Once again, friend Ellen sent me an article that put me in the food pulpit. The article is posted below. This was my rant:
Oh! That is cool that I’m not a lone voice in the wilderness. I have lambasted vegetarians and vegans for years about the slim landscape that can grow non-grain vegetables at scale. There are about three areas on this side of the world (there are others, but three major areas) where vegetables can grow at volume. Should we try what all the IPCC wonks say -that vegetarianism is the only way to save the planet – we will all starve because it CANNOT support a 350 million person population at a 2000 calorie diet with sufficient protein and fiber (not to mention micronutrients and vitamins). It might, if everyone did what I do….. Bwahahahaha! Oh god, I crack myself up. Florida, the San Joaquin Valley, and Mexico are about it. The top soil is so depleted in the Midwest that it could never be readily converted to tomatoes, peppers and onions. Besides that, most of us have this thing we call winter. I have given up on my species, because when they open their mouths about food, they haven’t got one flippin’ clue. I DEFY anyone to come out here, in the vast grassland Prairie, and grow Broccoli at a significant scale. 1. The soil is heavily alkaline. 2. It’s 80% clay. 3. The water is basically liquid rock (full of lime and iron). 4. We get 13 inches of rain per year. 5. We have that whole winter thing 6. The sun will send it into bolt the second it sprouts. Animal protein wasn’t produced as a luxury. It was designed to keep one’s food on its feet and mobile so it can feed itself, and be self moving (herded) to get it where it needs to be processed when needed. Oh ya, they are also ruminants that can turn grass into protein.
But, but, but! Hydroponics and aquaponics indoors that’s the ticket!! LED lights instead of the sun and all done in climate controlled grow facilities. Brilliant…… all dependent on coal and natural gas. But what about solar panels to power them?? I’m not even going there. The best all that can do is grow greens. Ever try to survive on just Romaine? Might work if you have some weight to lose, but that has a shelf life over time. We are bloody fools.
Does anyone know what it really means to eat “in season?” It means making nail soup, killing a hog, hoping you canned enough to get from October to June, not eat each other, and pray to your almighty Jebuzz that there isn’t some fucking plague of locusts when you try to restock for the next seasonal cold snap (winter). May Day and Solstice were celebrations for a reason. The emergence from dark dank hovels to bask in sunlight, screw, reproduce, plant and thank the ever lovin’ powers that you didn’t succumb to whatever awfulness made parts fall off of your neighbors. But of course, it’s all May Poles and Easter Eggs, morphed into the re-animating of some dude with a hammer and chisel.
The actual article:
JAZ Farm Blog 