The Future of Food by Fred Kirschenmann
The current trend of Agriculture is going to reach its limits. Being a fossil fuel based economy, that has been the fuel for yield and crops in the last 100 years. However there are going to be limits on Energy, and Water. To have a continued future of agriculture based on more intensifying production – like the mega farms, is not going to cut it.
For more than four decades, Fred has been a champion of agricultural resilience, an articulate advocate for soil health and a pioneer of organic farming. His work has helped transform what was once obscure and marginal work—resilient, sustainable agriculture focused on the health and restoration of the soil—into an international movement. (Stone Barnes Centre)
His solution rests on a simple principle – Diversification.
We are preparing to expect a few big shifts. First, that energy will shift from a reliance on fossil fuels. What can we do as an alternative? We can diversify agriculture so that it creates mixes and combines different ecosystem to do the work.
“We have to diversify the food system if we’re going to diversify agriculture.”
How can we do this? By incorporating wilderness.
“You can incorporate wildness into the farm and improve their productivity” – Fred Kirschenmann
“In industrial agriculture what we have done is turned a solar powered ruminant into a fossel fuel machine”-Michael Pollan
But we can do otherwise, to the current situaton.
Animals form a beautiful circular economy in this system.Free solar grows grass, and plants which feeds ruminants like cows
Chickens forage for insects, and larvae in cow manure and help to spread them
Chicken manure adds fertility
Grasses are managed
Fertility builds soil, and stores more carbon in the soil
More soil carbon holds more water
You get more biodiversity, increased ecosystems,
You can find out more about what he says in this article:
4 YEARS AGO SHORT URL COMMENTS
uncategorized
26
NOV
Reflections from my 10 Day meditation retreat
Life is but an endless cycle of suffering and joy. We have to accept it, when we were born into this world we were set up for this cycle.
Suffering is simply a mental state, we create the concept of suffering in our minds.
We too have the authority to reframe that same concept of suffering into joy.
We cannot predict the future, and the more we think of about it, and the more we try to cling on to our posessions, the more we sorrow we cause for ourselves.
What we CAN do is focus on ourselves in the present by being a better person. We would have known that we have done our best, and that’s the best that we can do.
So lets focus on this and when we have a strong and trained mind and body, it may be possible that one day we could break out of this cycle when we reach enlightenment.
Our rooms, also called kutis
Ejoying a cuppa w vissen and evo, this is the coffee shop where we have our daily catchups with Ahjan Clyde
The pond where the BCDC hall overlooks
The BCDC meditation hall
One of my favourite places to meditate in the compound , the bamboo forest
Every Tuesday’s precession with the community at the Wat Sri Boonrung Temple
Every Tuesday’s precession with the community at the Wat Sri Boonrung Temple
Beautiful farms surrounding the BCDC centre
Evening sunset around Fang
Triangle lake in Fang, with floating houses
4 YEARS AGO SHORT URL COMMENTS
uncategorized
28
OCT
‘Folks, this ain’t normal’
Joel F. Salatin (born February 24, 1957) is an American farmer, lecturer, and author whose books include Folks, This Ain’t Normal; You Can Farm; and Salad Bar Beef. – Wikipedia.
I chanced upon Joel F Salatin during my readings on Regenerative Agriculture, and I was happy to hear about his thoughts on what shifts are required to shift the food system to a regenerative one. Below are some exerpts by Joel, from the video interview at Google.
Googler: It is still not economically viable for many people to Farm the way we want to and live that lifestyle of pureness. How does one deal with this struggle?
‘We have taken our western grecko Roman-linearised-individualised-compartmentalised- way of thinking to a philisolphical apartheid, and I think that those of us that want to come back together in a eastern wholistic, come together, and live in our teepees, have our medicine man should be able to opt out of the greater cultural that normalcy may not vanish from this side of our world.
‘It is a struggle, but, keep to it. The more people do it the more it gets easier, but it takes someone to start. Keep going’.
Googler: How do you break a cycle where capital flows to the people who own the system etc- people in the Govt?
