

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