I adore Sharon Astyk. I read her blog semi-religiously, and she’s the closest thing to come to convincing me that moving off the boat and onto dirt might someday be an OK idea. So whenever she cranks out a new book (as she’s been doing lately), I pounce on it.
A Nation of Farmers, her second book, is fabulous. You can stop reading here; the rest of this post is just me babbling.
Sharon sees the same signs as I do, that things are changing, faster than our culture’s capability to keep up. But unlike most of the other Peak Oil/Depletion folks out there, Sharon sees this change as opportunity. Hers is, considering the subject matter, the most optimistic of viewpoints. Her answer, in a nutshell, is that we have to fall back to our agrarian roots, focus on maintaining our food supply, and build communities around each other.
You get done reading an Astyk book, and you come away thinking that the complete fall of the American Lifestyle as we know it would probably be a good thing. And if she had her way, we’d end up eating better when all was said and done after all. She has brilliant ideas about, and arguments for, taking charge of your own food supply here, now, no matter where you are or what your circumstance.
Everyone, absolutely everyone, should read “A Nation of Farmers”. It might be what’s between you, and feeding your families in the future.
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oh, wow! that sounds like a great book. i’m putting it on my wish list now, and….well, maybe i’ll get to read it in 5 years. not much beyond clive cussler and nora roberts in the marina take one / leave one bookshelves.
If you want to go land bound so you can grow food, it is better to do it sooner than later, unless you already know how to grow food that is. I created a “family farm” on my land 2 years ago and if it were not for the grocery store, we all would have starved to death by now. Good and productive farming takes practice, or it does in my case at least ; ) I have high hopes for next year though as I have learned so much from my last 2 (failed) growing seasons. I gotta say though, that there is nothing quite as special as making a meal from scratch using ingredients grown in your own yard. I wonder if you could buy a big piece of land, put your boat on a trailer and park it on your lot, that would be funny. You would not be at sea, but you would still live on a boat, lol. Then if your land turns into ocean, you’ll loose your farm, but your house will float. And yeah, I see a big change coming and I don’t mind it so much, our society mainly sucks as it is, but I do feel bad for folks who are not prepared.