This morning, as I was reading an email newsletter from the OCA, I got so pissed off with their behavior, that I just had to write to them to let them know not everybody in the sustainable agriculture and food movement wants to sink to their level. Here is what I wrote:
As a worker, small [...]

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Recently I’ve been having a most wonderful time with a lot of “aha-moments” reading a book called Science in a Free Society by Paul Feyerabend. In it, the case is made that what is generally called “science” is just one world view among many, without any inherent superiority over other systems of knowledge, and therefore [...]

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In Part 3 I left off with talking about herbicides and how they affect the soil physically. Now it is time to look at the biological aspects of soil conservation.
Part 1 touched briefly on the ecological knowledge expressed in the metaphors of Polynesian mythology, where the soil is pictured as the domain of a cyclical [...]

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Some years ago, before caring for the natural environment had become semi-mainstream, I used to hear this wise mantra, “Think Globally, Act Locally”, being said all the time in the green circles I frequented. It has now been many a year since I have heard anyone utter it, much less seen anyone “green” live [...]

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On my last errand into town, the precious sight of this sign made my day with a healthy dose of uncontrollable laughter.
In light of where things are currently headed with the economy, it strikes me as darkly comical to build a brand new big shopping mall. With established businesses cutting back or closing down left, [...]

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(originally posted 11/14/2007)
One more serious cause of runoff and the resulting erosion is excessive herbicide spraying.  Earlier on, we saw the importance of maintaining full vegetative cover over the soil. In practice, herbicides are used 99% of the time to achieve the opposite effect: bare soil. You only need to take a quick look around [...]

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Here is an example of how mismanagement of land situated in a watershed led to extreme runoff and a costly flood disaster last December in South Kona.
A misguided land lessee grubbed and graded a parcel of sloping land completely disregarding its natural features such as forestation and streambeds. When the region was subsequently hit [...]

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(originally posted 10/25/07)
Dirt. The lowly stuff we look down and tread upon every day, often thoughtlessly. Actually we should spare it some thought and respect for we owe our life to it.
The mythologies of many ancient tropical planting cultures, especially those of the Pacific, contain stories of how staple food plants sprouted from [...]

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In part one of this series, we introduced the concept of looking to the traditional ecological knowledge contained in the myths of the ancient Polynesian cultures. There are to be found clues to the importance of soil and to simple, actionable ways we can conserve this resource. We looked at rainwater runoff as a key [...]

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(This was originally posted on 10/09/2007 with videos embedded. This time, to lighten up the page loading I’m just linking to where they can be viewed.)
Hawaii currently imports more than 85% of its food. Imagine this….  If starting tomorrow – and this is by no means far-fetched as a possibility – ships and airplanes full [...]

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