RunningAHEAD - Topic: Living in Junk Food County?

Living in Junk Food County? (Read 819 times)

Ed4 view log Barefoot and happy	posted: 12/12/2007 at 6:56 PM
	This Newsweek article annoys me: http://www.newsweek.com/id/76929 It's about how people in rural areas are overwhelmingly unhealthy and obese because they don't have easy access to healthy food and they're often poor and underemployed. Look, these people have access to land and free time. That's all it takes to produce healthy food. Once upon a time Americans knew how to do this -- especially poor rural Americans. Turn off the TV and go plant your freaking yard. Raising chickens and rabbits is ridiculously easy. You don't need much space. Even the typical suburban backyard can produce quite a lot of food. And learn how to can/pickle/dry/freeze it so it lasts throughout the year. If everybody in the neighborhood did this there would be plenty to trade and share, and the monthly trip to a distant supermarket would only be needed as a supplement, for things like bulk dry goods. If the people who lived in these places 100 years ago could see the present inhabitants, I bet they would consider them lazy and ignorant.
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Run To Win view log Blaine Moore	posted: 12/12/2007 at 7:24 PM
	Quote from Ed4 on 12/12/2007 at 6:56 PM: If the people who lived in these places 100 years ago could see the present inhabitants, I bet they would consider them lazy and ignorant. What about the people that are there now and look around? Can't they consider them lazy and ignorant too?
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Ed4 view log Barefoot and happy	posted: 12/12/2007 at 8:21 PM modified: 12/12/2007 at 8:22 PM
	Quote from Run To Win on 12/12/2007 at 7:24 PM: What about the people that are there now and look around? Can't they consider them lazy and ignorant too? Absolutely. And by the way, I just happened to see another relevant article. These people grow 3 tons of produce annually on 1/10th of an acre: http://www.pathtofreedom.com/about/urbanhomestead.shtml Their reasons are "environmental", but it just goes to show how little land it takes to feed yourself.
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ʇuǝɹʇ view log ʎǝʞuoɯ ʎʞunɟ	posted: 12/12/2007 at 8:37 PM
	How much time does it take to grow 6000 lbs of food off 1/10 acre?
	noʎ ɥʇıʍ ǝq ʎǝʞuoɯ ǝɥʇ ʎɐɯ

Ed4 view log Barefoot and happy	posted: 12/13/2007 at 6:24 AM
	Quote from ʇuǝɹʇ on 12/12/2007 at 8:37 PM: How much time does it take to grow 6000 lbs of food off 1/10 acre? A lot. I think that article is talking about several people who do it nearly full time. But they're growing to sell, not just to feed themselves.
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Jeff view log	posted: 12/13/2007 at 9:07 PM
	In order to understand the problem, it is necessary to look at how this 'laziness' is produced (in concrete ways; it didn't just "show up" as moral failure), whose interests it serves (there are many), and how to undo it (the hardest question).
	a vagabond,..highway-beater; a rolling stone, one that does nought but runne here and there. ~Cotgrave, Randle A dictionarie of the French and English tongues, 1611

ʇuǝɹʇ view log ʎǝʞuoɯ ʎʞunɟ	posted: 12/13/2007 at 9:10 PM
	The first thing we do, we kill all the philosophers. - Shakespeare
	noʎ ɥʇıʍ ǝq ʎǝʞuoɯ ǝɥʇ ʎɐɯ

Jeff view log	posted: 12/13/2007 at 9:19 PM
	Quote from ʇuǝɹʇ on 12/13/2007 at 9:10 PM: The first thing we do, we kill all the philosophers. - Shakespeare
	a vagabond,..highway-beater; a rolling stone, one that does nought but runne here and there. ~Cotgrave, Randle A dictionarie of the French and English tongues, 1611

Mishka

view log

posted: 12/14/2007 at 3:34 PM

We have a garden on 1/20th of an acre where we grow a bunch of crap. I have no idea how much it produces in wieght, but it's enough for our fruit and vegetable needs during the summer and we can around 10 quarts of tomatoes to use during the winter/early spring (we eat a lot of chili and Indian curry). We also have 12 hens that produce way more eggs than we can use ourselves.

The time investment is noticable, but not obscene. The biggest time chunks are the obvious ones. Preparing the garden in the spring (tilling/seeding/fencing) and uprooting the garden in the fall. Those equate to 2 full days on the frint end and one full day on the back end. Maintaining the garden through the summer involves 2x per day watering if there's no rain. It takes us about 15 minutes, but we do it the low-tech way...just standing there with the hose. Weeding/pruning (if we kept up with it properly) would take about an hour once per week.

The chickens are easy. They're free range, so there's no cages to clean. They eat anything, so our table scraps get dumped in a pile in the yard. We supplement that with chicken feed once evey couple days.

There's still a lot of food needs we don't produce ourselves, but it's nice getting so much from the back yard. As far as the work involved, you have to have a little space and actually enjoy diong it. Like I said, it's not a huge amount of work, but it is work. There's days where the last thing I want to do is go outside and water the garden, but usually, it's a nice little activity to help me relax at the end of the day.

