Farming For Food and FuelIt seems that most city folks think that food comes from a warehouse or is replicated in a high tech microwave oven at McDonalds. Most city folks don't need to think about where their food comes from. They just need enough money to buy it. To get the money for food and rent, most city folks get a job and pay taxes, which support the government, which subsidizes the ago-industry. Of course we all know that huge corporations control most of the US food supply beginning with patented seeds and progressing through a plythora of chemicals, equipment manufacturers, trucks, trains, warehouses, processing plants, distribution networks, stores and fast food chains. Food is big business. There are small independent farmers scattered around the country, but most of the food is produced and consumed within a closed system, which typically benefits wealthy people at the expense of workers who don't even know where their food comes from. Fuel and energy seem to fall into a similar paradigm. When I was a kid, all I knew about electricity was that it came out of the wall and if you stuck something metal in the two holes of an electrical socket it would hurt in a strange way. Nowadays there is a lot of talk about alternative energy and bio-fuels. There are all kinds of economic programs to promote growth of emerging technology. The trouble with most high tech solutions is that they require raw materials, energy, manufacturing, transportation, storage, and dealers. Most corporate and government sponsored solutions are based on economic profit centers, which do not necessarily serve the best interests of end users. Here are a few ways that we can become independent of corporate food and fuel:
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