Did anyone here see the story 60 minutes did about all the people standing in government food lines in Ohio and other places in the nation? Mark my words, these are only the beginning of the sorrows. America is in a bad place food wise. If we were to have a major downturn, ie depression, this country has no rural base to fall back on anymore. During the depression, many people had family with farms. This is how the country was able to recover from the depression. What we have now, is so little rural development, that wide spread hunger is bound to be a greater problem than ever before in history. People also lived in small communities then. Small communities can pull together in times of crisis. Farmers on the outskirts of town can help feed those in town. The problem is, that today farmers are not producing a wide variety of food. Farmers like everybody else go to the grocery store. Also in recent years, with the advent of corporate farming, even the variety of food produced by different farmers in a given area has been reduced tremendously. For instance I live in an area which once produced all kind of fruit, vegetables, grains, meat. Now we have very few things being produced locally. Yet, homesteaders have a real opportunity to strengthen our communities, both by sharing our knowledge, and also by raising food, and providing some of it to others. I live two miles outside of a small community. What I do and share affects that community as well. I know many of us, get frustrated at the seeming lack of good sense among others within our community. This, live for the day without thinking of tomorrow mentality, gets tiring. However, this nation was built upon communities. We need to do our part.

Little bit farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), August 31, 2003

Answers

60 minutes story

-- Little Bit Farm (littlebit@brightok.net), August 31, 2003.

Hello Little Bit--I always read here but sometimes don't post as much as I should so I'll try to do better. I saw that show you are talking about and I think it is so terrible that people through no fault of their own are having to do this. I agree with you that during the depression we had a broad base of farmers , dairy and beef ranchers. Now a lot of people do not want to go to the trouble of farming , most farms are taken over by large co-ops so we would be in a terrible fix if any thing major happens to our country. Lauraleah in Missouri

-- Lauraleah (lauraleah@mo-net.com), September 02, 2003.