| Author |
Message |
findus
Fire-eater
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 2859
Status: Offline
|
 Posted:
Apr 14, 2008 - 08:09 PM |
 
|
| Post subject: Positive news: Co-ops |
So much bitchin in News and Opinion lately. Time for some slightly less bitch-worthy news.... Co-ops.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_artic le_id=559580&in_page_id=1770
| Quote: |
The real Good Life: Village that has turned against supermarkets and grows its own food
Last updated at 12:15pm on 14th April 2008
An entire village has shunned supermarkets and is now feeding itself by leading the Good Life and growing its own meat and veg.
Volunteers and paid staff work the land to produce food year round which is sold every week at the village hall.
Those involved liken themselves to the BBC comedy the Good Life, in which characters Tom and Barbara Good give up work to live off the land.
Chickens, pork, lamb, honey, garlic, onions, chillis and green veg are produced on several sites in the village of Martin, Hants - population 405.
Villagers work to a rota all year round to ensure nothing gets missed.
Nearly four years after the experiment started its detractors have been proved wrong as the co-operative goes from strength to strength.
Every year more produce is added and the scheme - likened to a community allotment - has breathed new life into a village that has only a church and a working men's club.
There are 164 families in Martin and 101 have signed up to be members of Future Farms for an annual two pounds fee, but anyone can buy the produce.
At present the farm sells 45 types of vegetables, 100 chickens a week, 20 pigs a year, 32 lambs a year and is now starting to sell beef.
Members of the committee include a consultant radiologist, a horticulturalist, a computer programmer, a former probation officer, a secretary and a council worker.
They now hope to spread their blueprint to other communities that want to try and grow their own.
Nick Snelgar, 58, who first came up with idea in 2003, said the project was gradually "weaning" villagers off of supermarkets.
He said: "I like to think of it as a large allotment in which there are lots of Barbaras and Toms working away.
"There are also Margos as well, but everyone can get involved because we have to sell the goods, do accounts and market the food to the village.
"The nearest supermarket is six miles away in Fordingbridge. Of course people still have to go there for things like loo roll and deodrants and fruit you can't grow in Britain.
"So we aren't boycotting supermarkets entirely but we are gradually weaning people off them and as a result are reducing our carbon footprint by not using carrier bags and packaging.
Mr Snelgar, a horticulturalist, said the VAT-registered co-operative had grown so much that last year it had a turnover of 27,000 pounds - most of which was ploughed back into the scheme.
He said: "We started with a committee of eight and began with vegetables and we found that all the skills we needed were here in the village.
"After the vegetables we introduced chickens and then pigs and we learned inch by inch.
"We have other producers whose goods we sell and they include a sheep farmer and someone who has honey.
"It has been a fantastically interesting experience and we now have four plots of land covering eight acres.
"We have a certain amount of paid labour, but most of it is from volunteers and we have rotas drawn up showing who is to do what.
"There are 164 families in the village and they include about 300 adults and 100 children, so there are about 400 creatures to feed.
"We have 101 members who pay two pounds a year and get voting rights. We have to persuade the market that our produce is worth getting hold of."
Every Saturday the community comes together with their produce which is sold at the village hall from 9am to 12.30pm.
There is also a wheelbarrow load of veg on a resident's driveway with an honesty box for payment.
Mr Snelgar: "Ideally we don't move our food more than two miles, but we need to send the animals to slaughter.
"We have produce all the year round and probably the most popular thing we sell is carrots.
"People love the smell of fresh carrots, and we pull them out of the ground the day before we sell them.
"We don't yet do dairy, but we hope to include that in the future and we also intend to grow raspberries and strawberries.
"We carefully set the prices by working out how much the food costs to produce. We then add 20 per cent.
"For example, chickens cost 4.74 pounds a kilo - you can't get two for a fiver here. So a two kilo bird will cost about eight or nine pounds.
"The veg is priced as we go along and it depends on the weather and what it is, but we always keep an eye on what prices shops are selling things at.
"Out pork sausages, for example, are sometimes cheaper than sausages you buy in the supermarkets. We break even and all money gets ploughed back in.
"When we started some people thought it would fail and we'd never last, but as the years have gone by more and more people have become involved.
"It is also a talking point in the village and it's great to see people walking to the village hall on a Saturday morning talking to each other. It has created a sense of belonging.
"When we started, one of the main objectives was to hopefully use our experience to help others do the same. And we have had many enquiries." |
More good/uplifting/positive/funny/.... news, please :  |
_________________
 |
|
 |
|
Michael
Moderator
Joined: Mar 22, 2002
Posts: 6335
Status: Offline
|
| Posted:
Apr 16, 2008 - 09:09 PM |
|
|
really good article..
see what I can find. |
|
|
|
|
Cambronne
Post Roaster
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Posts: 4217
|
| Posted:
Apr 16, 2008 - 10:00 PM |
|
|
Lets be serious here. Last time this happens, the FBI raided the community on dubious rape charges. Havent you seen the news? |
_________________
Countless people will hate the new world order and will die protesting against it. |
|
|
|
|
Michael
Moderator
Joined: Mar 22, 2002
Posts: 6335
Status: Offline
|
| Posted:
Apr 17, 2008 - 04:13 PM |
|
|
Not all intentional communities are cults and there are lots.
http://www.ic.org/
So what would they do? lock up a whole town because they don't use monsanto fertilizer?.. maybe.. but I hope it doesn't get to that point. |
|
|
|
|
|
Cambronne
Post Roaster
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Posts: 4217
|
| Posted:
Apr 17, 2008 - 04:36 PM |
|
|
What we see happening is that only "government"-approved communities are protected. This is happening now in France where cults like the Church of Scientology is almost officially protected. Some others which are seen as a threat to politically correct thinking (WACO, the fundamentalist mormons of last week) get very violently repressed. The mormons were a threat to the modern view of family, gender-indifferent, with clonage as the future mean of reproduction. I know you think its FL being over the top again. Think again. Slowly. |
_________________
Countless people will hate the new world order and will die protesting against it. |
|
|
|
|
sbergman
StreetBeater
Joined: Sep 12, 2007
Posts: 2445
Status: Offline
|
| Posted:
Apr 17, 2008 - 04:42 PM |
|
|
One of the communities where I lived had a local currency. We could trade goods and services using paper currency representing "an hour". Here is information about it - http://www.ithacahours.org/ The program has been going on for at least 20 years - and, no, Cambronne, there have not been any FBI raids. |
|
|
|
|
|
Cambronne
Post Roaster
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Posts: 4217
|
| Posted:
Apr 17, 2008 - 04:44 PM |
|
|
You must have misread my post. |
_________________
Countless people will hate the new world order and will die protesting against it. |
|
|
|
|
findus
Fire-eater
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 2859
Status: Offline
|
| Posted:
Apr 18, 2008 - 01:26 AM |
|
|
I love the way a thread about people growing and sharing vegetables gets turned into yet another conspiracy theory |
_________________
|
|
|
|
|
leidelaohu
Board Royalty
Joined: June 11, 2007
Posts: 7190
Status: Offline
|
| Posted:
Apr 18, 2008 - 01:35 AM |
|
|
| findus wrote: |
| I love the way a thread about people growing and sharing vegetables gets turned into yet another conspiracy theory |
Friend of mine was one of the Diggers ... damned hippies  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Forum FAQ
Search
Preferences
Watched Topics
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
