If this is a good idea, then….

Then there will have to be some new concepts introduced to humanity.

Do: read my last blog post, has a really good presentation.

We are to be a part of the making of everything free: this has become apparent through interactions and the nightmare system we have now. Indeed, even visitors from Chicago had said that we’re not talking about being in this crummy system for long. If many would favor a switch, to one whereby needs are met, and it works? That is what I am sensing at this critical turning point.

In the rebellion. That is, we don’t really want that system. Generations 20-38 don’t really want to be reduced to some kind of money-based work slavery which serves only the shallow interactions of over the counter. A self-serving system leads to only the privileged having access to many or certain things. Why not make things for that individual? We work for each other. Welcome to the revolution.

If any are uncertain, the neutral body mass of the United States waiting for more evidence, I agree. In the experience of visionaries, we would publish at 75% baked, whereby the foundation (of capitalism is debased) is set and a few pillars. The guiding way, mainly involves being yourself, and some parameters and things that we all know by now. This foundation is accurately portrayed on my blog, two blog posts ago. The remaining %-age comes from participation of the civil and volunteer society of humanity. Link to twitter farmers, the emergence of these idea and drawings, unity of the people, new technology which frees houses, and “where you are” type thinking, and I posit that a large portion of people can exist in a new society whereby needs of all are met, and “things” are available just a call or distance away.

A society thus oriented towards the environment and ecological models rather than the destroy-all-growth-mandate of the past, will be much better for the planet that we live on. While this new human organism will take up space and more of it, the interaction with the forest for production is not destructive.
Get ready and, if you have a way or calling or new way to do things or free business model, bring them back to the hive, the long-appreciated anon-miss freedom nexus, in a new location.: http://github.com/em-che/freedom-nexus/wiki

See you there! I love and appreciate that someone will come and visit my blog even on an off-day. This is enough for now.

Hello! A new garden for peace and Earth harmony.

Northwest Berkeley permanent farm campus:
http://urbanadamah.org/about-us/
and press release at constantcontact http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103700524626-548/PressRelease_May29.pdf

And, another one kicking off soon in San Francisco, which would be balancing the above as a Free farm.
http://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/events/liberate-the-land-direct-action-to-plant-food-and-hold-space?xg_source=activity

Master Index: EddieMill.blog

These are the blueprints.

https://eddiemill.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/transition-to-a-new-system-index/

https://eddiemill.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/contents/

Getting tired? Make yourself a cup of coffee and bookmark and share all of them anyways! For the next friend you know who’s starting farming, show them. In this way, one degree of separation will make sure it gets down and permeates through.

Done.? Ready for the internets again?
http://eddiemill.tumblr.com/

A. Problem: System of industrial agriculture is fatal to consumers, rivers and lakes, genetic diversity, wildlife, community. We must not replace patriotism about our country for greed of large-scale industrial farming.

— The Economics of Low Price

— Scathing letter from an agvocate

— Obama has not helped organic farmers (Tumblr) (we have been penalized/ small farmers have not been helped/ however, these local and organic farmers are the hope for our future)

— What we know about GMO (Tumblr)

— Glyphosate (Roundup)

— Leafy green problems , “natural” problems, Raw food raids

— Sustainability

B. Organic agriculture was fastest growing sector, why? It’s entrepreneurial spirit, optimism, timely, news.

— What I am thinking is, Farm Economy

— Guest blogger Amanda Garant: A Farmer for Always

— Corn Planting around the corner: A Different Option for Farmers

— Organic is Modern

C. But we must go beyond the USDA certification to save small farming, the wilderness, and our wildlife. We must conquer a mechanistic and reductionist worldview, to understand that our food decision creates our children’s future.

Wendell Berry: ‘Soil is not usually lost in slabs or heaps of magnificent tonnage. It is lost a little at a time over millions of acres by careless acts
of millions of people. It cannot be solved by heroic feats of gigantic technology, but only by millions of small acts and restraints.’

— Response to @TheFarmersLife, High Tech Ag is Not Natural

— The need for “99% Sustainability:” John Jeavons and Ecology Action

— Some goals for the food movement to work with (global perspective, morals..)