Joel: ‘I believe that the greatest innovation & opportunity is when we allow people to self-actualize their own individual expression…rather than trying to regulate out what we don’t like, if we allow the people who want to eat differently and buy differently, and create a different landscape for their grandchildren, it would completely topple the Big Ag companies. The reason they are allowed to continue their position at the top is because they are protected from competition at the bottom.
Googler: Many entrepreneurial start ups morph into wall-street-ified companies that lose their disctinctives. And in the process, the business chews up its workers and founders in an attempt to dominate something. Does middle ground exist?..What values are more important than growth? Especially since, cancer is growth.
Joel: We didn’t want to get gobbled up, be bought over and turned into something else. What is it that defines us? We created a 10 liner-mantra. i.e. We would never have a ‘sales target’, you begin looking at people as commodities. All growth has to come from second-hand, word of mouth. If sales drop off- we need to look internally. Something we may not be doing well etc. We will never patent or copyright, and have to stay one step ahead of the copiers.
4 YEARS AGO SHORT URL COMMENTS
uncategorized
02
SEP
Being in nature
“When you spend too much time in an urban environment, you start to magnify your problems and your sense of self-importance. The scale of the architecture is human, and where-ever you go things cater to your needs. We have no frustration tolerance because everything revolves around us.
But in the countryside, nature puts you in your place. You walk in nature and you are an ant amongst the towering gum trees and the craggy mountains. You come back after six months of being away on a farm, and in the busy., paths you have painstakingly carved and slashed have vanished. Nature does not care if you hit the unsubscribed button and fly off to Boca Raton.
But yet your spirit soars. There is a certain bliss in being reminded of your smallness, your mortality. When you know you can’t control everything, you start to let go of the reins that never led to anything much anyway, and your incessant worrying mind starts to relax and stops drowning out your emotions and the senses of your body.
When you walk, there you are just walking.
When you ear, there you are, just eating.” Crystal Lim-Lange
https://thecrystalbawl.wordpress.com/
Thanks for sharing this Crystal, it’s a beautifully written piece and I had to share it!
4 YEARS AGO SHORT URL COMMENTS
uncategorized
01
SEP
Being a Linchpin – Seth Godin
Seth is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. In addition to launching one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 18 best-selling books, including The Dip,Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and What To Do When It’s Your Turn (And It’s Always Your Turn).
My good mate Bryan who created https://bryanvictor.com/ introduced Seth’s podcast to me. What really stood about about Seth is his level headed-ness and almost no BS answer that achieving your goals are non-complicated, there are no shortcuts, and we live in an ecosystem where people can help us get to where we want to be. We just need to put in the work, intelligently. Here are some pointers from his interview. Happy Sunday!Being a LinchpinThe problem is that people are seduced into thinking that they should fit in more in the system.
Through the school system & the industrial system, people are taught to fit in.
On the flip side social media throws in ‘quick wins’ technique
People are starting to feel broken because the promises are not kept on both sides
If someone can tell you how to do your job, we can find someone cheaper, better and faster to replace you.
You have a choice. Either be the replaceable cog in the pyramid who gets paid as little as possible, or be the founder owner, or, be the linchpin, the people who figures out what to do next.
There is a real good reason to be afraid, it is for survival. You will need some of that, when you get into competition. But it is less relevant today. To do the things you want to do – like public speaking, etc you need to hack it.
The work is the point, the process is the point.
2. How to get into that ‘space’ Being proactive. Putting yourself there into the space which may be uncomfortable, but extremely positive and opens up opportunities for yourself.
Working in a space of some ‘fear’ keeps us on our toes.
3. Choosing happinessPeople are happy when they have agency in their life. When they can take control.
How can I do things in the world to leave a better trail.
The world does not like being hustled, how do I do things so I get my fair share.
Its how you choose to react. You have a choice to react, you can either choose to be curious, or by angry at any given moment.
The world responds really well to people who people who take responsibility, and give away credit.
If you can’t find a fit in an organisation that accepts that, there is another one that wants you.
4. How do you define success?Turning down a billion dollars in stock options because he knew how to do that, but what would change for the better if he did.
