A fun fact about me, I'm part of the new agriculture movement. I live off the land, breed animals, grow my own plants to sustain me, and in general practice sustainable independence. Ever heard of it?
I've heard of the general sentiment. That sounds difficult. What goes into it?
To be honest it's quite a lot of work and the start is very expensive. You have to be very dedicated to the lifestyle. There's animal husbandry, crop selection and then periodic moving of those crops to ensure you don't exhaust the soil, and a lot of research to ensure that I'm using the plants in the right way. In my spare time I do keep bees. I sell what I don't use at farmers markets, so I'm always busy.
I assume that you love what you do, though. Plus, in working at the farmers market, you help others to establish food security, so you must feel good about your work.
Yes, I do love it! Being independent and able to sustain myself are such important values for me. It's interesting that you touch on food security, I hadn't considered how I helped others, just how I was helping myself. Could you tell me more about what food security is?
Sure thing. Food security is the idea that people have enough access to food and a consistent amount of food to depend on so their families don't starve.
That's actually very sad. The independent agriculture lifestyle sounds like it'd very much benefit them but getting to it is actually incredibly costly. If there were government subsidies for new farmers I think the sustainable independent agriculture movement would really change their lives.
Organic farming
Organic farming is an alternative agricultural system which originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares globally, with over half of that total in Australia. Organic farming continues to be developed by various organic agriculture organizations today. It is defined by the use of fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. Biological pest control, mixed cropping and the
. He got a cowboy name for me, which was Smokey Joe. So from the time I was three years old if people asked me what my name was I didn't tell them my name was William, I told them my name was Smokey Joe. That's what everyone called me until I was about 12 and then I dropped the Joe part. I've heard that story about him giving it to me because I'm a light skinned Black man but that's not true.
Awards and accolades.