— Parks, Ecology, Business

— Elk Migration Routes, and a Permaculture-Ecology Project

— How the Amish React to New Technology

— Government, Scientific, Technology adaptations for development (From the IAASTD)

D. Posit a new system. Method:

— “Anarganic” norms for the twenty-first century

— The #Organic Pages

— Beyond Organic

E. And ask them for seeds. Cook and grow your own food.

(Some of my favorite recipes: butternut squash, egg torta, best cornbread)

Edward Miller | “A Global Organic Mindset”

Seeker, planner, collaborative visionary.
Last Post, Connect now.
Linkedin
Facebook
Twitter
Work profile: http://profiles.google.com/eddiemill

I am working on reforming my online media distribution profile. This page will be the focus, please stay in touch! Eddie’s new page! http://eddiemill.typepad.com/#

Please, take your time and browse.

Blog Categories Table of Contents:

Economy
Economic Recessions– 12/22/2009
The Next Globalization is Local– 12/19/2009
Ecological Economics, the Science of Sustainability-3/8/2009
Echoing Green and Social Entrepreneurship-2/23/2009
Agricultural Trade Doesn’t work for Poor People-12/09/2008
Plan, and Structure (Original Post)-
Transition– 11/6/2008

Farming
“Tell Me About Your Home” Maximus of Gladiator – 12/17/2009
Paul Farmer, Haitian Doctor for the Poor– 12/7/2009
Let’s be Thankful– 11/23/2009
From Thoreau, a Business Mentality– 11/16/2009
Food and Climate Change-10/3/2009
The Community Reality-6/11/2009
Julio– 4/28/2009
International Assessment on Agricultural Knowledge, Science, Technology and Sustainability (IAASTD Paper)– 12/12/2008
The Organic Development Paradox-11/03/2008 *Over a year ago and still actually one of my best posts*
New Entry Sustainable Farming on Twitter-(Current)

Climate Change and the Environment
MAPSBLOG: The Day Copenhagen Failed– 12/18/2009
MAPSBLOG: I support Tradeable Emissions Permits for Greenhouse Gasses– 11/29/2009
350 for the Economy– 11/21/2009
MAPSBLOG What Could have Been: Uniting Diverse Groups for Social Change.-10/29/2009
October 24th post: 350 as an Inspiration– 10/24/2009
Reconnect with your Greenfire
Awakening the Dreamer-10/27/2008
StepItUp09 on Twitter (Current)

Experiences, Journal
“A Million Little Pieces”-12/01/2009
My Life at Small Planet-10/02/2009
If I was..-9/15/2009
Back in Boston– 9/08/2009
“A Different Perspective: Participatory Action Research”-6/7/2009
Anda Tranquilo: Nicaragua-3/27/2009
Into the Wild (Weekend Away with Nietzche)-3/14/2009
My “intellectual” Baggage was Stolen!-2/23/2009
“Culture Shock”-2/8/2009
In Defense of the Word.-12/17/2008
A Day in the Life– 12/09/2008
On Exploring10/25/2008

CHANGE to SUSTAINABILITY: The POWER OF IDEAS
Group-led versus revolutionary change– 11/10/2009
Visions of a New Moral– 10/10/2009
If I Were an Anthropologist..-6/29/2009
Paulo Coehlo: Ser como el Rio Que Fluye
Cultivate a Worldview!
Change to the Masses (!)
Reconnect with your Greenfire
Enough of What’s Wrong-11/19/2008
My Reactions to Change, the Election, and Barack Obama– 11/6/2009
Bioneers, Humans and Development10/26/2009

PERMALINK TO THIS POST: https://eddiemill.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/contents/ Please, take your time and share your favorites.

Eddie on Twitter: http://twitter.com/eddiemill
Eddie’s new page: ???