Don’t do it for money, do it because its meaningful
This might not work, there might be no shortcuts, but you might be able to see a different way through.
How can you live a life where you don’t need a fineprint, or a lawyer. As you build so much trust with people.
The goal is to build that trust – putting things into the world with the promise that I made
5. How do you remove self-talk? When your limiting mindset loop gets started when you get certain triggers, how do you stop the reinforcing loop?
Congitive Behaviour Therapy helps to put things in a distance and reflect on them.
The minute you start saying – here we go again, we can reprogramme the cycle.
Be present. Not to run away from the things that scare us, but to dance with them instead.
6. How do you put ‘getting better’ into a processIf you have enough ‘bad’ content, it is a great start because the environment will help you make it better.
There is very little relevance about ‘Talent’, as we are in a culture where someone else can make things better for you.
You can put yourself into a culture that helps you make things better.
People get better in compounding ways, because they edit, they make improvements in their writing etc.
Get into an iterative cycle, do more, do projects, get feedback, improve.
You can simulate a bootstrap with people around you. i.e. a mastermind group.
If you think you have a shortcut, you are WRONG.
Seth had written 3000 direct emails before he got the hang of it.
This economy is a connection economy, its not about who trusts you and how you can put things together, with what resources you can access. That is ignored by too many people.
There may be a few people who will prod, provoke and encourage.
7. Should you follow your passion?Reframing following your passion to- choose to LOVE the thing we DO
We don’t find the passion, we CREATE it
Programme into yourself, this mindset
Hack the fear in your head – fear of death, fear of being alone. Accept the fact that it’s all going to go away.
4 YEARS AGO SHORT URL COMMENTS
uncategorized
18
AUG
Rationalising why I did not get my IPPT gold
3weeks ago our group was told we could take our individual physical proficiency test (IPPT) when we headed back to camp for a briefing. I and most of the officers gladly chose to sign up for it, for some obvious reasons haha. I decided that despite a short timeline I would try out to aim to get a Gold. Something I had not have since my active days 10 years ago.
Long story short, we found out days before that it was canned. I definitely was disappointed because I didn’t want all that training to go to naught. Quickly I chose to book a test at one of the more challenging locations, where I had not managed to get a gold in the last 5 attempts.
So I had created a training programme with little or no experience in following one, and tried to get the shortest route to meet my targets to get gold, which I now felt was more achievable.
Race day.
First I did not have breakfast.
Push ups were a disappointment. On my first attempt I only had 30 counted pushups . My average was 50-55 when I did it regularly.
Sit-ups, I did 33. My average maxed out at 40.
2.4 run
From my training, the fastest I have reached was 9:08.
I clocked a 10:14.
In totally I had of 82 points, just missing gold by 3 points.
From my training I thought that had prepared myself mentally. Here’s why I think I did not get my Gold.
1. Lack of sticking through the training programme religiously.
– as much as I can give excuses on how busy I was and how many things got in the way. The fact remains that I was only about 50% close to the schedule. The last few days before the IPPT I let it slip.
2. Lack of preparation for race day.
A few things I could have done better. Slept a little earlier. Had breakfast earlier. Then I wouldn’t have run out of energy. I could have reached camp earlier. The wait was dreadful and it was energy sapping too.
3. Lack of a winners mentality
I did not PUSH hard enough. No other way to put it or excuse to give. Mentally I had relaxed.
So what am I going to do to redeem myself?
1. Try again
I plan to book the next test next week.
2. Train hard
Need to nail the key activities like push ups and sit-ups. Then the run requirements will be less intensive
3. Be prepared for race day
Sleep earlier, wake up earlier, have breakfast early.
4. Push an additional 10% on race day
If I work for it, I will get my gold, I believe I will. Hoo yah.
5 YEARS AGO SHORT URL COMMENTS
uncategorized
15
AUG
Create clarity through the spring cleaning of one’s mind
Anxiety is caused by thinking about a future that has not happened. Will we get hired in our future job? How will we do in our exams? Chances are we always tend to play the negative outcomes in our mind. Having a tense moment, worrying about the multiple things happening at once ie moving abroad, and not being able to get a job, jumping into an unfamiliar new industry, not doing anything with the projects I have had wanted to do, brought a surge of anxiety over me.
