PROBLEMS
The problems are bigger than thin margins, supply chain issues, inflation & economic instability. Farmers are consumers, no longer producers. They are forced by design to buy stuff.
So the solution is to reduce the need for stuff.
1. Get what you need from local sources for free (or close)
2. Need less stuff by co-opting with Nature (e.g. worms do the tilling so no labor no buying tiller)
SOLUTIONS
FACTORS: Let’s break this down. Each factor is a way to save money. Every problem is its solution.
1. Economic Problems
Increasing prices
Unavailability
Narrow margins in a good economy become death of the farm in a bad economy
Middlemen & Megacorps make almost all the money, not the grower
Ways to find economic solutions are to:
Find ways to avoid needing to buy something
Increase the value of food (and other farm products) produced
Eliminate the Middleman & the Megacorps
2. Environmental Problems
Weather, climate, pollution, environmental destruction
Leads to stresses on crops & livestock
Leads to increasing weeds, pests, disease, yield, health, economic health
Ways to find environmental solutions are to:
Mitigate weather, climatic, and pollution problems
Regenerate local environment (e.g. build topsoil)
Design Natural systems
3. Social Problems
Culture of anti-tribalism (more important to hate the other than bond with tribe), division
Organizations like HOAs make growing food at home illegal and require chem-lawns instead
Belief that government and corporations are interested in peoples’ health & safety
Belief that government and corporations exist to help the people
Advertising entices people to buy. Therefore people buy. Resist.
Ways to find social solutions are to:
Build community.
Gives families and small farms the advantage of scaling up
Keeps economic power in local communities
There is great power in numbers.
Live where you can grow food.
Rely on your family, neighbors & friends. No corporation or government will save you.
Resist advertising and consumerism
WAYS TO SAVE
The solution is to become regenerative rather than extractive.
Acquire resources locally, avoid outside inputs and create no waste
Recycle, repurpose, regenerate, and make do with what you have on hand
Design integrated with nature (e.g. worms are the tillers)
REDUCE INPUTS
Animals feed, medicine, animal care (grow your own)
Fertilizers & minerals (make your own)
Pesticides & Herbicides (IPA, farm made solutions, treating cause not symptom)
Water (microbes act as a water reservoir in the soil)
Labor (e.g. worms till soil)
Tools & Machinery (use animals and nature to take care of system functions)
Learn the art of “making do”
DESIGN
Function stacking e.g. a browser to control grass also produces food, fiber etc. The browser improves & increases topsoil for free with manure, urine, and dung biology.
Plants for shade, windbreak, pollinators, feed, food, fodder, building soil, soil stabilization.
NATURAL FARMING & KNF
These are some ideas to get you started saving money to grow food.
How can KNF save you money? It addresses all these factors.
NATURAL FARMING is growing food in ways that most closely resemble how food grows in the wild. This approach improves the quality and yields of plants and animals produced, while lowering the energy inputs, measured as time and money, as many organic processes are turned back over to Natural Systems. The balance and vibrancy of the local ecology is encouraged and sustained.
KOREAN NATURAL FARMING (KNF) is a complete approach to Natural Farming, developed by Master Han-Kyu Cho, featuring three Fundamentals:
1. Soil Foundation utilizing local soil microbial ecology (Indigenous Micro Organisms, IMO)
2. Directing Growth with Biochemistry using the Nutritive Cycle (focus on stage of life)
3. Utilizing the innate power of biology present in every seed, every embryo.
Plants get their nutrition directly from the soil, as happens in nature. This is possible because:
A complete and healthy soil ecosystem is installed and maintained using IMO
Microbes allow plants to get their nutrition directly from the soil, as and when needed
Growth is directed toward producing healthy human food using biochemistry with inputs:
Made from materials found on or near the farm or garden (fruit, herbs, and eggshells)
Easy to make, at little to no cost
Completely safe for people, animals, plants, and the environment
Young plants and animals are prompted to grow to their full genetic potential