Beyond Organic: Leadership, Excellence, Performance

Biologists have come to fantastic progress with genetic engineering. Followers of Monsanto eagerly look forward to next year’s seed innovations. Midsize farms have built-in progress goals such as measurable expansion, equipment upgrades, herd expansion, etc. However, for those that are not progressing or are losing money, having a certified field might be a nice boost. Having a direct market represents a good option for your family. A garden can provide much of the money, trees, heart, soil, seeds, and experience that you need to start organic farming. The other time it’s appropriate is for those who are just entering being a farmer, because they need something they can make good money on small scale without so much equipment. We need more interested being farmers, to tread that trail each morning during the summer and build solutions that work for the winter, energy, food, water, and innovative solutions for soil building, strategy, hope, and peace. I believe this farming is beyond organic as it’s enforced, but farming organically is good practice.

The correct technology in these fields is ecological, humane. Permanent agriculture has been around by different names for a long time. My blog is not trying to impose organic certification (it’s too expensive, heavy..) but rather a model based on farms that are working from the wisdom and understanding of those who are doing it. (Perfect) examples include Julio Pizote (Finca ANDAR Costa Rica) where I learned farming, Joel Salatin (Polyface Farm), Mark Shepard (Forest Agriculture Enterprises), George Cunningham in California (Cunningham Organic Farm), Alan Savoy fighting desertification in Zimbabwe. Good examples include almost anyone from http://localharvest.org/. If organic is appropriate technology for farming, or necessary for you to sell, then subscribe to the USDA NOP certification. A better method is outlined at the IFOAM Norms, which are internationally agreed on and more appropriate. Appropriate being, it pays for itself in the first year and a beta can be made with low (zero) materials cost. A direct market represents a good option for your family. There are secondary cooperatives, such as Organic Valley or Organic Alliance that can follow up with your (certified, mid-size) farm.

The addition of a profitable small-scale farm sector in the country will mean a change to some. Practically, managing a small farm can be a lot of work. There’s chickens to let out, eggs to cook, a lettuce cold frame to check on, more clothes to do, and a large raised bed garden. Another person will have to be working in the field, raising a cash crop for the family and also keeping a part-time job somewhere to pay the bills. Depending on where you are, markets might demand fava beans, sweet potatoes, squashes zucchinis and cucumbers, hops, fruit, berries (u-pick if you’re good at marketing), cheese, milk, cotton, bananas. Sungold tomatoes can be grown as a reliable cash crop in greenhouses for an extended season harvest.  Regardless of where you are on the small farm, you will have to be alert and flexible and ready to attend to whatever comes up.

New models must also be appropriate for those without land for a farm. If some 45 million small farmers are going to be created in the US, or near 450 million across the world, it’s apparant that a grow-your-own-farm model should fit those without hundreds of thousands of dollars and willing to lose money each year. My “urban farm” this year a) fit a need that everyone had, and b) gave me my capital back plus $2 a day. I didn’t have to spend on fence or land. My attempt to raise vegetables and animals in the city is one that has succeeded elsewhere .. New York, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Portland, and Oakland (check out “Farm City”) are all well known for their propensity to raise food inside the city and we’re all part of a growing urban farm movement. In Japan, apparantly plants are grown in containers on every windowsill. Rice farms there average a quarter acre per family (Fukuyama). Small organic farm in your backyard if you can; it will at least support itself and be an addition of good resilience that you can not afford to live without. Sort of like a victory garden, if Barack Obama is listening. “Usefulness” is an added benefit: sheep wool or produce in small scale might not be able to sell, but I wear my product once it’s spun into sweaters. Try everything the first year, and second year expand. If you choose to market, raise something you think is useful and are good at growing.

-Eddie Che

The #Organic Pages

Organic strategy and development:

The best practices for sustainable management in the US can be found here: https://attra.ncat.org/ at Attra, National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT).

Rodale results from a 30-year field trial show that organic farming is more profitable, higher yielding, better carbon increase, better economics, better health, soil, and fits the “big picture” of a sustainable world.  http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/files/FSTbookletFINAL.pdf 

A certification standard to grow your crops or garden by is the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). These practices comply with the USDA standards people complain about, and let you sell internationally. They are also better to read, and are democratically agreed-upon: http://www.ifoam.org/about_ifoam/standards/norms/IFOAMStandard_V0.1.forconsultation.doc  *A summary of these certification norms can be found in an earlier post: Anarganic certification for the twenty-first century.