ʇuǝɹʇ view log ʎǝʞuoɯ ʎʞunɟ	posted: 12/14/2007 at 3:43 PM
	Quote from Mishka on 12/14/2007 at 3:34 PM: produce way more eggs than we can use ourselves. I'll get you my address. I used to garden for years and we had bushels of tomatoes. Summer squash crops never did well in our yard. Now we live on the edge of the woods with clay soil and a big hill. The combined effects of the poor soil, the lack of sunlight, the slope and this year's drought made it hard to get even a single tomato. It breaks my heart, but we did subscribe to a CSA to compensate. But I loved to garden and I loved to eat tomatoes that I grew myself. I agree, the time investment for a Summer garden is not great; for 3 tons it might be.
	noʎ ɥʇıʍ ǝq ʎǝʞuoɯ ǝɥʇ ʎɐɯ

modal view log Bloody Nipple	posted: 12/14/2007 at 3:43 PM
	I blame John Deer. Major point for me going to rural areas is Dairy Queen.
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Eddy view log Slow-smooth-fast	posted: 12/14/2007 at 4:00 PM
	sorry to hijack the thread Ed, but have a look at my log and comment on my maf runs, and tell me how I am doing and how long yo uthink I should keep doing them. I ultimately want to break 20 mins for 5k. How do I know when I can try it?
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Mishka

view log

posted: 12/14/2007 at 4:59 PM

Quote from ʇuǝɹʇ on 12/14/2007 at 3:43 PM:

I'll get you my address. Big grin

Do you want me to egg your house or something?

The CSA sounds great. Do they offer a pretty full gamut (i.e., fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy)?

We've just started purchasing from a local farmer for dairy and meat. Every week, this dude and his kids camp out in a church parking lot for 2 hours while a bunch of hippie-types drive up and get their order. My wife usually picks it up, but I got it for the first time this week. I got a great feeling walking away, after seeing the faces of the family we support. With virtually no distribution channel, the prices are better than the grocery store.

r2farm plainsman	posted: 12/24/2007 at 2:37 AM modified: 12/24/2007 at 2:22 PM
	Quote from Ed4 on 12/12/2007 at 6:56 PM: This Newsweek article annoys me: http://www.newsweek.com/id/76929 It's about how people in rural areas are overwhelmingly unhealthy and obese because they don't have easy access to healthy food and they're often poor and underemployed. Look, these people have access to land and free time. That's all it takes to produce healthy food. Once upon a time Americans knew how to do this -- especially poor rural Americans. If the people who lived in these places 100 years ago could see the present inhabitants, I bet they would consider them lazy and ignorant. The first sentence is fact, I have no problem with that . I do have a bit of a problem with the editorial judgements made here unless you have lived in these areas. As usual I will only talk about my area but the area would fit the profile described although dw and I probably don't fit and our area is not the extreme as was described in the article. Health care, dentistry etc., I think you will find many more out here without health insurance or trying to pay for it out of their own salaries. If self employed don't get the rate advantages of group coverages. Very little dental included. Most small communities are vastly understaffed in physicians that just try and fix the big things with little time to encourage lifestyle changes. Many in my area drive 30 to 60 miles for simple health care and 200 miles for anything complex, although there are some specialists that visit once a month from large metro hospitals. Around here most everything revolves around agriculture whether growing or servicing agriculture so during the growing season there is not alot of time to plant and tend a garden. The best times to plant your gardens are when the farmers and service industries are putting in 100 hour weeks to get the crops in. Around this place we don't even mow the lawn until our crops look good. While I have the skills to grow a garden many in the service industry do not nor do they have access to land and water resources to do so. While described as rural poor I would hazard a guess a small percentage of them actually live in the country but more small isolated little towns. Even these towns have zoning and few would permit raising food animals inside city limits unless rover or kitty would count. We do actually have supermarkets out here. The type and variety of fresh goods is rather limited as we are at the end of the distribution chain. I can certainly buy the food needed cheaper than grow it in my backyard garden and maybe thats a failure of modern agriculture, food is too cheap and plentiful. Working moms and dads find their food dollars to feed a family will go much further if they put in a few more hours or work a second shift somewhere than spending the daily requirements raising a garden and livestock and canning, pickling etc etc needed to go through the winter. The work ethic around here actually gets in the way of health and fitness. When my neighbors see me out running early in the mornings they see that as wasted time that I could be working. In todays farming it means long hours in the drivers seat be it tractors or 18 wheelers or sitting at an office chair staring at a computer screen marketing, budgeting or doing finances. Where as when my grandpa started farming out here it was mostly physical labor. Yes they were self sufficient and I'm sure he would call most all of todays society as lazy rural or urban but they also had a great deal more free time and life was alot simpler. While the cities continue to grow the outward migration from rural areas like mine is explosive for all the reasons I described. For me if I can't spend the money for good food (and yes I BUY most of my food from the store) and spend a few hours a week on fitness I need to find another job and I have the education and skills to do so if I moved but many don't have good choices. J .....profarmer and very average amatuer runner (most would call me slow)
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ʇuǝɹʇ view log ʎǝʞuoɯ ʎʞunɟ	posted: 12/24/2007 at 2:51 PM
	I dunno, I had my best urban garden (producing buckets of tomatoes per day during peak season) when I was working 100+ hours per week as a medical resident (with 3 or 4 36 hour shifts per week). A good garden runs itself once it is started. It is a matter of priorities. That folks stare at you when you are out running suggests that you share different priorities than they do. All work and no play, eh? The question is, do the folks who stare at you ever watch television during the growing season? Or, more fundamentally, is our system so over-specialized that much farming is done in such great industrial-styled monoculture with such an assembly-line method that folks cannot break free and have general farms or gardens that support themselves? Again, if I have to take the time and expense to ship manure out and grain in, I don't have time to garden; but if my cattle eat the naturally growing grass and then fertilize it without my help then I might have time to garden. Just wonderin'.
	noʎ ɥʇıʍ ǝq ʎǝʞuoɯ ǝɥʇ ʎɐɯ