“…what we’re doing here is in no way sustainable…”

-Part of Bill’s response to my inquisition into the origins of and methods used to come up with the soil mixture used on Horton’s crops. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated his honesty and level of awareness. He told us all of his early, idealistic days as a budding farmer- he and his friends were highly critical of agricultural norms, and swore to never conform. He said that his experience as a farmer has been one of sacrifice and hard decisions – always striving to make choices that aligned with his core beliefs, but also needing to consider the survival of his farm.

We did a batch of soil mix as a group, dumping precise measurements of the different components onto the garage floor, which we then mixed together by shoveling it back and forth. The mix is composed of coir fiber (shredded coconut shells), earthworm casings, vermiculite (ground limestone), bonemeal, rootzone, and ground kelp. Bill said that without the mixture, the farm would never function on the scale that it does now (which is relatively small – about 6 crop acres). What I found interesting, since half of the group (including Bill) identify as vegetarian, is the fact that the soil mixture is not, and that no one seemed to notice, or at least no one commented on it. I was going to say something, but then restrained myself because it seemed off-topic. But, I was thinking about it all day. It’s exactly what Lierre Kieth’s book The Vegetarian Myth brings up as a problem with some arguments for vegetarianism. Our food cannot grow without death of living beings. No matter how hard we try to take ourselves out of that life/death cycle (by not eating meat, not purchasing leather, etc.) we will never escape it because we are an integral part of it. The soil we use and the organic vegetables we grow here at Horton (or on any farm) depend on the essential minerals and elements contained in bone (read: dead animal) or in animal waste products. Also, I can see the counter-argument, which is that obtaining bone meal or fertilizer doesn’t have to involve the killing of that animal. An animal can just die on its own, and animal shit is going to happen no matter what, so animal byproduct in soil isn’t the same as choosing to eat meat or other animal products. It’s in no way a black and white issue.

That being said, I want to add that in my mind there is a difference between factory farming as opposed to pastured, chemical-free, grass-fed animals/organic, non-factory farmed vegetables. I’m not suggesting that we should just throw our hands up in the air and have a free-for-all just because “everything is all life and death”. I think, like with everything, there is a balance to be found, and many opportunities to make informed, healthy choices about what we consume and consciously or inadvertently support.

That being said, I also want to point out that if we’re really interested in Change, debating over being vegetarian or non-vegetarian, eating organic vs. non organic, recycling, hybrid cars, or obsessing over/proselytizing other personal lifestyle choices that we feel are ‘healthier’, ‘better’, ‘greener’ is really just a distraction from the more dire issues – i.e., what kind of place will the earth be for my great-grandchildren? What can we do RIGHT NOW to stop or at least slow the destruction of our land base (because without healthy soil, air, water, ecosystems, etc. we will have no food = we (human and non-human beings) will die).

I’d be interested to hear what others think about this!

In other news, our little group forgot to cover up the solar panels, and the pipes burst in the freezing night. The system costs thousands of dollars which basically means that we will not have hot water or another warm shower ever again. Bill held his cool, but it was more than a tense morning which included an extremely awkward group apology. Tense it was until our welder neighbor came over and freakin FIXED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a small miracle. A cloud of despair and the anxious anticipation of hard times ahead dissipated and whoops of joy continued throughout the day and into night. That dude is totally getting some thank you cookies this weekend.

We got the trellis set up for the peas!