*In the USA Your state department of agriculture will help you certify if they’re accredited. In Ohio the best best organization for you to go into is OEFFA, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. Producer fees start at $705. Yearly inspection starts at $300. Certification is mandatory for a farm with organic sales over $5000.  There’s a full list of accredited certifiers here who will help you. Give one a call…

Your market can be a farmer’s market, but only after securing your direct contracts for selling to restaurants, schools, natural food stores, grocery. (If it is to pay returns to your time). For the latter scale, I recommend selling your certified produce through http://www.organicallianceinc.com/, anywhere in the world… they do certifications too.

— Michael Pollan on 10/1/2011, consumers’ questions answered:  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/02/magazine/29mag-food-issue.html?ref=magazine#/pollan

Getting experience. My guide is the result of one and a half years in organic gardening. If you read it, you will be able to start growing your own product and selling it. It covers food safety, backyard and community gardening how-to, and arranging direct sales. There’s plenty of ways to start growing things 🙂 As special blog readers I bring you: Eddie’s guide 9-27, look for updates 🙂

Agroecology and the Right to Food : “Agroecological farming methods could double global food production in just 10 years, according to a report from the United Nations.” This one, describing results from the literature and making a recommendation to #public #policy. It’s a recommendation to the UN. :  http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/officialreports/20110308_a-hrc-16-49_agroecology_en.pdf

Agricultural carbon sequestration has the potential to substantially mitigate global warming impacts. http://t.co/nKEArL5I

Organic for development I do not pretend to know yet, and cannot generalize across all microclimates. It seems that if the small farmer does not have access to tractor or horse, cultivating field crops by hand will not bring high returns on labor; so they would be better off with a crop with little weed management like tree crops, or a high-value crop like vegetables. It seems also that a balance between providing a diverse diet and some cash crop must be maintained on most farms. For low-income, few production implement, small-acreage farmers, intensive monoculture is not preferable, which is an uncertain market which requires service costs higher than the farmer’s return to labor. Only after information has been gathered and understood can an analyst plan appropriate changes in a farming system. Farm development is not synonymous with commercialization, increased income, amounts of cash inputs, or farmer participation in credit programs because more cash flow across the farm boundary does not necessarily indicate increased farm productivity and family well-being. These insights, and others, are partially based off of a great book, Small Farm Development.

The Rodale New Farm is beautiful.

Other studies from Rodale:

Guides for a New World

Hi folks! I have a very special blog post today, this will be up here for a while, so feel free to reference it:  https://eddiemill.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/guides-for-a-new-world/

These guides are for everyone: the tools for us in order to be sustainable in food and energy solutions. The best of internet and experience changing these industries. Want to know what to do? How about what @BarackObama should focus on? If we can be energy and food self-sufficient, we will have a resilient footing no matter what the future is. Download and distribute, these are Guides for a New World. -E

Energy:

Boosting Energy for Our Future with Feed-in Tariffs applicable to policy makers in the government about the best practice possible environmental regulation in order to boost sustainable energy generation in the USA. 

350 organizing guide how to “sell it”- the pitch for climate action! 

defra-ghg-conversion-factors All businesses will need to use this in the future. GHG (Carbon equivalent) conversion factors to calculate baseline Carbon footprint for your operation.

F

Lets you know what is in season for consumers who want to eat local.

For Food: Again, for everyone.

Food:

Lettuce Link GardeningGuide  the best possible reference for starting to grow our own food plants.

boston_local_guide relevant for restaurants and serious local foodies looking for bulk inputs. Published for other cities too at http://eatwellguide.org/. 

CRI-Farmers-Market-Action-Guide  from Corporate Accountability International, on how to change the fast food system. 

Please Use and Distribute. Can you forward to your policy-maker?