I looked at the book rack I had and thought, well well, aren’t there these 15 books that I’ve been wanting to read but never got down to touching them ever. It seems many of the projects which I have been keen to work on or explore have ended up this way. Becoming white elephants.
I don’t want to continue producing white elements. I want to start producing real world results. In order to start, I need to empty my list and start building it up.
At that very moment, I decided to remove all my books at keep them in my cabinet. This is what I felt- taking on many things on my plate cosnstantly gets me distracted. In the ends all the bits and pieces tend not to have a solid end result/deliverable. What if I chose to focus on completing one activity at a time. To have depth instead of breadth? Would this habit change the way I operate?
At that very moment when I played the audio book on zen za meditation, the words below was spoken.
It basically said, chris. Stop trying to understand and learn everything about anything. Start by understanding yourself.
However in order to do that, you need to do something quite counterintuitive. You need to remove all thoughts about the future. Your dreams, goals, etc. You need to completely empty your mind.
And when you do, practise sitting, (ie medication) and slowly, you may allow whatever necessary thoughts into your mind.
This was a moment that spoke to me. The universe had given me my answer.
This is what I needed to do next. To empty my mind, my thoughts and my expectations.
On a practical sense, of course there are things that were still needed to be done and projects needed to be completed. Ie job research etc. What I would need to do is list them out and work on them as projects. Not putting any expectation about the future of these projects but focusing on doing each of them well. Only then will I not dwell too much about the future, but be able to focus on good work in the present moment.
5 YEARS AGO SHORT URL COMMENTS
uncategorized
12
AUG
A check-in with myself
In Jan 19 – I had the following items listed on my wallCreate a Personal Brand
Write a book by 31 Nov 2019
Create a Framework
Start Focusing on Adult-Learning
In April 19, (4 Months ago) I had a coaching session with Danny to gain mental clarity. Here was what I had put down
What I want to achieve ****Having mental clarity. Which is to know what my goals are.
Ideal life is one of being involved in nature. Surfing, water etc.
Farm to table – being able to eat naturally good food
Next Steps
– The PlanResearch – Do an indepth study of the topic (April-June)
Create a proof of concept (July – Nov) – This includes writing a book and publishing it in Dec.
Monitor plan – Be accountable to someone. Check in on that plan weekly.
That did not go as planned. And here’s the new plan.
New planFocus on Creating a Sustainability consultant’s package by End of August
– Utilizing current skillsets and experience to create a viable product – Engagement & Projects
– Writing a book about being a Farmer (1 month – August). Complete End August.
2. Focus on Job Search for 2020.
– Create CV, Portfolio
– Job Search
– Gain skillset required
I’m not sure if i’m getting better clarity or getting more confused. Plan after plan, idea after idea, my focus keeps changing. With the constantly shifting goalpost, I think its time to calm myself down and focus on the long term plan.
When I shared with Bryan what a ‘Good Job’ Meant for me, he asked me to list down what good meant to me. It was a great exercise because it helped me to define what I am truly looking for.
Constraints
– Income: $42000 ~ $66000/year
– location: Singapore (by 1 Feb 2020), then Vancouver on (Dec 2020?).
Definition of a Good Job
1. Company culture of respect, trust, growth mindset like a lab.
(What question would you ask the people working there to test for this?)
2. Being able to create new ideas/innovations to exercise my design thinking/Creative/problem solving muscles, being able to Work on new projects every 6 – 12 months.
3. Agriculture / Food/ Environment/ psychology/ related field
4. Being able to work independently- ie not in a regimented style, being micromanaged, Given time and trust to execute plans.
5. No office cubicle. Outdoor element preferred.
6. Flexible working hours preferred.
So just putting it out there. Im gonna need to stick to my plan…!! Gahhh!
5 YEARS AGO SHORT URL COMMENTS
