--On 11 September 2007 07:52:46 -0400 Ode Coyote <odecoy...@alltel.net> wrote:
Organic/ sustainable farming as we know it and believe it's old, is a 'New" thing, borne of desperation as we go into another sort of Dust Bowl, still in development by wacko hippies who can read hand writing on walls with no where left to move to. It's being developed by methodical science, study and experimentation, not replicated from centuries of ignorance. In the "old days" life was ignorant, hard and short for the majority of folks.
Well, I see what you say regarding America. In europe there is the biodynamic farming which is the mixed farming techniques of Germany's Rudolph Steiner going back to the 1920's and its roots in old practices. His research was clairvoyant. In England similar small mixed farms were the norm until the 1950's and after.
Then there's the vedic farming systems going back pre-5000 years, which are also settled mixed farming. Neither depend on slash and burn. IN the fragile and extensive Himalaya you can observe settled mixed farming in a symbiosis with its environment, with the build up of rich soils. IN fact these practices extend to high altitude alpine grazing land, from where manure is carried down like precious nuggets in baskets on mules, and irrigation channels are cut. Then there's the ancient practices of farming on the upper Nile, with yearly flooding and enrichment of soils. It's not canalised, but again lived upon in symbiosis.
SLash and burn techniques as practised by colonisers with plantations and ranches is different from hunter gather slash and burn techniques in Africa, for several reasons, not least motive. The practice was to make small clearings, and not extend them, but move on to allow rapid re-growth.
John, Libertarian, Faithful, Freedom Fighter. -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com Address Off-Topic messages to: silver-off-topic-l...@eskimo.com The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@eskimo.com>