EM https://eddiemill.wordpress.com/ eddiemill@gmail.com

#AnOrganic certification for the Twenty-first century

IFOAM: International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements 

 Organic for the Twenty-first century. From IFOAM. http://www.ifoam.org/about_ifoam/standards/norms.html 

Certification is the formal and documented procedure by which a third party assures that the organic standards are followed. Certification leads to consumers’ trust in the organic production system and the products. Certification gives organic farming a distinct identity and credibility and makes market access easier.

Gives credibility to organic produce, closely linked to local and alternative marketing approaches like food clearinghouse markets, entry-level industry,  restaurants, schools, whole food retailers, local coop shelves, houses.. If you are certified organic and looking for a value-added market, find: http://www.organicallianceinc.com/

IFOAM’s Organic Guarantee System (OGS) is designed to facilitate the development of organic standards for the farm level and an internal control system worldwide to provide an international guarantee of these practices for organic certification.

Since conventional bulk agriculture’s quality is decidedly low, we have to align ourselves to higher standards, be the better person with your farm. This may mean that you have to make a concession to nature. Do it! Design instead of control. Be flexible. If you follow these practices, you will not only have a much healthier farm for you and your kids, but qualify for IFOAM and USDA certification.

The IFOAM Norms

The IFOAM Standard covers the areas of general organic management, crop production
(including plant breeding), animal production (including beekeeping), aquaculture, wild
collection, food processing and handling, labeling, and social justice.

Principles:
1. Organic farming benefits the quality of ecosystems.
    a. Organic farming methods conserve and grow soil, maintain water quality and
    use water efficiently and responsibly.
2.Innappropriate technologies
    a. Genetic engineering and nanotechnology are excluded from organic
    production … This shall include animals, seed, propagation material, and farm
    inputs such as fertilizers, soil conditioners, or crop protection materials, but
    shall exclude vaccines.
    b. Moreover not DERIVED FROM gmo's, making sure they are not GMO
3. The length of the conversion period shall be at least:
    a. - 24 months before sowing or planting in the case of annual production
    b. - 24 months before grazing or harvest for pastures and meadows
    c. - 36 months before harvest for other perennials
    d. A period of at least 36 months from the last date of application of any prohibited input.
4. Crop rotations for annual crops shall be established.
    a. For orchards and plantations, there shall be managed floor cover and/or
    diversity or refuge plantings.
5. Soil Fertility
    a. 4.4.1 Soil organic matter, microbial activity and general soil health and
    fertility shall be maintained or improved. The operator shall prevent
    accumulation of heavy metals and other pollutants in the soils.
    b. 4.4.2 Material of microbial, plant or animal origin shall form the basis of the
    fertility program.
    c. 4.4.3 Nutrients and fertility products shall be applied in a way that does not
    harm soil, water, and biodiversity.
    d. 4.4.4 Material applied to the land or crop shall be in accordance with
    Appendix 2.
      1. Modification to the appendix: Only plant, mineral, and animal origin. Like:
    e. Manures containing human excrement must not be applied on soil that will be
    used to grow crops for human consumption within the next six months.
6. Pest Control
    a. 4.5.2 When the measures in 4.5.1 [8 ideal methods including appropriate
    species, mulching, mowing, grazing, buffer habitats, mechanical controls..]
    are not sufficient, pest, disease and weed management products that are
    prepared on the farm from local plants, animals and micro-organisms, or
    substances permitted under Appendix 3, may be used, provided that they do
    not jeopardize the ecosystem or the quality of organic products.
    b. 4.5.3 Physical methods for pest, disease and weed management are
    permitted, including the application of heat. [Thermal sterilization of soils is
    prohibited.]
7. General Principle: Contamination. All relevant measures are taken to ensure
that organic soil and food are protected from contamination.
8. Organic plant breeding: Organic plant breeders may obtain plant variety
protection, but organic varieties should not be patented. They must disclose their
techniques, in which genetic modification is prohibited.
9. Animals: Landless animal husbandry systems are prohibited. [NUFF SAID!]
    a. Animal origin general principle: Organic animals are born and raised on
    organic holdings. Animals shall be raised organically from birth.
    b. Animals shall be fed organic feed.
10. Bees, aquaculture... 5.9 – 6.7.5

Organic processing and handling:
a) Organic processed products are made from organic ingredients.
b) Fiber: Substances may be allowed in organic textile processing only if they are
biodegradable, generally recognized as safe and hypoallergenic.
c) Organic product packaging has minimal adverse impacts on the product and on the
environment.

