May 23, 2016

Back to the land?

This op-ed about a "Homestead Act" for Appalachia has stirred a good bit of interest lately. Unfortunately, a lot of the land for homesteads has been trashed.

Off topic, I think jargon is always fair game. Here's a pretty funny look at nonprofitspeak. If I start talking like that, shoot me.

Finally, E.J. Dionne calls out phony populism here.

(Note: I didn't have the guts or energy to comment on WV's budget mess. The wrecking crew, alas, is on the case.)
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3 comments:

Mary Wildfire said...

The homestead act piece got me gnashing my teeth. First of all, I'm tired of the conspiracy to pretend Bernie Sanders doesn't exist. He spoke about poverty in MacDowell County--when was the last time a politician spoke, not about saving the middle class, but about POVERTY? Johnson maybe? Secondly, is it really true that the government owns most of the land in Appalachia? Maybe in the West, but here? Land and coal companies, yes, but the government?
And thirdly, you want all kinds of agriculture on land that's been scraped to the bedrock, had a quarter inch of topsoil added and fertilizer sprayed on so grass will grow...chestnut trees? Good luck with that. I think we ought to have solar farms, and wind farms where there is still enough wind. They don't need soil and won't be damaged by polluted water.

5/24/16, 7:16 AM
El Cabrero said...

I don't think it's workable either. Or possible. The homestead is pretty trashed.

5/24/16, 8:14 AM
Hollowdweller said...


I thought the article was silly.

Unless you subsidize those homesteading at a similar level that you subsidize big ag there's no money to be made.

In WV Coal was the big money now being phased out due to health concerns.

In WV agriculture the only crop people could make money on was tobacco and it's being phased out due to health concerns.

I suppose that we could legalize marijuana and ride that till it's either phased out
or the big guys take it over.

Food is super cheap now. A lot of the preppers think we are going to have to grow our own food but truth is the way it's set up now food is always going to be cheap.
Going to be easier for poor people to get a min wage job and BUY it rather than grow it.

I was at my friends grandmothers farm in Hillsboro. There was a 1939 farm ledger book. They made more money from selling eggs and sheep than she did as a teacher. Not so now.

I had some friends sell cheese. They had won national awards and sold to 5 star restaurants. Yet they worked 60 hours or more a week and did not make as much as 1 of them made teaching.

This is worth reading....and these guys had a good market close to them unlike most of WV.

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/10/what_nobody_told_me_about_small_farming_i_cant_make_a_living/

5/25/16, 1:10 PM

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