IFOAM Norm Standards, Democratically and internationally adopted, they reflect the current state of organic production and processing methods. These standards should be seen as a statement, and also as a work in progress. While compliant with the USDA NOP, they are much better than the USDA. (who have 11 people working on it, and have imposed a tyranny of bureaucratic stress on the organic movement.)

Organic for the Twenty-first century. http://www.ifoam.org/about_ifoam/standards/norms.html

on EddieMill.wordpress: https://eddiemill.wordpress.com/

A scathing letter from an #agvocate

Our modern food system is not well-designed, it’s a factory which has reduced labor. The role of the USDA has been to banish farms from the everyday lives of the country, while consolidating food and making the rest illegal… While we have more land than the rest of the world, it is tracked out and provides little health or nutritional value. The average American is more removed (or, as removed) from his or her geography as ever. The Unsettling of America, Wendell Berry.

1/3 of Topsoil is lost. Land degradation has destroyed more civilizations than armies, and thus we must prevent that the same thing happens to the US. Industrial Agriculture has destroyed most of our topsoil … if land can no longer maintain crops, civilization disappears… Monoculture produces less topsoil than a spadefork or keyline plow, diluted compost tea applications, and a pile. This means we are more vulnerable.  Deplete life.

Wes Jackson of The Land Institute says that 120 years now is the most important in the history of Homo-sapiens. This can be a century of progress, or another of hopeless bickering about which country is the best. Either we end in a stalemate and seek another planet or, everyone can make a living. Let’s make it so. Oregon Tilth, MOSES, IFOAM, the FAO, and other true organic support and education agencies are already working on making an economy that works for the future.

If someone is to blame for the obesity crisis, I guarantee you it’s not the farmers.

Dear USDA, Rid your agency of corruption.

Cut Monstanto farm bill budget by 90%.

Monsanto Michael Taylor has got to go!

CC AFSIC, Sustainable Agriculture Network, Rural Information Center, Obama Food Network, Please Forward.

I’ll grow vegetables for local markets. EM CHE

Ingenuity — Integrity — Optimism. http://en.search.wordpress.com/?q=site%3Aeddiemill.wordpress.com

Please Change This

Support the local food movement. Tell the USDA to stop colluding with Big Ag today!

In the past 10 years the number of farmers markets has more than doubled, from 2,863 in 2000 to 6,132 in 2010. The rise in the popularity of the local, organic and sustainable food movement is the result of the growing awareness of major problems in our industrial food system and the increasing number of massive food safety outbreaks that have resulted from unchecked consolidation and concentration of food production in the U.S.

Today the USDA is conspiring with the largest lobby groups to implement a set of rules that favors giant industrial growers while placing diversified farms at risk. Known as the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, this set of rules is designed by industrial producers to protect their market share while harming their main competition, the growing local and organic food movement. Drafted by the largest vegetable growers’ lobbyists, the Leafy Green agreement is an effort to whitewash their growing problems.

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) recently agreed with Big Ag lobbyists to propose national food safety rules for vegetable growers despite the fact that the AMS has no food safety oversight or staff, and implement practices that farmers with one-size-fits-all rules that would drive local and organic farmers out of business.

We have 3 days to stop this Agreement and we need you. Can you help us get 20,000 signatures to protect local and organic farmers by Thursday?

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/391?akid=350.272150.rWxi2H&t=8

Worth working for. In Northern Ohio, Sherrod Brown and also Kaptur sit on the Senate Food Committee. Here is the link for the text of this bull** regulation bill. http://www.ccof.org/leafygreens.php Come on, government??

Source for this post includes the Food Democracy Now! team:

Fw: Tell Vilsack support the local food movement